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Unit 3: Concept of Quality Management

achieve those needs. They could be a lack of training in group discussion and communication Notes
techniques, quality improvement skills, problem identification, for problem solving affects
implementation of TQM.
3. Improper Planning: Planning accounts for more than 50% of the job. Planning works well
when all the concerned people are involved. TQM is no exception. TQM is about
empowerment of people and participative management. All constituents of the
organization should be the goal. Financial or sales goals take a back seat.

4. Inadequate use of empowerment and teamwork: TQM is all about teamwork, participative
management and empowerment of employees. However, working in teams is an approach
that has to be learned. The Team members need to have proper training. Supervision must
learn how to be effective coaches. Further employees need to be empowered to take
decisions that affect the efficiency of their process. The lacks of these result in frustration.
5. Inability to change organizational culture: The organization must undergo cultural change
before teamwork can succeed. Individuals resist change. The resistance has to be overcome.
It is very difficult to change an organization’s culture and it takes time. It may take around
five years for individuals to unlearn the old ways and learn the new ways. Once they are
accustomed to doing a particular process it becomes the preferred way.
People change only when they want to and only to meet their own needs. Nobody would
change for the organization unless adequate reason is given and accepted by him or her.
Management must understand and utilize these basic concepts of change. Further people
must be moved from a state of fear to trust for accepting a change.
Lack of effective communication and emphasis on short-term results are the main reasons
for this. Sufficient time has to be spent by organizations for planning for the cultural
aspects of implementing a TQM program.
6. Incompatible Organizational Structure and Isolated Individuals and Departments: More
often, the organizational structure may not be conducive to team building. It can create
differences between various departments and between individuals. These differences may
create implementation problems. Use of multifunctional terms can help to rectify this.
The whole organization has to be made customer oriented to make it more responsive to
customer needs. The organization will have to be structured for the same.
7. Ineffective Measurement Techniques and Lack of Access to Data and Results: Effective
Measurement acts as a booster to the improvements made. It would also inspire and
encourage the participants to achieve more on the hand and to rectify and improve on the
other hand. It is equally important that the progress is known within a reasonable period
of time. Otherwise people lose interest and become frustrated. Access to relevant and
quick retrieval is necessary for this. Effective decisions cannot be made in their absence.

8. Paying inadequate attention to internal and external Customers: The needs and expectations
of customers will be changing over time. There are internal suppliers and internal
customers. If we want to take care of the ultimate external customer, it is essential that the
internal customer’s en route have to be properly attended to. Organization needs to
understand this through effective feedback mechanisms.
9. Failure to Continually Improve: One of the cardinal principles of TQM is continuous
improvement. This continuous improvement is a journey and not a destination. A lack of
continuous improvements of the process, product, and/or service is bound to make the
implementation a failure.

10. Apparent lack of business experience and knowledge: This aspect of continuous
improvement in all the activities of an organization implies continuous learning and

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