Total Quality Management Despite the Quantified, Clear Essay

Total Quality Management

Despite the quantified, clear value of Total Quality Management (TQM), manufacturers and service providers continue to be challenged to get the most value out of these programs. Barriers to implementing TQM can slow down even the most focused enterprise, causing literally billions of dollars in wasted productivity and resources. The intent of this analysis is to define the barriers to TQM implementation, citing examples from general Electric (GE) a company who at one time faced significant barriers yet overcame them to achieve exceptional results (Hendricks, Kelbaugh, 1998).

TQM Barriers Abound

Of the many reasons why TQM projects fail and the barriers they encounter over time, the greatest is the lack of support from top management. This barrier can stop a TQM program quickly, despite the advanced planning and business case that those championing the effort may advance internally (Alpander, Lee, 1995).Lack of top management support will also lead to other barriers becoming more pronounced as well.

The second significant barrier is the lack of planning and use of effective methodologies for tracking performance of a company to TQM goals and objectives. At General Electric (GE), the company had become complacent in its core businesses as customers continued to pay high maintenance fees for upgrades. GE also lost the ability to innovate, and eventually customers grew impatient with their lack of new products and continually improving existing ones. Jack Welch took over as CEO and instituted TQM techniques so pervasively throughout the company that Six Sigma become part of the core culture of the company within less than two years (Hendricks, Kelbaugh, 1998). Jack Welch realized that….....