Page 654 - Encyclopedia of Business and Finance

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Quality Management

improvement process has no end. This is true for sors must be changed from sheer numbers to qual-
even the best of the best companies. TQM never ity.
ends. 12. Remove barriers that rob people in management and
in engineering of their right to pride of workman-
Deming created fourteen points for management,
ship. This means, inter alia, abolishment of the
which are condensed on the Web site of the Deming Insti- annual or merit rating and of management by objec-
tute (http://www.deming.org/deminghtml/teachings/ tive.
html) and adapted here:
13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-
1. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of improvement.
product and service, with the aim to become com- 14. Put everybody in the company to work to accom-
petitive, to stay in business, and to provide jobs.
plish the transformation. The transformation is
2. Adopt a new philosophy. This is a new economic everybody’s job.
age. Western management must awaken to the chal-
lenge, learn their responsibilities, and take on leader- It is readily apparent that the process of implementing a
ship for change. QM system in an organization is closely aligned with the
thinking of Deming.
3. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality.
Eliminate the need for inspection on a mass basis by
RECOGNITION
building quality into the product in the first place.
The importance of quality is emphasized with the awards
4. End the practice of awarding business on the basis that are presented to companies and organizations that
of the price tag. Instead, minimize total cost. Move achieve high standards of quality. The Malcolm Baldrige
toward a single supplier for any one item, based on National Quality Award was one of the first given. The
a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust. 2006 award application identified several categories that
5. Improve constantly and forever the system of pro- must be addressed to qualify for the award—and very few
duction and service, in order to improve quality and awards are presented. Companies and organizations are
productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs. rated on seven categories: leadership; strategic planning;
customer and market focus; measurement, analysis, and
6. Institute training on the job.
knowledge management; human resources focus; process
7. Institute leadership. The aim of supervision should management; and results. It is a very prestigious honor for
be to help people, machines, and gadgets to do a a company or organization to be recognized with this
better job. Supervision of management is in need of award.
overhaul, as is supervision of production workers. Other awards and certifications are also presented.
8. Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively Nevertheless, they constantly change and new ones are
for the company. added regularly, so they will not be discussed here. QM
has become an important philosophy in businesses around
9. Break down barriers between departments. People in
the world, and this approach to building better products
research, design, sales, and production must work as
and services will continue.
a team, in order to foresee problems in production
and in use that may be encountered with the prod-
WEBSITES OF INTEREST
uct or service.
10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the For a more detailed description of the Deming
workforce asking for zero defects and new levels of approach: http://www.managementwisdom.com
productivity. Such exhortations create only adversar- For the rating document for the Malcolm Baldrige
ial relationships, since the bulk of the causes of low National Quality Award: http://nqp@nist.gov
quality and low productivity belong to the system
SEE ALSO Manufacturing; Productivity
and thus lie beyond the power of the workforce.
Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory
floor, substituting leadership. Eliminate manage- BIBLIOGRAPHY
ment by objective, by numbers, and by numeric Saylor, James H. (1996). TQM simplified: A practical approach
(2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
goals, also substituting leadership.
Scarborough, Norman M., and Zimmerer, Thomas W. (2005).
11. Remove barriers that rob hourly workers of their Effective small business management: An entrepreneurial
right to pride of workmanship. The goals of supervi- approach (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE, SECOND EDITION 631