GETTING STARTED IN TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT:

                         THE SEVEN STEPS


     Step One: Assess

     "Assess" means getting a measurement of where the organiza-
tion is in two ways: climate (or culture) and quality.  A recom-
mended way of measuring quality is to benchmark the organization
against the Baldrige Award criteria or the President's Award
criteria.

     Step Two: Educate

     The organization's leadership needs to plan out how it will
arrange for the education of itself and the workforce in Total
Quality Management.  The result will be an education plan.

     Step Three: Identify Customers

     This step includes identifying the customers, internal and
external, and establishing the degree to which their requirements
are being satisfied.

     Step Four: Create Infrastructure

     Create the Quality Council and establish its ground rules
and guiding principles.  Create quality boards if they are
needed.

     Step Five: Write Vision

     This step means writing a vision statement to serve as a
beacon to lead the organization into the future.

     Step Six: Write the Quality Policy

     The Quality Policy is a brief statement, to be signed by all
members of the Quality Council, which defines what quality means
in this organization.

     Step Seven: Construct Strategic Plan

     Draft a brief, blunt plan for institutionalizing Total
Quality Management in the organization.



Copyright 1992, Tom Glenn

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         When TQM Works--And Doesn't Work

             by Donald Jugenheimer
 
     Recent research into TQM programs by the accounting firm of
Ernst and Young indicates what works and what doesn't when
adopting and implementing a TQM program. Different sizes and
types of organizations need to use different strategies to make
TQM a success.
 
     Quality programs work best when the organization:
 
     --starts working on only a few practices,
     --concentrates with a narrow focus, uses cycle-time
     analysis,
     --explains the quality program to all internal and external
     publics,
     --simplifies and improves procedures and processes, and
     --shortens the cycle to get things done.
 
     To be successful, each organization must define its own best
approach, rather than adopting what everyone else seems to be
doing. There are also certain paths that work best, depending on
the performance level of the organization. Here's what each kind
of organization should use:

High-performing organizations:
 
     --encourage organization-wide meetings on quality;
     --use benchmarking;
     --spread around decision-making functions.

Medium-performing organizations:

     --focus on problem-solving training;
     --simplify processes and procedures.

Low-performing organizations:

     --increase all kinds of training;
     --emphasize team-building within and among departments.
 
     There are also certain approaches that shouldn't be adopted,
depending on performance levels. Here's what organizations
shouldn't use:

High-performing organizations:
 
     --avoid department teams, because they work against
     inter-unit cooperation.

Medium-performing organizations:

     --don't select vendors on reputation, but rather on the
     basis of quality;

Low-performing organizations:
 
     --don't support wide participation in quality meetings;
     --avoid benchmarking;
     --don't use wide empowerment.
 
     To learn more, contact: Donald Jugenheimer, Chair,
     Department of Communications and Speech, Fairleigh Dickinson
     U., Teaneck-Hackensack Campus, Teaneck, NJ 07666; Ph: 201
     /692-2000.

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