Customer satisfaction is often seen as "intangible," which makes it difficult to pin down, measure, and ultimately achieve. What exactly drives customer satisfaction, and consequently, what makes successful products? This question in the 1970s and 1980s gave rise to total quality management or TQM.
Defining Total Quality Management (TQM)
Total quality management (TQM) is the ongoing process of identifying and minimizing or eliminating faults in production, optimizing supply chain management, enhancing customer experience, and guaranteeing well-trained staff. As per the definition of TQM, the customer's requirements determine what quality is.
In the late 1970s and 1980s, the developed economies of Western Europe and North America struggled economically, struggling against Japan's capacity to create high-quality products at affordable prices. Companies began re-examining the quality control approaches developed over 50 years and how the Japanese had effectively implemented them. This was the environment in which TQM came to the fore.
Literature across the period discusses total quality management in multiple ways. Some seminal works referring to the concept include Total Quality Control by American businessman Armand V. Feigenbaum and What Is Total Quality Control? The Japanese Way by Japanese organizational theorist Kaoru Ishikawa. Today, it is primarily adopted by industrial companies, but its principles and approaches can inform a company's overall culture – with a special focus on customer centricity.
The Core TQM Principles that Drive Total Quality Management
While CX professionals may disagree on the specific meaning of TQM (for some, it refers to a low defect rate, but for others, it's verified by satisfied customers), there are eight guiding principles for total quality management.
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Customer Focus
Every company pursues a single objective: customer delight by creating high-quality products and services. Consequently, customer focus is the first principle of TQM. It implies that the final product must satisfy the requirements and needs of the customer.
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Employee Accountability
When adopting TQM, organizations must foster an empowering environment for their workforce. Along with the leadership, they become accountable for evaluating the quality of products and services in their different positions. In this situation, organizational communication is crucial in increasing employee morale.
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Connected Systems
An organization must have an integrated system to adopt a TQM strategy throughout its business activities. Consequently, implementing quality standards such as ISO 9000 standardization can aid in producing high-quality products and services. This will likely also result in meeting or surpassing customer expectations.
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Process-First Model
A product or service enters the market after undergoing many stages. This implies that it is monitored and evaluated at every step of the manufacturing and not just at the completion phase. Effective TQM is demonstrated by process-oriented thinking.
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Systematic Flow
TQM is all about preparing strategically to attain quality excellence and business targets. Consequently, establishing a systematic flow would guarantee that the products and services are passed through each phase of the quality manufacturing process.