TQM

• Historical Evolution Stages of Total Quality Management

  • Quality Inspection
  • Quality Control
  • Quality Assurance
  • Total Quality Management
• Quality Inspection


  First stage of this development where in quality has been evident in human activities. The purpose of the inspection was that the poor quality product found by the inspectors would be separated from the acceptable quality product and then would be scrapped, reworked or sold as lower quality.
• Quality Control


  Second stage of TQM development and quality was controlled through supervised skills, written specification, measurement and standardization.
• Quality Assurance


  The third stage of this of this development contains all the previous stages in order to provide sufficient confidence that a product or service will satisfy customer's need. It developed other activities such as comprehensive quality manuals, use of cost of quality, development of process control and auditing of quality systems.
• Total Quality Management


  The fourth level involves the understanding and implementation of quality management principles and concept in every aspect of business activities.
• Experts who contributed to the development of Total Quality Management

  • Dr. Edward Deming
  • Dr. Joseph Juran
  • Philip Crosby
• Crosby's Four Absolutes

  • Definition of Quality – conformance to requirements
  • Quality System – prevention
  • Quality Standard – zero defects
  • Measurement of Quality – price of non-conformance
• Definitions of Quality

  • Transcendent (excellence)
  • Product-based (amount of desirable attribute)
  • User-based (fitness for use)
  • Manufacturing-based (conformance to specification)
  • Value-based (satisfaction relative to price)
• Exceptional


  These are three variations of this 'exceptional' concept: Traditional - this can be expressed as the distinctiveness, something special or high class; Excellence - there are two schools of thought about this definition of quality. First of all it relates to high standards and secondly it describes the 'zero defects'; Standards - a quality idea in this case is one that has passed a set of quality checks, where the checks are based on certain criteria in order to eliminate defective items.
• Perfection or Consistency


  The definition of perfection concentrates on process and with the help of proper specification, it transforms the 'traditional' idea of quality into something which can be achieved by everybody. Under this definition, conformance to specification takes the role of achieving benchmark standard. Here the complete perfection means making sure that everything is perfect and there are no defects. So the idea of perfection as a definition of quality suggests that it has a philosophy of prevention which is an essential part of quality culture. Here, the definition of quality focuses on everybody's involvements in quality improvement for achieving quality goals at each stage of the process.
• Fitness for Purpose


  This definition focuses on the relationship between the purpose of the product or services and it's quality. It examines each terms of the product or services in order to compare whether it fits its purpose. Fitness for purpose is used in order to propagate and measure the perfection. It if does not fit its purpose then this definition of quality may run a risk of being totally useless.
• Value for Money


  This definition of quality is described as the price you can afford to pay for your requirements at a reasonable cost, which means quality is compared with the level of specification and is directly related to cost. Here, quality is equated with value for money and is assessed against such criteria as standards and reliability. The value for money definition therefore suggests the idea of accountability (e.g. public services are accountable tot the Government).
• Transformative


  The transformative view of quality is rooted in the notion of 'qualitative change', a fundamental change form. Transformation is not restricted to apparent or physical transformation but also includes cognitive transcendence. This transformative notion of quality is well established in Western philosophy and can be found in the discussion of dialectal transforms in the works of Aristotle, Kant, Hegel and Marx. Müller and Funnell (1992) suggested that quality should be explored in terms of a wide range of factors leading to a notion of 'Value Addedness'. The second element of transformative quality is empowerment, (Harvey and Barrows, 1992). This involves giving power to participants to influence their own transformation. This is much more than the accountability to the consumer which is found in customer characters. Consumerist charters essentially keep producers and providers on their toes, but rarely affect the decision-making process or policy. The control remains with the producer or provider. Empowering the employee in order to capitalize on their knowledge and skills is a well established strategy in the business world (Stratton, 1988).