With the changing society, the needs of the customers are also changing and so are their expectations from the industries. Modern customers are mindful of the technological transformation and its power and thus expect the organization to leverage that power of technology to offer them quality services and products that meet their needs. Organizations are left with no other choice than either to accept the challenges and meet the expectations of their customers or fall behind the competition. Therefore, organizations are all the more in constant need to evolve and improve their performance, services and offerings to their customers.
Globalization has intensified the competition affecting the business environment. This change due to the deregulation has made total quality management (TQM) an important strategy for organizations to meet the needs, requirements, and expectations of their customers. Organization-wide commitment, continuous improvement, and customer-centric approach are what make TQM an excellent strategy. By identifying the set of common TQM principles and practices, manufacturing industries can enjoy the benefits of TQM. However, before identifying the principles and practices of TQM, it is important to first understand what total quality management means to the manufacturing industry and why is it important.
What is Total Quality Management (TQM)?
Total Quality Management (TQM) is one of the most effective management approaches that most organizations, especially the manufacturing and service industries practice. It helps the manufacturing industry to focus entirely on improving their performance when it comes to delivering products and services of the highest quality to meet the needs and requirements of their customers and maximize their satisfaction with the products and services provided. It is an organization-wide effort that engages the employees of the organization to improve their performance and ability to understand, differentiate, and offer on-demand products and services to the customers that not only satisfy their needs even if they change but also add value to the customer services.
Importance of Total Quality Management (TQM)
Total Quality Management (TQM) is crucial for the manufacturing industries as it helps both the employees and the organization to improve its performance. TQM helps organizations to establish organizational cultural values. These established values guide the employees to build their ability to improve their performance and focus on quality management. It will benefit the employees by developing their skills, the organization by creating long-term successes, and its customers by satisfying their needs respectively. Apart from these benefits, TQM also helps the organization to reduce cost and increase profitability, enhance productivity, help in improving the innovation process, and in practising clear, transparent, and effective communication.
Principles of Total Quality Management (TQM)
Customer Focus: Without the customers, the existence of the businesses would have no meaning. Therefore, the basic principle of total quality management is to offer products and services of the quality that satisfies the needs and requirements of the customers.
Leadership: When it comes to creating a productive and progressive business environment, leaders play a key role in motivating the employees, strengthening their skills, and improving their performance. Therefore, the successful implementation of total quality management in organizations is due to the organizational leader’s effort to build the environment required for the employees to improve their performance.
Employee Engagement: Employees are the most important asset of an organization as they are the ones that get the work done. Without employee engagement, organizations will never be able to its organizational goals or serve their customers. Therefore, it is important for organizations to implement effective employee engagement strategies that will help the organization in only practice quality management but also retain employees for long-term future organizational success.
Process Approach: Implementation of total quality management is meaningless without a process. For organizations to improve their quality, implementing a strategic process is mandatory. Following a process not only helps in achieving the goals successfully but also minimizes the scope for mistakes and errors.
Continuous Improvement: The only way manufacturing industries can get an idea of their growth is by measuring their improvement. To perform better in quality management, constant improvement is a must. At any point, the manufacturing industries feel stagnant in terms of quality management, which means it is not improving their performance. Therefore, to cope with the competition in the industry, it is crucial for the manufacturing industry to continuously improve its performance.
Communication: Practicing effective communication is equally important for quality management. Having a common and shared idea of what is to be done and how to do it will help the employees collaborate and work in a team to improve their performance and maintain the quality improvement to meet the needs of the customers even when they change.
Decision-making: Making the right decision is all that matters in maintaining service quality and it also makes the organization unique and different from the others. Therefore, the quality management of an organization reflects the power and ability of the organization to make the right choices and decisions.
