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TQM – How to gain competitive advantage through quality?TQM or Total Quality Management is a management technique to achieve long-term profitability through customer satisfactionHome/Strategy/TQM – How to gain competitive advantage through quality? Show
Idea in shortAccording to Total Quality Management (TQM), every employee works to enhance the work culture, services, systems, procedures, and so on to ensure an organization's long-term success. TQM is a management method for an organization that relies on the participation of all members (including employees) and aims for long-term success through customer satisfaction. This strategy benefits all members of the organization as well as society as a whole. It is a continuous process of detecting and decreasing or eliminating manufacturing faults, optimizing supply chains, enhancing customer feedback through improved experience, and assuring properly trained staff. TQM or Total Quality Management is a management technique to achieve long-term profitability through customer satisfaction. All members of an organization participate in this by working to improve processes, products, services, and culture. TQM is defined as a customer-focused process that strives to continuously enhance business processes. It assures that all associated works (especially employee work) are directed toward the common aim of improving product or service quality. Furthermore, TQM helps improve the manufacturing process or the process of rendering services. However, the emphasis is on fact-based decision making, with performance indicators used to monitor performance. Though TQM originated in the process industry (manufacturing), other industries, such as banking, financial services, healthcare, etc. employ TQM to achieve sustainable, long-term change. OriginWalter A. Shewhart invented TQM in the form of statistical quality control. It was first used at Western Electric Company in the version developed by Joseph Juran. TQM was demonstrated on a grand scale by Japanese industry through the intervention of W. Edwards Deming, who is now considered the father of quality control, quality circles, and the quality movement in general as a result of his missionary labors in the United States and around the world. The goal of TQM is to:
Aspects of TQM
Characteristics of TQMThere are some very important characteristics of TQM.
Understanding TQMOverall, TQM is a collaborative use of strategy, data and effective communication to integrate discipline into the culture of the organization. It consists of 8 major principles: Customer focusSpecifically, TQM puts the focus back on the people buying any product or service. Customers determine the quality of the product. If the product fulfills the need and lasts as long or longer than expected, customers know that they have spent their money on a quality product. Therefore, when an organization understands what its customer wants or needs, it has a better chance of figuring out how to get the right materials, people, and processes in place to meet and exceed their expectations. Implementation
Benefits
Total employee commitmentOne can’t increase productivity, processes, or sales without total commitment of all employees. They need to understand the vision, mission and goals of the organisation. They must be sufficiently trained and proper resources must be provided to complete tasks in order to be committed towards reaching the set goals on time. Implementation
Benefits
Process approachAdhering to processes is critical in quality management. Processes ensure that proper steps are taken at the right time in order to ensure consistency and speedy production. Implementation
Benefits
Integrated SystemUsually, a business has many different departments, each with their specific functions and purposes. These departments and functions should be interconnected with horizontal processes that should be the focus of TQM. But sometimes these departments and functions operate in silos. In an integrated system, every employee in every department should have a thorough understanding of policies, standards, objectives, and processes. Integrated systems help the company to look for continual improvement in order to achieve an edge over its competitors. Implementation
Benefits
Strategic ApproachInternational Organization for Standardization, ISO defines this principle as:
Consequently, a strategic and systematic approach to achieve an organization’s vision, mission, and goals is needed to ensure quality improvement through the formulation of a strategic plan that integrates quality as a core component. In this, to maximize efficiency, many processes within a development or manufacturing cycle are controlled as a system of processes. Implementation
Benefits
Continual ImprovementContinual improvement drives an organization to be both analytical and creative in finding ways to become more competitive and more effective at meeting stakeholder expectations. Implementation
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Fact based Decision MakingTo understand the performance of an organization, TQM requires that an organization continually collect and analyze data in order to improve decision making accuracy, achieve consensus, and allow prediction based on past history. Implementation
Benefits TQM offers the ability to:
CommunicationDuring times of organizational change, as well as part of day-to-day operation, effective communications plays a large part in maintaining morale and in motivating employees at all levels. Communications involve strategies, method, and timeliness. Implementation
Benefits
Related TQM frameworks and thought leaders
Benefits of TQMSome important benefits of TQM:
Shortcomings of TQMSome drawbacks of TQM are:
SummaryQuality management(QM) ensures superior quality services and products. The quality of any service or product can be measured in terms of its durability, reliability, and performance. QM tools ensure changes in the processes and systems, resulting in superior quality services and products. The methods of quality management, like Six Sigma or TQM, have a common goal - to deliver a high-quality product. Customers need to be satisfied with your brand. Business marketers are successful only when they emphasize quality rather than quantity. Quality products or services ensure that you survive the cut-throat competition. Therefore, TQM implements close coordination between employers and employees in organization. It also fixes a strong feeling of teamwork among the employees. APAMLAHarvardVancouverChicagoIEEE Think Insights (October 21, 2022) TQM – How to gain competitive advantage through quality?. Retrieved from https://thinkinsights.net/strategy/tqm-framework/. "TQM – How to gain competitive advantage through quality?." Think Insights - October 21, 2022, https://thinkinsights.net/strategy/tqm-framework/ Think Insights January 4, 2022 TQM – How to gain competitive advantage through quality?., viewed October 21, 2022,<https://thinkinsights.net/strategy/tqm-framework/> Think Insights - TQM – How to gain competitive advantage through quality?. [Internet]. [Accessed October 21, 2022]. Available from: https://thinkinsights.net/strategy/tqm-framework/ "TQM – How to gain competitive advantage through quality?." Think Insights - Accessed October 21, 2022. https://thinkinsights.net/strategy/tqm-framework/ "TQM – How to gain competitive advantage through quality?." Think Insights [Online]. Available: https://thinkinsights.net/strategy/tqm-framework/. [Accessed: October 21, 2022] Was this article helpful? Yes No× We appreciate your feedback! We will use your feedback to improve the quality and diversity of our content. The more feedback you provide, the better our content will be. Meanwhile,
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I am Mithun Sridharan, Founder & Author of Think Insights and INTRVU. I am a Global Industry Advisor at a leading cloud technology company, where I advise CxOs & Executives at global corporations on their strategic initiatives. Previously, I served on leadership and executive roles at global Management Consulting & technology firms, such as KPMG, Sapient Consulting, Oracle, and EADS. My insights on this website are based on my 1st-hand client engagement experiences across Capital Markets, Automotive and Hi-tech verticals. Please feel free connect with me on LinkedIn.
I am a management student at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi interested in consulting and marketing. I have previously worked as a Software Engineer at Dell Technologies and am skilled in Salesforce Development, Web Development, Python and C++ and Data Science. I am also an avid reader with a deep interest in psychology.
I am Indu Yadav, currently pursuing an MBA (International Business) at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi. I am a self-directed educational professional with comprehensive accomplishments in hosting Learning and Development programs and successfully developing and executing plans in the complex academic environment for establishing the social and academic growth for the development of every child. I am an experienced Center Head with a demonstrated history of working in the education industry and a strong consulting professional with a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) in Biotechnology from the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jalandhar. I am accustomed to working in a multi-cultural environment that emphasizes inclusion and personal growth. Related PostsHow do you manage quality in an organization?there are actually, eight quality management principles and any organization must take these into account:. Customer focus.. Leadership.. Involvement of people.. Process approach.. System approach to management.. Continual improvement.. Factual approach to decision making.. Mutually beneficial supplier relationships.. How can a manager improve quality?6 Ways Quality Managers Can Build a Culture of Quality. Define Quality. There are many definitions of quality, including the one above. ... . Lead by Example. Be the quality you want to see in your employees and in your company. ... . Incentivize Quality. ... . Hire for Quality. ... . Aim for Continuous Improvement. ... . Adopt the Right Tools.. Why is it important for top management to support quality processes in the organization?Benefits of Quality Management
It helps an organization achieve greater consistency in tasks and activities that are involved in the production of products and services. It increases efficiency in processes, reduces wastage, and improves the use of time and other resources. It helps improve customer satisfaction.
How leaders can enhance the development of quality and sustaining capacity?Leadership for quality can be achieved by taking three essential steps: (1) committing to quality; (2) investing in quality; and (3) establishing core values to quality. Attaining quality does not occur overnight. It takes time and a lot of effort to implement quality in the company and in employees.
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