ProdMan Midterms 6. Philippine National Standard.

It defines
quality as the degree to which a set of
Quality inherent characteristics fulfills need or
expectation that is stated, generally implied
or obligatory (BPS, 2000).
Definitions of Quality
7. American Society of Quality Control. It
1. Juran, Joseph (1954) defined quality as fitness
defined quality as the totality of features and
for use. The quality of a product or service in
characteristics of a product or service that
simple terms is its suitability for use by the
bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied
customer.
needs (Render and Heizer, 1998).
Quality has to be perceived by the customer.
Perception of the supplier is also important, but
8. Lovelock and Wirtz (2007) citing David Garvin
the customer experience of quality of a product
mentioned five perspectives on quality as
or service is more important.
follows:
Quality does not mean an expensive product;
 Transaction view of quality is synonymous
on the contrary, it is fitness for use of the
with innate excellence: a mark of
customer. Juran (2006) defines quality as a
uncompromising standards and high
product or service potential to be utilized.
achievement. This viewpoint is often
applied to the performing and performing
2. The American Heritage Dictionary defines
of visual arts.
quality as “an inherent or distinguishing
It is argued that people learn to recognize
characteristics; a property, “which is not a
quality only through the experience
definition that is very helpful for understanding
gained from repeated exposure and
what quality means to different people at
managers or customers will also know
different times.
quality when they see it is not very
It is important to develop a quality vocabulary
helpful.
that will help service managers and workers
understand what their customers want and
 The product-based approach sees quality
how to consistently meet their needs”.
as a precise and measurable variable.
Differences in quality, it is argued, reflect
3. Deming (2006) mentioned that quality
differences in the amount of an ingredient
comprises lack of defect or reduction of
or attribute possessed by the product or
variations.
service.
Because this view is totally objective, it
4. Collier (2004) points to the following most
fails to account for differences in the
popular quality definitions:
tests, needs, and preferences of individual
 Quality is matching specifications;
customers or even entire market
 Quality is a stage where consumer/user
segments.
specifications are met;
 Quality is a fair exchange of a value at a
 User based definitions starts with the
price;
premise that quality lies in the eyes of the
 Quality is potential for utilization.
beholder. These definitions equate quality
with maximum satisfaction. This
5. International Organization for Standardization
subjective, demand oriented perspective
(ISO) 9000 standard. It defined quality as the
recognizes that different customers have
totality of features and characteristics of a
different wants and needs.
product or service that bear on its ability to
satisfy a given or implied need”.
  The manufacturing based approach is Basic Terms Related to Quality
supply based and is concerned primarily
1. Quality Control. This refers to the
with engineering and manufacturing
operational techniques and activities that are
practices, quality is also operation driven.
used to fulfill the requirements for quality.
Quality control is inspection or appraisal of
 Value based definitions define quality in
products and services to ensure that the
terms of value and price. By considering
stated requirements are fulfilled. Juran
the tradeoff between perception and
(1979) gives three steps of Quality Control:
price, quality comes to be defined as
“affordable”.
a. Evaluate actual operating performance.
b. Compare actual performance to goals.
c. Act on the difference.
9. Other definitions of quality. Some people
propose that quality “lies in the eyes of the
2. Quality Assurance. All the planned and
beholder”. To them, higher quality means
systematic activities implemented within the
better performance, nicer features, and other
quality system, and demonstrated as
improvements.
needed, to provide adequate confidence that
an entity will fulfill the requirements for
quality.
Obviously, quality can be defined in many ways,
The purpose of QA is to fulfill the quality
depending on who is defining it and to what
requirements of an entity, i.e. product or
product to serve or service is it related.
service, with adequate confidence by the
1. Quality from the Consumer’s Perspective. supplier. This requires implementation of all
Quality is rapidly becoming a major factor in a the activities planned for building quality
customer’s choice of products and services. into the product. Such planned activities are
They now perceive that certain companies to be implemented systematically within the
produce better-quality products than others, purview of a documented quality system.
and they buy accordingly (Render and Heizer, Building quality into the products requires
1998). Deming ( as cited by Russell and Taylor, the following:
2000) said that the consumer is the most  Quality of Design . It refers to how well
important part of the production line, thus, the product or service has been designed
quality should be aimed at their needs. to meet the current and future
From this perspective, what the consumer requirements of customers and add
wants and is willing to pay for determines value to all stakeholders. The
product and service quality. stakeholders for any organization are:
customers, employees, suppliers,
2. Quality from the Producer’s Perspective. The owners, and society.
producer perceives quality to be how Quality of design involves all activities
effectively the production process is able to that will result in a successful design. It
conform to the specifications required by the necessarily includes finding out the
design (Russell and Taylor, 2000). This means customer’s requirements.
that quality during production focuses on
making sure that the product meets
specifications required by the design.
These two above perspectives are dependent on
each other.
 Quality of Conformance. This indicates
the consistency in delivering the designed
 product. Product quality in turn depends • Resources needed
on the quality of all processes in the
• Sequence of QA/QC activities
organization. Therefore, it involves all
activities that will ensure the The QC activities include testing, inspection,
conformance of the products to its examination and audit at various stages of
requirements consistently. product or service lif ecycle. Therefore, quality
has to be planned fort every product or service
 Quality of Performance It is an indicator of and documented in the form of quality plan.
the performance of the end product. This
depends on the quality of design
(including reliability of the product) and Quality Improvement
quality conformance.
This process aims at attaining unprecedented
levels of performance, which are significantly
better than the past level.
 Quality of Service. Selling a product is not
the end of business. It is the quality of
associated services rendered that adds
value to the product. Quality of service
involves all activities that will enable the Strategic Planning
customer to procure and use the product
Strategic Planning is important in any business. It
without any hassles.
involves making plans for the following, in
Thus, Quality assurance, is much more involved particular:
activity than mere inspection of QC. In fact QC is
• Business value
one of the activities of QA.
• Investment in machinery and equipment
• Manpower to be hired
• Budget
Quality Planning (QP)
• Product diversification
To consistently meet customer requirements, the
quality of Ms namely-Man, Machine, Material • Markets to be served
and Methods need to be ensured. The
• Strategies for improving profits, etc.
requirements of the 4 Ms are to be identified in
the form of quality objectives. The objectives
should be established for all the functions. The
Strategic planning is carried out generally at
functions include suppliers, purchase, product
annual intervals and is carried out using a formal
design, engineering, production, in process
structured approach. The strategic planning is
inspection, final inspection, after sales service,
kept confidential due to obvious reasons. Usually,
etc. Quality planning refers to the activities that
organizations treat strategic planning and quality
establish the objectives and requirements for
planning as a separate and isolated activities.
quality. QP involves planning for the following
However, Malcolm Baldrige National quality
with regard to a product:
Awards (MBNQA) – the prestigious quality award
in USA-calls for the integration of both.
It means that quality planning and improvement
planning should be carried out as part of strategic
• Quality objectives to be met
planning. The quality improvement planning
• Specific QA/QC practices should focus on the needs of current and future
customers and support the strategic and business •Ex – Cruise control, Leather seats, Smart
goals of the organization. parking

3. RELIABILITY - The likelihood that the product

will not fail within a specific time period.
• The common measure of reliability is the
Quality - the standard of something as measured
failure rate per unit time
against other things of a similar kind; the degree
of excellence of something
4. CORFORMANCE - To what extent the product
Quality depends on how it is viewed. These are design and the operating characteristics meet
the different approaches to quality the preestablished standards.
• What is “tolerance stack-up”?
1. Transcendent Approach - This means quality
• Service businesses, measures of
is achieved through experience
conformance normally focus on accuracy and
frequent mistakes.
2. Product based Approach - This is reflected by
differences in product and its ingredients or
5. DURABILITY - The length of a product’s life.
attributes.
But Product can be repaired, estimating
durability is more complicated. Durability can
3. User based Approach - Based on personal
be defined as: The amount of use one gets
views and idiosyncrasies. Durability is the key
from a product before it breaks down
factor.
Reliability and Durability are closely linked.

4. Manufacturing based Approach - This

6. SERVICEABILITY - means the consumer’s ease
approach is focused on cost reduction, and
of obtaining repair service This includes
concerned with manufacturing and
• Responsiveness of service personnel
engineering
•Willingness of repair personnel
•Reliability of service
5. Value based Approach - This approach is
•Speed
based on cost and prices. Better performance
at lower cost is recognized as a quality
product.
7. AESTHETICS
•Aesthetics refers to how the product looks,
feels, sounds, tastes or smells.
•This is a matter of personal judgement
DIMENSIONS OF PRODUCT QUALITY
8. PERCEIVED QUALITY
•Reputation is the primary stuff of perceived
1. PERFORMANCE - Refers to the primary
quality
operating characteristics ( EX : Car
•The perceived quality may be base on
Acceleration , Braking, Handling )
images, advertising and brand names.
• The degree of the performance varies
•Perception is not always reality.
according to the performance class (Toyota
•Defers from person to person.
Prius bugatti veyron 0-60 mph – 2.7sec
Acceleration 0-60 mph – 9sec)
2. FEATURES - Additional characteristics that
DIMENSIONS OF SERVICE QUALITY.
enhance the appeal.
(SERVQUAL) This is set by the acronym
•Secondary aspects of performance.
RATER.

1. Reliability - Ability to perform the promised
service dependably and accurately.
2. Assurance - Knowledge and courtesy of
employees and their ability to convey trust
and confidence.
3. Tangibles -Appearance facilities, of
equipment, communication materials.
physical personnel,
5. Quality and Cost - In the theoretical
4. Empathy – Caring, individualized attention
provided to its customers.
5. Responsiveness Willingness to help customers
and provide prompt service.
CORRELATES OF QUALITY
1. Quality and Price - The relationship between
Quality and price runs in both ways. It varies
due to customer perceptions, information
available , brand name etc.
2. Quality and Advertising - Two main types of
goods: Search goods and Experienced goods.
Experienced High quality products needs
more advertising than low quality products.
Shows a positive relationship in many aspects.
3. Quality and Market Share - This depends on
how quality is defined. When quality is
defined by premium prices – Negative
relationship. When quality is defined by
fitness for purpose -Positive relationship.
4. Quality and Profitabilty - To improve quality,
the performance, features and other
dimensions should be improved in order to
gain large market shares and higher profits.
• To minimize defects and failures which
tends to lower reworks and inspection
costs, results in quality improvements and
increased profits.
• High improved quality brings in a high
return on investment (ROI) on any market
share and tends to lower costs and increase
profits.
• High quality brings high reputation for the
product, which a premium price can be
charged and this increases profits.
• High quality achieves economies of scale
due to cost savings, which results to
increase in profits.
perspective, it is assumed that quality and
cost are positively related. Another point
which says that quality and cost is inversely
related, that when quality is improved, it
reduces costs such as reworks, scrap and
warrants.
Quality costs are the cost of manufacturing
and it should only incur one time if the
product is made to its highest quality at the
first time and does not result in reworks.
Investing in new machinery and technology
will reduce costs and improve quality and
experience economies of scale.
Total Quality Management (TQM)
A core definition of Total Quality
Management (TQM) describes a
management approach to long–term success
through customer satisfaction.
In a TQM effort, all members of an
organization participate in improving
processes, products, services, and the culture
in which they work.
• Total quality management (TQM) consists
of organization-wide efforts to install and
make permanent a climate in which an
organization continuously improves its ability
to deliver high-quality products and services
to customers. While there is no widely
agreed-upon approach, TQM efforts typically
draw heavily on the previously developed
tools and techniques of quality control.
• TQM enjoyed widespread attention during
the late 1980s and early 1990s before being
overshadowed by ISO 9000, Lean
manufacturing, and Six Sigma.
Principles of TQM:
1. Management Commitment
1. Plan (drive, direct)
2. Do (deploy, support, participate)
3. Check (review)
4. Act (recognize, communicate, revise)
2. Employee Empowerment
1. Training
2. Suggestion scheme
3. Measurement and recognition
4. Excellence teams
3. Fact Based Decision Making
1. SPC (statistical process control)
2. DOE, FMEA
3. The 7 statistical tools
4. TOPS (Ford 8D – team-oriented
problem solving)
4. Continuous Improvement
1. Systematic measurement and focus on
CONQ
2. Excellence teams
3. Cross-functional process management
4. Attain, maintain, improve standards
5. Customer Focus
1. Supplier partnership
2. Service relationship with internal
customers
3. Never compromise quality
4. Customer driven standards
Faces and Facets of Quality
1. Quality is a terminator. Bad quality is like a
booby trap, harmless looking, and unnoticed.
Defects are devils in disguise. Defective
products have actually crippled or annihilated
companies, careers, customers, competitors,
communities and even innocent civilians.
Companies can self-destruct with bad quality.
Good quality can also destroy companies if
their competitors offer something better.
2. Quality is an equalizer. Quality levels the
playing field. It is a weapon that any company
can use to remove its handicaps. By
transcending national borders, quality also
removes the handicaps of developing
countries in competing with developed ones.
3. Quality is the silent salesman. When the
product is right, one does not have to be a
great marketer. No matter how much
advertising one does, if the product in issue is
not of good quality, it will never sell. What
comes first and foremost is to make quality
products.
4. Quality is peacemaker. Quality brings peace
and harmony in any organization. No amount
of traditional training or speeches can beat
quality goals in developing teamwork. A total
quality company is at peace with all its
stakeholders-customers, dealers,
management, employees, suppliers, and the
community.
5. Quality is the most profitable investment.
Not everybody in the company can relate to
profitability as easily as he or she can
tovquality. A company that aims only at profit
does not usually succeed because profitability
 alone does not give a clear sense ofvdirection other majort management concerns-cost
for management or employees. reduction, productivity, teamwork,
Companies should become quality communication and training. These
competitive, before they strive to be concerns acquire synergy and meaning
pricevcompetitive, cost competitive, or only when tied to company goals of
technologically competitive. With improved quality and customer service.
quality, even without any increase in sales,
companies have doubled or tripled their
profits. The Return On Quality (ROQ) is the
highest. Quality may be the last frontier, the
Quality and Total Quality management
final option, to increase profits.
The philosophy of TQM is hinge on five aspects of
6. Quality is the winning global strategy. quality and these are:
Quality guides companies on which
1. Productivity. It is used to mean product
opportunity to grab and which problems to
shipped on time and workforce utilized. The
solve first. Total quality companies have this
TQM approach is to ship good product on
constancy of purpose, regardless of global
time. If the product does not meet quality
trends and threats.
standards, it will not be shipped, even though
Sophisticated strategies based on cost,
the delivery targets for the specific period of
comparative advantage, technology,
time will not be met.
economies of scale, past experience, novel
management concepts and paradigms are
2. Innovation. It is used to mean engineers
bound to fail if the company sells the wrong
would sit in their laboratories creating new
product or service to the wrong customer.
design that were transferred to
Peter Drucker warned: “There is nothing so
manufacturing which had to design processes
useless as doing efficiently that which should
to make it. TQM starts with the customers.
not be done at all”. Quality is the X-factor that
Engineers are encouraged to meet the
separates the excellent company from the
customer and see how the product would be
No. 2 and the rest of the pack.
used to harvest their suggestions.
7. Quality is a timeless theme. Quality never
3. Problem solving. The old approach required
goes out of style. As long as customers crave
management to detect the problem and affix
for better products and services, as long as
the blame, punish the culprits and fix the
employees make costly mistakes, as long as
problem. With TQM, problem solving is
defective products continue to kill people,
everyone’s job. When a worker identifies a
quality will endure as a major corporate
problem, he or she is encouraged to solve it
concern.
or form a team with the necessary skills.
Workers are also trained to collect data and
analyze them. Management’s role is to coach
and provide resources to fix the problem.

8. Quality is the goal to end all goals.

4. Customer satisfaction. In traditional
Quality enables the company to achieve
environment, it means that the specifications
its other goals. Philip Crosby said “If we
and standards for a task are prescribed. In a
take care of the customers and the
TQM environment, the job is not done until
employees, everything else takes care of
the customer is satisfied.
itself”. Quality provides a focus for all
 The worker on the line is trained to think of
the customer as the next person on the liner.
The job is done only after the customer
inspects the item delivered and pronounces
them satisfactory.
5. Change. The old approach was often a
reaction to crisis. With TQM, employees are
encouraged to initiate change and learn to do
what they are doing.
Components of Total Quality Management
Anschutz (1996) enumerated the four major
components of TQM: empowerment, process
improvement, customer obsession, and strategic
planning.
1. Empowerment. It relates to the worker-
management relationship as key components
of partnerships. Partnerships can likewise
extent to suppliers and even customers
themselves.
2. Process Improvement. It refers to the
significant focus that must be given to any
process employed by an organization. This
reiterates that problems occur not just
because of the level of performance, but
primarily of badly designed processes.
Some process improvement methods include
benchmarking, setting up of process
improvement teams, plan-do-check-act
process improvement cycle and other
innovative methods that some organizations
have developed.
3. Customer obsession. This conveys the
primacy of client satisfaction as basis for all
organizational efforts and goals. Quality
improvements are geared towards the client’s
perception of quality and value.
4. Strategic planning. This involves long-term
visioning of what and where the organization
should be three to five years after, as well as
short- term operating plans. It is here that
relevant measures that would facilitate the
improvements of the organization take shape.
This further emphasizes that TQM is a
management strategy, a way of doing
business and not simply a program
(Mangahas and Leyesa, 1998).
Total Quality Management Principles
1. Customer-focused The customer ultimately
determines the level of quality. No matter
what an organization does to foster quality
improvement—training employees,
integrating quality into the design process,
upgrading computers or software, or buying
new measuring tools—the customer
determines whether the efforts were
worthwhile.
2. Total employee involvement All employees
participate in working toward common goals.
Total employee commitment can only be
obtained after fear has been driven from the
workplace, when empowerment has
occurred, and management has provided the
proper environment. High-performance work
systems integrate continuous improvement
efforts with normal business operations. Self-
managed work teams are one form of
empowerment.
3. Process-centered A fundamental part of TQM
is a focus on process thinking. A process is a
series of steps that take inputs from suppliers
(internal or external) and transforms them
into outputs that are delivered to customers
 (again, either internal or external). The steps
required to carry out the process are defined,
and performance measures are continuously
monitored in order to detect unexpected
variation.
4. Integrated system Although an organization
may consist of many different functional
specialties often organized into vertically
structured departments, it is the horizontal
processes interconnecting these functions
that are the focus of TQM. Micro- processes
add up to larger processes, and all processes
aggregate into the business processes
required for defining and implementing
strategy.
Everyone must understand the vision,
mission, and guiding principles as well as the
quality policies, objectives, and critical
processes of the organization. Business
performance must be monitored and
communicated continuously.
An integrated business system may be
modelled after the Baldrige National Quality
Program criteria and/or incorporate the ISO
9000 standards.
Every organization has a unique work culture,
and it is virtually impossible to achieve
excellence in its products and services unless
a good quality culture has been fostered.
Thus, an integrated system connects business
improvement elements in an attempt to
continually improve and exceed the
expectations of customers, employees, and
other stakeholders.
5. Strategic and systematic approach A critical
part of the management of quality is the
strategic and systematic approach to
achieving an organization’s vision, mission,
and goals. This process, called strategic
planning or strategic management, includes
the formulation of a strategic plan that
integrates quality as a core component.
6. Continual improvement A major thrust of
TQM is continual process improvement.
Continual improvement drives an
organization to be both analytical and
creative in finding ways to become more
competitive and more effective at meeting
stakeholder expectations.
7. Fact-based decision making In order to know
how well an organization is performing, data
on performance measures are necessary.
TQM requires that an organization continually
collect and analyze data in order to improve
decision making accuracy, achieve consensus,
and allow prediction based on past history.
8. Communications During times of
organizational change, as well as part of day-
to-day operation, effective communications
plays a large part in maintaining morale and
in motivating employees at all levels.
Communications involve strategies, method,
and timeliness.
Features of TQM:
1. Customer-oriented - TQM focuses on
customer satisfaction through creation of
better quality products and services at lower
costs
2. Employee involvement and empowerment -
Teams focus on quality improvement projects
and employees are empowered to serve
customers well.
3. Organization-wide - TQM involves every
department or division.
4. Continuous improvement - Quality
improvement is a never-ending journey.

5. Strategic focus - Quality is viewed as a
strategic, competitive weapon.
6. Process management - TQM adopts the
concept of prevention through process
management.
7. Change in corporate culture - TQM involves
the creation of a work culture that is
conducive to quality improvement.
Benefits of TQM:
1. Attain higher profitability and increased
market share
2. improve customer satisfaction
3. improve organizational productivity
4. improve employee morale and job
satisfaction
5. create a positive work culture
6. undertake systematic problem solving and
decision making through project teams
7. improve teamwork
8. create a climate conducive to continuous
improvement
The Concept of Continuous Improvement by
TQM:
TQM is mainly concerned with continuous
improvement in all work, from high level strategic
planning and decision-making, to detailed
execution of work elements on the shop floor. It
stems from the belief that mistakes can be
avoided and defects can beprevented. It leads to
continuously improving results, in all aspects of
work, as a result of continuously improving
capabilities, people, processes, technology and
machine capabilities.
Continuous improvement must deal not only
with improving results, but more importantly
with improving capabilities to produce better
results in the future.
The five major areas of focus for capability
improvement are demand generation, supply
generation, technology, operations and people
capability.
A central principle of TQM is that mistakes may
be made by people, but most of them are caused,
or at least permitted, by faulty systems and
processes. This means that the root cause of such
mistakes can be identified and eliminated, and
repetition can be prevented by changing the
process.
There are three major mechanisms of
prevention:
1. Preventing mistakes (defects) from occurring
(mistake-proofing or poka-yoke).
2. Where mistakes can’t be absolutely
prevented, detecting them early to prevent
them being passed down the value-added
chain (inspection at source or by the next
operation).
3. Where mistakes recur, stopping production
until the process can be corrected, to prevent
the production of more defects. (stop in
time).
THE SIX C’S OF TQM
1. COMMITMENT – Commitment from
employees
2. CULTURE – Quality improvement culture

3. CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT – continuous
improvement in progress
4. COOPERATION – Cooperation from
employees
5. CUSTOMER FOCUS – Focus on customer
requirements
6. CONTROL – Effective control should be laid
down
Implementation Principles and Processes:
 A preliminary step in TQM implementation is
to assess the organization’s current reality.
 Relevant preconditions have to do with the
organization’s history, its current needs,
precipitating events leading to TQM, and the
existing employee quality of working life.
 If the current reality does not include
important preconditions, TQM
implementation should be delayed until the
organization is in a state in which TQM is
likely to succeed.
 If an organization has a track record of
effective responsiveness to the environment,
and if it has been able to successfully change
the way it operates when needed, TQM will
be easier to implement.
 If an organization has been historically
reactive and has no skill at improving its
operating systems, there will be both
employee skepticism and a lack of skilled
change agents. If this condition prevails, a
comprehensive program of management and
leadership development may be instituted.
 A management audit is a good assessment
tool to identify current levels of
organizational functioning and areas in need
of change.
 An organization should be basically healthy
before beginning TQM.
 If it has significant problems such as a very
unstable funding base, weak administrative
systems, lack of managerial skill, or poor
employee morale, TQM would not be
appropriate. However, a certain level of stress
is probably desirable to initiate TQM. People
need to feel a need for a change.
 Kanter (1983) addresses this phenomenon be
describing building blocks which are present
in effective organizational change.
 These forces include departures from
tradition, a crisis or galvanizing event,
strategic decisions, individual “prime
movers,” and action vehicles
 Departures from tradition are activities,
usually at lower levels of the organization,
which occur when entrepreneurs move
outside the normal ways of operating to solve
a problem.
 A crisis, if it is not too disabling, can also help
create a sense of urgency which can mobilize
people to act.
 In the case of TQM, this may be a funding cut
or threat, or demands from consumers or
other stakeholders for improved quality of
service. After a crisis, a leader may intervene
strategically by articulating a new vision of
the future to help the organization deal with
it. A plan to implement TQM may be such a
strategic decision.
 Such a leader may then become a prime
mover, who takes charge in championing the
new idea and showing others how it will help
them get where they want to go.
 Finally, action vehicles are needed and
mechanisms or structures to enable the
change to occur and become institutionalized.
Implementation of Quality:
The implementation of total quality is similar to
that of other decentralized control methods. In
developing TQM, companies need to understand
how consumers define quality in both goods and  Done correctly, a company involved with
services offered. If a company pays more TQM can dramatically reduce operating
attention to quality in its production processes, costs.
fewer problems are bound to occur when the  The competitive advantage results from
product is in the customers’ hands. concentrating resources (the employees’
brainpower) on controlling costs and
Management should make a commitment to
improving customer service.
measure the performance of a product relative to
its quality through customer surveys, which can
2. Bad attitudes/abdication of
help managers to identify design, manufacturing
responsibility/management infallibility
or any other process that has a bearing on the
 The competitive environment, poor
quality of a product or service, and therefore
management practice, and a general lack of
provide an opportunity for continuous
higher expectations have contributed to
improvement.
unproductive and unhealthy attitudes.
An obstacle is an object, a thing, an action or a  These attitudes often are expressed in
situation that causes an obstruction. Obstacles popular sayings, such as “It’s not my job” and
can be physical, social, economic, technological “If I am not broke, don’t fix it.
or political.  Such attitude sayings stem from the popular
notion that management is always right and
therefore employees are” only supposed to
Barriers or obstacles that TQM faces during the implement management decisions without
implementation. questioning.
 Lethargy is further propagated through
1. Competitive markets
management’s failure to train employees on
 A competitive market is a driving force
TQM fundamentals that build better
behind many of the other obstacles to
attitudes by involving them in teams that
quality.
identify and solve problems.
 One of the effects of a competitive market is
 Such training can transform employees from
to lower quality standards to a minimally
being part of the problem to part of the
acceptable level.
solution.
 This barrier to quality is mainly a mental
 This will foster motivation and creativity and
barrier caused by a misunderstanding of the
build productive and healthy attitudes that
definition of quality.
focus employees on basic fundamentals,
 Unfortunately, too many companies equate
such as: keep customer needs in mind,
quality with high cost. Their definition leads
constantly look for improvements, and
to the assumption that a company can’t
accept personal responsibility for your work.
afford quality.
 A broader definition needs to be used to look
at quality, not only in the company’s
product, but in every function of the
company.
 All company functions have an element of
quality.
 If the quality of tasks performed is poor, 3. Lack of leadership for quality
unnecessary cost is incurred by the company  Excess layers of management quite often
and, ultimately, passed to the customer. lead to duplication of duty and responsibility.
 TQM should work by inspiring employees at  This has made the lower employees of an
every level to continuously improve what organization to leave the quality
they do, thus rooting out unnecessary costs. implementation to be a management’s job.
 In addition, quality has not been taken as a
joint responsibility by the management and
the employees.
 Coupled with the notion that management is
infallible and therefore it is always right in its
decisions, employees have been forced to
take up peripheral role in quality
improvement. As a result employees who are
directly involved in the production of goods
or delivery of services are not motivated
enough to incorporate quality issues that
have been raised by the customers they
serve since they do not feel as part of the
continuous process of quality improvement.
 Moreover, top management is not visibly
and explicitly committed to quality in many
organizations.
4. Deficiency of cultural dynamism
 Every organization has its own unique way of
doing things.
 This is defined in terms of culture of the
organization.
 The processes, the philosophy, the
procedures and the traditions define how the
employees and management contribute to
the achievement of goals and meeting of
organizational objectives.
 Indeed, sticking to organizational culture is
integral in delivery of the mission of the
organization.
 However, culture has to be reviewed and for
that matter re-adjustments have to be done
in tune with the prevailing economic, political,
social and technological realities so as to
improve on efficiency.
 In adequate cultural dynamism has made
total quality implementation difficult because
most of the top level management of many
organizations are rigid in their ways of doing
things.
5. Inadequate resources for total quality
management
 Since most companies do not involve quality
in their strategic plan, little attention is paid
to TQM in terms of human and financial
resources.
 Much of the attention is drawn to increasing
profit margins of the organization with little
regard as to whether their offers/ supply to
customers is of expected quality.
 There is paltry budgetary allocation made
towards employee training and development
which is critical for total quality management
implementation.
 Employee training is often viewed as
unnecessary cost which belittles the profits
margins which is the primary objective for
the existence of businesses and as a result
TQM has been neglected as it
implementation “may not necessarily bring
gains to the organization in the short term”.
6. Lack of customer focus
 Most strategic plans of organizations are not
customer driven.
 They tend to concentrate much on profit-
oriented objectives within a given time
frame. Little (if any) market research is done
to ascertain the product or service
performance in the market relative to its
quality.
 Such surveys are regarded by most
organizations as costly and thus little
concern is shown to quality improvement for
consumer satisfaction.
7. Lack of effective measurement of quality
improvement
 TQM is centered on monitoring employees
and processes, and establishing objectives
that anticipate the customer’s needs so that
he is surprised and delighted.
 This has posed a considerable challenge to
many companies.
 Measurement problems are caused by goals
based on past substandard performance,
poor planning, and lack of resources and
competitor-based standard.
 Worse still, the statistical measurement
procedures applied to production are not
applicable to human system processes.
8. Poor Planning
 The absence of a sound strategy has often
contributed to ineffective quality
improvement.
 Duran noted that deficiencies in the original
planning cause a process to run at a high
level of chronic waste. Using data collected
at then recent seminars, Duran (1987)
reported that although some managers were
not pleased with their progress on their
quality implementation agenda, they gave
quality planning low priority. As Oakland
(1989) said, the pre- planning stage of
developing the right attitude and level of
awareness is crucial to achieving success in a
quality improvement program.
 Newell and Dale (1990) in their study
observed that a large number of companies
are either unable or unwilling to plan
effectively for quality improvement.
 Although many performed careful and
detailed planning prior to implementation,
not one of the firms studied or identified
beforehand the stages that their process
must endure.
 Perhaps the root cause of poor plans and
specifications is that many owners do not
understand the impact that poor drawings
have on a project’s quality, cost, and time.
Regardless of the cause, poor plans and
specifications lead to a project that costs
more, takes longer to complete, and causes
more frustration than it should.
 Companies using TQM should always strive
towards impressing upon owners the need
to spend money and time on planning.
 If management took reasonable time to plan
projects thoroughly and invest in partnering
to develop an effective project team, a lot
could be achieved in terms of product
performance as these investments in
prevention- oriented management can
significantly improve the quality of the goods
or services offered by an organization.
9. Lack of management commitment
 A quality implementation program will
succeed only if top management is fully
committed beyond public announcements.
Success requires devotion and highly visible
and articulate champions.
 Newell and Dale (1990) found that even
marginal wavering by corporate managers
was sufficient to divert attention from
continuous improvement.
 Additionally, Schein (1991) reported that the
U.S. Quality Council is most troubled by the
lack of top management commitment in
many companies.
 Lack of commitment in quality management
may stem from various reasons.
 Major obstacles include the preoccupation
with short-term profits and the limited
experience and training of many executives.
 Duran, for example, observed that many
managers have extensive experience in
business and finance but not in quality
improvement.
 Similarly, Bothe (1988) pointed out that
although the CEO does not have to be a
quality expert, programs fail when the
CEO does not recognize the contribution
these techniques make toward profitability
and customer satisfaction.
 Top management should, therefore,
embrace quality improvement programs no
matter how far reaching the programs may
appear the monetary implications therein.
Competition alone should not be considered
as the single factor that drives managers into
implementing quality initiatives.
10. Resistance of the workforce
 A workforce is often unwilling to embrace
TQM for a variety of reasons.
 Oakland (1989) explained that a lack of long-
term objectives and targets will cause a
quality implementation program to lose
credibility.
QUALITY MANGEMENT SYSTEM (QMS)
A quality management system (QMS) is defined
as a formalized system that documents
processes, procedures, and responsibilities for
achieving quality policies and objectives. A QMS
helps coordinate and direct an organization’s
activities to meet customer and regulatory
requirements and improve its effectiveness and
efficiency on a continuous basis.
ISO 9001:2015, the international standard
specifying requirements for quality management
systems, is the most prominent approach to
quality management systems. While some use
the term “QMS” to describe the ISO 9001
standard or the group of documents detailing the
QMS, it actually refers to the entirety of the
system. The documents only serve to describe
the system.
BENEFITS OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Implementing a quality management system
affects every aspect of an organization’s
performance. Benefits of a documented quality
management system include:
Meeting the customer’s requirements, which
helps to instill confidence in the organization, in
turn leading to more customers, more sales, and
more repeat business
Meeting the organization’s requirements, which
ensures compliance with regulations and
provision of products and services in the most
cost- and resource-efficient manner, creating
room for expansion, growth, and profit
These benefits offer additional advantages,
including:
 Defining, improving, and controlling processes
 Reducing waste
 Preventing mistakes
 Lowering costs
 Facilitating and identifying training
opportunities
 Engaging staff
 Setting organization-wide direction
 Communicating a readiness to produce
consistent results
 ISO 9001:2015 AND OTHER QMS STANDARDS
 ISO 9001:2015 is the most recognized and
implemented quality management system
standard in the world.
 ISO 9001:2015 specifies the requirements for
a QMS that organizations can use to develop
their own programs.
Other standards related to quality management
systems include the rest of the ISO 9000 series
(including ISO 9000 and ISO 9004),
The ISO 14000 series (environmental
management systems), ISO 13485 (quality
management systems for medical devices), ISO
19011 (auditing management systems), and
ISO/TS 16949 (quality management systems for
automotive-related products).
ELEMENTS AND REQUIREMENTS OF A QMS
Each element of a quality management system
helps achieve the overall goals of meeting the
customers’ and organization’s requirements.
Quality management systems should address an
organization’s unique needs; however, the
elements all systems have in common include:
 The organization’s quality policy and quality
objectives
 Quality manual
 Procedures, instructions, and records
 Data management
 Internal processes
 Customer satisfaction from product quality
 Improvement opportunities
 Quality analysis
ESTABLISHING AND IMPLEMENTING A QMS
Before establishing a quality management
system, the organization must identify and
manage various connected, multi-functional
processes to help ensure customer satisfaction.
The QMS design should be influenced by the
organization’s varying objectives, needs, and
products and services provided. This structure is
based largely on the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA)
cycle and allows for continuous improvement to
both the product and the QMS. The basic steps to
implementing a quality management system are
as follows:
 Design
 Build
 Deploy
 Control
 Measure
 Review
 Improve
 Design and Build
The Design and Build
- portions serve to develop the structure of a
QMS, its processes, and plans for
implementation. Senior management should
oversee this portion to ensure the needs of
the organization and the needs of its
customers are a driving force behind the
systems development.
Deploy
- Deployment is best served in a granular
fashion by breaking each process down into
subprocesses and educating staff on
documentation, education, training tools, and
metrics. Company intranets are increasingly
being used to assist in the deployment of
quality management systems.
Control and Measure
- Control and measurement are two areas of
establishing a QMS that are largely
accomplished through routine, systematic
audits of the quality management system.
The specifics vary greatly from organization to
organization depending on size, potential risk,
and environmental impact.
Review and Improve
- Review and improve detail how the results of
an audit are handled. The goals are to
determine the effectiveness and efficiency of
each process toward its objectives, to
communicate these findings to the
employees, and to develop new best practices
and processes based on the data collected
during the audit.
Industrial Influence On Quality And
Standardization
- The history of quality can trace its roots back
centuries when craftsmen began organizing
into unions called guilds.
When the Industrial Revolution came, early
quality management systems were used as
standards that controlled product and
process outcomes. As more people had to
work together to produce results and
production quantities grew, best practices
were needed to ensure quality results.
Eventually, best practices for controlling product
and process outcomes were established and
documented. These documented best practices
turned into standard practices for quality
management systems.
Quality became increasingly important during
World War II, for example, when bullets made in
one state had to work with rifles made in
another. The armed forces initially inspected
virtually every unit of product. To simplify the AUDITING ISO 19011
process without sacrificing safety, the military
ENVIRONMENTAL ISO 14000; ISO 14001
began to use quality techniques of sampling for MANAGEMENT
inspection, aided by the publication of military- RISK MANAGEMENT ISO 31011
specification standards and training courses in
Walter Shewhart’s statistical process control SOCIAL ISO 26000
techniques. RESPONSIBILITY
FOOD SAFETY ISO 22000
The importance of quality only grew after the
war. The Japanese enjoyed a quality revolution,
improving their reputation for shoddy exports by
fully embracing the input of American thinkers
like Joseph M. Juran and W. Edwards Deming and
shifting focus from inspection to improving all
organization processes through the people who
used them. By the 1970s, the U.S. industrial
sectors, such as electronics and automobiles, had
been broadsided by Japan’s high-quality
competition.

The Rise of Quality Management Systems

The American response to the quality revolution

in Japan gave birth to the concept of total quality
management (TQM), a method for quality
management that emphasized not only statistics
but approaches that embraced the entire
organization.
In the late 20th century, independent
organizations began producing standards to assist
in the creation and implementation of quality
management systems. It is around this time that
the phrase “Total Quality Management” began to
fall out of favor. Because of the multitude of
unique systems that can be applied, the term
“Quality Management System” or “QMS” is
preferred.
At the start of the 21st century, QMS had begun
to merge with the ideas of sustainability and
transparency, as these themes became
increasingly important to consumer satisfaction.

Topic Standard

QUALITY ISO 9000; ISO 9001

MANAGEMENT