Quality Pioneers

Total Quality Pioneers

Quality is an ongoing process; what a customer values today may not be what is important to him or her at a later date because quality changes over time. Organizations should learn to change along with their customer's expectations. Quality is an issue which is involved in our everyday lives and according to Goetsch and Davis (2010) it is a dynamic state associated with products, services, people, processes, and environments that meets or exceeds expectations and helps produce superior value.

Elements of Quality

There is not one universal definition of quality but Goetsch and Davis (2010) suggest that there are similarities in the definitions and the following elements are in common:

* Quality involves meeting or exceeding the customer's expectations

* Quality applies to products, services, people, processes, and environments

* Quality is an ever-changing state.

Total quality is a strategic management approach where all levels of management and employees are involved in the continuous quality improvement of the organization's products and services. Management alters the way they continually focus on customer satisfaction. Every employee and every function of the organization is involved in satisfying the needs of the internal and external customer. Total Quality Management (TQM) can be successful if the following factors are implemented in the strategy: top management commitment, quality measurement, process management, product design, employee training, and empowerment, supplier quality management, and customer involvement satisfaction (Motwani, 2001). The development of TQM involves all levels of management, employees, and statistical methods to develop a company's focus on satisfying the customer. Every employee should be involved and be in support of TQM in order for the strategy to be effective.

Birth of Total Quality Management

The birth of Total Quality Management (TQM) in the modern sense started before and during WWII when W. Edwards Deming and J.M. Juran were businessmen which were involved in consulting for Japanese industry about the implementation of quality control. This paper will focus on Juran's contributions to quality management. Juran was the first to incorporate the human aspect of quality management known as Total Quality Management (TQM) (Goetsch & Davis, 2010). One of Juran's major contributions to quality management is known as the Juran Trilogy that consists of three main functions: quality planning, quality control, and quality improvement.

Quality planning. To be competitive a company must develop new products/services with new features desired by customers without repeating previous mistakes and design flaws. "Quality planning is the process of preparing the launch of new competitive products, services, and processes that meet customer's expectations, minimize product and service dissatisfaction, avoid costly deficiencies, optimize company performance, and provide participation from those affected by the product or service" (Bisgaard, p. 395).

Quality control. All employees from manufacturing up to the CEO excersice control. Worker's product and process features and executives control budgets, sales, etc. Traditional quality control transfered the responsibility of quality from the producer to the inspector, which was ineffective. Juran's quality control has three criteria: 1) knowing the goals; 2) ability to know what the actual performance is; and 3) having means for and authority to change the performance when the process does not conform to goals or standards. Without these three criteria fulfilled, a person cannot be said to be in control. (Bisgaard, 2008)

Quality improvement. Juran explained to the Japanese executives that they could not just rely on inspections and