Theoretical consideration of quality management systems especially concerning service
companies
Executive Summary
TQM Total Quality Management is the management of total quality. We know that
management consists of planning, organizing, directing, control, and assurance. Then, one
has to define “total quality”. Total quality is called total because it consists of 3 qualities :
Quality of return to satisfy the needs of the shareholders, Quality of products and services
to satisfy some specific needs of the consumer (end customer) and Quality of life – at work
and outside work – to satisfy the needs of the people in the organization. This is achieved
with the help of upstream and downstream partners of the enterprise. To this, we have to
add the corporate citizenship, i.e. the social, technological, economical, political, and
ecological (STEPE) responsibility of the enterprise concerning its internal (its people) and
external (upstream and downstream) partners, and community. Therefore, Total quality
management goes well beyond satisfying the customer, or merely offering quality products
(goods and/or services). Note that we use the term consumer or end customer. The reason
is that in a Supply Chain Management approach, we dont have to satisfy our customers
needs but the needs of our customers customers all the way to the end customer, the
consumer of a product and/or service. By applying this definition an enterprise achieves
Business Excellence, as suggested by the Malcolm Baldrige (American) and the EFQM
(European) Performance Excellence Models. To do that, one has to go well beyond ISO
9000 Standards series as suggested by these standards (ISO 9001, then ISO 9004, then
Total Quality) .
ISO 9001:2000 is used if you are seeking to establish a management system that provides
confidence in the conformance of your product to established or specified requirements. It
is now the only standard in the ISO 9000 family against whose requirements your quality
system can be certified by an external agency. The standard recognizes that the word
“product” applies to services, processed material, hardware and software intended for, or
required by, your customer.
There are five sections in the standard that specify activities that need to be considered
when you implement your system. You will describe the activities you use to supply your
products and may exclude the parts of the Product Realization section that are not
applicable to your operations. The requirements in the other four sections – Quality
management system, Management responsibility, Resource management and
Measurement, analysis and improvement – apply to all organizations and you will
