This workshop will explore, through discussion and in-class exercises, concepts and fundamentals of Total Quality Management (TQM) [now referred to as TQ]. Beginning with a brief history of the development of TQM, the session will move quickly into five fundamentals that are shared among the leading experts in this area¾ Focus on the Customer, A Process Approach, Teamwork & Employee Involvement, Continuous Improvement, and Measurement and Fact-based Decision Making.

The class will understand the focus on the customer, internal as well as external. The importance of employee involvement and teamwork will be highlighted and the aspects of empowerment, one of the most-used words of TQM, yet one of the most frequently misunderstood concepts, will be discussed. Continuous improvement (Kaizen) and process improvement as the vehicles for improving the quality of the products or services of an organization will be illustrated. The "Ping Pong Factory," an internationally used training tool, will be run using session participants to demonstrate many of these ideas. A roadmap of the basic tools and techniques often used in process improvement will be presented. Successes as well as tips based on the presenter's personal experience will be discussed. The importance of measurement and fact-based decision making will be related to TQM and the idea and value of benchmarking will be illustrated.

ISO 9000 (an international quality standard), Concurrent Engineering, Re-engineering, Six Sigma and Balanced Scorecards will also be linked to TQM initiatives. Finally, a typical TQM implementation plan for an organization will be discussed.