TQM: History and Tenets

[PeachMonkey]

There were a great number of writers and thinkers who influenced the management catchphrase "Total Quality Management", or TQM.

(Supposedly) adopted by organizations of all kinds worldwide, TQM has suffered, like most such philosophies, from poor implementation and "buzzword"-isation, thus watering down its message and casting scepticism on its value.

As with most management philosophies, it's also generated a lot of self-referential jargon which I find irritating, and I think anyone should naturally be suspect of this sort of thing.

As with any philosophy, however, it is always best to judge it on its actual merits and what its originators actually said and believed.

The tenets of TQM sprung from the research of Dr. W Edward Deming. Deming had a difficult time convincing American businesses of its utility, at first, but during the post-WWII reconstruction of Japan, Japanese companies pounced on the philosophy with enthusiasm (reinforced as it was by a similar Japanese concept of "kaizen"). The philosophy was so successful in Japan that the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers instituted the Deming Prize to recognize companies that positively influence management and quality control in Japan.

TQM's focus on (unsurprisingly) quality output helped Japanese companies to quickly develop quality products that muscled American products out of their traditional markets. Many American companies, after getting spanked in this fashion, began implementing at least some portions of TQM, and in the process became more competitive.

Again, as with most such things, many, many people ignored the real lessons and simply paid it lip service.

More on the tenets in another post.

 

[PeachMonkey]

The fundamental concepts behind TQM are modern, sensible, and humane. In application, many organizations water-down or simply ignore those areas which are difficult to implement, seem too "touchy-feely", or impede on the egos of those in charge.

It is also entirely too common for implementors to miss the actual message, and instead focus on beating employees to death with details -- in the 80s and 90s we saw this with corporations that referred to employees as "stakeholders" rather than "employees" while still aggressively downsizing, and creating endless committees to generate "vision statements" while still not actually empowering anyone.

At its core, TQM understands that most people really want to do a good job, and do not need to be frightened, manipulated, micro-managed, or "bossed" into doing it -- on the contrary, management's role is to eliminate obstacles that get in the way of people doing their best.

Deming believed in fourteen universal principles, which I'll except here from his book "Out of the Crisis". I'll also add emphasis where I think it's interesting to do so.... usually because that particular tenet is commonly ignored.

1. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive and to stay in business, and to provide jobs.

2. Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. Western management must awaken to the challenge, must learn their responsibilities, and take on leadership for change.

3. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product in the first place.

4. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag. Instead, minimize total cost. Move toward a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.

5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs.

6. Institute training on the job.

7. Institute leadership The aim of supervision should be to help people and machines and gadgets to do a better job. Supervision of management is in need of overhaul as well as supervision of production workers.

8. Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company

9. Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team, to foresee problems of production and in use that may be encountered with the product or service.

10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force.

11a. Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute leadership.

b. Eliminate management by objective. Eliminate management by numbers, numerical goals. Substitute leadership.

12a. Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to joy of workmanship. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality.

b. Remove barriers that rob people in management and in engineering of their right to joy of workmanship. This means abolishment of the annual merit rating and of management by objective

13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.

14. Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody's job.

 

[PeachMonkey]

Deming also believed in five deadly diseases (yes, the jargon and alliteration is annoying) that prevent an organization from implementing TQM, and which much be eliminated. These I'll excerpt from http://tkdtutor.com/05Instructors/TQM.htm. Emphasis is, again, my own.

1. Bottom-line management. An organization that is only concerned with the bottom line and manages solely by-the-numbers is doomed to failure. Management is difficult work; a manager who relies heavily on numerical objectives is taking the easy way out. Managers must know the process, get involved in the process, understand the issues, and set examples for their subordinates to follow.

2. Evaluation using organized by-the-numbers performance appraisals. Evaluation using organized performance appraisals, merit ratings, or annual reviews of performance sometimes result in rankings, forced quotas, and many grading categories that act to create competition, which causes a breakdown of teamwork within an organization. Instead of using performance appraisals, managers should provide individual, personal comments to employees to help them improve.

3. Emphasis on short-term gains. When the workforce has had short-term gains rewarded in the past, there is the tendency for employees only to work toward short-term gains. Management must act to ensure employees believe the organization will give priority to long-term improvement over short-term gains.

4. Lack of consistency of purpose. When an organization has no consistency of purpose, the workers are unsure as to their continued evolvement in the organization. An organization must have a constantly pursued long-range plan that promises attention to quality.

5. Mobility of the work force. When employees are constantly leaving an organization, it is indicative of serious problems within the organization. Curing the other deadly diseases may help eliminate this disease. Management must take steps to ensure all employees feel they are an integral part of the organization.