Total Quality Management is an organizational management philosophy that requires all organizational functions (marketing, finance, R&D, engineering, production, customer support, etc.) to be integrated to focus on meeting customer needs.

Let’s explain what Total Quality Management is and the key TQM principles you must implement.

What is Total Quality Management (TQM)?

Definition of TQM

TQM is an acronym composed of:

• Total (T)
• Quality (Q)
• Management (M)

Let’s first look at all of them and then define the Total Quality Management.

T – Total

Quality is not the responsibility of individuals or specific sectors or functions such as production. It is everyone’s responsibility, regardless of their organizational level, and it includes all activities in the company; that is, all organizational members and all activities performed in the organization are responsible for producing and delivering high-quality products.

When we talk about activities, we don’t mean only the production processes but also all other activities, such as research and development, marketing, finance, etc., which not directly but indirectly participate in producing the product or service.

Q – Quality

In this section, we will consider the definition of quality by the three experts and gurus in the field of quality management.

Edward Deming believed that the quality of any product or service could only be defined by the customer and that the problem of defining quality is translating the customer’s future needs into measurable characteristics so that the product or service can be designed, manufactured, and delivered at a price with which the customer is satisfied, i.e., would pay.

Unlike Deming, Bill Crosby believes that quality is conformance to requirements or consequences of customers’ needs, which should be expressed in measurable units. Juran, on the other hand, defines quality as the ability to use the product, balancing the product’s characteristics and the consumption of those products.

Although they define the term quality differently, they are not fundamentally different; that is, they all start with the customer as a central focus because he needs a certain product, and it affects his consumption.

So, quality means meeting the requirements of customers, both internal and external. It should not be what the organization itself thinks quality should be but what the customers demand and expect from the company.

M – Management

Since quality is everyone’s responsibility, it can and must be managed. Management system refers to managing all the people from top management to bottom line and all employees and processes involved in meeting customer requirements (quality assurance).

From the above, the following definition of TQM can be drawn:

TQM is a type of organizational change program aimed at improving the quality of products and/or services offered by the organization and the people and processes that produce the quality, thereby increasing the organization’s competitiveness.

Brief History of TQM

Quality improvement is not a new concept. As early as the time of ancient Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, there was a discussion about quality and perfection. But it seems that during the second half of the last century, quality became a hot topic in most journals, books, scientific conferences, etc. From that period until today, more scientists and experts have written about quality and TQM.

In the early 1900s, Walter A. Shewhart, an engineer at Western Electric and Bell Telephone Laboratories introduced modern quality control introducing statistical control chart. Then he published Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Product in 1931 which set the foundation for TQM.

Deming, Juran, and Crosby (1950s)

The experts who first introduced this concept of quality were Edward Deming, Joseph Juran, and Philip Crosby. Their ideas were applied first in Japan after the Second World War. In the 1950s, the Japanese asked Edward Deming, a statistician and management theorist from the United States, to help rebuild their economy, which had been destroyed after the end of the war.

Quality management experts such as Joseph Juran and Philip Crosby also greatly contribute to the refinement and development of TQM (total quality management).

Quality Circles (1960s)

In the 1960s of the last century, the Japanese introduced quality circles, which encouraged employee innovation by generating ideas for improving products, services, and processes. So, Total Quality Management (TQM) is starting a new era by introducing modern quality control. Since then, it has become a widely accepted management approach globally.

Difference Between Quality Management and Control

So far, we have discussed quality, but what is quality management? Can quality be managed?

The question that arises is the difference between quality management and control.

Quality Control

Let’s start with quality control, which involves observing manufacturing processes or other business processes, detecting defective products, removing them from the process itself, and further distributing them in the warehouse of finished products. They go to the warehouse for defective products, i.e., “scrap.”

The figure below shows the simplest control process.

You notice that with this approach, we are not interested in the cause of poor quality. Simply as the name says, we are interested in CONTROL, not allowing a low-quality product from the production process to reach the hands of the customers and cause external costs of quality.

According to this approach, the role of quality control is to determine whether the raw materials, semi-finished products, and finished products meet the prescribed standards and, if they do not, declare them “scrap” and not proceed with further processing.

Quality Management

On the other hand, quality management is a totally different and much broader approach. With this approach, QUALITY becomes the most crucial focus, and control can only be one means of achieving that quality.

Here is a simplified quality management process; you can see the differences from quality control.

First, quality management systems prevent and eliminate errors, defects, and waste in raw materials, semi-products, and manufacturing processes to eliminate low-quality final products. In addition, quality control as a segment in quality management is realized through feedback, which becomes a necessary mechanism of this management process. Simply put, it is a systemic approach in an organization.

Total quality control, on the other hand, means that quality assurance lies with every individual in the company, from top management to the lowest-level worker. This approach focuses on preventing defects and errors rather than detecting them after they have occurred. It involves continuous improvement and a commitment to consistently delivering high-quality products or services.

3 Key Principles of Total Quality Management Approach

Now, when we clearly distinguish quality management from control, let’s discuss Total Quality Management principles.

1. Customer Focus

Customer focus is the first principle of Total Quality Management (TQM) because the starting point is to meet and exceed customer expectations. Why do you want to implement an approach for continuous improvement in your organization if you are not starting with customers in mind?

Understanding customer needs and expectations is crucial for implementing TQM practices. If you make a mistake here, you can not successfully implement TQM. So, to design successful TQM processes, you must focus on your customers.

Internal and External Customer Focus

Total Quality Management (TQM) divides customers into internal and external customers. In addition to internal and external customers, TQM also recognizes external and internal suppliers.

You can see that all individuals, internal processes, or activities in a company represent both a customer and a supplier. Each employee has to satisfy the internal customer expectations and think about how to satisfy the final (external) customer with his influence on the internal processes.

So, every internal supplier must meet or exceed the expectations of both internal and external customers. Accordingly, the most critical element of an effective TQM program is the system for discovering the customer expectations (internal and external) for the product or service.

How to Achieve a Customer-Focused Approach?

The customer-focused approach can be achieved through the following actions:

• To achieve success, your core values must include delivering quality to customers.
• Identifying customer problems, needs, expectations, etc.
• Asking for customer feedback (internal and external) for direct customer input related to possible process improvement. Remember that, in the end, with the improvement in business operations, you want to have satisfied customers, both internally and externally.
• Strengthening of after-sales services and quick handling of all complaints.
• Measuring satisfaction through customer surveys. Also, a good key performance data can be customer retention. Remember that, in the end, the customer determines whether your efforts bring desired results or not.

2. Continuous Improvement as a Systematic Approach

Total Quality Management (TQM) emphasizes continuous improvement as a basis for implementing TQM principles and helps a company to adapt to changing market demands.

Continuous quality improvement refers to improving processes, products, services, and the people who participate in those processes. This principle requires all employees never to be satisfied with an existing product, service, or manufacturing process but always look for ways to improve it.

Continuous improvement in the production process accountable for quality focuses on ensuring that the needs of the customers are consistently met and exceeded. TQM requires continuous improvements in cost, reliability, product and service quality, supply chain management, innovation, efficiency, and effectiveness. For example, if on-time delivery is one of the most important expectations, continuous improvement and quality planning can focus on the following:

• Improvement of the company’s supply chain to reduce the time from the order of repro material to its arrival in the company.
• Continual improvement of relations with suppliers to ensure timely delivery by them.
• Improve the control processes for incoming materials in the company to avoid defective pieces and waste time working with them.
• Improvement of the production process to reduce the time required for the production of a certain amount of products.

One way to implement continual improvement is to use the PDSA Cycle (Plan-Do-Study-Act), a systematic process for acquiring valuable knowledge to continuously improve a product, process, or service. It is also known as the Deming Cycle or Wheel.

3. Teamwork and Total Employee Involvement

When we want to improve product quality, we can not expect to improve only the production process, which is accountable for the overall quality of the final product or service. Different organizational functions, according to your organizational design, are responsible for quality differently. So, Total Quality Management requires total employee involvement.

In such a condition, employee involvement require not only sharing improvement ideas, but teamwork must exist between all managerial and non-managerial staff, between customers and suppliers, and between different organizational functions.

Other TQM Principles

Leadership Commitment

Leadership is one of the most important elements of the Total Quality Management infrastructure. A good leader creates a vision for implementing TQM practices, has a passion for it, and fights for the realization of that vision with all available means.

Without leadership commitment, the probability of the success of TQM efforts will be very low.

Strategic and Systematic Approach to Quality Improvement

A strategic and systematic approach to Total Quality Management (TQM) means integrating quality into your overall business strategy. This approach involves identifying your organization’s vision, mission and key objectives and aligning them with TQM principles. It requires a systematic and long-term commitment to continuous improvement and data-driven techniques to achieve quality goals.

Integrating quality into business strategy ensures that quality is a core component of your organization. Also, implementing Total Quality Management, will require you to align your quality management system with your business objectives.

Integrated system

The integrated system principle in Total Quality Management (TQM) refers to the interconnectedness and compatibility of organizational processes. All business processes and systems should talk to each other and share useful information to achieve excellence regardless of their department. Integrated systems convey potentially useful data across departments, enabling everyone to be on the same page.

All aspects of the organization’s operations should work together seamlessly, with a shared goal of customer satisfaction and quality improvement. As a result, all employees in manufacturing processes must be aware of and thoroughly understand their part in the whole business system.

The integrated system principle promotes efficiency, eliminates waste, and improves communication between departments.

Related: The Guide to Value Stream Mapping: A Step-by-Step Explanation

Process-centric approach

Most, if not all, organizations are structured into functions that represent a set of tasks based on specialization. What is important is that the combined expertise of all these functions is required to meet the customers’ needs.

We change how work is managed by placing a business process at the top. Instead of managing results through the contribution of individual functions and departments with process breakdown, we manage the process that delivers results regardless of which function or department completes the work. In this way, functional and sector restrictions are eliminated.

Fact-based Decision-Making

This principle is essential for effective quality management as it ensures that personal biases or emotions do not influence decisions. So, you must analyze data and make decisions.

For example, statistical process control will help you monitor and track product or service quality over time. It provides real-time data on any variations in the process, allowing you to make informed decisions on how to improve quality. Another tool for fact-based decision-making is root cause analysis. This method helps identify the underlying causes of a problem or issue, rather than just addressing symptoms.

By using data and facts to inform decisions, businesses can identify areas for improvement and make targeted changes to streamline processes and increase productivity.

Effective Communication and Collaboration

Clear communication of quality policies and objectives is essential when you implement Total Quality Management (TQM) approach in your organization. You must communicate your quality vision and mission to employees. Your quality planning process must be transparent with all key employees involved.

Simply effective communication in Total Quality Management ensures that everyone is working towards the same goals to achieve total quality improvement and quality excellence.

Building Strong Supplier Relationships

Building strong supplier relationships is critical for a successful Total Quality Management program. Companies that include their suppliers in their improvement strategy will always be one step ahead of the competition because they are an integral part of the organization’s ability to operate cost-effectively. When it comes to supplier management, as an element of the infrastructure for implementing the basic principles of TQM, it is necessary to take into account the following things:

1. Selection of suppliers. Three criteria are used to choose suppliers for better raw material sourcing: the effectiveness of their quality system, the ability of their processes, and the price they will offer. All three criteria are important for quality assurance.
2. Long-term cooperation with suppliers. Another imperative in Total Quality Management when it comes to supplier management is building long-term relationships with them.
3. Involvement of suppliers in product design. Will their current way of working be able to respond to your design and the resulting product specifications? Involving suppliers in the design stage will only ensure the timely preparation of all parties involved in value creation.
4. Education of suppliers. A company’s development must be coordinated with suppliers. So, supplier education can be one way to help your suppliers to achieve your specifications.

As you can see, you must work closely with your suppliers to ensure superior quality because supplier relationships are essential for achieving quality excellence.