Total Quality Management

Total Quality Management

Total quality management (TQM) is the process of monitoring and continually improving the quality of products while increasing productivity. Organizations large and small witness significant improvement of product quality and production levels when TQM is implemented properly. This paper will provide an explanation of TQM, compare and contrast traditional and quality-focused management styles, the impact of globalization on quality, and how TQM can benefit a specific organization.

Defining Total Quality Management

Total quality management should be broken down to understand the definition and impact of the management style. The term �total’ means complete or entire; in the business world the term �total’ is all encompassing from top management personnel to every employee an organization may have. Total includes every process and procedure relative to the organization’s product or service. Quality is the second component of TQM, but quality has a number of different perceived definitions, the most common, however, is “an essential or distinctive characteristic, property, or attribute” (Dictionary.com, 2008), others define �quality’ as a degree of excellence