| 单词 | total quality management |
| 释义 | total quality managementtotal quality managementtotal quality managementtotal quality management[¦tōd·əl ′kwäl·əd·ē ‚man·ij·mənt]total quality management (TQM)a managerial technique for the pursuit of continuous improvement through strategic, processual and cultural change in organizations. Studies of TQM in the UK suggests that it has a close relationship with Japanese industrial practice and the American 'school of excellence’, and that there is considerable variability in the nature and impact of TQM in the UK.Broadly, optimists regard TQM as having the potential to resolve some of the problems that managers experienced with ‘quality circles’ (see S Hill, 1991), whilst sceptics point to the disjuncture between the rhetoric and reality of TQM, although they recognize that, in association with the techniques of human resource management it may produce changes in behaviour in line with management objectives. Nevertheless, it is suggested that the rhetoric of‘devolution’ and ‘empowerment’ is often undermined by the simultaneous use of forms of control which involve lateral, peer-group pressure and vertical information systems which buttress centralized control. Moreover, sceptics suggest that particular economic, political and cultural features make a full-blown system of TQM unlikely here (see Sewell and Wilkinson, 1992). total quality managementtotal quality managementManaged care The application of the management theory of quality, a concept that focuses on product quality as a means of ↑ sales and saving money. See Continuous quality improvement, Quality control.total quality managementtotal quality management (TQM)a business philosophy which seeks to instil in all employees of a firm an individual as well as a collective responsibility for maintaining high QUALITY standards, in respect of both the products supplied by the firm and the attention paid to customer services and requirements. TQM has both an internal and an external dimension. Fundamentally the success or failure of the firm will depend on its ability to satisfy the demands of its external customers. Product quality may well be the most important source of a firm's COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE over rival suppliers. TQM emphasizes that the firm's ability to generate and sustain quality advantages stems from the totality of its internal operations. The firm is made up of a network of interrelated departments, each one standing in a customer or supplier relationship with others in terms of the internal flow of raw materials and components, processing and assembly operations, through to final product, stockholding and dispatch. TQM seeks to establish a unity of interests and commitment to the maintenance of the highest possible quality standards at each of these interfaces.TQM in particular attempts to minimize the amount of time and money spent on QUALITY CONTROL by the PREVENTION of quality problems (e.g. component and product defects and waste) arising in the first instance, thus shifting the focus of quality control away from merely detecting and rectifying cases of failure and waste. Individual commitment to quality can be reinforced by the operation of QUALITY CIRCLES and various EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATION schemes. See QUALITY ASSURANCE, EUROPEAN FOUNDATION FOR QUALITY MANAGEMENT, ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING, ACTIVITY CHART, FISHBONE CHART. total quality management (TQM)a QUALITY programme adopted by a firm for the continuous improvement of all aspects of its business. Total quality management involves the whole organization and requires employees to take responsibility for the quality of their work. Firms adopting total quality management approaches will tend to have a COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE over rivals in terms of their product quality. |
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