Impact of TQM on operational excellence

Ever since Dr Edwards Deming visited Japan in 1950 and introduced the concepts of PDCA and statistical quality agencies like JUSE have promoted the use of TQM. The US government also played a key role by introducing the MBNQA system of BE awards which gave a new impetus to what some people thought were the slowing down of the TQM. BE gave a new impetus to TQM and BE+TQM has now become the way things are done in world class companies. Several researchers have been trying to track the benefits due to TQM and BE. They have tried to isolate the effect of TQM on organizational performance. While the MBNQA award administrators used the tracking of the stock performance of “Baldrige” companies to show that they did better than their peers, others have used perception measures gathered through surveys of employees. Both these methods have their limitations, what they miss out is the measurement of performance benefits in the areas of enablers (example, team work, ideas generation, innovations, suggestions for improvement), quality of deployment of initiatives and the coverage of these initiatives (in terms of stakeholders – for example, do they involve the customers and suppliers). An examination of the way in which TQM and BE have been deployed in Indian companies shows that they have used these instruments to full advantage to improve overall operations and quality of work. It is felt that these movements will continues into the future. Inclusion of dimensions like corporate governance, CSR, environmental consciousness, carbon footprint, climate change, affirmative are enriching the movement and improving its all-encompassing nature.