Deming's Total Quality Management Movement and the Baskin Robbins Problem

Abstract

The movement toward adopting Total Quality Management (TQM) as a working organizational philosophy has reached a critical point. Experience with the implementation of TQM has yielded mixed results. Probably the main reason that the TQM innovation has not been more consistently successful is that, in many cases, it has been misunderstood and implemented more in name only than in a manner true to its principles. Taking the W E. Deming version of TQM as an exemplar, the paradigmatic essence of TQM is described, explained, illustrated, and contrasted with the traditional and dominant rational model of management. Then the issues that distinctively confront the implementation of TQM in the public sector are reviewed. The authors conclude that TQM holds great positive potential for adapting government administration to the requirements of what appears will be a fundamentally different and more demanding future. This is Part I of a two-part article.