Total quality management and statistical understanding

The total quality management (TQM) process is about performance improvement of individuals, groups and organizations. To improve performance, people need to know what to do, how to do it, to have the right tools to do it, to be able to measure performance and to receive feedback on current levels of achievement. The TQM process provides this by adhering to a set of general principles (see Kanji & Asher, 1993) based on statistical understanding and can be used to drive improvement processes. Statistical understanding is the process of comprehending the variation which occurs in every aspect of working life. Here, work is seen as a process and to improve it, first of all, requires a proper understanding of the characteristics of the process and then the ability to quantify, control and reduce the variation. Ultimately, process management, provides an integrated approach to quality improvement through the reduction of process variation. The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the link between statistical concepts and quality principles for the understanding of TQM.