Project on TQM

Description:

Total Quality Management is an approach to the art of management that originated in Japanese industry in the 1950s and has become steadily more popular in the West since the early 1980s.

Total Quality is a description of the culture, attitude, and organization of a company that aims to provide, and continue to provide, its customers with products and services that satisfy their needs. The culture requires quality in all aspects of the company's operations, with things being done right the first time and defects and waste eradicated from operations.

TQM is the way of managing for the future and is far wider in its application than just assuring product or service quality—it is a way of managing people and business processes to ensure complete customer satisfaction at every stage, internally and externally. TQM, combined with effective leadership, results in an organization doing the right things right the first time.

Many companies have difficulties in implementing TQM. Surveys by consulting firms have found that only 20-36% of companies that have undertaken TQM have achieved either significant or even tangible improvements in quality, productivity, competitiveness, or financial return. As a result, many people are sceptical about TQM. However, when you look at successful companies, you find a much higher percentage of successful TQM implementation.