Quality News

I. What is TQM?

TQM is a new paradigm of management! TQM is both a philosophy and methodology
for managing organizations. TQM includes a set of principles, tools, and
procedures that provide guidance in the practical affairs of running an
organization. TQM involves all members of the organization in controlling
and continuously improving how work is done. Government agencies that use
TQM agree that it is fundamentally different from traditional management.

II. History of TQM!

TQM Japanese Management?

Yes and No!

The American Walter A. Shewhart of Bell Laboratories developed a system
of measuring variance in production systems known as statistical process
control (SPC).

Statistical process control is one of the major tools that
TQM uses to monitor consistency, as well as to diagnose problems in work
processes.

His student W. Edwards Deming, a mathematical physicist and U.S Department
of Agriculture and Census Bureau research scientist, was hired to teach
SPC and quality control to the U.S. Defense industry. These methods were
considered so important to the war effort that they were classified as
military secrets known as Z1. Ironically, after WWII most U.S. companies
stopped using SPC and TQM type quality control procedures.

After WWII U.S. occupation forces in conjunction with the Japanese Union
of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) invited W. Edwards Deming to lecture
throughout Japan on SPC and quality control methodology.

The Japanese were
quick to adapt and modify Deming’s techniques. However, even today the
highest award in Japan for quality is named after W. Edwards Deming. And
one of the highest honors in Japan is to have him present at the ceremony.
Deming received one of Japan’s highest awards, the Emperor’s medal for
his contribution to the economic reconstruction of Japan.

Other American’s, for example, Joseph M. Juran also stressed to the
Japanese the importance of involving all departments in the pursuit of
quality and the importance of customer satisfaction, rather simple adherence
to technical specifications. Kaoru Ishikawa enlarged the ideas of Juran
and Feigenbaum to include as customers, internal customers, those in an
organization who depend upon the work output of others. Also, basing his
own work in part on the American Behavioral scientists Herbert Maslow (Hierarchy
of needs) and Douglas McGregor (Theory Y) he developed the concept of quality
circles. TQM today, as practiced in Japan, the U.S. and Europe, is a holistic
management philosophy that has evolved over time, and not simply a set
of specific techniques like SPC, Quality Circles, and continuous improvement
procedures. TQM, if implemented correctly, is a fundamental organizational
change.

III. Total Quality Management Today

In the private sector in the U.S. TQM began to have significant impact
in about 1985 when major U.S. companies (e.g. Proctor and Gamble and Ford
Motor Company, for example) began to work directly with TQM experts like
W. Edwards Deming. Government at all levels (Federal, State, and Local)
has only recently become involved. Currently, some aspects of TQM are in
practice at both the State and Local Level. David K. Carr and Ian D. Littman,
Excellence In Government Coopers and Lybrand (1991) report that TQM has
been applied in a variety of functional levels at various levels of government
in the U.S by 1991.

IV. Philosophy of TQM. The Major Differences Between TQM and Traditional
Management (Government and Private Sector). TQM has been characterized
as emphasizing the three C�s Customers, Culture and Counting.

. TQM is customer not specialist driven.

Users of products or services define what they want rather than have
their needs defined by specialists. In TQM, customer needs and expectations,
not agency established standards, define quality. No matter how good your
products and services are by some “objective” standard, they cannot have
total quality unless they meet your customers needs. A customer is anyone
who receives or uses what you produce or whose service satisfaction depends
upon your actions. There are two general types of customers in TQM internal
and external. An internal customer is someone in your organization whose
part in the work process comes after yours. An external customer is the
ultimate recipient of your product or service. TQM cannot be implemented
unless it is a top down organization. TQM reflects a different paradigm
of management. e.g. The chain on the automobile line in Japan versus U.S.

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