How TQM Can Improve Customer Experience And Product Value
Total Quality Management or TQM refers to an organization's and its employees' continuous management effort to improve the quality of services and products. With an emphasis on TQM, the organization focuses on their quality and product rather than quantity. The underlying principle of TQM is that every individual in the organization takes responsibility for providing better products and services to the customers. This principle is limited to the managerial position and employees of all the designations. Ultimately, the TQM framework ensures a better customer experience. Before understanding how TQM can improve customer experience and product value, it is crucial to understand the eight principles governing the TQM framework. These principles alone can directly benefit customer experience and product value improvement.
1. Customer-Focused Actions
The first governing pricing is customer-focused actions. It ensures that all the required products and services are modified to provide more value to the customers. For example, the GBWhatsApp goes beyond the usual WhatsApp to offer more functionalities to the customer that they might need for better efficiency. The ultimate goal of customer-focused actions is to solve the customers' pain points.
2. Continuous Improvement
One of the most crucial attributes of TQM is that it does not label a product or service as the final product or service. It is because there is always a scope for improvement. Customers' expectations are always changing, and to meet these expectations, companies need to improve their products continuously. The same is evident from the creation of WhatsApp Plus, another variation of WhatsApp designed to cater to other pain points of WhatsApp users.
3. Total Employee Involvement
The functions of TQM are not limited to a particular department, designation or business unit. It promotes the idea of buy-in across the entire company. In other words, all company employees should have a common goal to improve the product irrespective of their designated jobs.
4. Process-Based Tasks
TQL is also process-centric because before improving any product. It is crucial to develop a proper strategy for the same. For instance, a product's improvement can start with identifying the areas of improvement and all the potential roadblocks. Customer feedback also plays a vital role in this process. Only when businesses consider the different factors can the company develop a proper strategy and then proceed with a process-centric approach.
5. Data and Analytics-Based Decision
It is not possible to grow a company sustainably based on assumptions. A company can ensure its long-term success only when its decisions are data-driven. Therefore, TQL focuses on data and analytics-based decisions to guide the different strategies and the organizations' working.
6. Communication
As discussed above, TQL supports continuous improvement. Hence, collaboration between different company stakeholders is a must to achieve. Furthermore, communication is the key to achieving this collaboration. The proper implementation of TQM is only possible when all the firm's employees are on the same page. It boosts the employees' morale and eliminates any confusion in the complicated process.
7. Systematic And Strategic Approach
Not all the employees, teams and departments of an organization work on the same job. However, developing the right product for the customer requires everyone to be on the same ground. Consequently, everything within the organization needs to be fine-tuned. Moreover, all the processes should align with the vision and goals of the organization. It is only possible to achieve this through a strategic and systematic approach.
8. Effective Leadership
Even though TQM includes all the employees of a company, leaders or managers lead the entire framework. It is the responsibility of the managers to develop proper strategies to unite the workforce to work toward the common goal. Therefore, having effective leadership skills is a must for managers to lay the foundation of the TQL framework.
The Benefits Of TQM
If all the TQM principles are followed, it can help the companies to deliver high-quality products to their customers. Moreover, it helps efficiently utilize different resources and lowers the company-wide cost. It also brings flexibility within the organization, which gives it the needed competitive advantage in the overcrowded competitive market. The customer is the king of any business, and TQM ensures the customer's satisfaction. Therefore, it can help companies to work towards sustainable growth, which is highly beneficial in the long run.
