Daniel Boda
Quality Improvement
November 22, 2014
Total Quality Management
Total Quality Management is an ideology that states that quality is the most important factor of the job. This approach originated in the 1950s and since the 1980s has been steadily growing in popularity. Ethics, Integrity, Trust, Training, Teamwork, Leadership, Recognition, and Communication all make up Total Quality Management. These eight key elements are divided into four groups according to their function. These groups are Foundation, Building Bricks, Binding Mortar, and the Roof. This is an important idea because a business is much like a building; if the building is going to last, the pieces must be equally strong. If there is a leaky roof, there is water damage and further costs involved with fixing everything. Likewise, if there is one weak piece, the system will fail and eventually collapse. The Foundation is comprised of Ethics, Integrity, and Trust. In order to have a healthy system and a good product, personnel must be open, fair, and sincere across all departments. If everyone is out for themselves or their friends, positions could be filled with unqualified people. Individually, these pieces are important, but alone, they lake the binding power of a Foundation. The Building Bricks are based on, and built off of a strong Foundation. This is the second part of Total Quality Management. The three elements that make up the bricks are Training, Teamwork, and Leadership. A properly trained workforce knows who can do what jobs and spends less time stepping on each other’s toes. However, if the workforce has no good leadership, they could be working very hard at digging the company into the ground. By properly combining these ideas the roof will be reached, and well supported. The third key element is the Binding Mortar. The Mortar is made up of Communication. Communication is important across all departments and through all levels. Many times there have been setbacks and collapses of systems where departments were not communicating sincerely with each other; or people inside each department were not speaking to each other. Starting from the very beginning of the Foundation, the Mortar of Communication is imperative in holding the system together. The final element of Total Quality Management is the Roof of Recognition. Recognition is used as a motivational tool by leaders and managers. Sometimes recognition is as simple as saying “thank you” for a job well done. Employers can improve the work-force’s self-esteem by recognizing good workers. All eight of these elements are crucial in ensuring the success of any business. As an electrician, I have four important elements: Ethics, Communication, Recognition, and Training. Ethics are directly related to my job because lives depend on the work that I do, both when I am working and after I am done. When I work, I could take short cuts, but my sense of ethics discourages taking the wrong course. Communication is important because the foremen, general foremen, planners, and engineers need to know how the work is going and if any