Lesson 1ª


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction to Total Quality

The following work "Total Quality Management" is presented inside the course "Quality Management" which is part of the doctorate program: Business Management, Strategy and Human Resources, 2000-2002, from the University of Cadiz, Spain.

This piece of work is justified by the need of giving a generic and integrating vision of the different quality management techniques that affect or involve the organization group and which are client oriented.

We are trying, without being exhaustive, to convince you of the need - in a globalized and competitive environment where new information technologies allow enterprises and organizations to inter-relate in a global level - to adopt the Total Quality Management. Not only as a business management technique, but a fundamental part of strategic management of the enterprise in a long term.

To do this, we have structured the course in five sections:

•  Introduction to Total Quality Management, where we define and justify total quality management besides analysing the benefits of using it in organizations.

•  Quality strategy and planning, where we pretend to analyse that strategic management leads us to adopt total quality management as a part of itself in a long term, being present in quality plans and programs that must be measurable and assumable. Evidently, it will depend on our business and corporative strategy, on the election of the type of organization we wish to have, on where we are and where we wish to get, on how we achieve this, reviewing concepts like continuing improvement, and benchmarking .

•  Quality organization, in this section we will explain that Total Quality Management is introduced in the organizational structure of the enterprise, it its process, and in the design of its functions and products from a pro-active point of view.

•  Quality comes from personnel, it is completely justified since it will be the human resource policy of the organization: management in its leadership and design, intermediate command and workers who will adopt it or not, quality as a basic mission which must guide all its actions.

•  Quality control, where we shall see the different quality and quantity control techniques of quality control, as well as their feedback as a fundamental part of a continuous improvement system.

We will finish with a summary and conclusions.

Each section contains examples since we consider that through them we will be able to communicate faster what we want to transmit. They will show how enterprises have been successful by adopting the Total Quality Management, or why they failed trying.