Total Quality Management - CII Institute of Logistics

Total Quality Management
(6) People are conditioned to believe that error is inevitable; thus they not only accept
error, they anticipate it. Each of us has limits within which we can accept errors.
Eventually we reach a point where the errors are unacceptable. This usually occurs
when the errors affect us personally, such as when you discover that your bank has
made a $100 error in your account, in their favor.
Crosby's Basic Elements of Improvement include determination, education, and
implementation. According to Crosby, most human error is caused by lack of
attention rather than lack of knowledge. Lack of attention is created when we assume
that error is inevitable. By determination, Crosby means that top management must be
serious about quality improvement. Everyone must understand the Absolutes; this can
be accomplished only through education. Finally, every member of the management
team must understand the implementation process.
Like Deming, Crosby advocated interior searches by individual departments (i.e.
manufacturing, accounting) within a firm for sources of negative variation and acting
to reduce these. He also advocated the policy of doing the job right the first time.
Unlike Deming, Crosby's plan focuses on managerial thinking, calling for change
within the current system, holding employees, as well as management accountable for
reducing defects, and not requiring a complete organizational overhaul.
1.6 Philosophy and Frameworks of Other Key People
A.V. Feigenbaum is primarily known for three contributions to quality -- his
international promotion of the quality ethic, his development of the concept of total
quality control, and his development of the quality cost classification.
Kaoru Ishikawa was instrumental in the development of the broad outlines of Japanese
quality strategy, the concept of CWQC, the audit process used for determining whether
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