Running head: TQM
Total Quality Management
Suzanne Kagan
University of Phoenix
MGT 449
Joseph Paden
September 19, 2005
TQM
In this paper I will define total quality management (TQM). I will also include a description of the impact of globalization on quality. Compare and contrast traditional management styles with quality focused management styles. Lastly I will explain how TQM applies to my organization.
Total Quality Management (TQM) is a comprehensive and structured approach to organizational management that seeks to improve the quality of products and services through ongoing refinements in response to continuous feedback. TQM requirements may be defined separately for a particular organization or may be in devotion to established standards, such as the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 9000 series. TQM can be useful 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 (Green 2003).
TQM processes are divided into four chronological categories: plan, do, check, and act (the PDCA cycle). In the planning phase, people define the problem to be addressed, collect relevant data, and discover the problem's root cause. Next in the doing phase, people develop and implement a solution, and decide upon a measurement to gauge its effectiveness. Third is the checking phase, where people prove the results through before-and-after data comparison. The final phase acting is where, people document their results, inform others about process changes, and make recommendations for the problem to be addressed in ...