Total Quality Management - a brief note

The subject of Total Quality Management (TQM) is big and is still evolving despite its long history. A starting point to learn TQM is to examine the various definitions on the concept of "Quality". Quality can be classified into two types: (a) conformance quality and (b) quality of design.  For  Garvin (1998), quality can be defined in 5 ways: (a) Transcedent, (b) Product-based, (c) User-based, (d) Manufacturing-based, and (e) Value-based. Major TQM themes include (Tenner and Detoro, 1992):

  

1. Customer focus
2. Process improvement
3. Total involvement
4. Quality strategy development

There are 4 levels in TQM evolution, namely, inspection (lowest level) (level 0) to quality control (level 1) to quality assurance (level 2) and, finally to TQM (highest level) (level 3) (Dale, Boaden and Lascelles in Dale (1994)).  Learning the following TQM concepts is one way to study TQM while these TQM concepts can be synthesized in the evolutionary framework of TQM:

1. Cost of quality
2. Deming's 14 points
3. ISO9000
4. Kaizen
5. Quality
6. Quality circle
7. Quality control
8. Quality gurus
9. Quality tools

The TQM Journal published by Emerald is a relevant refereed journal on this subject.

  

References

1. Dale, B.G. (editor) (1994) Managing Quality, Prentice Hall.
2. Dale, B.G., Boaden, R.J. and Lascelles, D.M. "Total Quality Management: an overview" Chapter 1, pp. 3-40, in Dale, B.G. (editor) (1994) Managing Quality, Prentice Hall.
3. Garvin, D.A. (1988) Managing Quality, The Free Press.
4. Tenner, A.R. and DeToro, I.J. (1992) Total Quality Management, Addison-Wesley.