If you believe in the famous saying ‘it’s impossible to please Greeks and Trojans’, try replacing the word please to satisfy, and the words Greeks and Trojans to shareholders and suppliers. Better? We hope so because this is the key to the introductory goal of the concepts of total quality management in your company.
The concepts of total quality management involves seeking the satisfaction of all stakeholders at all stages of business: customers, employees, neighbors of the company and shareholders.
The 9 fundamental concepts of total quality management
Participatory management
In a company focused on the concepts of total quality management, managers and leaders must be willing to listen, motivate, delegate, inform, share and transform their employees into functional work teams. Reduce the fear of opinion and encourage them to say what they think.
The participation of everyone within a company in the search for solutions leads to other actions leading to better interaction with customers, suppliers, shareholders and the community.
Transparent communication
Channels of communication should be open, and information should flow with transparency within the company. Organizational objectives should be reported, and customers must also know the mission and vision.
Customer satisfaction
When you think of the concepts of total quality in business, one must remember the importance of achieving and exceeding customer expectations. Actions and partnerships should always focus on dialogue to create this service.
Seek to know customers’ opinion about your company, products, and services.
Enhancement of human resources
Value and empower employees. Encourage satisfaction in the workplace. People are essential in the production process and motivating them helps to increase potential and initiative. Make sure they know the mission and goals of the company and invest in learning and training.
See also: How to create Organizational climate survey questions.
Delegation
Delegating and decentralizing is very positive in business. The company controlling becomes more efficient when its employees have the autonomy to make decisions.
Continuous improvement
A company that wants to have total quality must anticipate the needs of its customers by committing to improve and innovate continuously. Integrate new technologies and use performance indicators.
Check out: A model of continuous improvement
And: The Kaizen continuous improvement process
Troubleshoot failures
A policy in a company should be to have zero defects in all of its segments. A mistake should not be ignored. Adopt prevention and sanity policies to solve problems. Corrective actions should be introduced in recurrent cases, as preventing an error is cheaper than fixing it later.
Management processes
Be aware. Promote integration and reduce impediments between departments.
Documented quality assurance
Planning and formalizing is essential to ensuring the overall quality of a system. Processes must become routine and systematic. Actions should be planned, and the quality of a service must be guaranteed. It is important to have everything documented for easy access and to allow data to be found.
Documents must contain a list of suppliers, testing, data on inspections and auditing information, packaging and corrective actions.