Applying Quality Principles: Total Quality Management

The quest for improvement in various areas of life such as business, social and personal became so important that researchers had to pre-occupy their times for many years in finding better ways of providing solution to issues confronting companies, institutions, families and society as a whole. The premise that we can be better and do better at how we perform task is and should be of great importance to all, because that is the only time we seek the knowledge to reach new height and produce to our full potential. The opportunities in the field of process improvement are vast and the contributors are numerous, so in looking for specific solution, one would need to first define the problem or issue that need improved then select the right methodology to resolve it. For the scope of this paper Total Quality Management, Six Sigma and ISO 9000 will be the focus of how they can be used as quality initiatives tool to obtain excellence in performance. Though all three have some similarities and differences in techniques and philosophies, nevertheless their applications have helped significantly to advance process improvement efforts across the globe.

Total Quality Management (TQM) is an approach that seeks to improve quality and performance which will meet or exceed customer expectations. This can be achieved by integrating all quality-related functions and processes throughout the company. TQM looks at the overall quality measures used by a company including managing quality design and development, quality control and maintenance, quality improvement, and quality assurance.

Six Sigma can be best described as a business improvement approach that seeks to find and eliminate causes of defects and errors in manufacturing and service proce...

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... decreasing of defects as well as the streamlining of processes.

Control

Control is known as the final step in the DMAIC methodology. It facilitates the identification and correction of variances. It accomplishes this swiftly thereby making certain these variances are denied the chance to influence the process in a negative manner and also by extension cause defects. An example of controls is pilot runs which are undertaken to ascertain whether the processes are functioning adequately.

References

Evans, J. R. (2011). Quality and performance excellence: Management, organization, and strategy

IVR - Another Type of Automated Telephone Answering: Retrieved on 3/18/2012 from http://www.specialtyansweringservice.net/automated-phone-answering-service.html

DMAIC Explained: Retrieved on 3/18/2012 from http://www.wideyegroup.com/computers-and-technology/dmaic-explained/