Although TQM has a lot in common with the Six Sigma methodology, they are not the same. Total Quality Management is focused on ensuring that process standards ensure a great customer experience, while Six Sigma is designed to reduce defects. The practice of TQM is about holding all parties involved in the production process accountable for the quality of the final product or service. It revolves around a customer-focused desire to achieve long-term success.
Let's look at how.
Customer Focus: Under TQM, managers have the responsibility to understand and anticipate the customer's needs. The goal is to exceed customer expectations consistently.
Total Employee Involvement: Managers seek to involve every person at all levels so that they happily work to achieve the organization's long-term success. The Total Quality Management paradigm recognizes that the employees closest to the work are in the best position to improve it.
Process-Centered: Leaders understand that a goal is achieved faster when activities and associated resources are managed as a unified process. All efforts are focused on process rather than blaming people for problems.
Systems Thinking: Further, managers see interrelated processes as a single system and manage them accordingly. Many opportunities for improvement are found at the intersection of processes.
Strategic and Systematic Approach: The organization's strategic objectives are not lost with the focus on processes. In fact, TQM leaders seek to align the organization around strategic goals.
Continual Improvement: The search for perfection is never-ending. Incremental improvements are of great value, especially when everyone is contributing. Even small changes can have significant results.
Fact-based Decision Making: Decisions are made based on data and observation, not hunches and assumptions.
Communication: Transparency breeds trust and trust spurs engagement and creativity. Leaders should be open with employees as much as possible and encourage a two-way exchange of ideas and data.
The root of Total Quality Management goes back further than one might think. Some trace the principles and practice of TQM way back to the early 20th century when Frederick Taylor wrote his Principles of Scientific Management, which called for a consistent pattern of performing tasks and inspecting finished work to stop defective products from getting to the customer. In the 1920s, Walter Shewhart developed statistical process controls that could be applied to predict quality at any point in the production process. He created the control chart commonly used today for managing operations of all types.
During the '20s and '30s, Shewhart was a mentor of the aforementioned, William Deming, who developed statistical process control theories that he would eventually use to help the US Census department in the early 1940s. After WWII, Deming's ideas helped Japan change its reputation for shoddy products into one of unparalleled quality products.
Total Quality Management started to pick up steam in the US in the late '70s and early '80s. By 1988 Congress had created the Federal Quality Institute to highlight the need for quality control in business and reward organizations for successful implementations. While TQM began in manufacturing, like its subsequent methodologies (ISO, Six Sigma, Lean manufacturing, and others), it was applied effectively to finance, healthcare, and other fields.
While no leader would say that they don't value quality and aren't focused on the customer, implementing the principles of TQM is more challenging than it may seem. There are a few factors that keep organizations from seeing success with quality management.
To get over these hurdles, many organizations turn to Total Quality Management software for help. It isn't a silver bullet, but it can make a big difference.
TQM software:
Structures Improvement Processes: The PDSA improvement cycle is often used in TQM organizations. The software provides a support platform for every improvement cycle and captures all documents, conversations, and other improvement artifacts.
Provides Workflow: Software can help bridge the gaps between levels of the organization and teams by structuring workflow and providing alerts and notifications. As a result, tasks aren't missed, and managers can respond promptly to questions or new suggestions for improvement.
Helps with Strategic Alignment: With TQM software, goals start at the C-level and then cascade down to front-line employees. As a result, every improvement project can be tied to a strategic objective and KPI.
Captures Impact: Some leaders are hesitant to embrace TQM because it can be challenging to calculate an ROI for the approach. TQM Software eliminates that problem by allowing users to calculate the impact of every improvement project over both the short and long term.
Streamlines Communication: We mentioned that communication is a crucial principle of TQM. An improvement platform ensures that everyone has access to the information they need. Everyone develops the same language and process for talking about improvement.
Visualizes Data: When you are dedicated to making decisions based on data, it is helpful to have a platform that supports tools like control charts, the X-matrics, kanban boards, and impact graphs.
Celebrates Success: The best way to achieve momentum when it comes to quality improvement is to recognize and reward those who contribute to positive change. The best TQM software solutions include improvement broadcasting to make sure that success is widely shared.
For further reading on Total Quality Management, we highly recommend Quality Management for Organizational Excellence: Introduction to Total Quality by David L. Goetsch and Stanley Davis.