Total Quality Management Certification
Total quality management is a management approach centered on quality, based on the participation of an organization’s people and aiming at long term success (ISO 8402:1994). This is achieved through client satisfaction and benefits all members of the organization and society.
Total Quality Management (TQM) is a comprehensive and structured approach to organizational management that seeks to improve the quality of products and services through current refinements in response to continuous feedback. TQM requirements may be defined separately for a particular organization or may be in adherence to established standards, such as the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 9000 series. TQM can be applied to any type of organization; it originated in the manufacturing sector and has since been adapted for use in almost every type of organization imaginable, including schools, highway maintenance, hotel management, and churches. As a current focus of e-business, TQM is based on quality management from the customer's point of view.
Principles of TQM
- Top management - The upper management is the driving force behind TQM. The upper management bears the responsibility of creating an environment to rollout TQM concepts and practices.
- Training needs - When a TQM rollout is due, all the employees of the company requirement to go through a proper cycle of training. Once the TQM implementation starts, the employees should go through regular trainings and certification process.
- Customer orientation - The quality improvements should ultimately target improving the client satisfaction. For this, the company can conduct surveys and feedback forums for gathering client satisfaction and feedback information.
- Involvement of employees - Pro-activeness of employees is the main contribution from the staff. The TQM environment should make sure that the employees who are proactive are rewarded appropriately.
- Techniques and tools - Use of techniques and tools suitable for the company is one of the main factors of TQM.
- Corporate culture - The corporate culture should be such that it facilitates the employees with the tools and techniques where the employees can work towards achieving higher quality.
- Continues improvements - TQM implementation is not a one-time exercise. As long as the company practices TQM, the TQM procedure should be enhanced continuously.
