Page 652 - Encyclopedia of Business and Finance

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Q

QUALITY Some experts say that it takes up to ten years to fully real-
MANAGEMENT ize the results of implementing QM.

Quality management (QM), also called total quality man-
THE PROCESS
agement (TQM), evolved from many different manage-
ment practices and improvement processes. QM is not Several steps must be taken in the process of shifting to
QM in an organization:
specific to managing people, but rather is related to
improving the quality of goods and services that are pro- Provide a QM environment. A QM environment is
duced in order to satisfy customer demands. QM perme-
one in which the management-driven culture dis-
ates the entire organization as it is being implemented.
appears and a participative culture takes its place.
TQM has its roots in the quality movement that has The basic tenets of QM are that employees must
made Japan such a strong force in the world economy. be involved and that there must be teamwork.
The Japanese philosophy of quality initially emphasized Managers must be willing to involve workers in
product and performance and only later shifted concern the decision-making process. Workers who func-
to customer satisfaction. tion as a team have much more to offer collec-
The quality improvement movement began in both tively than do individual workers. Pooled
the United States and Japan before World War II resources are more valuable than just one person’s
(1939–1945). Throughout the war, Americans continued contribution.
to improve concepts related to manufacturing productiv- Modify reward systems. Reward systems need to be
ity. After the war, the Japanese pursued the idea of quality overhauled so as to recognize and encourage
improvement. It was W. Edwards Deming (1900–1993), teamwork and innovation. The team, not the
an American, who helped the Japanese focus on their fix- individual, is the foundation for TQM compa-
ation with quality. nies. If a company continues to use traditional
Rather than trying to inspect the quality of products compensation plans that create competition
and services after they have been completed, TQM instills between workers, the team concept cannot be
a philosophy of doing the job correctly the first time. It all implemented. Traditional pay plans are often
sounds simple, but implementing the process requires an based on seniority, not on quality and perform-
organizational culture and climate that are often alien and ance. With QM, pay systems focus on team
intimidating. Changes that must occur in the organiza- incentives. Each person is paid based on the
tion are so significant that it takes time and patience to team’s performance. If one person on the team
complete the process. Just as the process does not occur does not perform at the level expected, the team
overnight, the results may not be seen for a long time. members will normally handle the situation. In

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