Total Quality Management: What is Tqm and how can it be implemented in industry
today?
In society today quality plays an important role in customer satisfaction. A classic example
of customers being discouraged due to poor quality would be the case of Skoda cars. In the
80s and early 90s Skoda was known for it poor quality and this in turn affected both the
brand image and also sales of the company. Once the Volkswagen Group overtook it in
1994, strategies have been implemented to put quality back into the product and to put the
customer first. However before understanding the concept of “total quality management”
(TQM) one must define quality. Quality is said to be “the ability to satisfy, or even exceed,
the needs and expectations of the customer” (Mullins 1998). This quote is far more
contemporary than some of the older definitions of quality below as there is the broader
understanding that quality should exceed the expectations of the customer and also
indicates quality is intangible and the level of quality often changes.
Other define quality as: “Quality is fitness for use”(Juran 1974) (4) or “Quality is a
conformance to requirements or specifications” (Crosby 1979) – (4); however these
definition have no inherent aspect on the customer; currently all businesses should be
market orientated and hence any notion of quality should be developed for the customers
benefit.
TQM is a management approach to long-term success, through achieving complete
customer satisfaction. TQM is the complete approach to improve organizational
