Organisations strive for excellence in their operations in today's ever-changing business landscape. Total Quality Management(TQM) is the enterprise's most commonly used quality management approach. It achieves the philosophy of quality management in every aspect of the organisation. Its primary aim is to minimise error, eliminate inefficiency, and enhance productivity by boosting overall performance.
But what exactly is TQM, and how does it work? In this blog, I will explain about key components and how they work, How it is important in PMP Course.
What is total quality management (TQM)?
TQM is the structured approach to improving the performance and quality of the organisation's products, services, and internal processes. TQM majorly aims to eliminate defects by streamlining operations and reducing defects to sustain long-term success in the market
The key highlights are:
1. TQM fosters a culture of quality teamwork, commitment to excellence, and ingrained teamwork. It emphasises continuous improvement by involving all the team members to eliminate bottlenecks, defects, and waste.
2. TQM is the customer’s voice; it aims to achieve customer satisfaction through employee involvement. It implements process-oriented approaches and leadership to drive commitment and a culture of excellence.
3. The systematic processes and employee involvement illustrate TQM’s impact on quality enhancement in various industries. Real-world examples are Coca-Cola (Food and beverage Industry), Toyota(Automobile Industry), and Tata Steel(Manufacturing and steel Industry ).
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How to Implement a Continual Improvement Process
Successful organisations always determine customer satisfaction by implementing a Continual Improvement Process. It demands commitment, strong leadership, and a culturally adaptive nature to align with the organisation's mission and vision.It involves engaging employees at all levels to foster a sense of communication and ownership.
Effective communication in TQM helps clarify each individual's role and responsibilities, promoting quality goal achievement and transparency across cross-functional teams. By systematic data collection and analysis, TQM fosters feedback loops, initiating evidence-based decisions. This is also known as the Plan-Act-Check cycle of Kaizen. Encouraging employees at all levels fosters a culture where every employee comes together to contribute ideas, innovation, and efforts to achieve superior quality, ultimately benefiting the customers and the organisation.
TQM processes are used to improve processes, instil an organisational commitment to quality assurance and quality control, and provide dedication to continuous improvement that materially drives customer satisfaction.
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What are the components of total quality management (TQM)?
Organisations integrate key components that drive smooth transformation to achieve success.
The components of Continual Improvement Process are:
1. Customer Focus:
The primary goal is to meet or exceed customer satisfaction. TQM steers customer satisfaction in the direction of quality. Organisations understand customers' needs and preferences and align the process accordingly.
2. Continuous improvement (CI):
It is the most critical component of TQM. It uses tools like Plan, Do, Check, Act, Kaizen Events, Root cause analysis, and Lean principles. CI brings benefits such as enhanced customer satisfaction, low cost, higher efficiency, and increased productivity.
3. Employee Improvement:
Empowering employees to take the initiative of ownership decision-making and contribute to improvement. Employee improvement enhances quality, improves decision-making, and increases job satisfaction. Techniques for improving employee performance include suggestion schemes, quality teams, and kaizen events.
4. Process Approach:
The process approach is a fundamental component of Total Quality and ISO 9001. Its methodology focuses on managing processes to achieve desired outcomes, reduce variability, and improve efficiency. The process approach's key principles are measurement, interconnected processes, and process focus. Tools and techniques for implementing the process approach are Six Sigma methodologies, Lean principles, Root cause analysis, and PMP Process Mapping Game.
5. Suppliers:
Suppliers provide raw materials and inputs necessary for production. They also provide the inputs required for the production process or insights into the planning phases throughout the manufacturing process. Suppliers minimise the risk of supplier-related quality problems, which impact customer satisfaction and reputation. Negotiating better prices with suppliers cuts down on costs.
6. Integrated System:
This system improves efficiency and enhances customer satisfaction through employee engagement. Organisations use an integrated system to build a holistic approach among their cross-functional agile teams. The integrated system aligns quality management with business processes in all aspects of the organisation.
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What are the Principles of Total Quality Management (TQM)?
TQM sets fundamental guidelines for bringing in a culture of excellence within the organisation. Here are seven principles that show a strategic and systematic approach:
1. Involvement
Employees at all levels play a crucial role in maintaining the organisation's quality. Encouraging employees to participate in training and development programs leads to innovative solutions and promotes continuous improvement.
2. Customer Centric
The main objective of TQM is to impress the customer by meeting and satisfying their expectations. Organisations value customer needs and collect feedback accordingly.
3. Process-Oriented Approaches
It is vital to emphasise systematic and structured methods to achieve quality. Systematic approaches improve the quality of customer-focused services, and process-oriented approaches enhance the quality of delivery throughout the customer journey.
4. Leadership
Leaders set clear objectives, create an environment of trust, and empower employees to take responsibility for quality improvement. Strong leadership is essential for establishing a quality-driven culture.
5. Decision Making
TQM practices work across cross-functional teams. Hence, the tools must collect and apply accurate data to make the correct decisions. Fact-based decision-making is the basic principle of TQM. Decisions rely heavily on data rather than assumptions and intuitions.
6. Supply Chain Relationships
Effective supply chain management is essential in contemporary quality control. Organisations work closely with their suppliers to facilitate collaborative quality planning, starting with fundamental raw materials and inputs as part of a cohesive business and production operations framework.
All these principles collectively aim to bring in a culture of responsibility and advancements in all aspects of the business.
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What are the Benefits of Implementing TQM
1. Increased Customer satisfaction
It works as the voice of the customer. By focusing on the customer's expectations, organisations maintain higher customer loyalty. Organisations constantly refine their products or services to retain customers and align with their needs. Positive word-of-mouth is the main reason for customer retention.
Example: Toyota maintains the highest customer satisfaction due to constantly enhancing its products and its approaches.
2. Improved Productivity
It encourages organisations to structure their processes and enhance employee involvement. When employees deliver engaged, quality products, they increase their productivity. Standardisation enables process efficiency, quicker delivery, and better resource allocation.
Example: GE(General Electric successfully led the TQM and Six Sigma methodologies to improve productivity.
3. Decreased Costs
TQM focuses on reducing errors, increasing process efficiency, and reducing waste. This inturn leads to a higher cost savings. It helps identify defects at early stages and improves quality at every stage. This minimises the rework and increases the efficiency of the product warranty.
Example: Motorola’s adoption of Six Sigma (a TQM approach) helped reduce defects and saved the company billions of dollars.
4. Increased Brand Awareness
The commitment to quality services builds the brand's credibility and reputation. Organisations are known to attract mainly customers, stakeholders and partners. By implementing TQM, greater trust is built among customers and stakeholders. This promises the business's longer-term sustainability. The greater the customer trust, the more significantly the brand is valued.
Apple is the best example of maintaining strict quality control and continuous improvement, enhancing its brand reputation as a leader in innovation and reliability.
Bottom line
Total Quality Management is a robust methodology that drives continuous improvement, builds customer trust, and enhances the organisation's effectiveness. Its principles achieve higher levels of productivity within the dedicated budget and timeframe.
It is a robust methodology that strives to incorporate the customer's voice into products. Organisations that embrace TQM principles can achieve higher productivity, reduced costs, and a strong competitive edge.
Suppose you are a candidate seeking to deepen your understanding of quality management and project execution. In that case, StarAgile's PMP Certification provides industry-recognized training to help you implement TQM effectively in real-world projects.
