Total Quality Management
Melody Ann Lovelace
University of Phoenix
Quality Management and Productivity
MGT449
John Opinski
February 4, 2008
Total Quality Management
Total Quality Management is an approach to management that was established or originated in the 1950's and over the year has become a very popular and essential element to success in the business world. The concept of Total Quality Management references to the culture and attitude of an organization that is in continuous motion of improvement to provide top quality products and services to the customer base that will satisfy customer needs and wants (Padhi, 2008).
The culture and attitude of the organization is very important is respect to all levels of an organization and is what contributes to organizational operations. This means that processes and activities in production get completed correctly the first time and or meeting product standards that are put in place; eliminating defects and waste as much as possible from the organizational operations.
Total Quality Management Defined
To help illustrate the meaning of the concept defined a definition of Total Quality Management will be given along with a discussion including a description of the impact of globalization on quality. Traditional management styles with quality-focused management styles will be evaluated and compared for differences. Lastly, will be an explanation of how Total Quality Management applies or should apply to an organization. According to Burrill and Ledolter (1999) the definition of Total Quality Management is:
"Total Quality Management is a [holistic] business management methodology that aligns the activities of all employees in an organization with the co ...