That aspect of the overall management
function that determines and implements the quality policy. Notes:
1) The attainment of desired quality requires the commitment and
participation of all members of the organization whereas the responsibility
for quality management belongs to top management. 2) Quality management
includes strategic planning, allocation of resources and other
systematic activities for quality, such as quality planning, operations
and evaluations.
Total Quality Management (TQM) is a comprehensive
and structured approach to organizational management that seeks
to improve the quality of products and services through ongoing
refinements in response to continuous feedback. Total Quality
Management TQM requirements may be defined separately for a particular
organization or may be in adherence to established standards,
such as the International Organization for Standardization's ISO
9000 series. Total Quality Management TQM can be applied to any
type of organization; it originated in the manufacturing sector
and has since been adapted for use in almost every type of organization
imaginable, including schools, highway maintenance, hotel management,
and churches. As a current focus of e-business, Total Quality
Management TQM is based on quality management from the customer's
point of view.
Total Quality Management TQM processes
are divided into four sequential categories: plan, do, check,
and act (the PDCA cycle). In the planning phase, people define
the problem to be addressed, collect relevant data, and ascertain
the problem's root cause; in the doing phase, people develop and
implement a solution, and decide upon a measurement to gauge its
effectiveness; in the checking phase, people confirm the results
through before-and-after data comparison; in the acting phase,
people document their results, inform others about process changes,
and make recommendations for the problem to be addressed in the
next PDCA cycle.
