INTRODUCTION * Total – Made up of the whole (or) Complete. * Quality – Degree of Excellence a product or service provides to the customer in present and future. * Management – Act, art, or manner of handling, controlling, directing, etc.
TQM is the art of managing the whole to achieve excellence.
"TQM is a management approach for an organization, centered on quality, based on the participation of all its members and aiming at long-term success through customer satisfaction, and benefits to all members of the organization and to society."
Total Quality Management (TQM) refers to management methods used to enhance quality and productivity in business organizations. TQM is a comprehensive management approach that works horizontally across an organization, involving all departments and employees and extending backward and forward to include both suppliers and clients/customers.
History of Total Quality Management
The history of total quality management (TQM) began initially as a term coined by the Naval Air Systems Command to describe its Japanese-style management approach to quality improvement. An umbrella methodology for continually improving the quality of all processes, it draws on knowledge of the principles and practices of: * The behavioral sciences * The analysis of quantitative and non quantitative data * Economics theories * Process analysis

TQM Timeline 1920s | * Some of the first seeds of quality management were planted as the principles of scientific management swept through U.S. industry. * Businesses clearly separated the processes of planning and carrying out the plan, and union opposition arose as workers were deprived of a voice in the conditions and functions of their work. * The Hawthorne experiments in the late 1920s showed how worker productivity could be impacted by participation. | 1930s | * Walter Shewhart