Total Quality Management Definition Essay Example for Free

congeries Quality Management Definition EssayTotal Quality Management is a set of management practices aimed at meeting and even exceeding needs of customers and organizational objectives. The Japanese Industry started it in the 1950s but it gained popularity from the early 80s. TQM seeks to merge organizational functions like production, customer service, design and marketing, and has a strong emphasis on process measurement and controls as a way of continually improving the products or services offered by the organization. TQM describes the culture, attitude and organization of a company in the provision of products and services to take on needs of customers. Quality is required with efficiency and effectiveness in operations and reducing losses, minimizing defects and waste.Impact of globalizationAs companies get bigger, there is an increasing involve for JIT (just-in-time) management, which TQM embraces. This makes things move faster, further pushing along globalization. This also calls for the removal of bottlenecks in production resulting in high quality. Globalization calls for things to be faster, better (because if youre non good, youre not utilizing your competitiveness), and hence comes TQM philosophy, which embraces that.However, globalization has brought about a demand for high skilled labour, which cannot be found with workers with low-level education, who are the majority. Their employment leads to low quality of work. equal to that are organizations, which want to cut costs on wages and therefore employ workers with a poor educational background. Competitiveness is characterized by high poke costs therefore, low labor costs are characterized by lower productivity. Women on the other hand, are unfortunately still engaging in low-wage and low-productivity jobs, especially in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia where womens participation in the global labour market is behind.Application of TQMBoth the management and the employee s can and should be knotty in the process of TQM to improve the production of goods and services. TQM should be driven by a purpose and there should be a clear focus on the future vision of the organization. TQM can also be used as a way of encouraging the potential and creativity of an employee to be displayed as come up as improving clients service. TQM calls for organizations to strive to continuously improve its processes through accumulated k instanterledge of workers and their experience. TQM is easily adaptable, for instance, it was at first an application of manufacturing operations but is now even applied to the service sector. According to Khurram Hashmi (2000), TQM is the foundation for activities, which includeCommitment by senior management and all employeesMeeting customer requirementsReducing evolution cycle timesJust In Time/Demand Flow ManufacturingImprovement teamsReducing product and service costsSystems to facilitate improvement arguing Management ownershipEmpl oyee involvement and empowermentRecognition and celebrationChallenging quantified goals and benchmarkingFocus on processes / improvement plansSpecific incorporation in strategic provisoThis shows that all personnel, in Manufacturing, Marketing, Engineering, Research and Development, Sales, Purchasing, Human Resource, etc, must practice TQM in all activities. TQM is based on continuous improvement, both in strategic readiness and in the execution of work. It seeks to avoid mistakes and defects and continually improve results through increasing the organizations resources. The major areas including supply generation, demand generation, technology, operations and people capability. It also maintains that mistakes can be identified and stopped and repetition prevented through change.Implementation of TQMA preliminary test, like a management audit should be done to asses the current read in terms of organizational functioning and establishing where change is needed. There should howev er be a positive attitude towards change or TQM would be ineffective. different conditions are stable finances, good administrative systems and managerial skills and optimistic employee morale If these conditions cannot be met, it is advisable to postpone the implementation until when the organization is healthy enough with necessitate to these. Certain levels of stress, with regard to people feeling a need for change are however needed when implementing TQM. Kanter (1983) described certain building blocks, which should be boon in effective organizational change.They include departures from tradition, a crisis or galvanizing event, strategic determinations, individual prime movers, and action vehicles. Departures from tradition are moving from general operations in an attempt to solve a problem. A crisis, like reduction in finances, may prompt people to act. A strategic decision like a plan acting on the crisis may be implemented by a leader, who becomes the prime mover. The le ader takes charge of the new melodic theme or plan and leads people in its implementation. Action vehicles then used and mechanisms put in place to enabling the occurrence of the change.ReferencesInternational Labour validation Report (Dec 9, 2005) Globalization failing to create new, quality jobs to reduce Poverty. Retrieved from http//www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/econ/2005/1209reduce.htm on October 3, 2007Hashmi, K. (2000) Paper on Introduction and Implementation of Total Quality Management Retrieved from http//www.isixsigma.com/ program library/content/c031008a.asp on October 3, 2007Martin, L. (1993). Total Quality Management in the Public Sector, National Productivity Review