TQM, Deming, process capability, theory of constraints, queueing and service operations.
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- What is Total Quality Management (TQM)?
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A management approach focused on continuous improvement of quality across all organizational processes and involving all employees.- What are the five core elements of TQM?
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Customer focus, employee involvement, continuous improvement, quality culture, and data-driven decision making.- What does customer focus mean in TQM?
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Understanding and meeting customer needs and expectations as the primary driver of quality decisions and improvements.- Define continuous improvement in TQM.
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An ongoing, incremental effort to improve products, services, and processes (Kaizen in Japanese).- What role do employees play in TQM?
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Active participation in identifying problems, suggesting improvements, and implementing changes at all organizational levels.- What does zero defects mean in TQM?
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A quality philosophy that aims to prevent errors and defects through process control rather than accepting and correcting them after production.- What is the cost of quality?
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The sum of costs incurred to prevent defects plus costs incurred when defects occur (prevention, appraisal, and failure costs).- In TQM, how is quality defined?
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Conformance to specifications or requirements and meeting or exceeding customer expectations.- What is the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle?
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A four-stage iterative cycle for improvement: Plan a change, Do it on a small scale, Study the results, Act on what you learn.- What did Deming emphasize about variation in processes?
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All processes have variation; distinguishing between common cause and special cause variation is critical to improvement.- What did Deming say about managing by numbers or quotas?
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He opposed it, arguing that numerical goals without system improvement can harm quality and employee morale.- What did Deming advocate regarding inspection?
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Inspection comes too late; quality must be built in through process design and control, not inspected in afterward.- What is Deming's System of Profound Knowledge?
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Four interconnected domains: appreciation for systems, understanding variation, theory of knowledge, and psychology of human behavior.- What did Deming say about fear in organizations?
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Fear inhibits quality and improvement; creating a culture of psychological safety encourages openness and problem-solving.- What characterizes an out-of-control process in Deming's view?
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A process exhibiting special cause variation that cannot be predicted without identifying and removing the assignable cause.
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