Professional Documents
Culture Documents
balance the skills needed to blend them together. Beware of TQM's that do not address principles of both OD
and HRD.
What are the basic objectives of a TQM?
The same as any good management system: Customer Satisfaction. (External Customer loyalty and purchases.
Internal Customer commitment and outputs.)
What role does TQM play for sales managers?
This is often a missing link, as sales management can sometimes be seen as "less important" than operations
or financial managment. The same is true in government or not-for-profit organizations with public relations
aspects of managerial roles. My experience has shown that sales managment is key in several areas: 1)
Listening to the customer. 2) Translating customer demands/wants to engineering or designers. 3) Telling the
truth (bad news can be blocked if sales is shy or in fear of pleasing their superiors). 4) Controling expectations
of customers (ie. not promising undeliverable features or dates). Good TQM systems can give sales managers
(or PR managers) increased input and opportunities to share with other managers "market/customer realities."
TQM can place the focus upon "sharpening" an understanding of customer requriements. Methods that include
"listening" as well as "presenting" can result.