MODULE No.

2
TQM Evolution

Introduction
Total Quality Management (TQM) is customer oriented management philosophy and
strategy. It is centered on quality so as to result in customer delight. The word “Total”
implies that all members of the organization make consistent efforts to achieve the
objective of customer delight through systematic efforts for improvement of the
organization.

TQM addresses the concepts of product quality, process control, quality assurance and
quality improvement, all of which are aimed at customer delight. Therefore, it is
important to get the right meaning, interpretation and understanding of the term quality
and related term. This will provide a strong foundation for TQM.

Definition of Quality
Juran, one of the quality guru, defined quality as fitness for use. A very concise
definition indeed, for a term that has so many dimensions! Quality of a product or
service in simple terms is its suitability for use by the customer. Quality has to be
perceived by the customer. Perception of the supplier is also important, but the
customer experience of quality of a product or service is more important. Quality does
not mean an expensive product ; on the contrary, it is fitness for use by the customer.

Dimensions of Quality
Quality has many dimensions. The dimension of quality are nothing, but the various
features of a product or service.

Product Quality

Functionality refers to the core features and characteristics of a product. The definition
of functionality as per ISO / IEC 9126 : 1991: “A set of attributes that bear on the
existence of a set of functions and their specified properties. The functions are those
that satisfy stated or implied needs.”

For instance, a car has to have a seating capacity for five persons ; a steering wheel, an
accelerator, a break, a clutch, head lights, gears, four wheels, etc. The functionality of a
car represents each one of the functions mentioned above and many others listed
above. Thus, functionality refers to those functions that will satisfy a customer.

Reliability. A car should not breakdown often. This is the reliability attribute to quality.
Reliability is measured by mean (average) time between failures (MTBF). Reliability is
an indicator of durability of products. For instance, the MTBF of a car can be specified
as 1000 hours of running or 10000 kilometers.

Usability. A product should be easily usable. The customer should be able to use the
product easily without the help of experts. For instance, repairing a car may need the
help of a mechanic, but the car can be driven by the owner himself, if he is trained
accordingly. Thus, each product should be made so that a person can use if with
minimum training. Usability can also be measured by the time taken for training an
operator for error-free operation of a system.

Maintainability refers to the ease with which a product can be maintained in the
original condition. Products may be become defective while in use or in transit. It
should be repairable so as to retain the original quality of the product at the lowest cost
at the earliest possible time.

Efficiency. This is applicable to most products. Efficiency is the ratio of output to input.
If a car gives a mileage of 20 kms per litre of gasoline and another car with identical
features gives 15 kms per litre, then the former is more efficient than the latter. Another
example is the brightness of a lamp at a given input voltage.

Portability. This is more important in the context of software. Portability is defined as a

set of attributes that bear on the ability of software to be transferred from one
environment to another. The environment may be organizational, hardware or software
environment. Any program purchased such as an accounting software, should be
usable in may different machines without any problem. This is portability. This feature
is applicable even to consumer goods such as bulbs, razors, etc.

Service Quality

Unlike products, every service is made to order. Therefore, the service quality has
additional features. In availing a service, the customer interacts more with the service
provider.

The quality of service depends to a large extent on understanding the correct

requirements of the customer through such interactions. Each service has to be
designed specifically for the customer. Hence, quality of service design is an important
feature. Service delivery is another feature of service quality. Thus, the additional
features of service quality are :
Quality of Customer Service. Customer service is important in every business. In a
service industry, meeting customers and finding out their implied requirements is more
challenging. Therefore, the ability to satisfy customers depends on the quality of
customer service.
This includes but is not limited to:
● How well the customer is received?
● How well the implied requirements are elucidated?
● How well the customer is treated/handled/satisfied?

Quality of Service Design. Since services are usually made to order, it is important
that the service is designed as per the requirements of the specific customer. For
instance, a software product developed for a specific bank takes into account the
unique requirements of the bank. Quality of service design in turn depends on the
quality of customer service.

Quality of Delivery. Quality of delivery is important in any sector, but more crucial in
case of services. Defects on delivery should be zero to satisfy the customers.

Additional attributes of quality, which are applicable to both products and services, are
given below:

Timeliness. Delivery on schedule as per requirements of the customer is a must both in

the product sector as well as in service sector. No customer likes waiting. Timeliness is
critical for many products and services.

Aesthetics. A product or service should not only perform well but also appear
attractive. Therefore, aesthetics is an important element of quality. Aesthetics may
include, but not limited to the appearance of the product, the finish, color, etc.

Regulatory requirements as stipulated by the government should be fulfilled by the

product or service.

Requirements by Society. The products should be fulfill both the stated and implied
requirements imposed by society. The customer requirement should not violate society
or regulatory requirements. Thus to satisfy a customer, a product cannot be built in
such a way as to violate the requirements of society of a safe and healthy product. For
instance, providing belts for persons sitting in the front seat in a car is a requirement of
the society.

Conformance to Standards. Product of service should conform to the stated and

implied requirements of customers. Where applicable, they should conform to
applicable standards such as national standards, international standards and industry
standards.

Evolution of Quality

Quality has been evolving for decades.

Dr. Walter A. Shewhart (1891 – 1967). He advocated Statistical Quality Control

(SQC) and Acceptable Quality Level (AQL). AQL is the foundation of today’s Six
Sigma. He is considered to be the father figure of SQC, who developed control charts
for quality assessment and improvement. Dr. Shewhart also developed the Plan, Do,
Check, Act (PDCA) cycle for continuous improvement, which is in use even today.

Deming W. Edwards (1900 – 1993). He modified the PDCA cycle of Shewhart to the
Plan, Do, Study and Act (PDSA) cycle. He also advocated extensive use of statistics
and control charts and focused on product improvement and service conformance by
reducing variations in the process.

Deming stressed on the importance of suppliers and customers for the business
development and improvement. He believed that people do their best and it is the
system that must change to improve quality. His 14 points formed the basis for his
advise to Japanese top management. The 14 points are applicable to every industry in
product and service sector.

Joseph M. Juran (1904).

Juran’s Fitness of Quality

● Quality of Design – through market research, product and concept.

● Quality of conformance – through management, manpower technology.
● Availability – through maintainability and logistic support. and reliability,
● Full Service – through promptness, competence and integrity.

Juran’s Quality Planning Roadmap

● Identify your customer.

● Determine their needs.
● Translate them into your language.
● Develop a product that can respond to the needs.
● Develop processes, which are able to produce those product features.
 ● Prove that the process can produce the product.
● Transfer the resulting plans to the operating force.

Philip B. Crosby (1926).

Crosby’s Four Absolute of Quality

● Quality is conformance to requirements, nothing more or nothing less and
certainly not goodness or elegance.
● Quality has to be achieved by prevention and not by appraisal.
● The performance standard must be zero defect and not something close to it.
● The measurement of quality is the price of non-conformance, i.e. how much the
defects in installation design, manufacture, and service cost the company. It is
not indexes, grade one to grade two.

Armand V. Feigenbaum.

Feigenbaum’s Cycle of Time Reduction Methodology

● Define process.
● List all activities
● Flowchart the process.
● List the elapsed time for each activity.
● Identify non-value adding tasks.
● Eliminate all possible non-value adding tasks.

Kaoru Ishikawa (1915 – 1989). He strongly advocated the use of cause and effect
diagrams to provide a true representation of the organizational impacts and procedures.
He developed the Fishbone and Ishikawa diagram for cause and effect diagrams.