In the early 1900s, businesses were looking for ways to reduce the number of faulty products being produced. In 1911, Frederick W. Taylor published a book titled “The Principles of Scientific Management” which focused on how organizations must use people effectively. He proposed the concept of ‘clearly defined tasks’ and ‘standard conditions’ and proposed people be assigned to ‘inspection’ of goods. This led to the birth of the “Inspection Department” and its focus was on preventing defects which in turn, developed into the concept of Quality Control.
During the 1930s, Dr. W. Shewhart developed methods for
statistical analysis of the production process. Through the use of a ‘control
chart’ he showed how variations in manufacturing processes lead to variations
in the quality of the product. His theory of Statistical Quality Control
highlighted the detection and control of problems in quality by testing several
samples at different stages of the production process.
During the 1940s, Japanese industry leaders wanted to change
the quality of their products which were largely seen as cheap imitations. At
their invitation, western quality experts such as W. Edwards Deming, Joseph M.
Juran, and Armand V. Feigenbaum visited Japan to guide these industries with
their quality needs.
Deming taught the Japanese the concepts of statistical
analysis and using it for quality control. Juran’s teachings focused on the
idea of getting managers involved with the quality process. In the early 60s, Japanese
firms came up with ‘quality circles’ that comprised a voluntary group of
workers who met to discuss improving some aspect of their work and then
presented their thoughts to the management. This led to employees feeling more
motivated to contribute to the workplace. Gradually, the discussions began to
center around improvements that could be made in all organizational areas and
not merely the quality of products. This is how the idea of ‘Total Quality’
originated.
In 1969, Feigenbaum presented a paper at the first
international conference on quality control in Tokyo. In it, he used the term
‘Total Quality’ for the first time. Around the same time, Ishikawa in Japan
also came up with the concept of ‘Total Quality Control’ which differed from
the Western theory of total quality.
By observing the great strides made by Japan in dealing with
quality issues, industry leaders in the West began their own set of quality
initiatives in the 1980s and 1990s. These ideas covered a large spectrum of
techniques and strategies, and it was all covered by the term ‘Total Quality
Management’ or “TQM.”