Definitions for "Total Quality Management"
1. A management approach that involves an ongoing commitment to improving product quality, starting with product design and continuing through production; 2. A philosophy of management that is driven by customer needs and expectations.
An attitude to providing quality products and services in which everyone in the organisation from senior manager to shopfloor worker is committed to quality. Most books on TQM provide techniques which, like ISO 9000, are only effective if there is senior management commitment not just to the ideas but to the investment required to develop the people and processes of the organisation.
An organization-wide approach to continuously improving the overall quality of its process, products, and service.