Total Quality Management has a major focus in the modern business world. The principles of total quality management help organizations to align their total quality management processes with the organization’s vision, mission, goals, and objectives.
there are 08 main principles of total quality management that can be identified in the modern business world.
01. Focus on the customer
The main principle of total quality management is maintaining a major focus on the customers who are consuming the products or services of the organization. Since the customers can identify the quality of the product and decide whether to use the product continuously, they have the power to decide about the success of the product.
It is the responsibility of the organization to identify the unmet needs of the customers and the level of quality expected of the consumers of the product. Once the customer expectations are identified, the organization gets a better chance to plan the ideal product, create the most suitable production process and get the best raw material to provide the expected product to the end customer.
02. To implement this principle, the organization must comply with the following requirements
- Conduct proper market research to identify the unmet customer needs and their expectations from the product.
- Maintain communication with customers, obtain their feedback and suggestions about the product and product development and use their feedback to improve the quality management process.
- Maintain a positive relationship with the customers
- Align the organizational vision, mission, goals, and objectives according to the customer needs.
- Identify and maintain the balance between the stakeholders related to customer satisfaction
02. Ensure total commitment from the employees of the organization
The success of any total quality management process basically depends on the commitment of the employees. to ensure the quality of the production process, increase productivity, engage in effective sales and marketing activities, the employees relevant to the total quality management process play a major role.
To implement this principle, the organization should follow the below-mentioned requirements.
- Communicate the importance of each and every role of the employees to the total quality management process and to the end product of the organization.
- Motivate employees through self-evaluation, setting personal goals, and though creating changes in the working environment in order to create a positive working environment.
- Employee empowerment stresses the importance of their activities to the production process and creates understanding and opportunity in the employees to solve problems when it is necessary.
- Clarity about the responsibilities of the employees, provide necessary training and development programs to increase the productivity of the total quality management processes.
03. Maintain proper communication
Communication is one of the main principles of total quality management. Everybody in the organization should be aware of the organizational vision, mission, goals, objectives, and total quality management plans. The communication should flow vertically as well as horizontally.
Not having a proper communication plan can lead lack of knowledge and awareness, process deficiencies, and failures.
To implement this total quality management principle, the organization must
- Establish a prompt, accurate, and accessible line of communication that can easily communicate all the necessary information among the employees.
- Allow the employees to participate in the decision-making process of the organization whenever possible.
- Ensure the employee understanding in the production process, the importance of their role in the quality of the final product or the service.
- Provide a method for employees to raise their concerns, grievances, and requirements to the higher management and find solutions through better understanding and communication.
04. Process approach
It is extremely important for the organization to adhere to its planned and implemented processes in order to obtain the expected output from the production process. Consistency and productivity should be measured and enhanced to provide a better output by taking maximum advantage of the available resources.
To achieve these principles of total quality management, the organization must
- Use necessary total quality management tools such as process flowcharts to specify, define and delegate the roles and responsibilities of the employees in the production process.
- Implement controls and checks at each level of the production process and measure the output at each level of the production process. This helps the production process to identify the defects at an early stage and take necessary actions to eliminate or avoid the impact on the final product.
- Evaluate the impact that the production process has on all the stakeholders of the organization and make arrangements to create a smooth and accurate flow with the stakeholders.