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Total Quality Management For many years, the approach to business management did not change. Managers believed the best way to be successful was to focus exclusively on the efficient operation of the business. To achieve that goal, managers tried to get more work out of employees, make as few changes in products as possible, and find ways to reduce costs, often at the expense of quality. W. Edwards Deming developed 14 guiding principles for managers that taught them to view their management role in a different way. He suggested that a long-term commitment to quality, customer satisfaction, and employee morale would lead to success. His process led to the development of Total Quality Management (TQM). TQM touches all aspects of a business. Businesses committed to TQM do the following: • Look for ways to increase effectiveness and quality. . Care about customer satisfaction and employee motivation. • View employees as valuable contributors to success. • Rely on leadership and cooperation in dealing with employees. • Encourage teamwork and employee involvement in decision making. • Use training to improve employee effectiveness and motivation. Many tools have been developed to help businesses implement Total Quality Management. These tools include: Flow charts. These identify each step in a procedure and the relationship between the steps. They can be used to compare how work is being done to how it is supposed to be done in order to reduce errors. Cause-and-effect analysis. Employee and management teams brainstorm about problems to find solutions. They develop a diagram that lists problems and possible causes and link them together until they discover and agree on the basic problem. Then they can develop solutions. Scatter diagrams. Data from two different factors are visually plotted on a chart and analyzed to discover relationships. For example, the number of employee absences over a six- month period can be compared to the number of product defects to see if the use of part-time or temporary employees is related to a reduction in product quality. Today, quality, customer satisfaction, teamwork, and process improvement are making a difference in business competitiveness. 1. Why do many managers find it so difficult to change from traditional approaches to TQM? 2. Many schools are now implementing TQM and teaching students to use its tools. What types of procedures in schools could benefit from TQM? 3. If students are regularly late for classes, how can the school use TQM tools to help solve the problem?