Total quality management & Japanese Industry

Total quality management (TQM) revolutionized Japanese industry and has created a modern revolution in American companies as well. The implementation of TQM is not without its pitfalls, however. The TQM approach, which focuses on customer satisfaction, is useless if a company misinterprets its customers' needs.

The goal of TQM philosophy is to deliver the highest value for the customer and to guarantee 100 percent customer satisfaction: " . . . it is ultimately the customer who decides if the product is quality and desirable. In this light, quality definitely is customer satisfaction because the goods and services produced are driven by customer desire and tailored to their exact needs" (Johnson, 1993, p. 15).

A quality gap exists if there is discrepancy between what the customer wants and what a company actually provides. Customer requirements should drive business strategy and serve as the ultimate measure of quality in assessing performance. TQM philosophy urges a company's employees to listen to its customers and to be willing to form partnerships with them.

The TQM attitude of success is that a company's customers sign its paycheck and make it possible for the company to stay in business. Without the customer, the company could not exist: "TQM practitioners see a focus on the customer as the starting point, and indeed, the raison d'etre, of the whole quality philosophy" (Hill and Jones, 1995, p. 150). In too many American companies, the customer service

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commit to a vision and align and train its employees toward a common goal. Management teams can influence the total quality culture in a variety of ways. One of the main vehicles of influence is the vision for the company, which is usually contained in its mission statement. An additional method would include preparing and communicating the values of the organization as guidelines on how employees are expected to perform and behave. Of course, the senior management team should be expected to model these values. To create a total-quality culture, managers should possess effective coaching and counseling skills, the ability to create a climate of participation among employees, and the willingness to enable, entrust, and empower employees. In other words, senior executives must take personal charge of managing for quality. Another component of TQM is that management must solicit input from employees. Employees, particularly those who maintain close contact with customers, are an important source of information. Even those employees who have no customer contact are a vital part of the TQM process: "The focus must always be on keeping each and every employee involved, to the best of his or her ability, in satisfying the cus

Category: Business - T