Discuss the three major types of quality initiative: total quality management, six sigma, and ISO 9001 standards.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Total quality management (TQM) is a comprehensive approach to improving product quality and thereby customer satisfaction. TQM is characterized by a strong customer orientation (external and internal) and has become an umbrella theme for organizing work. TQM requires integrative mechanisms that aid group problem solving, information sharing, and cooperation across business functions. Six sigma quality, one of the most important contributors to total quality management, is a set of statistical tools to analyze the causes of product defects. Sigma is the Greek letter used to designate the estimated standard deviation or variation in a process. The higher the sigma level, the lower the amount of variation and the higher the quality. Once the defect is identified, managers then engage the organization in a determined, comprehensive effort to eliminate its causes and reduce it to the lowest practicable level. Today, many companies are combining six sigma's drive to improve quality with lean manufacturing in a hybrid effort, often called lean six sigma. ISO 9001 is a certification granted by the International Organization for Standardization. Any type or size of organization can improve its total quality by successfully meeting specific standards set out in eight principles: customer focus (learning and addressing customer needs and expectations); leadership (establishing a vision and goals, establishing trust, and providing employees with the resources and inspiration to meet goals); involvement of people (establishing an environment in which employees understand their contribution, engage in problem solving, and acquire and share knowledge); process approach (defining the tasks needed to carry out each process successfully and assigning responsibility for them); system approach to management (putting processes together into efficient systems that work together effectively); continual improvement (teaching people how to identify areas for improvement and rewarding them for making improvements); factual approach to decision making (gathering accurate performance data, sharing the data with employees, and using the data to make decisions); and mutually beneficial supplier relationships (working in a cooperative way with suppliers). U.S. companies first became interested in ISO 9001 because overseas customers, particularly those in the European Union, embraced it. Some countries and companies demand certification as an acknowledgment of compliance before they will do business, and some U.S. customers are making the same demand. However, certification is not the end of the quality effort, but an initial step.