Page 18 - DMGT524_TOTAL_QUALITY_MANAGEMENT

Unit 2: Gurus of Quality Management

of philosophers and thinkers have made their contributions to the movement of “Total Quality Notes
Management”. In the summer of 1985 the name “Total Quality Management” was first suggested
by Nancy Warren, a behavioural scientist in the US Navy, according to Marry Walton (1990).
Thereafter, a number of TQM Gurus have made their significant contributions. Many of the TQM
Gurus are Americans and a very few of them significant contributors.

Did u know? Some of the major contributors towards the thought of TQM are:
(i) M. Edwards Deming, (ii) Joseph M. Juran, (iii) Philip B. Crosby, (iv) Armand V.
Feigenbaum (v) Bill Conway, (vi) Kauru Ishikawa (vii) Genichi Taguchi, (Viii) Shigeo
Shingo (ix) W.G. Ouchi, (x) Vilfredo Pareto, (xi) Tom Peters, (xii) S.R. Udpa, (Xiii) Stephen
Covey, and (xiv) J.S. Oakland.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
1. A …………………… is an expert thinker who communicates his thoughts through verbal
and written expressions and thus contributes to the field of TQM.
2. The name “Total Quality Management” was first suggested by …………………….

2.2 W. Edwards Deming

Dr. W. Edwards Deming was born on 14 October, 1990. He was awarded his doctorate in
mathematical physics in 1928. He then worked in the US Government census for many years,
particularly in statistical sampling techniques. In 1943 he published a technical book – Statistical
Adjustment of Data.
Deming is regarded as “the quality Guru who never gave up,” writes John A. Byrne while
remembering Edwards who taught American managers that quality matters described Deming
at the age of 93 years as a frail figure in three piece pinstripes, with bifocals, hearing aids in both
ears and thin white hair. He said, “My experience with Deming was pleasant one when I
interviewed him. “He described Deming as a Cranky, obstinate, and obscure. He asked as many
questions as he volunteered answers. He spoke in waspy staccato, in short declarative sentences,
many of them followed by awkward pauses. Deming by then was concerned that he had run out
of time. Despite success stories of Xerox, Motorola and many other companies that embraced his
teachings, Deming felt he was a prophet without honour in his own country. Deming achieved
credibility in the US only late in his long career, despite his status as Japan’s great American
censor. The former Census Bureau statistician visited Japan in 1947, as a consultant to help in the
work of rebuilding the nation. Year after year he returned to lecture the leading business
executives on how to use statistics and to determine how consumers define quality.
Beneficial effects of Deming’s programs were seen such as reductions in scrap and rework.
However, these advances did not have a lasting effect after the war. In the home market anything
that was produced was sold with or without statistical or quality control. A second factor had a
strong bearing on Deming’s later success. To quote him: “the courses were well-received by
engineers but management paid no attention to them. Management did not understand that
they had to get behind improvement of quality and carry out their obligations from the top
down. Any instability can help to point out specific local problems. Once these local problems
are removed, there is process that will continue until someone changes it. Changing the process
is management’s responsibility and we failed to teach them that.”
After the World War II, Deming was invited by Japan as an Adviser to the Japanese Census.
He became involved with the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) after its formation
in 1946.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 13