What Total Quality Management Is

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management philosophy that became influential in the 1980s and 1990s. It originated in manufacturing but has been adapted to many service organisations, including schools. The framework starts with three foundational definitions (quality, customer, satisfaction), expands into Philip Crosby’s four absolutes, and ends with a description of the TQM framework itself.

Quality, customers, and satisfaction

The handout starts with three foundational definitions.

Quality

Meeting and exceeding the implied and stated needs of the customer.

Quality is defined by the customer, not by the producer. A school may think its teaching is excellent; the test is whether parents and students experience it as excellent.

This is a key distinction: quality is defined externally by the customer, not internally by the producer. Internal definitions of quality (we are good because we say so) are weaker than customer-based definitions (we are good because those we serve experience us as good).

Customer

Also called client; is the recipient of a good, service, product, or idea, obtained from a seller, or supplier for monetary or other consideration of value.

The handout distinguishes two kinds.

External customer: the end user. Internal customer: other divisions of the company that receive the processed product.

For a school:

1. External customers. Parents (who pay), students (who receive education), the community (which benefits from educated members).
2. Internal customers. One department serving another. The grade-5 teacher is the “customer” of the grade-4 teacher (who passes students up). The senior section is the “customer” of the primary section.

The internal customer concept is useful. Each part of the school serves other parts. Quality at each handoff matters.

Customer satisfaction

A measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectations.

The metric. Are the customers getting what they need, or better?

A school measures customer satisfaction through parent surveys, student feedback, alumni outcomes, retention rates. The picture from multiple sources is more reliable than any single source.

What TQM is

The handout’s definition.

The integration of all functions and processes within an organisation in order to achieve continuous improvement of the quality of goods and services. A preventive culture to get things done right the first time.

Three components.

1. Integration of all functions and processes. TQM is not the work of one quality department. It is the work of every function: teaching, admin, operations, parent relations.
2. Continuous improvement. TQM does not aim for a fixed quality level. It aims for ongoing improvement.
3. Preventive culture. TQM focuses on preventing problems, not just fixing them after they happen.

The three words explained

Total: made up of the whole.

Quality involves everyone in the school, not just the academic side. The receptionist’s politeness is part of school quality. The cleanliness of the toilets is part of school quality. The way fees are collected is part of school quality.

Quality: degree of excellence a product/service provides.

The degree of excellence, measured by customer satisfaction, in everything the school provides.

Management: act, art or manner of planning, controlling, and directing.

The management work of producing quality. Not random; not accidental. Deliberate.

TQM is the art of managing the whole organisation to achieve excellence.

The handout’s clean summary. TQM is managing the whole school for excellence.

Crosby’s four absolutes

Philip Crosby, an American quality guru, published Quality is Free in 1979. The book offered four absolutes that have become foundational in TQM thinking.

1. Quality is conformance to requirements, not “goodness”

Quality is defined as conformance to requirements, not “goodness”.

Quality is meeting the agreed specifications. Not vague “goodness”. Specific requirements that can be checked.

For a school: “good teaching” is too vague. “Teaching that produces grade-3 reading at level for 90 percent of students” is a specification. The first is unmeasurable; the second is.

2. Prevention, not appraisal

The system for achieving quality is prevention, not appraisal.

Crosby’s most famous principle. Build quality in; do not inspect it in.

For a school: do not produce students with poor learning and then test them. Build the teaching practices that produce learning, and the testing becomes confirmation, not detection.

This is the same point as the modern view of control (feed-forward, not just feedback) covered in the control chapter.

3. Zero defects, not “that’s close enough”

The performance standard is zero defects, not “that’s close enough”.

The standard is zero failures. Not “mostly works”. Zero is the aspiration, even when not always achievable.

For a school: every child reading at grade level by year end. Not “most of them”. Every one. The school may not always achieve it, but it does not stop trying.

This is uncomfortable in a tolerant culture. It requires holding standards even when partial success would be easier to accept.

4. Price of non-conformance, not indexes

The measurement of quality is the price of non-conformance, not indexes.

Quality is measured by the cost of failure, not by abstract indices.

For a school: what does it cost when grade-3 children do not read at level? They struggle in grade 4. They struggle in grade 5. Their families lose confidence. They may leave the school. The cost is concrete.

A school that measures only positive indicators (test scores up, enrolment up) misses the cost of failures. A school that also tracks the cost of non-conformance gets a fuller picture.

The framework of TQM

The handout summarises the framework.

Everyone in the organisation must be committed to quality.

Not a separate quality department. Everyone. The receptionist, the librarian, the canteen staff, all are part of quality.

Relationships are changed within the organisation. Departments become customers of and suppliers to other departments, internal customers.

The internal customer concept reshapes how parts of the school relate. The admin office serves the academic side. The cleaning staff serves everyone. Each interaction is a quality moment.

These supplier/customer relationships should ensure a chain of quality throughout the organisation. Weak links in this chain can be identified and strengthened.

The school is a chain. A weak link anywhere in the chain damages the whole. Identifying and strengthening weak links is the work.

Use of better working practices and worker commitment to quality.

The two together. Better practices alone do not produce quality if workers are not committed. Worker commitment alone does not produce quality if practices are poor. Both together.

TQM in education

TQM was developed for manufacturing. Applying it to education requires care.

What translates well

1. Continuous improvement. Schools can always improve.
2. Customer focus. Parents and students matter; their experience defines school quality.
3. Everyone’s responsibility. Quality is not just academic; it is across all roles.
4. Internal customer concept. Coordination across school functions matters.
5. Prevention over correction. Build quality teaching, do not just measure failure.

What needs adaptation

1. Students are not products. They are partners in the learning process; treating them as products misunderstands education.
2. Quality is not always specifiable. Some of what schools produce (character, judgement, citizenship) is hard to specify in advance.
3. Zero defects has limits. Some children will struggle regardless of teaching; expecting zero defects can produce harsh treatment of those who do not fit.
4. Customer is complex. Parents pay but students learn; their interests may diverge.

A school head who imports TQM directly from business may produce a school that is technically efficient but pedagogically poor. A school head who adapts TQM thoughtfully gets the benefits without the costs.

Flashcard

What is Total Quality Management, and what is Crosby's most famous principle?

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Answer

TQM is the integration of all functions and processes for continuous improvement of quality. Crosby’s most famous principle: prevention, not appraisal.

TQM key features:

1. Customer-defined quality.
2. Everyone’s responsibility, not just one department.
3. Internal customer concept: departments serve each other.
4. Continuous improvement, not fixed quality.
5. Prevention, not detection.

Crosby’s four absolutes:

1. Quality is conformance to requirements (not vague goodness).
2. Prevention, not appraisal.
3. Zero defects, not “close enough”.
4. Price of non-conformance, not indexes.

Applying TQM to schools requires care. The principles translate well (continuous improvement, customer focus, internal customers, prevention) but some industrial assumptions (students as products, zero defects, simple specifications) need adaptation.