The Five Pillars of TQM: How to Make Total Quality Management Work for You

A four-star general who applied the principles of organization, product, process, leadership, and commitment to remaking the Air Force for the Gulf War explains the need for greater quality and productivity in corporate America. Tour.

Creech, a retired U.S. Air Force general, argues persuasively that in order to remain competitive and combat Japanese incursions into U.S. markets, corporate America must adopt the five principles of total quality management (TQM): product, process, organization, leadership and commitment. In this sensible study, consultant Creech explains how non-statisticians can comprehend and apply TQM methods, which require a humanistic orientation, empowerment on all levels and a holistic approach that involves the entire organization. TQM's decentralization calls for an emphasis on teams that serves as an antidote to the stultifying effects of centralized control. Creech maintains that TQM is best understood in the light of the writings of Peter Drucker, W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran, whose work is viewed "by the Japanese to be mainly responsible for the economic recovery of their country after World War II." Numerous detailed corporate and military case studies enrich this comprehensive, often persuasive brief.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Brokers occasionally tell enthusiastic investors a gnomic story: only two people in the whole world understand gold; unfortunately, they disagree. Such conflicts mark the often arcane prescriptions of quality assurance's high-profile apostles--Cresby, Deming, Feigenbaum, Juran, et al. In such circumstances, Creech's uncommonly sensible, jargon-free briefing could prove welcome indeed for executives seeking guidance on the oversight philosophy known as total quality management. An ultraconfident commentator who has fruitfully practiced what he preaches (as a general in the Air Force, and, now retired, as a globe-trotting consultant), Creech does not claim that TQM will produce either quick or miraculous fixes. In fact, he stresses that effectively attending and applying the five essential elements of his canon (commitment, leadership, organization, process, product) can be an exacting, even wrenching, experience. Drawing on case studies featuring the likes of Boeing, GE, Honda, and Xerox, however, he offers convincing evidence that his holistic, putting- people-first approach to stewardship can yield a competitive edge- -and more. Nor does he shy from citing troubled companies (GM, IBM) and recalcitrant labor unions (LAM, UAD) that could benefit from TQM. In practical terms, Creech evaluates ways of instituting customer-oriented governance programs that foster employee allegiance as well as involvement. Among other things, he addresses the advantages that can accrue from common purposes, decentralized operations, interactive communications, on-the-job training, shared successes, teamwork, and allied aspects of a system administered by flexible pacesetters who focus on market outcomes, not inputs that are the province of stakeholders. Covered too are accountability, authority, incentives, objective benchmarks, professionalism, value sensitivity, and other tricks of the TQM trade. Altogether, a splendid introduction to a full-blast management method that, against the grain, clearly views control as a cooperative proposition. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

A noted and successful practitioner of Total Quality Management (TQM), Creech believes that TQM leadership in a centralized organization is the object lesson for business today. To this end he has been able to demonstrate his successes and those of other organizations. He effectively presents the theories and insights of Peter Drucker, W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran, Philip Crosby, and other notables. The book is informative and replete with examples. It falls short, though, of the promise of its subtitle. TQM is not a "paint by number" road to success, and Creech's polemic on centralization is overdone. Centralization, like democracy or communism, is in itself neither right nor wrong. Creech's assessment that "a holistic TQM system is a proven answer to the realities of the 90s" is, however, on the mark. The book should be on the reading list for quality professionals.
- Steven Silkunas, Southeastern Pennsylvania TA, Philadelphia
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.