Explaining Total Quality Management: Nintendo & Apple

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Dear Student,
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OTA 105878/Xenia Jones
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Defining Total Quality Management (TQM)

At first glance, TQM appears to be another one of the many buzzwords that find life in corporate offices for the purpose of reviving, labelling, or improving an idea or system process. The truth is though, TQM as a business and management concept had been around for decades and is defined as by the International Standards Organization thusly:

"TQM is a management approach for an organization, centered on quality, based on the participation of all its members and aiming at long-term success through customer satisfaction, and benefits to all members of the organization and to society." ISO 8402:1994

At the heart of it TQM as a business strategy aims to provide organization-wide system process that ensures quality work in all aspects of the business at varied functions of management: planning, organizing, directing, control, and assurance. Total here refers to the all-encompassing attempt and vision of quality control in terms quality returns to shareholders and the quality of the products and services produced for stakeholders and consumers. In Japanese companies TQM is achieved by minimizing the process in the production line and maximizing effort and time to produce quality products by proper research and development with the variation between processes in production lessened to achieve a consistent flow. To achieve TQM, the company/organization must avoid waste in resources including time and effort and must, at all time, try to achieve a certain standard quality in all aspects ...