Managing Quality

Chapter 3. The Received Wisdom on TQM

B. G. Dale, A. van der Wiele and J. D. van Iwaarden

Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the reader to what the leading exponents of TQM have to say on the subject and explore, in brief, their teachings and advice.

In the Western world the four best-known quality management experts are all Americans – Crosby (1979), Deming (1982), Feigenbaum (1961/1983) and Juran (1988). These four men have had a considerable influence on the development of TQM in organizations throughout the world. In addition to the approaches and philosophies of these four experts the Japanese quality management culture is also widely publicized. The work and ideas of a number of Japanese quality experts have been published in English. They include Imai (1986), Ishikawa (1985), Mizuno (1988), Nemoto (1987), Ozeki and Asaka (1990), Shingo (1986) and Taguchi (1986 and Taguchi et al. 2004). The ideas of these Japanese experts are all being applied in the West, but perhaps the work of Imai, Ishikawa, Shingo and Taguchi is the best known. It is for this reason that it is briefly reviewed here before considering some of the familiar concepts associated with how Japanese companies manage a process of continuous and company-wide improvement.

Given that the quality management discipline has come of age, some of the early contributors are already deceased. Their work is nevertheless discussed in this chapter because it helps to understand the developments that have ...