What six sigma and TQM have in common

What six sigma and TQM or total quality management have in common can be found when someone takes a good look at both of these programs. Many manufacturing companies are concerned with quality of their product. This is why there is TQM and six sigma which are two of the most popular programs used for quality management in a manufacturing company. First let's define what both six sigma means and what TQM means.

Six sigma can be defined as a management philosophy that emphasizes having extremely high objectives, collecting date, and analyzing those results. The analyzing of this data will then lead to a reduction in defects for any products or services the organization may have. The philosophy being that if you measure how many defects are in a process you can figure out how to eliminate those defects and possibly attain perfection. Six sigma is designed to give you more detailed results. It is basically a focus on one area at a time and not a broad sense.

Total Quality Management or TQM can be defined as a comprehensive and structured approach for management that aims for long term success in an organization by focusing on customer satisfaction. TQM has eight key elements that need to be adhered to by all members of an organization in order for its success. TQM can be applied to any type of organization, but was originally meant for the manufacturing sector. Total Quality Management is based on quality management from the customer's point of view.

Both six sigma and TQM are designed to help improve any given companies quality of products or services. Both of these management philosophies want you to be able to get the most out of your business. Six sigma and TQM are dedicated to helping your company be the best it can be.

Another commonality between six sigma and TQM is that both philosophies have a requirement that your company needs one of these philosophies to attain its full potential. If you and other management feel that your company or organization is not fully ready to embrace the changes that these philosophies need then you should not adopt either one. Both of these philosophies require dedication and at least a little of your time.

Six sigma and TQM both require dedication and commitment to its ideas from all management. Both of these management philosophies tend not to work if management does not do its part in selling the idea to the rest of the company. Not only is management required to participate in the ideas but in fact the whole company is required to be involved. TQM requires this from the onset of the program while six sigma is not as stringent on the ideas at first.

Data collection is also one of the things that six sigma and TQM have in common. Both of these management philosophies require a large amount of data collection to find what your organization or companies customers need. There is a lot of data analyzing for both six sigma and TQM. These philosophies will not work to improve your company or organization if you do not use the data collection part of the philosophy.

Six sigma were both started in the manufacturing sector of business. Six sigma is most closely associated with Motorola and TQM can be associated with NASA. Both six sigma and TQM have begun to be embraced by educational organizations along with health care and other businesses. Both philosophies can reach a wide range of companies to improve the quality of all businesses.