Total Quality Management (TQM)

One advantage of a smaller business is that you needn't bother with management trends often sold to the bigger boys by management consultants. At least that's how it seems on the face of it. Does it really count as an advantage though? It could be that Total Quality Management could make money for a small business as well as a big one.

Quality management is becoming the only route forward for many businesses. Certain giants now insist on their suppliers providing quality certifications, like BS5750. Those don't come easily and can be expensive, and while a policy of Total Quality Management isn't essential to obtain them, you might as well undertake a TQM drive if you're going to all that trouble.

Establishing "Total Quality Management" in the workplace is not as easy as some assume. The idea implies action as well as quantifiable improvements in quality and service. But some implementations turn out to be entirely ineffective. One study conducted by Canada's Conference Board revealed that about 70% of North American companies experimenting with TQM fail even to show a useful "total quality strategy." However, TQM is not some passing fad; many companies which could benefit have yet to give the plan a real trial. Some proponents of TQM may only be making half-hearted efforts or doing what could best be described as PQM, or "Partial Quality Management."

Last December, I had the opportunity to chat with a friend who works for a major Canadian consulting firm in the area of quality improvement, i asked him whether his company worked with public sector clients. He replied that while his company felt that this market would be lucrative, he also indicated that the government environment was difficult to manage. In particular, he mentioned two things: governments are too slow to make the commitment to quality improvement, and they are unwilling to embrace the concept that it takes an investment of time and money to improve a system as large as government. Doubtless, if he had more experience working with governments, he would have mentioned others.

Everyone is talking about it; it's on every manager's mind and it's definitely taking some people places. Read on to know all about Six Sigma. Six Sigma is a method that employs statistical analysis to reduce or even eliminate defects, defined as "unacceptable deviation from the mean", in manufacturing and service related processes. It stands for Six Standard Deviations (sigma being the Greek alphabet representing standard deviation). Broadly, Six Sigma has three aspects: the metric, the methodology and its philosophy. Together, they help reduce the defects per million opportunities (DPMO) to 3.4, which is the Six Sigma benchmark.