TQM
Business & Finance abbreviation · Management & Strategy
| Stands for | Total quality management |
|---|---|
| Categories | Business & Finance |
TQM stands for Total quality management, a management & strategy abbreviation.
Organization-wide approach to long-term success through customer satisfaction, in which every employee takes part in continuously improving processes, products and culture. TQM relies on data, process measurement and teamwork rather than end-of-line inspection, and it shaped quality programs in manufacturing, healthcare and government from the 1980s.
Example: The plant's TQM program trains every operator to log defects and propose fixes at weekly quality circles.
Usage notes
TQM grew out of the teachings of W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran, whose ideas were embraced in postwar Japan before spreading back to the United States in the 1980s. The US Navy is often credited with coining the phrase itself in the mid-1980s. Later approaches such as Six Sigma and lean manufacturing built on TQM principles, and the ISO 9001 standard reflects many of them.
Related abbreviations
More management & strategy abbreviations
- AGM – Annual general meeting
- AOB – Any other business
- AOP – Annual operating plan
- BAU – Business as usual
- BCP – Business continuity plan
- BD – Business development
- BHAG – Big hairy audacious goal
- BI – Business intelligence
- BoD – Board of directors
- BPM – Business process management
- BPO – Business process outsourcing
- BPR – Business process reengineering