Introduction

The emergence of total quality management (TQM) has been one of the most significant recent developments in U.S. management practice. The focus on the development of TQM systems in the United States appears to have begun around 1980 in response to global competition, primarily in U.S. manufacturing companies facing competition from Japan. By the middle to late 1980s, the U.S. TQM movement had developed significant momentum, in part due to the creation of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award by Congress in 1987 and participation in the award by leading companies such as AT&T, Motorola, Texas Instruments, Westinghouse, and Xerox.

Exactly what constitutes TQM is a subject of debate. In this chapter, we define TQM to be a management system that substantially addresses the criteria of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (NIST, 1994). Although a complete definition of TQM is beyond the scope of the chapter, we can list some of the key characteristics:

• Process focus. Process focus means an emphasis on the concept of process as a fundamental building block of the organization. This results in a widespread emphasis on process definition, process management, and process improvement.

• Systematic improvement. Systematic improvement means a widespread systematic organizational focus on quality improvement, cycle-time reduction, and waste (cost) reduction and the adoption of a prevention-based orientation.

• Company-wide emphasis. The process concept and the emphasis on improvement are applied throughout the company, including product development and business support processes.

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