Overview of TQM Tools
TQM Tools stands for total quality management instruments, not for one type of organization, but for all kinds of organizations. It states that all employees including the management need to work towards improving the existing business process, adding productivity and efficiency and interconnectivity across various departments in the organization
The basis upon which an organization operates is profitability, for which it needs clients and customers. Hence keeping clients satisfied and happy is also one of the main characteristics of TQM. Thus all employees need to work towards improving existing culture, process, and systems in place and aligning the objective of the organization with its long term goal and not comprising customer satisfaction along the way.
A business or company has various divisions, the objective of the management is to ensure that all departments are working at the highest efficiency and productivity so that there is no wastage of resources and the company does not incur additional costs which would directly impact its productivity. With the advent of modern technology, there are various tools in place that determine and help measure the level of productivity and efficiency.
Principles of TQM Tools
But before I discuss them I would like to discuss the principles governing TQM tools.
Commitment
All employees and management need to be committed to increasing the efficiency and productivity of the organization and quality of products and services so that the customer is happy and satisfied in the end. In order to increase commitment, management can induce additional monetary incentives, or employee of the month schemes and so on.
Culture
The entire culture of the organization should be striving to achieve customer satisfaction. And this needs to start from the very top management and spread down into the organization
Customer focus
The end objective of the organization is retaining customers and adding new ones so that the loyal customer base is maintained. All goods and services produced must be aimed to achieve satisfy the customer and keep them happy.
Employee empowerment
In order for employees to understand the objectives, culture, and ethos of the organization they need to be provided necessary training, need to be sensitized on work space-related policies and behaviors. And most importantly their feedback needs to be taken into consideration so that they feel organization cares for them, this will make them feel empowered and they will work at their highest productivity.
Continuous improvement
With the advent of modern technology, various tools are available that help measures the levels of improvement and where there is scope for additional development.
List of TQM Tools
Below is a list of TQM Tools that management can use in Total quality management
Pareto Principle
Pareto Principle is also known as the 80/20 rule. It states that most of the problems come from a few causes, that is 80% of the problem comes from 20% of causes, thus if the primary causes and identified they can be worked upon. But it is also important to identify these causes at the right time so that problems can be nipped in the bud and they are not allowed to culminate into big challenges for the organization, which in turn may take a lot of resources in time and energy to solve them.
Scatter plots
These are graph diagrams that have 2 axes on which variables that we want to measure are plotted. Y-axis is generally what we want to predict, for example, it may be cost of a department, or revenue that it is generating, issues cropping up department wise, or goods and services that customers prefer in terms of the highest sale over a period of time. X-axis generally can be time period, that is we are studying a relation over a period of time and see how is it changing
Control Chart
They set limits within which deviations are allowed within a department or quality of product and service, but if these limits are breached then it becomes a cause of worry. To use control chart and organization needs a lot of data and experience to set the limits if wrong or incorrect limits are set and they breach very often management will have to continuously make changes.
Flow charts
They are generally used to describe the entire production process or operations process, right from manufacturing, to processing, to distribution and ultimately the sale of products and serves. It serves as an overview of the entire business process. It is designed in such a way that even if an outsider sees the process he can understand how the business works.
Cause-effects charts
The purpose of the diagram is to relate causes to effects, it helps identify repeated causes of concern for the organization and what is causing them. It is very helpful in understanding the wider picture of the organization and helps arrange factors in proper order giving a sequence to events so that they can be handled and tackled in a systematic way.
Histogram
A Histogram is like a bar chart, where you have a bar-shaped graph, on the x-axis, you have an item and the y-axis is a value of that item. For instance, we can have sales achieved during the past 12 months or even 12 years. This helps management understand how the business is performing.
Checklists
Checklist, as the name suggests, is a list of items that are important and they need to be achieved and it is important that none of them is missed, that is why a checklist is there. It is meant so that operations are executed properly and not for collecting data. And all items are checked before any decision is taken.
Conclusion
Thus total quality management tool focuses on improving the existing process of the organization in an efficient and productive way. There are tools that management can use to increase the quality of their products and services. And as new-age technology develops additional methods will come up.
Recommended Articles
This has been a guide to TQM Tools. Here we discuss the overview, principles, and list of different tools used by total quality management. You may also look at the following articles to learn more –
