The concept of quality - AQATotal quality management (TQM)

Total quality management (TQM) is all about the culture in a business. TQM aims to make managing quality the responsibility of all employees in a business to create a ‘culture of quality’ and gain a competitive advantage. It ensures that there are standardised processes for each part of a business, and that all employees are fully trained in how to complete each part of their role effectively and consistently.

TQM aims to tackle all elements of a business, from sourcing and production, to sales and after-sales service provisions. By doing this, businesses are able to reduce and correct errors throughout the entire manufacturing and sales process.

Maintaining quality is important to businesses because it helps them to produce high-quality products and services. They need to understand what their customers want, and meet customers’ needs and expectations. This is a way of gaining competitive advantage.

Some advantages of TQM for a business include:

• cost reduction
• increased efficiency
• increased customer satisfaction
• reduced waste and errors

Some disadvantages of TQM for a business include:

• the cost of training
• can be difficult and time consuming to introduce
• all employees must believe in TQM for it to be successful