Introduction
The concept of quality has become at the core of effective management and leadership in our modern times, and programs like Total Quality Management and Six Sigma have been at the heart of many companies' success. that quality needs to be built into every level of a company, and become part of everything the organization does.
This Document will be discussing the theories of two of the progenitors of TQM. Dr. W. Edwards Deming and Philip B. Crosby
Dr. W. Edwards Deming
W Edwards Deming was an American statistician who was credited with the rise of Japan as a manufacturing nation, and with the invention of Total Quality Management (TQM). In 1960 he was awarded a medal by the Japanese Emperor for his services to that country's industry.
Deming returned to the US and spent some years in obscurity before the publication of his book "Out of the crisis" in 1982. In this book, Deming set out 14 points which, if applied to US manufacturing industry, would he believed, save the US from industrial doom at the hands of the Japanese.
Although Deming does not use the term Total Quality Management in his book, it is credited with launching the movement. Most of the central ideas of TQM are contained in "Out of the crisis".
The key to understanding Deming’s 14 points lies in Deming's thoughts about variation. Variation was seen by Deming as the disease that threatened US manufacturing. The more variation - in the length of parts supposed to be uniform, in delivery times, in prices, in work practices - the more waste, he reasoned. From this premise, he set out his 14 points for management:
1. Create a constant purpose toward improvement. * Plan for quality in the long term. * Resist reacting with short-term solutions. * Don't just do the same things better – find better things to do. * Predict and prepare for future challenges, and always have the goal of getting better.
2. Adopt the new
References: Department of the Navy Office of the Under Secretary of the Navy Total Quality Leadership Office. http://www.teachingpr.org/management_book_reviews/2009/04/tqm-in-action-by-pike-barnes.html http://www.transtutors.com/homework-help/industrial-management/total-quality-management/crosby-14-steps-to-improvement.aspx http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_75.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_B._Crosby http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming