Quality is a very subjective word as one thing which is liked by a customer may be disliked by another customer but when the majority of the customer of the company are satisfied with the quality then the company is able to become big and successful. Total quality management also known as TQM is one such concept that strives to maintain and improve the quality of the products or services offered by the company to its customers. Total quality management is an all-inclusive strategy that encompasses everyone who works for or with the company, from top management to front-line personnel. It emphasizes continuous improvement, which implies that the business is constantly searching for methods to enhance the quality of its products, services, and operational procedures. Let’s look at some of the important features of TQM –
Features of TQM
Customer Focus
The first and foremost feature of total quality management is that customers are at the center of all decision-making processes hence ensuring that the business will achieve and maintain high levels of quality. This indicates that consumer requirements and expectations are recognized and met through ongoing product and service improvement. In other words, a firm should regularly collect and analyze consumer feedback in addition to addressing client needs in order to enhance its goods and services.
Leadership
Leadership plays an important role when it comes to total quality management as TQM leader must have a clear vision of the desired outcome and the ability to communicate that vision to all employees, inspiring them to work towards it besides the leader should also ensure that the organization’s processes and systems are aligned with the TQM principles and that all employees are trained and educated on the TQM methodology so that there is no confusion or divergence in what company is trying to achieve.
Employees Involvement
In the case of total quality management employees are at the center because TQM involves all employees in the quality improvement process right from top to bottom and that is the reason why it also places emphasis on the importance of training and education for all employees. In simple words just like a computer is of no utility without a hard drive in the same way TQM is of no use if there is no active participation by all the employees working in the company.
Suppliers Role
In TQM, the company acknowledges that its suppliers are a crucial component of the overall quality system and work together with them to meet the total quality management objective. Hence by working together with the supplier a company may better understand potential quality problems, cut expenses, and enhance supply chain management efficiency. Hence while selecting the supplier the company should first check the supplier’s track record, the reputation of the supplier, and capabilities of the supplier and once the selection of supplier is done then the company should clearly mention to the supplier about the quality expectation and work ethics that the company wants from the supplier. Besides company should also do a regular assessment of the supplier so as to check whether the supplier is performing according to standards set by the company or not.
Continuous Process
TQM is not a one-time process rather it is a continuous process where the company strives to achieve Continuous improvement by focusing on making incremental improvements in the quality of products, services, and processes to meet or exceed customer expectations. Hence company uses a variety of methods like setting goals and targets for each department as well as the company, doing regular meetings with all department heads, monitoring the progress of each department, identifying problems and finding solutions to rectify the same, and so on. In simple words total quality management is a never-ending process that involves all employees and stakeholders in the organization.
As one can see from the above that total quality management has some unique features and companies implementing the TQM in their organizations should understand that TQM requires a great level of commitment not only from stakeholders but all the parties associated with the company.