TQM/ISO What Is TQM and ISO? Both

TQM/ISO

What is TQM and ISO?

Both the Total Quality Management (TQM) and International Standards Organization (ISO) management systems are used to continually improve quality levels and ensure greater data accuracy and reporting. While there are many differences, TQM is considered more of an entire series of processes used for continually improving quality levels across the entire value chain of their businesses (Luis, Javier, Del Mar, 2004). The ISO standards are often used as a benchmark or mile marker in many industries to determine how best to stay in compliance to quality standards and requirements (Talha, 2004).

Why TQM and ISO Is Used in Organizations

Most often TQM is used as both a framework and system for unifying all quality management standards, strategies, processes and programs throughout an organization (Luis, Javier, Del Mar, 2004). TQM encompasses powerful techniques for managing quality including Six Sigma which is very useful to keeping product development, maintenance and future development all oriented towards customers' needs over the long-term (Luis, Javier, Del Mar, 2004). TQM often becomes a design, development, manufacturing and service philosophy as well.

ISO varies from TQM in that the latter is more of a framework of standards and serves to define the minimal operating parameters of a given quality process area or strategy (Talha, 2004). ISO is effective in monitoring compliance levels for all processes, from the very simple to the complex. ISO is also very effective for managing the continual shift and increase of quality standards that organizations often must abide by to keep specific military and government contracts. The ISO-9001 certification is essential for many areas of aerospace and defense manufacturing for example.

The benefits of TQM include unifying a company's overall quality management strategies, ensuring a company's direction is consistent from a quality management and compliance standpoint across all functional and process areas (Luis, Javier, Del Mar, 2004), and ensuring a high degree of commonality of reporting requirements. The challenges of implementing an effective TQM program include resistance to change, lack of data to support the initiative, and lack of process and system integration to enable process improvement and re-engineering (Luis, Javier, Del Mar, 2004).