Total Quality Management (TQM): definition & principles

Total quality management is a useful philosophy to consider as you build and scale your company's quality management system.

Total quality management, or TQM, was first developed in the 1970s and 1980s in the context of industrial manufacturing.

But 50 years on, the TQM philosophy still holds some interesting concepts and principles to apply in modern sectors like life science.

What are the components of total quality management?

What is a core value of the total quality management process?

And what does modern TQM look like?

Find out with our comprehensive guide.

Total quality management definition

What is total quality management (TQM)?

There's no official, standardized total quality management definition, but TQM should be seen as a holistic quality management approach focused on long-term success through customer satisfaction.

As the word 'total' suggests, TQM involves all members of an organization in the responsibility for improving processes, products, services, and the culture in which they work.

The total quality management approach aims to embed quality in every aspect of an organization, ensuring that every process is carried out correctly the first time and defects are minimized to zero or near-zero.

And by implementing a comprehensive and structured approach - so the total quality management theory goes - your business can consistently improve the quality of your products and services through ongoing refinements driven by internal and external feedback.

In short, total quality management principles push for a customer-focused management philosophy that promotes continuous improvement and aims to exceed customer expectations.

Let's take a closer look at what those principles mean in practice.

Total quality management principles

Several key principles, or ingredients, can be used as a guide to define total quality management. They include:

1. Customer focus: Understanding, anticipating, meeting and even exceeding customer needs is central to TQM
   
   
2. Total employee involvement: All employees, in all layers of the business, are encouraged to participate in improving processes. No siloed quality department - and the whole thing is driven by engaged, supportive senior leadership
   
   
3. Process approach: A systematic approach to management ensures that processes are defined, understood, and optimized
   
   
4. Integrated QMS: Quality improvement is embedded in every part of the organization through a thoroughly developed and implemented quality management system
   
   
5. Proactive strategy: Long-term planning and strategies are developed to achieve quality objectives in a forward-looking, proactive way - rather than fixing problems after they've already happened
   
   
6. Continuous improvement: Conscious ongoing efforts to improve products, services, and processes are periodically made
   
   
7. Fact-based decision-making: Decisions are made based on the analysis of quality data
   
   
8. Communication: Open and transparent communication is vital for fostering a culture of quality

Total quality management systems should include all of these ingredients to be fully effective.

Why are components like a process approach important in the total quality management theory?

Organizations are typically structured into departments which are managed by a responsible leader. Most departmental heads never interact with the customer, only internal stakeholders and other department leaders. As such, they become divorced from how your end customer really feels.

The TQM process approach depends on so-called 'horizontal management', controlling processes which flow across departmental boundaries.

In a total quality management context, someone is accountable for each key process from start to finish, they understand what the stakeholders in that process want, and they have the authority to act to realize those needs. Their first loyalty is to their assigned projects, products or services - not their own departments.

Adopt this approach with all your major processes, and customer centricity naturally becomes front and center of how you do business. This is a critical element of how total quality management is defined and executed.

Total quality management examples

There's no single way to do total quality management, and examples of good TQM can be seen in a range of industries and disciplines.

In the automotive world, Toyota's embrace of Kaizen to streamline production, reduce waste and improve product quality is a classic application of the total quality management principles.

And in life science operations like medical device and pharmaceutical companies, the adoption of electronic quality management systems (eQMS) to surface quality data and knit together business-wide quality cultures is a more modern, technologically-driven example of embedding total quality management.

Here's a visual indicator of some operational models you should consider for your own total quality management approach.

From Six Sigma to value stream mapping, there are a host of total quality management examples you can apply, underpinned by the classic Plan Do Check Act process approach:

Do your research, too, on quality gurus like Shewhart, Crosby & Juran - their works have all sown the seeds for how modern TQM is imagined and applied.

Juran's famous 'trilogy' of quality planning, control and improvement, for instance, is a good way to think about how to apply a holistic total quality management system:

And Crosby's 5-step quality management maturity grid is a great way to see the internal characteristics you can expect as you move closer to a TQM methodology:

FURTHER READING: 5 essential features of life science quality management

It's important to note here, too, that total quality management isn't always known by that name in the 21st century - despite its original principles and tenets living on.

These days, it's more fashionable to talk about quality management maturity, and the FDA's ambitious new quality improvement program for the pharmaceutical industry uses that label.

Take a closer look at modern QMM, though, and we can see all the ingredients of TQM included: proactivity, company-wide quality focus, the usage of data, and so on.

What is total quality management (TQM) in relation to quality management?

What's the difference between total quality management and quality management?

After all, the quality management system (QMS) has elements like customer satisfaction and continuous improvement at its core too.

And ISO 9001, the core quality management standard, maps out many of the key elements expected in a TQM organization.

The QMS vs TQM breakdown isn't always clear-cut, but here are the primary differences.

Total quality management vs. quality management

1. Scope & focus:

   • TQM: A broader management philosophy focusing on long-term success through customer satisfaction and continuous improvement. It involves the entire organization.
     
     
   • QMS: A structured system that ensures quality through documented processes and procedures. It is often aligned with specific standards like ISO 9001, and built and maintained by a dedicated quality team.
     
     
     

2. Approach:

   • TQM: Emphasizes softer operational elements like cultural change, employee engagement, and continuous improvement in all areas of the organization.
     
     
   • QMS: Focuses on securing compliance with specific quality standards and regulatory requirements through a documented, auditable framework.
     
     
     

3. Implementation:

   • TQM: Implementation involves operational and cultural changes, and requires commitment from all levels of the organization.
     
     
   • QMS: Implementation is more structured and process-oriented, focusing on adherence to defined standards and procedures. Implementation is often not actively supported by the entire company.
     
     
     

4. Measurement & analysis:

   • TQM: Uses a variety of tools and techniques for continuous improvement, including customer feedback analysis, process mapping and statistical analysis.
     
     
   • QMS: Relies on internal audits, corrective and preventive actions, and performance metrics to ensure compliance with quality standards.
     
     
     

5. Tools & systems:

   • TQM: Uses best-in-class quality tools, like QMS software, to automate quality admin, surface data and free up time for proactive continuous improvement. Also leverages other digital platforms like PAT software and MES systems
     
     
   • QMS: Because standards don't mandate a specific toolset, built on more traditional quality and manufacturing tools like paper, spreadsheets and online storage folders. Admin burden can be higher, with less time for continuous improvement and more manual processes in place
   
   
   

Above all, total quality management can be seen as 'going beyond' the narrower, standard-based focus of the quality management system, engaging and leveraging the entire business to unlock the full benefits of a quality-centric approach.

Get total quality management in place

It's one thing to define total quality management in your business - it's another to actually start getting in place and lifting your operation to the next level of its maturity.

A shortcut to robust TQM is to invest in the tools and systems that help bring a collaborative culture of quality together - like Qualio's QMS software.

Taking the time to lay the groundwork for total quality management now will pay dividends for your business long into the future.