Quality Control
Principles of Total Quality Management in DSW
Rather than a specific management tool or process, Total Quality Management (TQM) is an approach that small business owners or managers hold in running their companies. They focus on quality and price to gain and retain customers, striving to view the business through their customers' eyes. Instead of focusing solely on profits, managers identify their core customer base to build and maintain market share through continuous improvement of products and services. Small businesses can benefit from implementing the principles of TQM into their business environment.
Principles of Total Quality Management in DSW
Customer Focus
In a TQM approach, DSW must understand who their current customers are (and are not), note their critical needs and requirements and keep these expectations at the forefront of their strategy and processes. This principle should extend to internal clients, treating coworkers as customers and satisfying their demands.
Leadership
Leaders create the environment in which their business operates. They set policy, plan strategy, and launch tactics for staff to execute. Small businesses can take advantage of the necessity for participative management, as they are more likely to be intimately aware of all facets of their business and how they interconnect. Managers and owners can educate staff on business operations, industry developments, and market trends, giving them a broader perspective on making the company successful.
Staff Involvement
Leaders who set and communicate a customer-focused strategy become more competent in acquiring and keeping quality staff. Selecting, training, and motivating staff to work together, particularly in cross-functional teams, enables faster problem identification and resolution, process execution, and overall productivity. In applying TQM, well-trained and motivated employees also have more control over their work and a greater sense of ownership in the company.
Process Approach
In TQM, a well-informed staff, with a keener sense of what the customer expects, can help develop a proactive process that builds quality into each stage as they design and deliver products, rather than trying to catch flaws during post-production inspection, which wastes resources on potentially defective products.
Statistical Quality Control (SQC)
Small business owners can employ Statistical Process Control (SQC) to help make decisions. As the organization better understands customer demands, these requirements set features for the product line. Staff and management refine measurements for these features, even developing an ‘ideal’ product. The team can then continually monitor quality by assessing output against the parameters, halting fabrication to fix the problem when the produced goods fall outside the acceptable limits.
Supplier Relationships
Businesses can apply these TQM philosophies to suppliers. This will help them understand their attitudes, values, and capabilities and the minimum and maximum variations in the goods they deliver to the company to monitor quality and create value across the supply chain.
Continuous Improvement
Continuous improvement is fundamental in TQM. Essentially, in this practice, the business executes the first six principles continuously. From top leadership to front-line employees, the organization must commit to the time and effort necessary to make modest gains in operations. Rather than launching a revolution in how a company runs, step-by-step changes initiated by everyone in the organization ultimately convert the business and ingrain the TQM philosophy into the corporate culture.
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