Total Quality Management

Total quality management (TQM) is an organization-wide effort to "install and make a permanent climate where employees continuously improve their ability to provide on-demand products and services that customers will find of particular value."[1] Total Quality Management (TQM) emphasizes that all departments, not just production (such as sales, marketing, accounting, finance, engineering, and design), are responsible for improving their operations. Management, in this context, highlights the obligation of executives to actively oversee quality through adequate funding, training, staffing, and goal setting. Although there isn't a universally agreed-upon methodology, TQM initiatives typically leverage established tools and techniques from quality control. TQM gained significant prominence in the late 1980s and early 1990s before being largely superseded by other quality management frameworks like ISO 9000, Lean manufacturing, and Six Sigma.