Is Total Quality Management (TQM) still applicable in today’s business environment?  

. 3 min read

“Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management framework based on the belief that an organization can build long-term success by having all its members, from low-level workers to its highest-ranking executives, focus on improving quality and, thus, delivering customer satisfaction.

TQM requires organizations to focus on continuous improvement, or kaizen. It focuses on process improvements over the long term, rather than simply emphasizing short-term financial gains.”

The concept of TQM has been around since the 1950s and 1960s. But in a year that has changed the business landscape so dramatically, is it still a valuable concept?

On the surface, it seems obvious that every business should strive to be as successful as possible. However, smaller companies are sometimes behind when it comes to adopting kaizen principles. It may take them longer to implement changes in how they do things. Larger companies, usually faster to aim for TQM, call fall behind through lack of employee education and involvement

And in 2020, companies of all sizes can fall behind in implementation with many employees working remotely during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. It’s challenging to adopt sweeping changes for your workforce when your workforce is no longer in the same building.

TQM has been around for several decades now, and the overall principles are absolutely still relevant. It will take time to continue adapting to a world where most of your workforce is remote, but if the end goal is increased quality and customer satisfaction, it’s worth taking the time to do so.