Organization

Homework

Quality.

The development of quality management systems has substantially been influenced by several American and Japanese quality experts: Deming, Juran, Feigenbaum, Crosby and Ishikawa. The main theme of Deming is that by improving quality it is possible to increase productivity, which results in the improved competitiveness of a business enterprise (Kruger, 2001). According to Deming, the quality improvement of the company’s work process, both manufacturing and service, will result is less working and less waste of manpower, material resources and number of errors will be reduced. Deming stressed the importance of constant forever improvement of the system of production and service.

According to Juran, once managing the quality issue was delegated to the subordinate hierarchy, it was no longer considered to be vital for the top management of the company to participate personally in managing quality issue led to negatives effects on quality (Kruger, 2001). The ultimate result is that in the end, nobody in the firm will be responsible for quality and the visible leadership and personal involvement of top management in inspiring quality is very important for the achievement of strategic and operational goals.

Although the literature addressing the total quality management have been developed separately for products and service sectors, the founders of quality management reveal that quality concepts are universally applicable. In addition, quality awards have been established to generate awareness and interest in quality improvement in both service and manufacturing sectors. For example, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards (MBNQA) program, established by the US Congress in 1987, includes seven categories that could be applied to any organization, whether in manufacturing or services (Bell and Keys, 1998).