Key Points

• Total Quality Management is all about continuously improving products and services.
• There is no question that communicating any changes will be integral for employee involvement.
• It’s okay to reward employees for improving their work.

Total Quality Management, or TQM, often comes down to caring for customers. The best companies operating today have figured out that taking care of customers is the best way to directly impact the bottom line. Of course, to get to this point, you need to have a strong culture that wants to help customers. 

Best defined, TQM is a management approach that looks at long-term organizational success through the lens of customer satisfaction. This means that there is a focus and emphasis on creating either products or services that will not only meet the needs of the customer but exceed them in every way.

Some might think of TQM as TEI instead, which means total employee involvement, which is all about having the right culture. 

Understanding Total Quality Management

To best understand TQM, you must consider how management views it as an approach to turning an organization into a customer-focused culture. This work would include organizational goals and the work of all employees and team members involved, who play a big role. 

Customer Focus

Customer focus is among the most essential purposes of following the Total Quality Management system. This ties directly back to meeting and exceeding customer expectations. You can learn everything you need by conducting surveys, focus groups, or talking directly with customers. 

The hope is that every department is aligned with changing its processes to strongly align with customer satisfaction. There is also an argument for “Continuous Improvement,” where a company makes organizational changes to align with customer feedback and changing demands.

TQM’s primary aim is to see increased customer retention and loyalty, as this is the whole ballgame. 

Employment Involvement

With the proper focus, total quality management should heavily utilize employees, who are essential to this and any process. The hope is that staff at every level inside an organization, from the C-Suite on down, should be focused on problem-solving and quality management. Any good organization should have a culture of collaboration so that everyone feels closely connected to organizational outcomes. 

Process-Centered Approach

Total quality management (TQM) is focused heavily on optimizing processes to ensure consistent results. TQM almost always focuses on identifying bottlenecks and then figuring out how to address and solve these issues so that customers are unaffected. 

There is also a data side to this, so a step is required to double-check processes to ensure they are both efficient and aligned with the organization’s top-down goals. Any streamlined operations can help lead to cost savings, which could eventually be passed down to customers. 

The Benefits of Total Quality Management

Enhanced Productivity

Any company hopes to decrease waste and inefficiencies by incorporating TQM into workflows. The hopeful result is that employees will work smarter with processes and measurable goals that can be envisioned rather than vague goals they cannot tie to organizational goals. Introducing automation has also helped invigorate the TQM process as it helps boost overall productivity in a major way. 

Cost Reductions 

One of the biggest benefits of total quality management is that an organization can reduce operating costs. The more efficient employees and processes become, the more savings can be found. These savings can then be invested in cultural improvements, business expansion, or marketing. 

Customer Satisfaction 

Total quality management heavily emphasizes quality, ensuring that any product delivered to a customer meets and exceeds expectations. The more quality you can provide to a customer, the more likely you are to earn their loyalty.

Add to this the desire for an organization to quickly address customer issues, and it only reinforces their desire to be loyal and recommend an organization and its products to customers. 

Employee Morale 

As soon as TQM is introduced inside an organization, the hope is that employees feel empowered and recognized. The benefits of a strong culture that stems from team collaboration cannot be ignored. Employee morale can also improve as they receive more training to be more efficient at their jobs and reduce workloads, leading to less stress and burnout. 

Integrating TQM into Organizational Culture

Leadership Commitment 

Integrating TQM into an organizational culture starts with the commitment of an organization’s leadership. There is no question that these leaders must provide the company with a clear TQM vision and tie it directly to organizational goals. Leaders might consider doing this through town halls or memos, but not an email. 

The hope is that the stronger the vision, the more employees will be open-minded and accept any changes positively. However, leaders should and need to demonstrate their willingness to make changes to prove that they, too, are living by any new TQM principles. This would also make them as accountable as their employees. 

Of course, leaders should also reward employees who take the lead in integrating TQM. Whether it’s public acknowledgement, awards, bonuses, or something else, recognition can go a long way to boosting employee morale. If leadership focuses on consistently appreciating their employees, they will undoubtedly be more likely to sustain TQM efforts through a reward system. 

Employee Engagement

The next most important aspect of integrating TQM into organizational culture is employee engagement and training, both of which are high priorities. First and foremost, employees must be trained on TQM tools, whether Six Sigma or Kaizen. 

Role-specific training should be based on what each department inside an organization does and is responsible for. The more ongoing learning occurs, the more likely best practices will be developed and continuously improved. The more skills employees have, the more confident they will be about what drives quality improvements. 

Better yet, employees need to feel empowered to use their new training. They should have decision-making authority aligned with their roles and responsibilities, so there is a feeling of ownership around their work. Employees who feel empowered are more likely to feel valued, which ties back to the idea of a rewards system. 

Lastly, employees need a way to share feedback with everyone, from their managers to senior leadership. The stronger the feedback loop, the better off the entire system will be, especially if employee feedback is acted on. 

Aligned Systems and Processes

Having uniform procedures inside an organization will help enhance overall outcomes. Whether this is as easy as documenting workflows or regular audits to verify everyone’s compliance with company standards, the more aligned everyone is, the better. 

Next, quality metrics should be implemented to track how well TQM performs inside an organization. A customer satisfaction score should be at the top of any metrics list, as it is the driving force behind many changes. However, this isn’t to say that reviews of other business aspects, like a defect rate, are less critical. 

Taking advantage of any available technology and then regularly using this technology to help review areas that would benefit from process enhancement will significantly impact the bottom line. The best results will come from employees and managers working together to refine all possible workflows. 

Overcoming Challenges in TQM Integration 

Addressing Resistance to Change

Unfortunately, there will be those inside an organization who resist change for many reasons. First and foremost is job security, so it will be the job of senior leaders and the C-Suite to ensure that job security is an important topic and cover it transparently. 

Another big benefit of addressing resistance would be informing employees as early as possible about adopting TQM. Whether this means having focus groups or workshops early on, employees will feel more valued if they feel like their voices are being heard. 

Lastly, rolling out TQM in phases is probably the best move rather than announcing everything simultaneously. This is why piloting programs are often discussed in the TQM world, as incremental changes are easier to swallow than broad changes happening fast, introducing job concerns. 

Sustaining TQM

At the end of the day, if an organization wants to sustain TQM, regular audits are necessary to understand where things are going right and wrong. The more ongoing information a company has, the more TQM can remain in employees’ minds. 

There is also an argument for ongoing training that can help reinforce why TQM is taking place. Whether it’s online learning or some in-person workshop, this will help new hires who are entering the TQM world for the first time and existing employees who need a refresher. 

The next way to ensure that TQM is sustained over time is to celebrate milestones and achievements. Publicize the big wins through company-wide emails and newsletters, during in-person all-hands events, and more. Every success story is a hopeful way to motivate other employees to find their own success stories. 

Other Useful Tools and Concepts

If you’re considering Total Quality Management, it’s a good idea to learn about how it can be incorporated. Whether it’s through Six Sigma or Kaizen, knowing how these processes work and can benefit an organization and its employees is a good thing, as it might help you make recommendations in the future. 

Along with much of this list, there is also a question of where artificial intelligence and automation can fit into TQM. As technology changes, so does the need for these processes to keep pace with the new ways employees will work in the future. For better or worse, these technologies are here to stay, so understanding the implications is essential. 

Conclusion

There is no question that TQM will benefit an organization when it’s implemented correctly. The cultural benefits are clear, and the way employees can be highlighted and rewarded can create a better working environment, allowing employees to deliver better results to customers. It’s a win-win for everyone involved. 

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