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Total Quality Management (TQM)
MODULE No. 2
TQM Evolution
Introduction
Total Quality Management (TQM) is customer
oriented management philosophy and strategy.
It is centered on quality so as to result in
customer delight. The word “Total” implies that
all members of the organization make consistent
efforts to achieve the objective of customer
delight through systematic efforts for
improvement of the organization.
TQM addresses the concepts of product quality,
process control, quality assurance and quality
improvement, all of which are aimed at customer
delight. Therefore, it is important to get the right
meaning, interpretation and understanding of the
term quality and related term. This will provide a
strong foundation for TQM.
Definition of Quality
Juran, one of the quality guru, defined quality as
fitness for use. A very concise definition indeed,
for a term that has so many dimensions !
Quality of a product or service in simple terms is
its suitability for use by the customer. Quality
has to be perceived by the customer.
Perception of the supplier is also important, but
the customer experience of quality of a product
or service is more important. Quality does not
mean an expensive product ; on the contrary, it
is fitness for use of the customer.
Dimensions of Quality
Quality has many dimensions. The dimension of
quality are nothing, but the various features of a
product or service.
Product Quality
Functionality refers to the core features and
characteristics of a product. The definition of
functionality as per ISO / IEC 9126 : 1991 :
“A set of attributes that bear on the existence of
a set of functions and their specified properties.
The functions are those that satisfy stated or
implied needs.”
For instance, a car has to have a seating
capacity for five persons ; a steering wheel, an
accelerator, a break, a clutch, head lights, gears,
four wheels, etc. The functionality of a car
represents each one of the functions mentioned
above and many others listed above. Thus,
functionality refers to those functions that will
satisfy a customer.
Reliability. A car should not breakdown often.
This is the reliability attribute to quality.
Reliability is measured by mean (average) time
between failures (MTBF). Reliability is an
indicator of durability of products. For instance,
the MTBF of a car can be specified as 1000
hours of running or 10000 kilometers.
Usability. A product should be easily usable.
The customer should be able to use the product
easily without the help of experts. For instance,
repairing a car may need the help of a
mechanic, but the car can be driven by the
owner himself, if he is trained accordingly.
Thus, each product should be made so that a
person can use if with minimum training.
Usability can also be measured by the time
taken for training an operator for error-free
operation of a system.
Maintainability refers to the ease with which a
product can be maintained in the original
condition. Products may be become defective
while in use or in transit. It should be repairable
so as to retain the original quality of the product
at the lowest cost at the earliest possible time.
Efficiency. This is applicable to most products.
Efficiency is the ratio of output to input. If a car
gives a mileage of 20 kms per litre of gasoline
and another car with identical features gives 15
kms per litre, then the former is more efficient
than the latter. Another example is the
brightness of a lamp at a given input voltage.
Portability. This is more important in the
context of software. Portability is defined as a
set of attributes that bear on the ability of
software to be transferred from one environment
to another. The environment may be
organizational, hardware or software
environment. Any program purchased such as
an accounting software, should be usable in
may different machines without any problem.
This is portability. This feature is applicable
even to consumer goods such as bulbs, razors,
etc.
Service Quality
Unlike products, every service is made to order.
Therefore, the service quality has additional
features. In availing a service, the customer
interacts more with the service provider.
The quality of service depends to a large extent
on understanding the correct requirements of
the customer through such interactions. Each
service has to be designed specifically for the
customer. Hence, quality of service design is an
important feature. Service delivery is another
feature of service quality. Thus, the additional
features of service quality are :
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Quality of Customer Service. Customer
service is important in every business. In a
service industry, meeting customers and finding
out their implied requirements is more
challenging. Therefore, ability to satisfy
customer depends on the quality of customer
service. This includes but is not limited to:
 How well the customer is received ?
 How well the implied requirements are
elucidated?
 How well the customer is
treated/handled/satisfied?
Quality of Service Design. Since services are
usually made to order, it is important that the
service is designed as per the requirements of
the specific customer. For instance, a software
product developed for a specific bank takes into
account the unique requirements of the bank.
Quality of service design in turn depends on the
quality of customer service.
Quality of Delivery. Quality of delivery is
important in any sector, but more crucial in case
of services. Defects on delivery should be zero
to satisfy the customers.
Additional attributes of quality, which are
applicable to both products and services, are
given below:
Timeliness. Delivery on schedule as per
requirements of the customer is a must both in
the product sector as well as in service sector.
No customer likes waiting. Timeliness is critical
for many products and services.
Aesthetics. A product or service should not
only perform well but also appear attractive.
Therefore, aesthetics is an important element of
quality. Aesthetics may include, but not limited
to the appearance of the product, the finish,
color, etc.
Regulatory requirements as stipulated by the
government should be fulfilled by the product or
service.
Requirements by Society. The products
should be fulfill both the stated and implied
requirements imposed by society. The customer
requirement should not violate society or
regulatory requirements. Thus to satisfy a
customer, a product cannot be built in such a
way as to violate the requirements of society of
a safe and healthy product. For instance,
providing belts for persons sitting in the front
seat in a car is a requirement of the society.
Conformance to Standards. Product of
service should conform to the stated and implied
requirements of customers. Where applicable,
they should conform to applicable standards
such as national standards, international
standards and industry standards.
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Evolution of Quality
Quality has been evolving for decades.
Dr. Walter A. Shewhart (1891 – 1967). He
advocated Statistical Quality Control (SQC) and
Acceptable Quality Level (AQL). AQL is the
foundation of today’s Six Sigma. He is
considered to be the father figure of SQC, who
developed control charts for quality assessment
and improvement. Dr. Shewhart also developed
the Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) cycle for
continuous improvement, which is in use even
today.
Deming W. Edwards (1900 – 1993). He
modified the PDCA cycle of Shewhart to the
Plan, Do, Study and Act (PDSA) cycle. He also
advocated extensive use of statistics and control
charts and focused on product improvement and
service conformance by reducing variations in
the process.
Deming stressed on the importance of suppliers
and customers for the business development
and improvement. He believed that people do
their best and it is the system that must change
to improve quality. His 14 points formed the
basis for his advise to Japanese top
management. The 14 points are applicable to
every industry in product and service sector.
Joseph M. Juran (1904).
Juran’s Fitness of Quality
 Quality of Design – through market
research, product and concept.
 Quality of conformance – through
management, manpower and
technology.
 Availability – through reliability,
maintainability and logistic support.
 Full Service – through promptness,
competence and integrity.
Juran’s Quality Planning Roadmap
 Identify your customer.
 Determine their needs.
 Translate them into your language.
 Develop a product that can respond to
the needs.
 Develop processes, which are able to
produce those product features.
 Prove that the process can produce the
product.
 Transfer the resulting plans to the
operating force.
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Philip B. Crosby (1926).

Crosby’s Four Absolute of Quality

 Quality is conformance to requirements,

nothing more or nothing less and
certainly not goodness or elegance.
 Quality has to be achieved by
prevention and not by appraisal.
 The performance standard must be zero
defect and not something close to it.
 The measurement of quality is the price
of non-conformance, i.e. how much the
defects in design, manufacture,
installation and service cost the
company. It is not indexes, grade one
to grade two.

Armand V. Feigenbaum.

Feigenbaum’s Cycle of Time Reduction

Methodology

 Define process.
 List all activities
 Flowchart the process.
 List the elapsed time for each activity.
 Identify non-value adding tasks.
 Eliminate all possible non-value adding
tasks.

Kaoru Ishikawa (1915 – 1989). He strongly

advocated the use of cause and effect diagrams
to provide a true representation of the
organizational impacts and procedures. He
developed Fishbone and Ishikawa diagram for
cause and effect diagram.