Total quality management-making the concept work

Total quality management is waning. Disappointment with the results of long costly implementation efforts, as well as with the lack of bottom line improvements attributable to it, has left many to label it a failure. Yet we firmly believe that its demise is not only premature but unfair. While it is true that less than 10% of the companies which have tried to implement it have reaped any benefits from it, it is also true that less than 30% of North American companies have even tried it or any other contemporary business process. Conversely, those companies that have attained the status of world class competitors and who are shining stars on the business scenes have all implemented the concepts in one form or another. The basic idea of total quality management is still the most viable alternative to the obsolete business process so many are still trying to rectify. Companies that do not adopt its basic concepts and that are not willing to change, are doomed to eventual failure. In this paper we attempt to fulfil three objectives. First, we explore the reasons why total quality management has been so difficult to implement. Second, we attempt to explain its concepts in the context of the business environment. Third, we outline a tried and true implementation process which makes these concepts work