9. TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM)

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A quality philosophy that reaches all levels of an organization.

There is no well defined standard.

One tool to help assessment of problems is the list of questions below, [Nordeen, 1993]

1. Why does the product have poor quality and/or why does the service of the product have poor quality?

2. Why was the product not correct and/or why was the service of the product not correct?

3. Why was the total process for developing and producing the product and its relatedd systems not capable, and why did the people not have the required knowledge and skills?

4. Why is the importance of the organizational processes, knowledge, and skills not recognized in the business plan and management of the organization?

5. Why does senior leadership not understand?

Nordeen, D.L., "Total Quality Management in Industry", Automotive Engineering, June 1993, pp. 35-41.