TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM) in ORGANIZATIONS

Lecturer: Prof. Eldigario D. Gonzales, DPA, CSEE University Professor (SG30) Former President of PASUC, WMSU and SWU Former Deputy Secretary General, HUDCC

I. INTRODUCTION
- Brief history of administrative thought - Scientific Management , MBO, PPBS Reingineering - Performance Evaluation - Systems Model

Definitions of Total Quality Management

a)

Total implies applying the search for quality to every aspect of work, from identifying customer needs to aggressively evaluating whether the customer is satisfied.

QUALITY means meeting and exceeding customer satisfactions.

MANAGEMENT means developing and maintaining the organizational capacity to constantly improve quality.
Cohen and Brand, 1993, pp. xi-xii, cited by Mark Holzer in an article entitled Productivity and Quality Management

b) Quality is the key word for the TQM principle, which emphasizes that such value needs to be inculcated all throughout the organization, whether on products or services, extending from supplier to customer. Hence the word total

The American Society for Quality Control defines quality as the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs
Render and Heizer 1998:90

The importance of quality to private firms comes in the form of increased market share and cost savings. Likewise, quality precedes reputation.

TQM works on the assumption that constant improvement in quality is the key to success. The quality banner is interpreted not only as quality of product or service, but quality in its every manifestation, i.e., quality of work, quality of people, quality of objectives. TQM considers defects inefficiencies which if ignored would cost the organization much more had they been addressed earlier.

In the end, an organizations performance is measured not only in terms of outputs but also more importantly, in terms of client satisfaction.
Mangahas, J and Leyesa, Daryl, 1998

c) US Defense Department, 1992

TQM is both a philosophy and a set of guiding principles that represent the foundation of a continuously improving organization.

TQM is the application of quantitative methods and human resources to improve materials and services supplied to an organization, and the degree to which the needs of the customer are met, now and in the future.

d) The Federal Quality Institute, USA, 1992 TQM is a strategic integrated management system for achieving customer satisfaction through the involvement of all employees and continuous improvement of all the organizations processes and use of resources.

DEMINGS 14 POINTS FOR IMPLEMENTING QUALITY MANAGEMENT

1. Create consistency of purpose.

- focus on product and service improvement 2. Lead to promote change. - adoption of the corresponding management attitude - dynamism without losing purpose

3. Build quality into the product; stop depending on inspections to catch problems. - process improvements are there to achieve prevention rather than just wait for these defects to be detected

4. Build long-term relationships based on performance instead of awarding business on the basis of price. - sustaining partnership with suppliers 5. Continuously improve product; quality and service. - constantly improving product

6. Start training.
- training must be emphasized 7. Emphasize leadership. - empowered workforce 8. Drive out fear. - risk taking attitude of leaders

9. Break down barriers between departments. - promote team building 10. Stop haranguing workers. - promotes empowerment of workers, seeks to eliminate any form of tirade that only insults the employees

11. Support, help, and improve. - provides emphasis on support required for achieving it. 12. Remove barriers to pride in work. - example, abolitions of annual performance appraisal.

13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement. - members of the organization must enhance individual changes, especially in work assignments and functions

14. Put everybody in the company on the transformation - full transformation could be achieved when everyone in every level in the organization is involved in the full transformation of the organization.
Anschutz 1996: 17-28

SIX (6) QUALITYMANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES

1. Customer-centeredness

This is in consonance with the customer obsession component. TQM has been defined as a people-focused management system that aims at continual increase of customer satisfaction at continually lower cost (Roberts and Sergesketter 1993:2)

The customers are accorded the highest performance and TQM compels an organization to constantly improve its processes and do better according to their respective needs and expectations. However, some literatures emphasize that while customers constantly go to the organization for service, it does not necessarily mean they are satisfied.

2. Effective Leadership Deming highlights the importance of good leadership, citing that 80% of quality problems is caused by management, and 20% by employees (Domningo 1994:9). This does not mean downplaying the equally important role of the employees, but it just stresses where the responsibility

of establishing unity of purpose and direction lies. It is up to the leaders to create an environment that fosters total quality. The operating level of a company looks up to their leaders for direction and motivation. Thus, leaders are required to promote open communication and clear organizational vision. If management fails in this responsibility it is expected that discontinuities will follow.

3. Personal Involvement and Strategic Partnerships Personal involvement substantiates the empowerment component of total quality management. Empowerment of the people involved, i.e. employees and customers, develops into lasting partnerships, especially when each has identified his/her own personal growth and development with the organizations vision. This important connection between personal aspirations and actual work responsibility defines a more productive outcome that is personal leadership.

4. Systems and Process Approach - Process approach is deemed as an efficient manner of meeting requirements of both internal (employees) and external (clientele) customers. In this principle, there is the need to correlate the resources and activities involved with the responsibilities and interfacing of functions throughout the whole process. Troubleshooting of problems can be in the form of process improvements.

5. Continuous Improvement - Just like the kaizen practice of the Japanese, quality improvement should be seen as a continuous activity. Deming describes this through the Plan-DoCheck-Act cycle, said to have been first developed by Dr. Walter A. Shewhart (QMP 1998). The cycle, which actually refers to planning of activities implementing the plan- checking the result-improvement of the process, has now been standardized as benchmarks and criteria for several quality improvement efforts and practices.

6. Informed Decision Making - In the system approach, scientific method is cited as one the philosophical foundations to quality and process improvements. There is a need to practice management by fact more than management by opinion. Likewise, data and scientific reasoning have been employed to guide and evaluate performance and quality, in order to secure and build upon the gains from past improvements. This contends that only an informed decision can effectively guide the organization in achieving results.

TQM in a University Setting

- creation of a TQM office
FUNCTIONS: 1. Provides the leadership and management in the implementation of a University-wide TQM policies;

2. Provision of TQM Manual for all offices, to wit: (a) Office of the Student Affairs (b) Registrars Office (c) Admissions Office (d) Deans Office (e) Student Accounts Section (f) Guidance Center (g) University and College Libraries (h) HRDM (i) Scholarships Office

3. Monitors implementation of TQM processes 4. Regularly Evaluates TQM implementation 5. Upgrades policies and processes in accordance with new work ethics and , in consonance with competition.

CONCLUSION
In summary, TQM in essence is the continuous improvements in outputs and processes, that these improvements are in consonance with the clients perception of quality and value. In the end, an organizations performance is measured not only in terms of outputs but more importantly, in terms of client satisfaction.

In the industry, Alvin Tofler in his book Future Shock 1970, identifies 3 elements of Client satisfaction that the industry should do; 1. anticipate what customers want 2. create what customers want 3. change what customers want