What is Total Quality Management (TQM)?

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a combination of quality and management tools aimed at increasing business and reducing losses due to wasteful practices. An important part of TQM is its philosophy toward continually improving your business and products.
The basic principles for the Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy of doing business are to satisfy the customer, satisfy the supplier, and continuously improve the business processes.

Globalization and Tqm

Implement Total Quality Management (TQM) requires regular review its performance and effectiveness. A typical management review meeting is held to review its implementation, project status and project performance. This article present a case study of a typical Management Review Meeting
I was in a management review meeting on 25 September 2007. The Agenda for the day was to review the progress of the Total Quality Management ( TQM ) in implementation in the organization.
A few days before the management meeting, I did some research into the TQM implementation data from several companies under this organization. I collated data such as Vision and Mission Statements, Strategic Planning worksheets, SWOT Analysis data, TQM implementation projects and their respective results etc.
I started to analysis these data and correlate the results with the key actions. I compiled those key actions that achieved the targeted results etc..... and presented to the management team. Despite having data to quantify the progress of the TQM implementation, the management team could not conclude whether the companies has succeeded in TQM implementation.

Quality of People

The key to TQM is people, and this implies both management and staff members at all levels. People are, when all is said and done, what makes it happen - or not. Engaging the hearts and minds of the people is the first milestone along the path to success.
For management, especially top management, issues to be addressed include:

• Vision Development
• Strategic Planning and Deployment
• Objectives and Measures
• Resource Management
• Leadership Styles
• Management Development

For the staff, issues to be addressed include:

• Skills and Competencies
• Organization & Job Design
• Performance Management
• Motivation
• Empowerment
• Facilitation and Problem Solving Skills
  

Systems and Work Processes

Organizations are systems! These systems are composed of a series of processes. An organizational system is a group of related processes. In order for managers to change elements of a system, they need to understand what a process is and how to define problems in operational ways. We will begin with defining the problem we want to solve in measurable terms. We will then introduce selective tools for measuring a work-related process. We will do so in order to produce some form of organizational change. We will employ a five step problem approach. This approach is designed to structure the way you as a manager approach problems. The SPC tools are designed to help you make your case. The focus on CPI is designed to underscore that management is a journey not a destination.

TQM Focuses on Continuous Improvement Rather than Major Breakthroughs to Produce Quality Improvements. A Culture Change.

Traditional management relies inordinately on technological advances such as automation and computers to produce improved quality and productivity. TQM does not ignore these breakthroughs, but places more value on small, incremental gains resulting from daily attention to enhancing how work is done, called continuous improvement by TQM. Continuous improvement relies on feedback from the customers both internal and external. This feedback is both informal, e.g. stakeholder analysis, and formal, e.g. focus groups and surveys. Because TQM is based on continuous process improvement it requires a long term change in organizational culture which must be accepted by those at the top of the organization.

TQM is customer not specialist driven.

Users of products or services define what they want rather than have their needs defined by specialists. In TQM, customer needs and expectations, not agency established standards, define quality. No matter how good your products and services are by some "objective" standard, they cannot have total quality unless they meet your customers needs. A customer is anyone who receives or uses what you produce or whose service satisfaction depends upon your actions. There are two general types of customers in TQM internal and external. An internal customer is someone in your organization whose part in the work process comes after yours. An external customer is the ultimate recipient of your product or service. TQM cannot be implemented unless it is a top down organization. TQM reflects a different paradigm of management. E.g. The chain on the automobile line in Japan versus U.S.

Management Leadership of TQM

Management leads the commitment and the organization's total effort to ensure that our goals are achieved. Management leadership means focusing on the vital few goals, aligning of activities, maintaining constancy of purpose, and creating an environment where employees are not fearful of exposing weaknesses. Managers show by example that TQM is supported in daily activities.

The common elements of a successful shift to TQM are:

• Top Management commitment / leadership.
• Shared Values - Policy Deployment.
• Line Management ownership.
• Cascade training in TQM - compulsory.
• Widespread use of teams / councils / committees.
• Employee involvement / empowerment.
• Recognition and celebration.
• Voice of the customer.
• Challenging quantified goals - benchmarking.
• Focus on processes / improvement plans.
• Specific incorporation in strategic planning.

Appoint a representative or coordinator

We have to identify and nominate a senior executive to coordinate TQM activities in the organization. This person should have some qualities like belief in the process, good communicator, friendly and caring, good listener, good facilitator etc. He should also have good knowledge about the organization and report directly to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). It should always be remembered that responsibility and accountability of TQM remains with Chief Executive and TQM coordinator merely helps while performing the task.

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TQM Principles

Specifics related to the framework and implementation of TQM vary between different management professionals and TQM program facilitators, and the passage of time has inevitably brought changes in TQM emphases and language. But all TQM philosophies share common threads that emphasize quality, teamwork, and proactive philosophies of management and process improvement. As Howard Weiss and Mark Gershon observed in Production and Operations Management, "the terms quality management, quality control, and quality assurance often are used interchangeably. Regardless of the term used within any business, this function is directly responsible for the continual evaluation of the effectiveness of the total quality system." They go on to delineate the basic elements of total quality management as expounded by the American Society for Quality Control:
1) policy, planning, and administration;
2) product design and design change control;
3) control of purchased material;
4) production quality control;
5) user contact and field performance;
6) corrective action; and
7) employee selection, training, and motivation.

What we do to accomplish that:

We support and promote a total quality management culture. By providing appropriate sources we encourage improvements and employees’ initiative. Our plans and strategies are updated in accordance with market demands. Based on benchmarking and achieved results we set achievable objectives. We plan and develop our human resources. All our employees are pulled into continual improvement process through team work and responsibility delegation. To achieve top quality and set targets we facilitate our existing sources. All processes, inclusive supportive ones, are systematically controlled and tried. We make use of people’s creativity for innovation and process improvement.

A TQM perspective

The global business environment becomes more and more turbulent, as future seems to be more unpredictable, as choice increases and as people become more aware, quality management becomes more and more indispensable.
While human endeavour enters ever-widening spheres of existence, it is easy to become obsessed with one’s own activity, and believe it to be fundamentally different to that of everyone else. Once taken back to first-principles, though, it will be seen that it is not so. The basic rules, concepts and relationships exist in all working situations. This means that everyone can learn from the experience of any other organisation, indeed that they must learn to extract the better aspects of other types of enterprises. Disgruntled doctors or teachers may mutter that they are not working in a factory, and thus industrial methods are not their concern, but this demonstrates a remarkable ignorance of the basic economic facts of life and of the interdependence of all forms of life so vital for survival of all species.
TQM promotes the ability of any organisation to generate wealth in the long-term for the betterment of everyone concerned, seeking to provide the means of achieving increased productivity. A basic tenet of TQM is that wealth can only be derived, in the long term, from satisfied customers. Thus the main function of any business engaged in TQM is the generation of wealth via, customer satisfaction.

Focus on Quality and Prevention of Problems

Many definitions of quality exist. I define quality as consistently producing what the customer wants while reducing errors before and after delivery to the customer. More importantly, however, quality is not so much an outcome as a never ending process of continually improving the quality of what your company, organization or family produces.
TQM emphasizes detecting potential problems before they occur. A defect for this definition can be an imperfect product or one that just doesn't live up to customer expectation. Failure to prevent defects has several consequences:

1. The need to inspect other people finished work, rather than relying on the worker's own motivation and skill. This inspection requires extra people and resources.
2. If another employee (a supervisor or perhaps a "checker") finds errors, someone must fix the error, causing extra time and workload, or scrap it with all the accompanying waste;
3. If customers find the errors, this can cause dissatisfaction, loss of customer confidence, and perhaps loss of customers themselves.
   

How Workflow help in Quality Management System

Workflow is a modern method for passing information from source to user in a continuous stream of data. It is analogous to passing paper from one person to another to get opinions, reviews, comments, authorization and signing off on the information contained on that paper. This 'paper' is passed around by means of network systems and not interoffice envelopes.
Additionally workflow is not only meant for passing document throughout the company electronically but also actual tasks routing. Workflow incorporates the mapping and controlling of business processes knowledge governed by set of predefined rules and procedures so that it is intelligent to pass information within organizations.
By implementing workflow in QMS, it could help improve efficiency by automating many business processes and eliminating unnecessary steps, and improve control over the processes by standardizing the work methods. By making the processing information more consistent, it improves customers service because there are now more predictable levels of response to customers.

IMPLEMENTATION & TRACKING

When the organized teams demonstrate effective functioning in problem solving situations, they select the problems to work on, as quality initiatives, that directly impact the designated objectives. As selected problems are resolved, summary reports to executive management are presented, highlighting the improvement in the designated quality objectives. Once in place, the process continues indefinitely as Continuous Improvement.

Total quality management: origins and evolution of the term

The focus of this paper is to trace the origins of the term TQM and clarify the different definitions employed by academics and practitioners. Feigenbaum and Ishikawa are perhaps the greatest contributors to the development of the term. The other recognized quality management gurus such as Crosby, Deming and Juran have shaped the dimensions, practices and mechanism which underpin the concept, but it is noted that none of these three actually uses the TQM term. TQM started to be used in the mid-1980s and only became a recognized part of the quality-related language in the late 1980s. The paper also analyses the key dimensions of TQM and traces their origins.
The focus of this paper is to trace the origins of the term TQM and clarify the different definitions employed by academics and practitioners. Feigenbaum and Ishikawa are perhaps the greatest contributors to the development of the term. The other recognized quality management gurus such as Crosby, Deming and Juran have shaped the dimensions, practices and mechanism which underpin the concept, but it is noted that none of these three actually uses the TQM term. TQM started to be used in the mid-1980s and only became a recognized part of the quality-related language in the late 1980s. The paper also analyses the key dimensions of TQM and traces their origins.

Institutionalization of TQM

These processes are concerned with congruence among these variables:
1) the change with the organization,
2) the change with other changes initiated at the time,
3) the change with environmental demands, and
4) with the level of slack resources in the organization.
TQM needs to be congruent with the organization's current culture, and with other changes occurring in the organization. In a period of diminishing resources, organizations are likely to be trying to cope, by downsizing or other methods. In some organizations there are increasing demands for quality or client service improvements. Many such changes are likely to be driven by external demands, and TQM may be more likely to be successful than at times of less environmental pressure. Unfortunately, the fourth element, slack resources, is likely to be present: under current conditions, extra resources (money and staff time) are less likely to be easily available. The challenge is to find a way to make the initial investment outlay to start a process which will pay off in the long term.
Institutionalization may also be enhanced by overlaying another, but compatible, change model: the learning organization. This involves, at both the micro and systems levels, staff always learning how to do better and management learning how to be more responsive to staff and the community. Leaders help staff develop their own visions and align these with the organization's vision of quality. This is a very comforting model for leaders and or organizations who like or need change more slowly.

Education and communication

Education and communication Each of our case study companies had placed great emphasis on this; through a variety of vehicles — videos, briefing, magazines, newsletters and notice boards, etc. so as to promulgate and reinforce the quality message. As Ishikawa (1985) says — “Quality begins and ends with education”.However, the evidence suggests that it is inadequate for senior management to express their commitment solely through communicating vision and mission statements. The “levers” at the disposal of the Personnel Department may be more powerful in providing clear messages of change and taking this message beyond the talking stage. We find our companies supporting the quality message through the adaptation of personnel practices arid the development of new communications channels between management and non-managerial employees.

Concept of Control in Total Quality Management

The essence of control is actions which adjust operation’s predetermined standards, and its basis is information in the hands of managers. Usually whenever we think of term control, we imply that we are talking about controls in place in industrial or technical setup. However, control, including quality control, also involves office productivity, such as improved customer service, elimination of bottlenecks and reduction in paperwork mistakes.
Control can focus on events before, during or after a process. For example, a local car dealer can focus on activities before, during or after sales of new cars. Careful inspection of new cars and cautious selection of sales employees are ways to ensure high quality profitable sales even before those sales take place.
Monitoring the way sales people act with customers would be considered control during the sales task. Counting the number new cars sold during the month or telephone buyers about their dissatisfaction with the sale transactions would control after sales have occurred

Barriers to Applying TQM in the Classroom

Applying the TQM principle of continuous quality improvement to teaching requires an understanding of faculty discomfort with and resistance to the business-oriented approach of the TQM model. Schauerman and Peachy (1994), Heverly (1994), and Chaffee and Sherr (1992) describe some of the barriers to translating TQM to the classroom:

• faculty resistance to the notion of the student as customer or beneficiary;
• faculty resistance to interference in their disciplinary and teaching expertise;
• differences between faculty and TQM reward and recognition systems;
• threats to academic freedom;
• Costs of TQM training, which take away from direct classroom support.
  

The Consultants provide the following services

1. Preparing the organization to transform to the concept of TQM through organization to quality.
2. Diffusing common concepts of TQM (TQM culture) through concurrent organizational activities covering the company from the general management level to production lines.
3. Preparing the teams leaders and team members to contribute positively through training on the tools of continuous improvement.
4. Providing the first group of the continuous improvement teams with technical and administrative consultations from its formation till giving the final recommendations to the top management through establishing "Continuous Improvement Teams Care".
   
   

TQM is the foundation for activities which include;

1. Meeting Customer Requirements
2. Reducing Development Cycle Times
3. Just In Time/Demand Flow Manufacturing
4. Improvement Teams
5. Reducing Product and Service Costs
6. Improving Administrative Systems

TQM can be seen as a mixture of:

1. Quality culture — ensuring people understand and act to build quality in, to 'get it right first time' to take responsibility for fixing problems at source rather than passing them on, etc.
2. Quality strategy — a clear direction for quality improvement and sustainability, accompanied by measures and effective policy deployment
3. quality improvement — effectively making use of all the capabilities within the organisation to review and strive for continuous improvement in quality
4. Quality tools — which help support the above activities.

What is TQM and why is it a problem?

• Become familiar with examples of TQM using case studies or videos.
• Discuss whether what happened in the videos is similar to what is going on in your local.
• Identify the problems that workers face when they agree to TQM.
  
  
  

Quality improvement teams and quality circles comprised of only one department and there is little or no interaction with other departments

The task which has been stated needs a winning combination of quality experts and functional experts from all over the organization lead by brainpower as the quality management representative. The contribution from the whole organization means representatives from almost all departments if possible, but it is not necessary. The people here must be familiar with the organization’s whole processes in order to carry forward the quality proceedings in a functional way. The coordination between the quality team and all departments of the organization is necessary otherwise it will create a bottleneck condition in the quality proceedings.

Some reasons given for TQM failures

Research of several studies by writers who have reflected on TQM identifies the main reason for TQM’s apparent failure to stem from the perception that TQM is a management fad that implements quality by measurement without securing employee commitment. It would indeed appear that TQM has certain inherent flaws and often does not work, even in organisations that desperately need quality improvements. Its critics maintain that it:

1. focuses people’s attention on internal processes rather than external results;
2. is based on minimum standards while ignoring personal experience;
3. develops its own cumbersome bureaucracy;
4. delegates quality to quality projects and efforts rather than to real people;
5. does not demand vertical organisational reforms;
6. does not impose changes in management compensation (i.e. linking performance to compensation);
7. does not demand an entirely new relationship with outside partners;
8. could fall in the trap of appealing to weaker managers who rely on fads, personal egos and quick fixes

TQM & Employee Ownership-Natural Synergy

One of the apparent shortcomings of quality experiments to date has been maintaining the kind of consistent, long-term level of employee involvement and effort that real TQM demands. When internal customers are comprised of owners, however, there is reason to believe that the TQM disciplines are much more likely to be sustained. Total Quality teaches employees how to convert employee-owner self-interest into effective organizational work practices that serve customers.

Summary of TQM

The Agricultural Service Laboratory first recognized the need to consider the end customer's satisfaction with its services. It then began a TQM evaluation by surveying end customers and internal customers. The surveys showed that the laboratory needs to take certain steps to improve customer satisfaction. First, it needs to continue implementing the means of optimizing turn-around time for laboratory reports. Second, it needs to evaluate how to improve the appearance of its reports.
TQM is a process of continuous improvement that is applicable to the entire Cooperative Extension network. The use of customer surveys is a valuable starting point for any TQM effort. It helps to ensure that change is directed towards satisfying the customer. Also, it encourages continual change. As one improvement is made, another need is identified and the search to develop a method of meeting this need or removing a cause of dissatisfaction begins.

Comparison with Six Sigma

TQM and Six Sigma have a number of similarities including the following:

• A customer orientation and focus
• A process view of work
• A continuous improvement mindset
• A goal of improving all aspects and functions of the organizations
• Data-based decision making
• Benefits depend highly on effective implementation
  

What are the components of Total Quality Management?

Total Quality Management is made up of three components. These components must work in harmony for the precept of TQM to work.
Trust: All involved with a product, company, system, etc. must inherently trust everyone else to do their job, without concern that the company will fail.
An example of inherent trust occurs on a baseball team. When an opponent hits the ball, the defending team's players never question whether their teammates will do their best to cause the opponent to be "out." The same is true at work; everyone in an organization must believe that the rest of the organization is doing their best for their business
Customer Focus: The customer is not always going to be right. At times, the customer will come to a supplier and request something that is not possible. It is at those times that the supplier must, gently, teach the customer about why they cannot have what they want.
The customer may not be right, but the customer must be treated with respect. Thus, for TQM to work, you must focus on the customer. That customer must always feel that they are the most important thing in the world to your company.
Process Management: Process Management is where the "Rubber Meets the Road." Processes must be controlled at all times and they must be managed for improvements. The PDSA cycle will allow you to control, manage and improve your processes.
But, for the PDSA cycle to work, the Will to Improve must be instilled in everyone in the organization. Developing the will to improve is one of TQM's largest hurdles. It is often the point that TQM programs fall apart due to a lack of commitment to improvement or an inability to change. Improving demands change, so people must be receptive to both.

This case study demonstrates several principles of TQM and Six Sigma:

• What cannot be measured, cannot be improved. (Establishing service standards and the use of sigma and control charts for on-time delivery of services were essential in making improvements.)
• It is important to develop customer-oriented metrics.
• Mindset change is crucial to the success of any improvement effort.
• Standardizing the improvement can take longer than the improvement itself. (It is still continuing in this application.)
• There is value in step-by-step improvement and continuous improvement
  

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Gain access to the experience of other individuals

• Gain access to the experience of other individuals
• Obtain new ideas from various industry sectors and various countries
• Opportunity to influence EFQM strategy through representation
• European benchmarking, best practice, knowledge sharing in a specific arena
• A network for identifying common issues and problems, and developing solutions
  

So far, the implementation has been ina manufacturing environment. What is being done to bring TQM to the services industry?

Quality is very crucial in the service industry. There is a large scope for Daily Work Management to better processes in the sector where the delivery time to the customer is much shorter than the manufacturing sector. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) plans to accommodate a TQM cluster for the service industry in Mumbai next year.

Has Indian industry accepted that there is a link between TQM and healthy bottomlines?

There is certainly a correlation between the company's performance and the application of TQM. The essential purpose of TQM is to add value to the customer, which results in better product performance in the market hence adding to the company bottomline. If a company is able to increase productivity and efficiency while cutting down on costs with the help of DWM, profits are bound to go up.

ABOUT THE TQM PROGRAM

TQM is a high anxiety issue because it impacts every level of your company. TQM is evolving, and its effects are sometimes mystifying — especially as it impacts new business. This two-part video demystifies the TQM phenomenon and its new-business proposal aspects.
TQM is a high anxiety issue because it impacts every level of your company. TQM is evolving, and its effects are sometimes mystifying — especially as it impacts new business. This two-part video demystifies the TQM phenomenon and its new-business proposal aspects.
The second video (Part II) shows you how TQM specifically fits into new-business proposals. Current government and industry RFPs often ask for TQM in some form or another. Mr. Anderson shows you the requirements to expect and the responses you must provide to score well in TQM. Learn in great detail how to construct a detailed TQM implementation plan, one that proves your company has successfully installed TQM. You will see the correct way to substantiate your TQM prowess, through proposal text and graphics — demonstrating that you should be the winner!

The Framework

Using our TQM framework as a guide, our expert consultation can help implement or enhance TQM efforts in your organization.
We can provide the education and guidance necessary to gain commitment from the top so a simple organizational vision can be determined. We also work closely with all leaders to ensure an understanding of the awareness and communication activities necessary for TQM efforts to be successful. Support systems are also reviewed to make sure desired behaviors are being reinforced within the organization's culture.

Five Main Advantages of TQM

• Encourages a strategic approach to management at the operational level through involving multiple departments in cross-functional improvements and systemic innovation processes
• Provides high return on investment through improving efficiency
• Works equally well for service and manufacturing sectors
• Allows organizations to take advantage of developments that enable managing operations as cross-functional processes
• Fits an orientation toward inter-organizational collaboration and strategic alliances through establishing a culture of collaboration among different department within organization.
  
  
  
  

Management is not fully committed and reverts to meeting short-term goals.

One of the basic factors responsible for the effective implementation of ISO 9000:2000 is the Quality Management and its strong commitment towards the process. In case of facing certain conditions requiring short term planning, such objectives might have been defined which are totally the reversal of quality policy. These scapegoats really affect the quality policies. It shows the lack of management's commitment towards the quality goals. When Quality is compromised with the timely benefits, it definitely increases the failure cost and the massive drain of resources. The failure cost thus lead to decelerate the market share and future revenues.

Basic Steps for Marketing Library and Information Services

Libraries and information centers of all types and sizes are faced with the need to market. Librarians and information professionals must learn to effectively market and advertise their services.
Competition for customers - Libraries are part of a highly competitive service industry. Competition comes from mega-bookstores, online book dealers, consultants, the Internet, and individuals who feel they can go it alone. Libraries are no longer the only information show in town. Free web access to information is here to stay and non-library and fee access information providers won't hesitate to market to library customers.
Competition for resources - Libraries of all types have to compete with other organizations or departments for funds. Public libraries have to vie for public monies that provide for their existence. Special libraries find their funding is frequently targeted during parent organisation budget cuts. Marketing library services benefits the bottom line.
Stop being taken for granted - Libraries need to convey what is unique about the access and services they provide. Both customers and librarians cannot assume that libraries will always be available.
Promote an updated image - Librarians are not perceived as well-trained, technologically savvy information experts. Most customers do not see the demanding information management responsibilities of a librarian.
Visibility - Librarians are not on the radar screens of many people who think of themselves as information literate. People who are in positions to employ librarians are not reading much in their professional literature about a librarian's value.

Management Commitment is Essential:

Commitment is essential during implementation as well as following registration. If the commitment focuses on obtaining registration, rather than long term performance improvement through TQM, the bottom line results may be lessened. Although senior management commitment and education are essential, ISO 9000 registration and continuous improvement process implementation take place at middle management levels. Middle managers must be equally committed to, and educated about, ISO and TQM.

Employee perceptions of HRM and TQM, and the effects on satisfaction and intention to leave

there is a growing interest in theory and in practice with regard to the relationship between human resource management (HRM) and total quality management (TQM), as well as the relationship between these two perspectives and business performance.

Hard” and “soft” aspects of TQM

TQM has both “hard” and “soft” aspects. The former emphasizes systems, precise data collection and measurement and involves a range of production techniques, including statistical process control, changes in the layout, design processes and procedures of the organisation, and most importantly the seven basic TQM tools used to interpret data: process flow charting, tally charts, pareto analysis, scatter diagrams, histograms, control charts and cause and effect analysis. TQM is based on the premise that all activities in a firm contribute to quality. Thus it is important that a firm’s activities and procedures are documented so that their effects for quality are understood by everybody. The emphasis on the hard aspects reflects the production orientation of many of the TQM gurus.

What are the essential elements of TQM in education?

In a TQM school or college, improvement teams and individuals are constantly working on improving service to customers. The concept of a service being "good enough" is considered inadequate. Thorough understanding of the differences between traditional and TQM schools is best developed in a dynamic seminar, not in a simple written guide. Therefore, this guide is intended to supplement such a seminar. Each of the following elements is very important for fully realizing the potential of TQM in education:
Awareness and Commitment for Everyone

The linguistic, kinesthetic, visual, and/or mathematical talents of a student will not be developed to their fullest potential unless EVERY member of a teaching-learning partnership promotes the highest possible quality at each step in the development process. A transformation from "good-enough" or traditional education (where marks or grades of "A" and "B" are good enough even if they do not represent best work) should begin with everyone being made aware of the potential and the elements of TQM. An excellent way to begin is with a total staff meeting with parents and school board members participating. The meeting can provide:

• A dynamic overview of TQM elements and potential by one or more presenters who have experienced both and

A Clear Mission
Managing continuous movement toward progressively higher quality standards depends on defining those standards. If a TQM steering committee is formed in a school (See element #10a.), it should determine the answer to this question--Does the school have a clear, customer-focused mission statement and a functioning process for divisions and/or departments translating this statement into exit outcomes for graduates? If the answer is "no", that problem must be addressed with local, state, national, and employer standards.
Teaming Replacing Hierarchy
The hierarchical organizations of yesterday are still dominant in too many businesses and schools. Such organizations tend to promote individual effort "good enough" to satisfy a supervisor who sometimes knows less about how to achieve quality than those he/she supervises. Cross-department teams can and do promote stronger improvement if they are:
a. Given a clear mission and strong authority
b. Supported rather than hampered by supervisors.

Business Survival: The TQM Imperative

• Introductions, Objectives, and Warm-up Exercise
• Customer Focus and Satisfaction
• The Value Adding Chain
• Quality Criteria and Quality Products
• Competition and Benchmarking
  

ISO 9001:2008: what are the new requirements of the new standard?

ISO 9001:2008: what are the new requirements of the new standard?

Who is the Customer?

Customers for an information system are many and varied. They include, of course, those individuals who directly use the system to perform their work tasks. These are the "users," and are normally easy to identify. For example, clerks in the Personnel and Accounting departments are users of a Payroll System. For TQM purposes, all users are customers.
Those in management who authorize, request, budget and approve information systems are customers. Without their participation, there would be no systems work to perform. These individuals are most often different from the users of the system. Many levels of management may need to review and approve the decision to implement a new Payroll System, and while they may never interact directly with the system, they certainly have requirements.
Many customers may receive outputs from an information system. These are indirect customers, and they may have very specific requirements. Employees receive their paychecks from a Payroll System. Government agencies have requirements for a Payroll System, as do banks, auditors and providers of employee benefits, to name just a few.
Those individuals who must operate and maintain a system are also customers and have specific requirements. These are internal customers whose requirements must be met if they, in turn, are to meet the requirements of their customers. The computer operator must be able to accurately print paychecks and payroll reports if the requirements of users and employees are to be met. Likewise, the maintenance programmer must be able to implement necessary changes over time if the Payroll System is to continue to meet the needs of other customers.

Applying TQM to Information Systems

To successfully apply TQM to I.S., we must concentrate on three things:

• Identify all our customers, both internal and external.
• Define customer requirements and expectations.
• Deliver information products and services which meet, or exceed, defined requirements.

Limitation of Liability

1. TQM INTERNATIONAL CO. LTD makes no representations or warranty about the validity, accuracy, correctness, reliability, quality, stability, and/or other problems with the information, products and services provided except warranty expressly stated herein. We advised you to contact our sales department to get more about our warranty (if any) before you make purchase.
2. TQM INTERNATIONAL CO. LTD is not responsible for any delay in shipping the unit purchased/ordered. But we always help you to sort out any problem if it is under our control.
3. Customers are solely responsible for all of the terms and conditions of the transactions conducted on, through or as a result of use of the site, including, without limitation, terms regarding payment, returns, warranty, shipping, insurance, fees, taxes, title, licenses, fines, permits, handling, transportation and storage.
4. Under no circumstances shall TQM INTERNATIONAL CO. LTD be held liable for a delay or failure or disruption of the content or services delivered resulting directly or indirectly from acts of nature, forces or causes beyond its reasonable control, including without limitation, Internet failures, computer, telecommunications or any other equipment failures, electrical power failures, strikes, labor disputes, riots, insurrections, civil disturbances, shortages of labor or materials, fires, flood, storms, explosions, Acts of God, war, governmental actions, orders of domestic or foreign courts or tribunals or non-performance of third parties.