(TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT) UNIT I CONNOTATIONS OF QUALITY Meaning of Quality Quality is simply meeting the requirements and this

s has been expressed in many ways like: Fitness for purpose or use that is the totally of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. Definitions of Qualify Quality is defined as : 1} The ability of a product or service to meet customer needs 2) Quality is meeting or exceeding customer's expectations 3) Quality means meeting customer's requirements, formal and informal, at the lowest cost, first time and every time. Features of Quality Following are the features of quality, 1. Quality as Totality of Features and Characteristics. In order to achieve success both in business and in the area of quality, an organization should provide both product and services to its customers. In this type of offering, the customers do not have to visit other organizations in search of services.
For providing a complete package of product and services an organization has to conduct a research to determine the needs and requirements of the . customers and to design and develop the products and services as per the customer's requirements. The design and the development of products and services as per the customer's requirements ensures totality of features and characteristics in the product and services. , . 2. Quality as 'Fitness for Use'. According to Dr. Joseph Juran, "quality is defined as fitness for use". A product or service is said to be of good quality if it is in a usable condition. It is not necessary that a product or service offered by . the organization should be excellent. The quality of product or service is considered as good, if it is used to a satisfactory .level. 3. Quality as Stated and Implied Needs. The stated needs are the needs specified by the customers at the time of purchasing the products or services. Implied needs are implicit by nature. Implied needs are concerned with the basic activities which are expected to be performed by the product. Implied needs may or may not be specified by the customers. In order to achieve success in attaining quality, an organization must have an adequate knowledge about the stated and implied needs' of the customers and should offer products or services by taking into account these stated and implied heeds as this results in the attainment of customer satisfaction. 4. Quality as 'Fitness for Purpose'. A product or service is said to be of good quality, if it is, capable of fulfilling its purpose successfully. A product or service which fails to meet its purpose is considered as a bad quality product or bad quality service.
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Quality as 'Conformance to Requirement'. According to 'Philip Crosby' -"quality is defined as conformance to requirement". The scope of customer's requirements is wider than the needs specified by the customers. The customers may not have adequate knowledge about their own needs or may be unaware about the availability of the products and services which can meet their requirements successfully. An organization can effectively achieve quality objectives if it conducts an authentic research for identifying the requirements of customers, for understanding them and for providing products and services as per the identified customer's requirements. 6. Quality as the one which Satisfies Three F's. As perthe traditional definition of quality, a product is said to be of good quality if it satisfies three F's i.e., Fit, Form and Function. This definition is only concerned about the product Quality, but service quality is completely ignored,

Managing for Quality

Quality management refers to the process of determining and monitoring the activities required for attaining the organization's quality goals. The universal | process of managing the quality deals with three activities which are as follows, 1. Quality planning 2. Quality control and 3. Quality improvement. 1. Quality Planning. Setting quality objectives, identifying customers, identifying the needs and wants of the customers, developing product attributes process attributes and setting process controls are the activities involved in 'quality planning'. 2. Quality Control. The various activities involved in the 'quality control' process are, selecting control subjects, selecting unite to be controlled, establishing the goals, developing a sensor, comparing the, actual performance against the standard performance, identifying the deviation between the actual and standard performance and taking corrective measures for overcoming the deviation. 3. Quality Improvement. The various activities involved in quality improvers; are -identifying the need for improvernent, identifying projects, administering the project teams, identifying the biases of deviation, specifying the measures to overcome the deviations, working on resistance to change and control and achieving improvements in quality.

Types of Qualities 'Kano' divided quality into four types which are as follows, 1. 2. 3. Expected quality Exciting quality Indifferent quality and

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One-dimensional quality.

The main intention of 'Kano' behind dividing the quality into four types is to know the relationship of quality with the competition. A brief description of each type of quality is given below,
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1. Expected Quality. Expected quality refers to the quality which is expected by customer in the product. For instance, customers expect ice cream to be cool. Usually, customers give attention to the expected quality only in its absence. 2. Exciting Quality. A product or service is said to be of exciting quality when its quality goes beyond the expectations of the customers. Exciting quality is the quality which makes the customers excited and surprises them. 3. Indifferent Quality. Indifferent quality is the quality to which the customers do not pay much attention. The customers give less importance to indifferent quality. For instance, dry fruits on an ice cream. One-dimensional Quality. One-dimensional quality refers to the quality expected by the customer but the absence of this type of quality does not make the customer completely dissatisfied. For instance, slow service in bank might not enforce the customer to close the account with the bank. QUALITY DIMENSIONS - PRODUCTS AND SERVICES A) PRODUCT QUALITY DIMENSIONS In order to develop a more complete definition of quality, there are some of the key dimensions of a quality product or service. 1) Performance: Performance is often a source of contention between customers arid suppliers, particularly when deliverables are not adequately defined within specifications. The performance of a product often influences profitability or reputation of the end-user. As such, many , contracts or specifications include damages related to inadequate performance. Features: This dimension may seem obvious, performance specifications rarely define the features required in a product. Thus, it is important that suppliers designing product or services from performance specifications are familiar with its intended uses, and maintain close relationships with the end-users. Reliability: Reliability may be closely related to performance. For example, a product specification may define parameters for up-time, or acceptable failure rates. Reliability is a major contributor to brand or company image, and is considered a fundamental dimension of quality by most end-users. Conformance: Conformance answers several questions like if a product development is based on a performance specification, does it perform as specified? If its development is based on design specification, does it possess all of the features defined? Durability: Durability is closely related to warranty. Requirements for product durability are often included within procurement contracts and specifications. For example, fighter aircraft procured to operate from aircraft carriers include design criteria intended to improve their durability in the demanding naval environment. Serviceability: As end users become more focused on Total Cost of Ownership than simple procurement costs, serviceability (as well as reliability) is becoming an increasingly important dimension of quality and criteria for product selection.
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7) Aesthetics: The way a product looks is important to end-users. The aesthetic properties of a product contribute to a company's or brand's identity. Faults or defects in a product that diminish its aesthetic properties, even those that do not reduce or alter other dimensions of quality, are often cause for rejection. 8) Perception: Perception is reality. The product or service may possess adequate or even superior dimensions of quality, but still fall victim to negative customer or public perceptions. " -. As an example, a high quality product may get the reputation for being low quality based on poor service by installation or field technicians. If the product is not installed or maintained properly and fails as a result, the failure is often associated with the product's quality rather than the quality of the service it receives. B) SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS A good way to put your business in the position of getting repeating and loyal customers is to implement the use of the five Service Quality Dimensions. five Service Quality Dimensions 1} tangibles; 2) Reliability; 3) Responsiveness; 4) Assurance; 5) Empathy; 1) Tangibles. The tangible Service Quality Dimension refers to the appearance of the physical surroundings and facilities, equipment, personnel and the way of communication. In other words, the tangible dimension is about-creating first hand impressions. A company should want all their customers to get a unique positive and never forgetting first hand impression, this would make them more likely to return in the future. 2) Reliability. The reliability Service Quality Dimension refers to how the company are performing and completing their promised service, quality and accuracy within the given set requirements between the company and the customer. Reliability is just as important as a goof-first hand impression, because every customer want to know if their supplier is reliable and fulfill the set requirements with satisfaction. 3) Responsiveness. The responsiveness Service Quality Dimension refers to the willingness of the company to help its customers in providing the in with a good, quality and fast service. This is also a very important dimension, because every customer feels more valued if they get the best possible quality in the service. 4) Assurance. The assurance Service Quality Dimension refers to the company's employees. Are the employees skilled workers which are able to gain the trust and confidence of the customers? If the customers are not comfortable with the employees, there are a rather large chance that the customers will not return to do further business with the company. 5) Empathy. The empathy Service Quality Dimension refers to how the company cares and gives individualized attention to their customers, to make the customers feeling extra valued and special. The fifth dimension are actually combining the second, third and fourth dimension to a higher level, even though the really cannot be compared as individuals.
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If the customers feel they get individualized and quality attention there is a very big chance that they will return to the company and do business there again. THE CONCEPT OF TQM Meaning of TQM Total quality management (TQM} is an approach to improving the effectiveness and flexibility of business. TQM is a method involving everyone in the process of improvement. Improving effectiveness of work so that results are achieved in less time, Total Quality Management (TQM) is an approach that seeks to improve quality and performance which will meet or exceed customer expectations. This can be achieved by integrating all quality-related functions and processes throughout the company. TQM looks at the overall quality measures used by a company including managing quality design and development, quality control and maintenance, quality improvement, and quality assurance. TQM takes into account all quality measures taken at all levels and involving all company employees. . Features of TQM 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. .

Find out what the customer want. Design a product or service that will meet or exceed what customers want. Design a production process that facilitates doing the job right the first time. Keep track of the result and use those to guide improvement in the system. Extend these concepts to suppliers and to distribution.

Principles of TQM

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Be Customer focused : Whatever you do for quality improvement, remember that ONLY customers determine the level of quality. Whatever you do to foster quality improvement, training employees, integrating quality into processes management, ONLY customers determine whether your efforts were worthwhile. Insure Total Employee Involvement: You must remove fear from work place, then empower employee... you provide the proper environment. Process Centered ; Fundamental part of TQM is to focus on process thinking. Integrated system : All employee must know the business mission and vision. An integrated business system may be modeled by MBNQA or ISO 9000. Strategic and systematic approach: Strategic plan must integrate quality as core . component.

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6. Continual Improvement: Using analytical, quality tools, and creative thinking to become more efficient and effective.

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Fact Based Decision Making : Decision making must be ONLY on data, not personal or situational thinking. Communication : Communication strategy, method and timeliness must be well defined.

TQM Stresses on three Principles 1. Customer Satisfaction: It is relative concept that varies from one customer to another. Also, a customer may be satisfied with today's products but not satisfied in the future each person defines quality in relation to his or her own needs and . means at a particular point of time.

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Employee Involvement: It is in quality management is crucial in achieving and sustaining high levels of quality. Employees may have to be empowered to take prevention and necessary corrective action without management approval. Employees must be involved in quality management by encouraging them to use quality control tools and techniques.

To track performance and identify areas that needs improvement. Employee training and. motivation are essential for achieving high levels of service quality. , 3. Continuous improvement : It is never ending process and is driven by knowledge and problem solving.

Elements of TQM

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Customer Focus. It is important to focus on the customer, both internal and external i.e., the employees and the users of the end product - the students. In TQM parlance, the customer is the next process and not just a person who pays for the product or service. This concept helps to strengthen the co-operation within the organisation, eliminate internal competition and drives away fear. Employee involvement. People at all levels make up an organisation and their full involvement enables their abilities to be used for an institution's benefit. Continuous Improvement. There is a beginning to the process of TQM, but there is no end. Checking, rechecking, valuation, revaluation, engineering and re-engineering are essential to ensure continuous improvement. Universal Responsibility. A TQM leader has to learn that inspection is not a means to achieve' quality. One eliminates the need for inspection by building quality into the product in the first place. TQM. helps us to recognize the fact that it is we ourselves who are responsible for quality work, not someone else who will check it after it is done. A Sustained Management Commitment to Quality. An organisation's performance and culture will ultimately reflect its senior -management's values. If an organisation is serious about implementing TQM, the commitment to do so has to start at the top, and the organisation's senior management has to be unwavering in its commitment to quality. Addressing Deficiencies. TQM is a management philosophy that seeks to prevent poor quality in .products and services, rather than simply to detect and sort out defects. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". "If you'do not know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere" is a saying particularly relevant to TQM. The quality measurement aspect of TQM asks the question: where are we and where are we going? A basic

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