Total Quality Management (TQM) Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) is an easy to follow, never ending process of improvement. It begins
Learning Goal: I’m working on a management discussion question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.
Read Example 1 and explain your take away, agree or don’t agree, and make sure to add additional information. Your document should include minimum 150 words plus credible references.
Example 1:
Total Quality Management (TQM) Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) is an easy to follow, never ending process of improvement. It begins with a problem and devising a plan to overcome the issue. From there, one tests the plan (do), checks to ensure that the plan is adequate (check), and seemingly ends with implementing the plan (Heizer, et al., 2020). However, because PDCA is set up as a circle, it’s a continual process, as plans can always be improved.
Six Sigma was created by Motorola in the 1980’s to respond to customer complaints. The define, measure, analyze, improve, control (DMAIC) is a similar, but five step process to: 1) define the purpose, 2) measure and gather data, 3) analyze that data, 4) improve the process, and finally 5) put controls in place to monitor the performance (Heizer, et al., 2020).
While both practices are used widely and with success, I believe that the TQM PDCA process is superior to Six Sigma. TQM PDCA has shown results not only in the manufacturing industry, but also in people-oriented business and human resource worlds (Agus & Selvaraj, 2020). PDCA involves the employee in making and implementing changes, and has a positive impact on production and productivity levels across the board. PDCA allows the company the opportunity to continually analyze and improve processes by starting over at the planning stage after completion.
TQM is easy to use and inclusive. Six Sigma requires project managers with specialized knowledge in utilizing Six Sigma, whereas TQM can be planned and executed simply by the quality control department. PDCA encourages participation by leaders and employees alike to identify problems and test the plan. PDCA integrates departments and encourages collaboration, where Six Sigma aims for performance improvement (Raja, et al., 2018).
In the end, both processes are critical to business success and are known to produce results. However, due to a long history with a proven track record, ease of use, and focus on collaboration, TQM PDCA has the slight edge over Six Sigma.
Reference
Agus, A., & Selvaraj, R. (2020). The Effects of People- and Technical-Oriented Tqm on Productivity: The Mediating Role of Production Performance. International Journal of Business & Society, 21(1), 234–252.
Heizer, J., Render, B., & Munson, C. (2020). Operations Management: Sustainability and Supply Chain Management (13th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.
Raja Sreedharan, V., Vijaya, S. M., & Raju, R. (2018). Critical success factors of TQM, six sigma, lean and lean six sigma. Benchmarking, 25(9), 3479-3504. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-08-2017-0223.
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