Total quality management, TQM, is currently recognized as an essential management tool that helps organizations to efficiently harness their human and material resources in order to achieve their end objectives (Poornima, 2009). TQM views the firm as a collection of its processes and aims to achieve continuous improvement by building the capacities of both workers and management. In this regard, this management philosophy helps organizations to make the right decisions at the right time in anticipation of future growth and success.

This article forms the introductory part of a case study titled “The Application of Six Sigma Methodology in Total Quality Management. A Case Study of Amazon” The rest of the paper can be accessed by clicking the link provided towards the end of this page.

In a broad sense, TQM stresses that quality management is crucial in managing sustainable organizations that meet the present needs of its clients without compromising the ability to meet the needs of future generations. Therefore, it is left upon these organizations to study their clients to understand their wants and plan a sustainable approach that will maintain a continuous long-term engagement with them (Poornima, 2009). It is estimated that by applying TQM principles, organizations can design products that suit their clients at an affordable price as they take full control of their product designs, streamline costs and reduce unnecessary processes that do not add any value to the organization (Mukherjee, 2006).

Several models, such as Juran’s Quality Trilogy Model, The Deming System of Profound Knowledge, and the Walter Shewhart “Obstacles to Success have been developed over the years to build collective individual, and organizational assets to improve the efficiency of its functions. It is noteworthy that these models continue to encourage concepts such as employee engagement, visionary leadership, a systems perspective, and constancy of purpose. This paper will discuss the context of these models and their teachings with respect to quality management. Moreover, the paper will analyse the Six Sigma method of total quality management by researching its application at Amazon.

Juran’s Trilogy Model of Total Quality Management

Juran Trilogy Model represents the concepts of quality control, quality planning, and quality improvement (Oakland, 2003). This model guides organizations on a series of processes of total quality management that effectively plan, monitor, and improve the quality of their products. According to the Juran Trilogy Model, managing for quality consists of 3 quality-oriented processes: quality planning, quality control, and quality improvement. The role of quality planning is to help organizations develop methods that will enable them to meet their goals under operating conditions. The purpose of quality control is to ensure organizations are working with optimal effectiveness under the necessary, correct processes. Lastly, the role of quality improvement is to help organizations come up with new innovative ways that help them improve their performance to unprecedented levels.

1. Quality planning

This phase is concerned with the design of products and processes that align with both organizational goals and client needs. Quality planning spans across all functions of the organizations, such as the design of new products, new production processes, or innovative ways of responding to client requests. Quality planning involves first identifying the potential clients of the firm and defining their needs. The organization then specifies the features of the product it intends to introduce to its clients at a minimum cost. Later, the firm decides on the design of processes that it used to produce these features under the prevailing operating conditions reliably.

2. Quality control

This stage aims to manage the organization’s daily operations to meet its quality goals (Slack, 2010). Some of the processes involved include choosing control subjects, measuring, choosing units of measurement, interpreting differences between measurement and goal, establishing a measurement procedure, and taking swift action to correct significant differences.

3. Quality Improvement

Quality Improvement allows organizations to remove defects in their products and address shortcomings in their planning processes (Slack, 2003). Some of the steps involved in the quality management phase include proving the need for improvement, identifying the projects or areas for improvement, organizing for diagnosis in case of defects, diagnosis of the causes of these problems, providing remedies, and proving for control to maintain gains.

The Deming System of Profound Knowledge

The Deming System of Profound Knowledge by Edward Deming makes a broad range of recommendations for excellence in total quality management. Deming understood that humans choose to follow a path of least resistance; thus, this could significantly have an impact on shaping their business model to accomplish their values, mission, and vision (Karapetrovic & Jonker, 2003). Therefore, Deming made an argument that for organizations to achieve their objectives, there had to be a radical transformation in their management style. This transformation will provide profound knowledge that will help stakeholders understand the organization and its main objectives. Therefore, the first step of this transformation is the transformation of the individual. It is estimated that a transformed individual will perceive new meaning to his life; thus, they will apply its principles to transform the organization (Poornima, 2009). 

According to Deming, a transformed individual will set a good example, continually teach other people, not compromise, and influence people towards a new philosophy. The layout of Deming’s profound knowledge appears in four parts that are related. They include Appreciation for the overall organizational system, theory of knowledge, knowledge about variation, and psychology.  Thus, the management needs first to understand the unique attributes of different individuals. According to Deming, process designs define employee performance. Therefore, management needs first to learn the psychology of their subordinates, and the psychology of change to be leaders of transformation (Oakland, 2003). The administration also needs a proper understanding of variation, including appreciating the common causes of variation and appreciating a stable system as part of their knowledge of people management and management of a system.

Walter A. Shewhart’s “Obstacles to Success”

Walter Shewhart believed that it was more important for organizations to be proactive and manage defects before they could negatively affect their business operations/models. In this regard, he believed that inspection should always come before production instead of carrying it out after the production process is complete (Shewhart, 1980). This way, organizations stood a much better chance of monitoring non-conforming items via a control chart, which he invented in 1924. According to Shewhart, organizations could detect these process variations through Statistical Process Control (SPC) (Shewhart, 1980).

The core principle of Statistical Process Control is to understand and manage process variation. The long-term objective of this process was to manage variations to allow organizations to meet customer requirements. Shewhart argued that the critical elements of achieving this objective included providing control systems, providing guidance towards continuous improvement, and evaluating capability.

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References

Karapetrovic, S., & Jonker, J. (2003). Integration of standardized management systems: searching for a recipe and ingredients. Total Quality Management and Business Excellence, 14(4), 451-459

Mukherjee P.N. (2006). Total Quality Management. New Delhi: Prentice Hall

Oakland, J. S. (2003). Total Quality Management: Text with Cases (Vol. 3rd ed). Oxford: Taylor & Francis

Poornima M. (2009). Total Quality Management. Dorlin Kindersley, India: Pearson Education.