Total Quality Management, or TQM, is a series of techniques that is meant to deliver the high quality products or services to the customer. It is meant to eliminate, or significantly reduce, wastes therefore increasing productivity and efficiency, whilst staying away from defects and allowing the company to earn higher profit. ​

There are many benefits to implementing TQM technique, however it is good to be mindful of the drawback as well and knowing these can help address the potential issues before they occur. 

The primary reason that Total Quality Management can be hard to implement is due to resistance from employees. It is natural that those who are comfortable with the way of things can view change as a frightening, or stressful, thing. Implementing TQM often has the effect of making employees feel as though their position is at risk, which can cause them to refrain from making the necessary changes or to do so at a much slower pace than what is desirable. 

Those that are great at their current position may even have these feelings since they are not sure where they stand in the company anymore and if they are still required in the company’s new direction. Employees that take too long, or have major resistance to these changes, can end up making the process cost and time defective. The introduction fees can end up costing a lot since it requires employee training. Also, while the employees are being trained there may be a halt, or decrease, of work productivity. 
 
Since the training required is very intensive and detailed, with details such as problem solving methods, ways of  evaluation, diagrams, techniques for brainstorming and so on, the training period can cause a company to come to a major slow down or stand still. The end results outweigh this time spent, by reducing waste and increasing productivity. However, it is necessary to consider that productivity during training may decline significantly. This technique requires all members of staff to participate. 
 
It costs money to properly implement TQM technique. Some companies have found that it took them a few years for the program to function at its best or to even see the beneficial results. This can be very discerning for companies and its employees and can add to stress, especially during times of economic crisis. This technique is best viewed at as a long-term investment, that surely brings a positive change, only corporate decision makers have to take a patient approach during TQM implementation to motivate the work teams.

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Using the TQM technique reduces, or completely eliminates, waste and defects. This has a direct correlation to the costs spent by an organization. It is up to employees to find out what doesn’t work and to discuss elimination of these issues, which allows the business to save on casts and experience more profit. Since this technique gets rid of defects, it lowers time spent on production defects that helps increase earnings. 

It is great for raising morale of employees since total quality management relies on their contribution of ideas and evaluations. It is always beneficial to an organization to increase employee morale since it not only improves their productivity but also keeps employees loyal and contributes to the overall success of the company. It’s recommended that the company praises teams, or individuals, that help implement beneficial changes by getting rid of, or lowering, waste. 
 
TQM is beneficial to the company because it improves reputation by eliminating defects and faults. Often it is solely up to quality control to observe and deal with defects but TQM allows this to happen at a much earlier stage. It improves awareness of quality and relies on all individuals within the organization to play their part in helping with these evaluations. 
 
It is much easier to implement problem solving and to make employees more aware of their contributions to the process. It is easier to pinpoint where failures may occur and to evaluate defects before they end up costing the company a significant amount of money and time. 
 
Perhaps the best advantage of implementing total quality management techniques is overall customer satisfaction. It is in the customer’s best interest to receive products or services of the highest quality and when this is achieved customers remain loyal and tend to spread the word, which raises profit. 
 
TQM can be used for all types of industries and is especially beneficial to those that have noticed a decline in customer satisfaction, which is typically a response to unproductive shortcuts. No one wants to purchase low quality products and the higher quality products or services a company can produce, the more successful they will be in the long run.

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Total Quality Management, or TQM, is a technique that aims to enhance performance and quality that lives up to the expectations of the customer. It is a structured method that uses continuous modifications based on continuous response. It gained lot of attention in the 1980s and can be used in all kinds of businesses, though it was originally used for manufacturing. Nowadays, total quality management can be found in all types of organization such as schools, hotels, services, sales, defense establishments and more. 

The techniques of implementing total quality management can be categorized into four categories, known as the PDCA cycle, which includes Plan, Do, Check and Act. The Planning refers to finding out the problems, gathering the necessary data to back it and determine the cause of the problem. The Doing stage refers to developing and implementing a method to resolve the problem and finding a way to evaluate its efficiency. The Checking stage is when those involved compare the issue before and after and undergo a results confirmation. The Acting stage requires individuals to record the results, let others known about the alterations and come up with recommended solutions for the following cycle. 
  
Total quality management is completely focused on the customer and requires all employees to aim for continuous improvement. It combines the use of data, problem solving and communication in order to deliver quality into the organization’s services and/or its manufacturing process. It requires the customer in order to determine whether the quality is up to par.  While there are many methods that can improve quality, such as training, upgrades, purchasing and so on, TQM allows the customer to let the organization know if those changes were beneficial. 
 
Further, it is necessary for employees to be on the same page in order to implement total quality management and to have the same goals in mind. It does not foster fear in the organization and requires employees to be self-empowered and receive appropriate support from management. Process thinking is a large aspect of total quality management, which refers to the stages that it takes from the beginning until the customer is satisfied. These stages are monitored and evaluated on an ongoing basis. 
 
Quality management requires a well-developed system and strategy in order to fulfill the goals of the organization. Strategic management’s focal point must revolve around quality in order to achieve desired results. Like many other methodologies, the goal of total quality management is to improve processes continuously. This encourages creative and strategic thinking and allows for organizations to excel. 
 
Additionally, TQM is the first Business process improvement technique that could be applied to any type of  organization, be it a service or manufacturing sector.

Since a company involving manufacturing would have a tangible product versus a service organization which has an intangible product (for quality measurement); TQM factors this critical difference during its strategy design, implementation and still allows customers priorities to come first. Archived information points that, this very principle is why many organizations such as Ford, Walt Disney Company, GE and many more rely heavily on TQM methodology for success.

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