TQM \"Total Quality Management\" (TQM) Is One

TQM

"Total Quality Management" (TQM) is one of several approaches to management a company can choose that focuses on the quality of product and customer satisfaction. The basic concept is not complex. It focuses on the company making a concerted effort to do business in a way that meets their customers' needs and that leads to continual improvement in how they function, to support, maintain, and expand business (Prasad, 2004). It is based on the truism that customers expect to get their money's worth when they purchase a product or service. In the case of a company that produces a product, for example, microchips, that are then used in a different product, such as a computer, TQM concerns itself with both customers, but the customer it sells directly to has first priority in their concerns (Prasad, 2004).

The word "total" emphasizes the idea that the company must be concerned with quality at all levels, and it recognizes that having a reputation for providing value and quality will lead to repeat business, expansion of business, reduced complaints, and reduced service costs (Prasad, 2004).

In today's global economy, implementation of TQM can be somewhat tricky. Because communication has become so streamlined, a company's global reputation is important. TQM must work well even in companies that work within several countries and cultures. Throughout its global structure, all the top management must be committed to the principles of TQM including focus on customer, maintaining good relations with suppliers, maintenance of training for employees, elimination of product defects, and measurement of how well the company and its departments have achieved the goals they have set for themselves (Agus, 2005).

These issues are of special concern to companies in countries just emerging as world trade participants. For example, electronics companies in Malaysia are beginning to compete globally for the electronics market. Malaysian businesses have changed dramatically in the last few decades (Agus, 2005), and they have had to cope with rapid technological growth as well as aggressive competition from companies from other countries. The competitive electronics climate is challenging, and only companies who have a solid plan for producing quality products as well as maintaining that quality over time, which would include keeping up-to-date with the explosion of technological innovation currently going on, will have any real chance of competing successfully in the world market. As Agus (2005) says, " In the current tougher climate and demanding global market economy, quality management cannot be ignored if a manufacturing company wants to survive and prosper into the future" (Agus, 2005).

Using TQM requires that when problems develop, management and employeees find out what is causing the problem. Delays are often caused by bottlenecks that can be ended with better structure. In such a case, the focus on the customer is indirect, and this is the case in Malaysia. Customer satisfaction is not one of the "top indicators" of TQM success for the electronics industry in Malaysia. This may be partly because their products are mass-produced to specifications by the customer (Agus, 2005). It has to be presumed that these products meet customer satisfaction, however, because of the competitive nature of the business. Customers do not have to tolerate products that do not meet their needs.