TQ Pioneers, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Total Quality (TQ) is a familiar term that has been used in the business cycles for quite along time. It can have varied meanings depending on the context in which it is being applied. Generally speaking in business context, TQ can be defined as an organization’s continued endeavor to achieve quality assurance, planning, control and improvement. TQ does not only focus on the product or service but also on the means to achieve it. Thus we can say TQ is a holistic approach to the ways in which an organization conducts its operations (Kanji, 2002).

Origin of TQM

Goetsch & Davis (2010) holds that; the origins of total quality can be traced back to 1949, when a committee of scholars and government officials who had the will to transform Japanese economy by increasing productivity and quality of life after the world war. The Gurus of TQ discipline include Juran, Deming, Ishikawa and Crosby. All of them defined the concept in different ways but still the essence and spirit remained the same. For the sake of this assignment am going to review W. Edwards Deming. According to Deming (1982), TQ is a continuous quality improvement process aimed towards a predictable degree of dependability and uniformity. He went ahead and identified 14 principles of quality management designed to improve performance and productivity of an organisation. Deming maintained that his 14 points apply anywhere, to small institutions as well as large ones, to the service industry as well as manufacturing concerns. He points out that it is the system of work that determines how the work is performed and it is only managers that can create the system (Deming, 1982). This really made Deming successful and famous both to scholars of his time and those of today.

Elements of Quality

The elements of Quality include:

• Complete involvement of everyone in the organisation
• Leadership from the top
• Effective and efficient management of the cost of quality
• Focused attention to customer satisfaction and
• Continuous improvement in all Business processes (Kanji, 2002).

Relevance of Quality in today’s world

The reviews on Total Quality assurance are very beneficial in helping companies in performance improvements. It helps in collection and tracking of all the various performances in has far as quality in an organization is concerned. It helps a company get to the past records and evaluate where they have come from, where they are and be in a good position thus, to determine where they are likely to be in some months or years to come. This information will also help the organization in making short term and long term decisions besides guiding on the policies it is likely to come up with (Goetsch & Davis, 2010).

By employing quality process, they come with many benefits within the organization in terms of cost and time management. Some important benefits in cost minimization include the following;

• No repetitive work, this is because TQM emphasizes on doing something right for the first time.
• Elimination of reworks and unwanted repairs
• Reduction of costs and reject products
• Customer care support warranty is considerably reduced

The future

Judging from the trends that has rocked the business world in the last 2- 3 decades, I can confidently say that in the coming years Quality is going to be of a great emphasis than ever before. This is not only because of achieving customer satisfaction but also as the only way to remain competitive and thus remain relevant in this ever changing world.

References

Deming, W. E. (1982). Quality, productivity and competitive position. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.

Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2010). Quality management for organizational excellence: Introduction to total quality (6^th edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Kanji, Gopal, K., (2002). Business Excellence: Make it Happen, Total Quality Management (2^nd edition) Vol. 13, No. 8, pp. 1115-1124.