in most organizations is dependent upon strategies that embrace a combination of two or more of these quality improvement concepts (Coffee, Richards, Remmert, LeRoy, Schoville, & Baldwin, 2005).
The successful implementation of a TQM program requires involvement by every facet of an organization's operation and every organizational member in the effort to promote high product quality. TQM is a logical outgrowth of the quality control strategy promoted for years by the late Edwards Deming. Deming's quality control strategy was developed with manufacturing processes in mind. TQM, however, may be applied in the production of services such as health care as well as goods (Agus, 2005).
Deming insisted that true quality control began with a real commitment from top management. The reason that many quality improvement programs fail is that CEOs (chief executive officers) all too often fail to provide unwavering leadership in the area of quality improvement. Conflicting goals and priorities often mean that quality takes a back seat once the big announcement is made of an organization's renewed emphasis on quality (Cruickshank, 2003).
While the Deming system of quality control demands a commitment from the highest management levels, it depends upon the participation of personnel from all levels of the organization involved in the production process. Participation means more than input from production workers. It also means that managers must be a part of the production process, as opposed to being separated from it (Govindarajan & Trimble, 2005).
In the early-1990s, Edwards Deming continued to preach effective quality control as a salvation for beleaguered American organizations. The 14 points in the strategy Deming offered in the 1990s were quite close to the strategy he proposed in late-1940s. Deming's latest 14 points were as follows:
1. Organizations should create constancy of purpose for the improvement of prod...