Total Quality Management

Total Quality Management

Total Quality Management is an approach to management that was established or originated in the 1950’s and over the years has become a very popular and essential element to success in the business world. The concept of Total Quality Management references to the culture and attitude of an organization that is in continuous motion of improvement to provide top quality products and services to the customer base that will satisfy customer needs and wants (Padhi, 2008).

The culture and attitude of the organization is very important is respect to all levels of an organization and is what contributes to organizational operations. This means that processes and activities in production get completed correctly the first time and or meeting product standards that are put in place; eliminating defects and waste as much as possible from the organizational operations.

To help illustrate the meaning of the concept defined a definition of Total Quality Management will be given along with a discussion including a description of the impact of globalization on quality. Traditional management styles with quality-focused management styles will be evaluated and compared for differences. Lastly, will be an explanation of how Total Quality Management applies or should apply to an organization. According to Burrill and Ledolter (1999) the definition of Total Quality Management is:

Total Quality Management is a [holistic] business management methodology that aligns the activities of all employees in an organization with the common focus of customer satisfaction [to be achieved] through continuous improvement in the quality of all activities [processes], goods and services (pg. 35).

What this definition is saying is that Total Quality Management establishes emphasis on companywide quality, continued improvement, a quality oriented culture monitored very closely by management, and statistical tools that are used for designing and producing quality goods to the customer.

Globalization has become more and more popular as the years go by and affects people on a personal level by the products and services that are used as well as the professional level with increased opportunities and or job loss (J. Opinski, public presentation, February 1, 2008). Quality is affected in respects to global outsourcing, manufacturing, production, global supply chain issues, policies and procedures, culture and anything dealing with buying and selling in a foreign country.

The Total Quality Management concept actually originated globally, in Japan in the 1950’s (Burrill and Ledolter, 1999). By the 1980’s the Total Quality Management was beginning to become popular in the West. The United States of America is already behind on this concept because Japan has been doing this for over fifty years now which is a disadvantage for the United States organizations that want to go to the global level. The United States organization has to work a little harder to master the Total Quality Management Levels that Japan has, thus making Japan a very strong competitor with the globalization arena.

The management methodology not a fad or gimmick, it is a way of running a business (Burrill and Ledolter, 1999). The business culture needs changed and Total Quality Management must be focused on at all level of the business in order to get all levels aligned to achieve success.

The traditional management style does not function as customer driven, this form of management emphasizes on command and control. The decisions made in this form of management are made by the top or upper management and there is little to zero flexibility (Burrill and Ledolter, 1999). Thus creating slower response times, lack of creativity, there is lack of buy in and ownership at the employee level, and the employee works as instructed to do so. The employee comes to work, checks the brain at the door and when problems occur, the employee is to blame or the root of what the problem is.

In contrast, the quality management style will emphasize employee creativity and involvement and focus on quality which is an important aspect of total quality management. In quality management, the employees are encouraged