Total Quality Management Definition

 
 
Abstract.

TQM (Total Quality Management) as a management approach in organizations has led to a lot of improvements. The management practice starts from the management teams and spreads to the entire organization. This has been developed as a culture in most organizations hence a lot of improvements on both time and human resource management. The management approach is basically aimed at ensuring quality services in an organization. It therefore ensures quality in all aspects of the company’s operations. Statistics shows that TQM needs a lot of commitments in organizations for its success to be realized. Many companies that have implemented TQM well are very successful while others that did not implement it well are not likely to see its success. It is therefore recommended that TQM use in organizations be well implemented for a success. Team work should be emphasized in organizations together with the technology to realize its success.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Table of Contents
 
 
Introduction. 3
Overview of AT & T. 5
Understanding of TQM. 10
Applications of TQM towards customer services. 11
Conclusion. 22
Reference: 24
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Introduction.
Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management process which started in Japan in the 1950s and later on spread to the western industries in the 1980s. Since then, TQM has been used in many organizations as a culture to help meet customer needs satisfactorily. TQM culture has been developed in organizations to help provide quality in all operations for efficiency (Stark, 1998). Implementation of TQM in organizations has been a success to some organizations whiles in others a failure. Some organizations have therefore been discouraged. Above all, the most successful companies are known to have used implemented TQM.
According to Goetsch & Davis (1994), TQM should be used in organizations to help managers monitor production and delivery services. Oakland (1989), also emphasizes on adoption of TQM as a culture in organizations. TQM use has been realized to be a bit difficult in many organizations since it calls for a lot of commitment in organization as a whole. TQM requires incorporations of certain techniques and principles to achieve quality improvements in organizations (Goetsch & Davis, 1994).
TQM requires effective management of all resources in an organization including time and human resources. TQM should not only be achieved within the organizations, but also outside the organization (Crosby, 1984). To achieve quality improvements within and outside the organization, there should be a good way of communication. An effective way of communication within the organization will facilitate quality improvements information across the organization. Quality information to every member of an organization will make everyone be determined to meet the organizational goal.
Many organizations have had very poor communication methods. Information flow has been restricted from top to bottom. The top management forms the rules and gives them to the lower level workers. The managers have at times misinterpreted the information hence misled the other workers. Such organizations are bound to failures in implementing TQM (Morgan & Murgatroyd, 1997).
Overview of AT & T.
AT & T is a company offering very high quality communication services. AT & T Company has provided varied macro electronic services worldwide. The services include a wireless network that covers a wide area for wireless communications (AT & T, 2009).  AT & T Company also provides communication services used by businesses like the IP-based services all over world.
The company provides a high speed internet access services for communication using the 3G network devices. Internet has been use for multimedia communications. AT & T Company became the best company publishing directories and a marketer for the yellow pages. AT & T Company therefore licensed the yellow page site as the company’s new brand. According to AT & T (2009), AT & T Company was the founder of the quality management techniques and systems that have been used in communication sectors. The company wanted to achieve quality improvements in their operations.
Having implemented TQM in their operations, the company has seen a lot of improvements. AT & T Company expanded its services offering entertainment services using televisions. The company became the best telecommunications provider this year over wide area coverage/ networks. The successes have made AT & T Company to known globally for multimedia service provisions. The company registered an increased number of its network users for instance the integrated devices that were multipurpose. The capacity doubling of the network users was also seen with the 3G network users (AT & T, 2009).
AT & T Company over the recent years has changed to be customer oriented. Other than being a global provider of telecommunication services, AT & T Company has decided to specialize its units to satisfy specific targeted groups in the market. According to the AT & T Corporation (1992), the company has been a single telephone service provider in the USA. AT & T Company has become an international company targeting a wider range of information communication technology services all over the world. AT & T Company has used technology in providing the services to their customers.
Through the use of technology, the company has as changed from being a large and complex to small and easily manageable business units. The units are specialized to provide for different customer needs in the markets (AT & T Corporation, 1992). By specializing the units, the company had expanded the range of the products offered. The business units implemented has led to increased revenue collected from sales. The units have also led to an increased customer satisfaction since they have a variety to choose from.
From the new products introduced in the market as a result of specialization, was the AT & T U-verse service that used the wire lines. AT & T Company had an increased number of subscribers of the wire lines. Increased revenues were collected from U-verse and broadband services as being of good quality to the users. Ethernets and private networks like VPN also yielded a lot within the first few months of the networks implementation. The U-verse services were widely used on household particularly on televisions making register the highest number of subscribers (AT & T Corporation, 1992).
Analysis shows that AT & T Company has been very successful over the past years. The products introduced in to the market by the AT & T Company have been doing well (AT & T Corporation, 1992). One of the new businesses introduced in to the market by the company is the AT & T power system. The business has changed a lot over the last five years. The power system was a business introduced into the market by AT & T Company to provide power internally. AT & T power system has gone international facing international competition. The rapid growth was as a result of technology use. AT & T Company has used technology in its production processes to gain a competitive advantage. Technological processes have been incorporated with the TQM concepts to ensure a continuous improvement.
The AT & T power system was initially used for power provision in Dallas in the 1970s particularly on switches. Later on in the 1990s, a product shifting was done and the manufactured products left for the original AT & T. The power supply system has seen a lot of improvements since then. The power supply business is currently a highly reputable supplier of technological products all over the world.  The success has been as a result of the strategic business plans that were used (AT & T Corporation, 1992).
The company made a lot of changes in its departments. Management, research and development (R&D) and marketing sectors in the company were moved to Dallas. The shifts led to an improvement in services. The company could provide end to end services eliminating the middlemen in service delivery. At this point the company started TQM implementation on a serious note. AT & T Company launched their vision (AT & T Corporation, 1992).
The adoption of the TQM culture in AT &T Company was the foundation of the company’s success. The several relocations of various departments eliminated the middlemen in the supply chains hence reduced costs and increased customer satisfaction (AT & T Corporation, 1992). The number of human resource reduced that may have led to a lot of errors in the production processes. Relocations also eliminated a lot of time and resource wastages through the very many supply chains. The creation of specialized business units focused on specific customer needs hence an increased customer satisfaction and major production blocks in the organization.
With adoption of technology, AT & T Company has seen a lot of improvements. The company introduced the 3G devices like the iPhone that was widely used by over a million people. The activated iPhone made AT & T Company even more active. The introduction of postpaid services also led to an increased number of wireless subscribers using integrated services (AT & T, 2009). The number of subscribers doubled within the first quarter of the first two years since the services were launched. The increased figures showed a greater improvement compared to the past years.
According to AT & T (2009), there was an about 39 per cent improvement on the wireless network usage. The wireless services generated revenue of over $ 3 billion doubling the values within the first six months since wireless network was introduced in to the market. The increased network usage was a result of multimedia services supported by the network. The number of the wireless network users continuously increased over the years according to the quarterly analysis done per year. The wireless services allowed online performance comparisons of other accounts.
The origin and success of TQM can be seen from AT & T Company. TQM was started with some three AT & T scientists. The three members of the AT & T Company Deming, Juran and Shewhart became the pioneers of quality and later joined by Guwrrielle. The scientists argued that quality in a product is a complete circle. Quality is therefore a process required in operations or production processes. The pioneers noted that in the year 1990, Seemer, an engineer from Japan made a lot of improvements in AT & T power supply system. The improvement led to a lot of customer satisfaction amongst other quality improvements made (AT & T Corporation, 1992).
The pioneers had seen an increased level of employee participation, quality productions and improved customer satisfaction tan before (AT & T Corporation, 1992). An analysis carried out showed very high quality improvements on customer satisfaction, over 90 per cent efficiency in products delivery time to the markets and a quality improvements on production by over twenty per cent. AT & T Company introduced many new products in to the international markets reducing the internal ones. The company improved their inventory services in order to cater for the customer needs easily hence enhance the customer satisfaction.
With an improve way of communication, AT & T Company, had an efficient way of communication between the employees and customers. The customer suggestions and responses could be analyzed to improve the customer services. An efficient way of communication enhanced the operational processes in the company. Processes that were considered useless in adding quality in production were removed. The elimination of such processes led to reduction of production processes through which a product had to pass. The reduced processes has also led improved production time hence improved resource usage, increased production and improved response rate to customer needs (AT & T Corporation, 1992).
AT & T Company improved on the wastage disposal. According to AT & T Corporation (1992), the company became more environmentally friendly by recycling their wastes products thereby reducing pollutions. By recycling the wastes the company also saved on costs for taking care of the environment and buying more input for productions. The pioneers having seen such improvements, they advised the organizations to develop a sound TQM culture as a management approach. This was to achieve the continuous quality improvements required in organizations to provide satisfactory customer services.
Understanding of TQM.
Total Quality Management (TQM) is an approach taken by the entire organization to help satisfy customer needs and expectations. The process calls for a collective responsibility in an organization from both the managers and other employees. Customer needs vary and continuous. To continuously satisfy the changing and expanding needs of the customers, the members of an organization should devise some techniques. Qualitative techniques are required to make sure there is a continuous improvement in the production methods. Continuous improvements in production methods lead to continuous quality improvements in products and services (Milakovich, 1990, p. 209).
TQM can be understood from many perspectives depending on various authors. Different authors have defined TQM differently based on many facts. According to Morgan & Murgatroyd (1997, p. 7), TQM is not only a system which can be used technically to realize the success of an organization but a social system that brings together members of an organization. TQM will make the top management to work with the lower level workers thereby socializing. Additionally, TQM can be viewed as human system. The system particularly calls for total commitment from all members of an organization (Pike & Barnes, 1996).
TQM is a process to be used by the whole organization to gain a competitive advantage, be more effective and to come up with quality business structures (Oakland, 1993). TQM is considered to be interrelated processes involving all members of an organization and the production processes in a business. The processes together will help an organization improve on the quality of production to meet customer needs beyond expectations. TQM is therefore a set of principles and philosophy for managing an organization hence the hard and soft sides of TQM (Dale, 1999, p.9).
People should use data and data composes of systems, techniques and tools representing the hard side of TQM. This is because gathering and representing information to human beings is through thinking and visualizing. The acquired information can be applied physically in processing to produce a required output (Goetsch & Davis, 1994, p.382). In this sense tools will have been used in management. Management tools are varied in the same way as the quality systems and techniques used in management.
The soft side aspects of quality improvements require an increased involvement of the employees in an organization in the development strategies. With the enhanced employee participation, there is likely to be an improvement in communication in the organization. The skills and knowledge will easily spread across the organization to facilitate problem solving (Powell, 1995).
Applications of TQM towards customer services.
TQM is a process that targets quality productions on goods and services to satisfy customers’ needs. Customer needs continuously vary. This calls for continuous enhancements of the business production processes for the organization to meet these needs.  The quality improvements should ensure customer satisfaction beyond expectations. There are many ways to meet customer satisfaction for instance application of technology in the production processes. AT& T customer satisfaction is the driving force for the TQM cultured organizations. The organizations aim at improving their performance (Moore et al, 1998; Zairi, 2000).
There are many AT& T customers to be catered for in the services provided. The customers can be internal or external (Juran, 1993). Members of an organization from different departments depends on various products from other departments hence the internal customers. The external customers are the expected market outside the organization. External customers may be private bodies/ institutions, government bodies or just individual users of a gives product or service. Organizations are encouraged to keep records of their customers’ requirements. The records will help the AT& T managers to plan for the quality improvement plans required to help meet customer satisfaction. The records can be used as a benchmark for the required quality improvements (Rampersad, 2001).
By incorporating technology/ technological methods in production processes, AT& T will enhance quality of the products. The technical knowledge required for productions are varied including the human resource, input and techniques. Technical approach makes every member of the organization to take part in the management process. The technological techniques have reformed businesses in many ways (Deldridge et al, 1992).
TQM is a customer based process aimed at satisfying the customer needs. With TQM, AT& T first priority in business is to satisfy customer needs. It is the company/ organizations’ belief that their success lies in their customer satisfaction. An organization that is TQM cultured tends to pay more attention to the customer responses and suggestions. The organizations will therefore customize and differentiate their products from the competitors’ (Stark, 1998).
According to Stark (1998), TQM requires total involvement of every member of an organization. The employees should be used as the internal customers to be served with such products or services to assess the rate at which such services or products can satisfy the customer needs. For instance a department at AT& T should provide the downstream workers with their functions. In this sense the organization can assess their sensitivity and response rate to their customers. This forms the basis of how customer needs or requirements should be solved to improve on quality of services hence customer satisfaction.
TQM is a social system in organizations hence should be introduced and managed with the higher level managers within the organization. Total commitment of the top AT& T  management is paramount hence should be highly adhered to for a success in the organizations (Stark, 1998). The AT& T managers should work together wit other members of the organization. Every member of the organization should be involved to play a role in such a management process.
 
The AT& T managers are required to come up with strategies to help the organization achieve the quality improvement values. The AT& T manager should lead other members of the organization in working their goals consistently with the objectives of the organization. Quality systems should be well defined to guide in all the quality processes and performances targeted at achieving the organizational goals (Stark, 1998).
A well defined system will enhance workers’ participation just be cause they are a ware of the quality performance indicators. The good performance signs will relate to AT& T customer satisfaction in one way or the other. Since most organizations have used performance measures to determine the payments for various workers, this makes them strive for the best always. With the best results possible, this will lead continuously providing quality services to satisfy AT& T customer needs (Stark, 1998).
According to Stark (1998), TQM is a quality approach that ensures continuous improvements in organizations. The organizations that have developed a TQM culture have their operations and quality processes always improving. These organizations have realized the connection between quality production and customer satisfaction. The AT&T  organization has noticed that this is the only way maintain a continuous improvement.
The continuous improvements are geared towards having quality productions to satisfy the customers’ needs. AT& T therefore emphasizes quality and evolving production processes. Performance measures have to be in place to monitor the development cycles and response time to identify the areas that require improvements. This ensures the customer satisfaction is met or exceeded (Stark,1998).
TQM is a customized management approach. TQM emphasizes on prevention to achieve quality during design than correcting an error at the later stages of development life cycle. TQM hence calls for implementation of quality measures at all stages of development in the product life cycle. This eliminates resource wastage; help avoid errors and eventually a quality product (Stark, 1998), at AT& T. In addition, any errors in the development stages will be detected and corrected before the end product is released to the market. The process ensures production of a high quality product that will meet or exceed customer satisfaction.
TQM enhances the rate at which customer needs can be responded to in various organizations. The AT& T  will be very sensitive to customer requirements. The production cycles will be reduced accordingly to increate of production. Production processes can be customized and processes automated for simplicity and efficiency. This reduces the time required for production of a production in an organization (Stark, 1998).
AT& T production processes can be made concurrent to achieve simplicity and improve production rates. The processes can also be redesigned to eliminate the non-productive levels. By removing the processes that do no add value to the product, you will have improved the efficiency of the production system. A simple and efficient production system will reduce production and delivery time. This will make the customers receive their orders in time (Stark, 1998).
TQM is a process aimed at making the customers gets the best products or services in market from AT& T.  TQM is therefore based on various facts and analyses from the market in question. The facts or the information gathered from such analyses forms a basis for planning, tracking and carrying out performance reviews. The reviews will help determine the quality and performance measures required to gain a competitive advantage in a given market (Stark, 1998). The AT& T  managers have to make comparative decisions based on the information gathered from the market.
Other than the managers, the AT& T  technical workers should be involved. This is because in most cases it is the workers or lower level employees that are directly involved in the production processes (Stark, 1998). The system should be redesigned not only to reduce costs by reducing the production cycles but also to ensure conformity with the standards. This will lead to a quality end user product hence ensure AT& T customer satisfaction.
TQM requires a lot of commitments of all members of an organization. In addition the human labour as to be highly skilled to be successful (Stark, 1998). The AT& T workers have to fully participate in carrying out the activities aimed at improving quality. Companies have continuously trained their staff to empower them to participate more. Through training the AT& T workers will be able to take added roles, be more creative and innovative in carrying out their responsibilities. This lead to high quality productions in an organization (Stark, 1998).
TQM has led to many organizations developing the culture of customer satisfaction (Stark, 1998).The AT& T have always aimed at providing customer satisfaction with their products. For AT& T to continuously provide quality improvements all the members of the organization should work together to achieve it. All staff in whatever level they are in an organization should participate in developing strategic plans. This will make the workers have a sense of belonging in the organization hence behave responsibly to achieve the organizational goals. This has also improved the level of commitment in many organizations hence quality in all areas of operation. Quality operations will translate to improved customer satisfaction (Stark, 1998).
TQM has led to high quality products in the markets. TQM has reduced a lot of AT& T product shortages in markets and rejections due to poor quality inputs and production techniques. AT& T products can be easily customized or personalized to meet specific customer requirements. This cannot be achieved by organizations that don’t use TQM (Stark, 1998). Such organizations are mainly focused on dictatorship or authoritative way of management. This type of management applies specifically to human labour ignoring the system itself.
The organization’s failure may be lying with the system and not the human resource. This requires a rational decision making. Without realizing the need for TQM implementation in an organization, there may be a lot of wastages of resources experienced in tying to redo some production processes. This may lead to a lot production and delivery delays or poor products in the markets (Stark, 1998).
TQM has been used in all operations in an organization. This will make productions from all development stages of good quality. As a management process, TQM can be used in research and development to control all activities being used at AT&T. In AT& T, research and development are processes done by the suppliers. Application of TQM in such processes has been fruitful in very many successful organizations (Taylor & Pearson, 1994). Analysis has to be carried out in the organizations to facilitate the implementation of TQM hence to be successful (Collin & Pearson, 1993). The analyses to be carried out should be based on research and development processes.
TQM has been used in the feasibility study and management prior to investments. Feasibility study and investment processes are mainly done by the technical staff form within or outside the organization. To succeed in the feasibility studies, AT& T customer needs should be well defined for easy understandability. In addition, clearly defined customer requirements will facilitate planning for the strategic operation measures required. The AT& T managers will be able to choose the right tools, techniques and processes to help meet the customer requirements. Through the use of TQM, the AT& T customer requirements will be modified to meet their specifications. TQM is therefore a tool used to translate the customers’ vague requirements in to a realistic goal (Usellac, 1993).
Through the use of TQM customer requirements that are not clearly defined can be realized by specific organizations. AT& T has come up with the tools to model the customers’ requirements hence meet their satisfaction. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is one of the tools that have been used by the organizations to respond to the customer needs. QFD models processes that can match the customer requirements hence help producers satisfy the customer needs. QFD responds to the AT& T customer needs depending on a particular factor for instance high priority first depending on their sensitivity or time. QFD has made organizations provide services that meet and exceed customer satisfaction (Goetsch & Davis, 1994, p.465-470).
TQM has been used to provide engineering and design management services to the organizations as the internal consumers of such products. Technology suppliers to AT& T will always manage such services as design or engineering. The presence of the buyers is highly required. AT& T teamwork is paramount between the engineers and the customers to be successful (Schermerhorn, 1993). This empowers the AT& T workers to continuously produce quality products. Involvement of the AT& T buyers or targeted customers will ensure all the customer needs are well catered for in the production process hence a quality product to satisfy the customer needs.
TQM has also been used in capital production that requires integration of TQM principles. TQM principles stresses on teamwork and continuous process improvements. The principles are directly applicable to capital management at AT& T . Producers have work in partnership with the customers for a success. The AT& T producers will be able to identify the customers’ special needs and satisfy them appropriately. The AT& T customer satisfaction may not be achieved if they were ignored the capital management processes (Sharad, 1992).
TQM has also been used in providing management services in commissioning and installing plants. AT& T commissioning and installation processes require a lot of technical skills hence training. Control processes and support structures have to be developed to have good training. These stages in the development life cycle require incorporation of technology (Sharad, 1992).
According to Goetsch & Davis; Ho & Fung (1994), TQM is a management process involving continuous improvements of performance. Quality improvements are a dynamic task. TQM therefore requires opportunity improvements endlessly. To always improve on performance, AT& T has to plan well to avoid making mistakes (Dale, 1996). To maintain quality organizational objective, AT& T managers have to develop the required skills at all levels of operation. This empowers the managers to continuously work towards improving quality of the products and services to meet customer satisfaction.
Quality councils have to be established in the organizations to facilitate continuous improvements of the organizations. A philosophy is an additional requirement to support organizational practices (Juran, 1993). This is the only way to achieve AT& T customer satisfaction. TQM has led to a lot of team playing in organizations as a condition for a continuous improvement in an organization (Coyle-Shapiro, 1997).
Teamwork has been believed to be better than individuals work and it is required from all hierarchies in an organizational structure. The AT& T teams make work flexible and build trust amongst members (Scholtes, 1992). The AT& T teams get empowered to be confident enough and committed to their responsibilities having a sense of ownership. This environment enables the workers to initiate necessary steps and processes to satisfy customer needs within the organizational resources (Besterfield et al, 1999, p.77).
TQM enables employees to be empowered to contribute positively to quality improvements in an organization (Wilkinson, 1998). This gives everyone at AT& T an opportunity to take part in developing their organization. For a success there has to be enhanced control measures to monitor the employees work (Clearly, 1996). TQM allows sharing of responsibilities in an organization (Hill, 1991; Vouzas, 2004), leading to improved production rates. This will improve the response rate to customer needs.
TQM requires a continuous training sessions for the employees. It is through the trainings that an organization can maintain a quality production. AT& T training help workers or customers keep up to date with the technology, the dynamic business environments and the external environments. Trainings can also lead to the formation of a universal business language (Dale, 1999, p.11). The AT& T training has made both top level management and lower level workers know the matrices for good performance hence work towards satisfying customers.
There are many TQM tools that have been used to provide customer services in organizations. The quality management tools are varied in their complexity and functionality. Some provide hard while others provide soft management skills at AT& T. The hard skills management tools include; Statistical Process control (SPC) which is a control tool used by the managers for controlling productions and delivery services. The tool uses shifts to improve production and shipment services at AT& T. The shifts improve production and shipment services (Goetsch & Davis, 1994). SPC was meant to make production and shipping services time constant (Dale & Oakland, 1991). With the constant production and delivery time, customer services can be well planned for. This will make it possible to meet the AT& T customer requirements’ hence satisfaction.
TQM has led to introduction of standards to guide the production process for the customer goods and services. ISO 9000 as an international standard has been used in products and services productions. International Standardization Organization (ISO) is a globally used system for quality improvements. TQM has led to formation of international rules as standards as standards to be used worldwide (Lamprecht, 1992).
The global standards ensure all international goods follow a given process in production to be standard. The policies have facilitated quality improvements at AT& T. The standards enhance competitiveness of companies in the global markets. Competition is believed to be a quality enhancement factor in organizations (Tsiotras & Gotzamani, 1996; Vouzas, 1997).
Pareto Analysis is another TQM tool. Pareto Analysis is used by the management team in the operation processes to eliminate errors (Bicheno, 1998). The tool has been very useful in managing larger volumes of data (Dale, 1999, p. 296). In addition, a fishbone tool also known as Ishakawa was used. Ishakawa was use din statistical concepts to identify causes of problems (Bicheno, 1998; Goetsch & Davis, 1994). The fishbone serves as a reminder of the done things (Goetsch & Davis, 1994). These tools therefore keep the AT& T company up to date with their operations hence a continuous improvement achieved.
Through implementation of TQM in organizations, AT& T has merged or formed joined ventures. The partnerships formed could be used to facilitate technological transfers in the firms. Both firms in partnership will be pursuing the same goals in a market. With the two firms both supplying at the same time, this will lead to an increased number of such products or services in the market. Hence customer satisfaction in terms of the quantity. Incorporating TQM in organizational operations is a quality strategy. The use of technology will and TQM is an added advantage (Keller & Chinta, 1990). The firms will succeed together. This will lead to internal AT& T customer satisfaction.
Conclusion.
TQM is a management approach that is aimed at improving operations in AT& T. The process is aimed at ensuring quality improvements strategies are developed in an organization. The quality improvements will enhance improvements of AT& T thereby satisfying the continuously expanding and increasing customer needs. For a success of the TQM in an organization, there are various principles that have to be observed. TQM requires emphasizes on teamwork  at AT& T as a way to make all members of an organization participate in the process fully (Conti & Kleiner, 1997; Hill, 1991; Lawler, 1994).
TQM also requires continuous improvements in organizations (Dale, 1996; Goetsch & Davis, 1994; Ho & Fung, 1994). Managers at AT& T should develop improvement techniques and systems. The techniques and systems will help them plan well and assess the performance in the organization. TQM has been considered a social system. Other than providing the technical needs for AT& T, it also brings members of the organization together.
TQM therefore makes the members of the AT& T organization form a strong interrelationship between them. With the relationship they can empower each other, build teamwork hence share responsibilities to enhance their productions (Powell, 1995). With the AT& T  teamwork, customer services will be taken care of well to meet their satisfaction. TQM does not only require involvement of every member in the organization.
TQM requires the management to implement quality performance measures to monitor the performances. In addition, the top AT& T management is required to be totally committed in carrying out these processes. The quality concept is to be implemented in all AT& T production processes. This is when the end product will have confirmed to the required standards. TQM has been used world wide in all products (Lamprecht, 1992). The international organizations have to conform to the international standards. TQM should therefore be implemented in organizations for a success.
 
 
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