According to Mr Tom Brennan, marketing manager of Campbell Bewleys, when questioned about the significance of the business model Total Quality Management: "It is not a just a quick fix. It is more a state of mind, a way of doing business which means your organisation continues to improve." Total Quality Management (TQM) is a wide ranging, almost philosophical, approach to running a business. As a concept, it is still somewhat elusive but the following definition provided by Limerick-based electronics company Analog Devices, makes a useful starting point.
"TQM is a set of concepts and practices for enhancing customer satisfaction by providing higher quality products and services in a rapidly changing world," according to Mr Ben Kelly, the company's business systems development manager.
First a bit of history. TQM evolved around two decades ago, at a time when most modern organisations began introducing a number of change management initiatives. The book Training and Development in Ireland, shows how the gradual domination of world markets by the Japanese, who provided unequalled product and service quality, had a major knock-on effect on Western business practices.
"The situation prompted outpourings from a plethora of `gurus' who expounded their `quality' panacea for the ills of Western industry," the book explains.
Of all of these, TQM was the one most applied, particularly across the manufacturing industry, and while some firms have moved away from the practice, the concept continues to be championed by many top companies here.
Analog Devices has been integrating TQM into its company ethos for several years. Mr Kelly concurs with Mr Brennan when he says that adopting TQM does not produce instant results. "It is a strategic move for a company which must come from the top down," he said. "It requires a long term commitment to continuing improvement in the way it runs its business."
The TQM programme at Analog Devices is centered around four main principles:
Focus on Customers
Analog focuses on what will satisfy the customer to concentrate and align its continuous improvement. Customer satisfaction is the only lasting means of achieving business success.
Continuous Improvement
The company insists on continually analysing what it is doing within the organisation and modifying it to address the changing customer needs and changing competitive environment. It focuses on the key activities that make a big difference in the company's quality and performance.
Total Company Involvement
Everyone is involved in the organisation in terms of continuous improvement and customer focus. Great importance is placed on people's active, intelligent participation.
Networking
This embraces the idea that a company gains substantially more by sharing its insights and practices than it loses by keeping them private. TQM begins and ends with education. Most people learn faster from each other - mutual learning accelerates the rate of improvement.
The Irish Centre for Business Excellence (ICBE) in Limerick comprises 40 member companies which are committed to the idea of Total Quality Management. These companies, which include large multinationals such as Motorola as well as representatives from the financial services industry such as Bank of Ireland, meet once a month to share information on best practices in order to learn more and remain competitive.
The member companies have adopted a European version of TQM, promoted by the European Foundation for Quality Management, to evaluate areas such as leadership, policy and processes.
"The benefit for organisations carrying out an assessment against a business excellence model is that they can compare themselves against world class standards and identify areas for improvement more clearly," said Mr Kelly.
TQM provides no startling revelations about how guaranteed success can be achieved, but the consistent application of these logical methods can have positive, if slightly intangible, results, says Mr Brennan, of Campbell Bewleys, who is also a director of the ICBE.
"It is all very basic stuff but you would be surprised about how many companies seem to forget about the fundamentals," he said.
At the moment, Campell Bewleys is focussing on maintaining employee satisfaction in order to enhance customer satisfaction, which, in turns, drives the entire business. "We are also looking at benchmarking, that is examining the best practices of other companies and trying to improve on what they are doing," he says.
Another aspect of the overall quality management concept is ISO 9000, the International Standards Organisation system where companies adopt certain specific procedures and are audited regularly to ensure they stick rigidly to the rules they have set down.
Next week, the Business 2000 feature will look at how ISO 9000 plays a part in maintaining standards and quality in a variety of businesses throughout the State.
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