HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Total quality management (TQM) consists of organization-wide efforts to install and make
permanent a climate in which an organization continuously improves its ability to deliver highquality products and services to customers. While there is no widely agreed-upon approach,
TQM efforts typically draw heavily on the previously developed tools and techniques of quality
control. TQM enjoyed widespread attention during the late 1980s and early 1990s before being
overshadowed by ISO 9000, Lean manufacturing, and Six Sigma.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the developed countries of North America and Western
Europe suffered economically in the face of stiff competition from Japan's ability to produce
high-quality goods at competitive cost. For the first time since the start of the Industrial
Revolution, the United Kingdom became a net importer of finished goods. The United States
undertook its own soul-searching, expressed most pointedly in the television broadcast of If
Japan Can... Why Can't We? Firms began reexamining the techniques of quality control invented
over the past 50 years and how those techniques had been so successfully employed by the
Japanese. It was in the midst of this economic turmoil that TQM took root.
The exact origin of the term "total quality management" is uncertain.[1] It is almost certainly
inspired

by Armand

V.

Feigenbaum's

multi-edition

book Total

Quality

Control

(OCLC 299383303) and Kaoru Ishikawa's What Is Total Quality Control? The Japanese
Way (OCLC 11467749). It may have been first coined in the United Kingdom by the
Department of Trade and Industry during its 1983 "National Quality Campaign". Or it may have
been first coined in the United States by the Naval Air Systems Command to describe its qualityimprovement efforts in 1985.
Development in the United States
In the spring of 1984, an arm of the United States Navy asked some of its civilian researchers to
assess statistical process control and the work of several prominent quality consultants and to
make recommendations as to how to apply their approaches to improve the Navy's operational
effectiveness.[2] The recommendation was to adopt the teachings of The Navy branded the effort
"Total Quality Management" in 1985.
From the Navy, TQM spread throughout the US Federal Government, resulting in the following:

The creation of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in August 1987
The creation of the Federal Quality Institute in June 1988
The adoption of TQM by many elements of government and the armed forces, including
the United States Department of Defense,[4] United States Army,[5] and United States Coast
Guard[6]
The private sector followed suit, flocking to TQM principles not only as a means to recapture
market share from the Japanese, but also to remain competitive when bidding for contracts from
the Federal Government[7] since "total quality" requires involving suppliers, not just employees,
in process improvement efforts.
Features
There is no widespread agreement as to what TQM is and what actions it requires of
organizations,[8][9][10] however a review of the original United States Navy effort gives a rough
understanding of what is involved in TQM.
The key concepts in the TQM effort undertaken by the Navy in the 1980s include:[11]
"Quality is defined by customers' requirements."
"Top management has direct responsibility for quality improvement."
"Increased quality comes from systematic analysis and improvement of work processes."
"Quality improvement is a continuous effort and conducted throughout the organization."
The Navy used the following tools and techniques:
The PDCA cycle to drive issues to resolution
Ad hoc cross-functional teams (similar to quality circles) responsible for addressing immediate
process issues
Standing cross-functional teams responsible for the improvement of processes over the long term

Active management participation through steering committees

Use of the Seven Basic Tools of Quality to analyze quality-related issues
Notable definitions
While there is no generally accepted definition of TQM, several notable organizations have
attempted to define it. These include:
United States Department of Defense (1988)
"Total Quality Management (TQM) in the Department of Defense is a strategy for continuously
improving performance at every level, and in all areas of responsibility. It combines fundamental
management techniques, existing improvement efforts, and specialized technical tools under a
disciplined structure focused on continuously improving all processes. Improved performance is
directed at satisfying such broad goals as cost, quality, schedule, and mission need and
suitability. Increasing user satisfaction is the overriding objective. The TQM effort builds on the
pioneering work of Dr. W. E. Deming, Dr. J. H. Juran, and others, and benefits from both private
and public sector experience with continuous process improvement."[4]
British Standards Institution standard BS 7850-1:1992
"A management philosophy and company practices that aim to harness the human and material
resources of an organization in the most effective way to achieve the objectives of the
organization."[12]
International Organization for Standardization standard ISO 8402:1994
"A management approach of an organisation centred on quality, based on the participation of all
its members and aiming at long term success through customer satisfaction and benefits to all
members of the organisation and society."[13]
The American Society for Quality
"A term first used to describe a management approach to quality improvement. Since then, TQM
has taken on many meanings. Simply put, it is a management approach to long-term success
through customer satisfaction. TQM is based on all members of an organization participating in
improving processes, products, services and the culture in which they work. The methods for
implementing this approach are found in the teachings of such quality leaders as Philip B.

Crosby, W. Edwards Deming, Armand V. Feigenbaum, Kaoru Ishikawa and Joseph M.

Juran."[14]
The Chartered Quality Institute
"TQM is a philosophy for managing an organisation in a way which enables it to meet
stakeholder
Reference:Martnez-Lorente, Angel R.; Dewhurst, Frank; Dale, Barrie G. (1998), Total Quality
Management: Origins and Evolution of the Term, The TQM Magazine (Bingley, United
Kingdom:MCB University Publishers Ltd) 10 (5): 378386, doi:10.1108/09544789810231261
DEFINITION OF 'TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT - TQM'
The continuous process of reducing or eliminating errors in manufacturing, streamlining supply
chain management, improving the customer experience and ensuring that employees are up-tospeed with their training. Total quality management aims to hold all parties involved in the
production process as accountable for the overall quality of the final product or service.
Basic Concepts of TQM
While there are significant differences among the theorists and their approaches to
implementation, they share basic concepts that are the foundation of TQM.
Continuous Improvement of Quality:
Fundamental to all TQM systems is improving the quality of the products and services
provided by an organization. Such quality improvement results in greater productivity and
enhances the ability of an organization to remain vital, employ people, and serve customers. A
focus on continuous quality improvement helps an organization do things right.
Central Focus on the Customer:
Also central to all TQM is a focus on the customer, the internal and external recipients of an
organizations products. Their needs and desires define quality for the producer whose job it is
to meet or exceed the customers needs and expectations. A focus on customers helps an
organization to do the right things.
Systematic Improvement of Operations:
All work occurs in processes that begin and end somewhere. These work processes account for
80- 85 percent of the quality of work and productivity of employees. Management is

responsible for systems within an organization; therefore, managers, not employees, must
shoulder blame when something goes wrong with the system.
TQM calls for studying work processes quantitatively, using individuals or teams, to find
places that breakdowns or unnecessary complexities occur in processes, and then to identify
solutions that prevent them in the future. Study of work processes helps to reduce costs while
ensuring that quality is built into a service or product since quality cannot be inspected into it at
the end of the processes.
Open Work Environments:
Continuous quality improvement requires an atmosphere for innovation where suggestions for
improvement are solicited and respected and where supervisors and managers are open to
disagreement, conflict, and challenge. Activities for the improvement of work processes,
especially when teams are involved, help to break down barriers that occur between
departments or between supervisors and those supervised.
Long- Term Thinking:
TQM is also characterized by long- term thinking which helps mold the future by
understanding the consequences of current actions. Such thinking requires decision making that
is based on data, both hard and soft, and related to real problems, not symptoms. It requires
time. It shies away from quick fixes arrived at by discussion and intuition. Long- term thinking
works best in organizations where managers plan to stay, and thus have a stake in the
consequences of their decisions.
Development of Human Resources:
Organizations that follow TQM principles are organized to help people do their jobs; they are
seriously committed to employee learning and development. Such development begins with a
thorough orientation to the organization, including its mission, values, and information about
where the job fits into the organization. It involves educating people to perform to the quality
standards of a specific job before requiring them to work independently.
TQM expects managers to respect the ability of well trained employees to know the work they
do better than anyone, and therefore, to be the best at improving it. Human resource
development includes providing the training to learn the communication, quantitative, and
team- participation skills required in an open, quality improvement work environment.

Development programs provide extensive education to help individuals keep up- to- date on
their jobs and to prepare themselves for new responsibilities.
Management Responsibility for TQM Leadership:
Managers need to lead the transformation of the organization to the new culture of continuous
quality improvement. They must accept personal responsibility for continuous quality
improvement and be dedicated to empowering others in the organization to accept personal
responsibility for it, too. This approach taps the collective genius of the organization to identify
and solve problems. The leaders focus is on policy, structure, and systems to sustain
continuous quality improvement. Within this context, quality is the first among equals of the
organizations functions. Quality is at the top of the agenda for every meeting, every
communication. The leaders goal is to help people, things, and machines do a better job; the
leaders role is that of facilitator, catalyst, and coach.
As previously stated, TQM requires a cultural change. The TQM state for typical quality
elements. This change is substantial and will not be accomplished in a short period of time.
Small organizations will be able to make the transformation much faster than large
organizations.
Definition of Quality
The concept and vocabulary of quality is elusive. Different people interpret quality differently. Few can define
quality in measurable terms that can be operationalized. When asked what differentiate their product or service, the
banker will answer service, health care worker will answer quality health care, the hotel restaurant employee
will answer customer satisfaction, and the manufacturer will simply answer quality product. When pressed to
provide a specific definition and measurement, few can do so.
There is an old maxim in management that says, If you cant measure it, you cant manage it, and so it is with
quality. If strategic management systems and the competitive advantage are to be based on quality, every member
of the organization should be clear about this concept, definition, and measurement as it applies to his or her job.
Source: Total Quality Management by Joel E. Ross

Republic of the Philippines

OCCIDENTAL MINDORO STATE COLLEGE
Mamburao Campus

College of Business Administration and Management

Assignment
In
Total Quality Management
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration
Major in Financial Management

Submitted by:
Fernandez, Jesalyn N.
BSBA III-FM
Submitted to:
Mr. Leonard Panganiban Ramos
Instructor
November 11, 2014