Quality Management

Quality management has three main components - quality control, quality assurance and quality
improvement. Quality management is focused not only on quality, but also on the means to achieve
quality and sustain total quality management is the organisation-wide management of quality. It
consists of planning, organising, directing, controlling and assuring quality.
In other words, Quality management is the act of overseeing all activities and tasks that must be
accomplished to maintain a desired level of excellence. This includes the determination of a
quality policy, creating and implementing quality planning and assurance, and quality control
and quality improvement. It is also referred to as total quality management (TQM).
In general, quality management focuses on long-term goals through the implementation of short-
term initiatives.

Definitions and Concept of Quality

Quality is a measure of the achievement of an organisation in terms of customer satisfaction.
It means everything that an organisation does, in the eyes of the customers. It is the excellence
that is better than a minimum standard. Some of the important definitions of the concept quality
are as follow:
Joseph M Juran said “Quality is fitness for use or purpose”.
ISO 9000:2000 defines “Quality is the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills
requirements”.
Bill Conway defines quality as “Development, manufacture, administration and distribution of
consistently low cost products and services that customers need and want”.
W. Edwards Deming defines it as “A predictable degree of uniformity and dependability at low
cost and suited to market”.
According to Broth “Quality is the degree of excellence at an acceptable price and control of
variability at an acceptable cost”
According to Sarkar, “Quality of a product or service is the ability of the product or service to
meet the customers’ requirements.

Based on the above definitions it becomes clear that quality is a multidimensional concept that
relates human needs to human actions as well as to organisational goals. It is not a static process
or concept but as a dynamic process it changes according to changes in the needs of the
customers. Hence the quality is deeply user-oriented.
Why do We Need Quality?
Any organisation needs quality for:
 Customer satisfaction and happiness
 Goodwill (image of the organisation) and high productivity
 Capturing the market
 Minimising the cost as well as losses
 Maximising the profit
 Recognising the role of everyone in the organisation.
 Fixing a common goal for the entire organisation.
 Emphasising teamwork among the staff.
 Establishing performance measures for the employees.
 Betterment of employees.
Quality Circle
Quality circle can be described as a small group of employees of the same work area, doing
similar work that meets voluntarily and regularly to identify, analyse and resolve work related
problems. Every members of the circle participating in the activities, utilizing problem solving
techniques to achieve control or improvement in the work area and also help and mutual
development in the process.
The concept of Quality circle is based on “respect for the human individual” as against the
traditional assumption based on suspicion and mistrust between management and its employees.
Quality circle built mutual trust and create greater understanding between and the workers.
Cooperation is the key element in its operation.
Concept of Quality Circle
The quality circle was first developed in Japan, during 1960s and later it became popular
elsewhere. The concept is based on the recognition of the value of the employees.
 The concept of Quality Circle is central to TQM and it ensures staff participation in full
measure towards achieving the targeted goals of the organization
 A Quality circle is a small group of people which meets regularly for solving problems
 They are helpful in developing team spirit in the organisation as well as lead to improved
organisational culture
 These circles improve communication within the organisation and also act as motivation
to employees of the organization
 They are the best examples of participative management in organisations. They promote
job involvement of employees.
 They are helpful in bringing leadership qualities in the employees
 It can also be used as a human resource development technique.
ISO 9000
 It is tool for improvement and improves professional image of the organisation where it is
implemented
 The ISO series comprise 9000, 9001, 9002, 9003 and 9004.
 The ISO series does not lay down the goals and objectives; it rather provides a
framework, methods and structure for organisations to adopt quality systems. It is
applicable to any type of organisation.
We can say that training and teamwork is very important for TQM. Commitment and personal
involvement of the top managers is very essential for the successful implementation of TQM. It
is the management process for improving all the functions in the organisation. It supports
meeting customer requirements through continuous improvement. Customer satisfaction is given
the highest priority in TQM. Internal monitoring is very essential for TQM implementation.
Thus, quality circle aims at building people, developing them, arousing genuine interest and
dedication to their work to improve quality production and cost reduction.
Quality Assurance
Quality assurance refers to activities or steps under taken before and during the process of
reaching the outputs/products. It is proactive and anticipatory. Generally standards and
procedures are clearly defined in advance and the personnel are trained to be able to meet them.
Its concern is to prevent faults occurring in the first place. Quality is designed into the process to
attempt to ensure that the output is produced to a pre-set criteria/norms.
In simple words, Quality assurance means to provide the necessary confidence to the customers
as well as to top management that all concerned are carrying out their job effectively and that the
product quality is as per customer’s satisfaction with economy. Quality products can be produced
only when all the departments fully participate and cooperate.
Presently, customer demand for higher quality and reliability. It has been felt that even a single
defect whatever may be the reasons, result in economic loss. These reasons have necessitated the
need for total quality and reliability programmes to cover wide spectrum of functions and various
areas of product design, production system design, through various states of materials,
manufacture and commitment to efficient maintenance and operation of the system as a whole.
This is necessary for quality assurance and reliability of the product. This assures the continuous
failure free system to the customers.
One of the most widely used paradigms for Quality assurance management is the PDCA (Plan-
Do-Check-Act) approach. It is also known as the Shewhart cycle.
Finally, quality assurance is the process of verifying whether products or services meet
customer’s expectations or not.
Responsibilities of Quality Assurance Department
 Plan, develop and establish quality policy.
 To assure that products of prescribed specification reaches to the customers.
 Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of the quality programmes.
 Conduct studies and investigations related to the quality problems.
 Liaise with different department, in and outside the organization.
 Organize training programmes on quality.
 Plan and coordinate vendor quality surveys and evaluate their results.
 Develop quality assurance system and regularly evaluate its effectiveness.
Quality Assurance System:
Quality Assurance System should be developed incorporating the following aspects:
• Formulate the quality control and manufacturing procedures.
• Percentage checking be decided.
• Procedures and norms for plant performances as regards to quality be developed.
• Rejection analysis and immediate feedback system for corrective action.
• Prepare a manual for quality assurance.
• Formulate plans for quality improvement, quality motivation and quality awareness in the
entire organization.