Learning from the Best: How Organizations Achieve High-Quality Work

Quality is paramount for any organization striving for success and lasting impact. Whether in advocacy, community development, healthcare, or human services, the pursuit of quality dictates effectiveness, credibility, and ethical responsibility. But how do organizations consistently deliver high-quality work? Drawing from the principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) and the wisdom of quality pioneers like W. Edwards Deming, we can explore the essential strategies and cultural shifts necessary to achieve and maintain exceptional standards. This article delves into how organizations can learn from established quality frameworks to foster a culture of excellence and consistently deliver outstanding results.

Why Quality is Non-Negotiable for Organizational Success

Defining Quality in Diverse Organizational Contexts

Before exploring how to achieve quality, it’s crucial to define what “quality” truly means within the context of various organizations. In sectors like advocacy, community development, health, and human services, quality transcends mere product perfection. A quality program is characterized by:

Effective Responsiveness: Meeting the intended needs with the greatest possible impact.
Mission Alignment: Unwavering consistency with the organization’s core values and philosophy.
Cultural Sensitivity: Deep understanding and respect for the target population’s needs and cultural context.
Ethical Integrity: Serving as a beacon of ethical conduct in all operations.

The Compelling Reasons to Prioritize Quality

For any organization, especially grassroots initiatives, the commitment to quality is not merely aspirational—it’s foundational. The benefits are multifaceted and contribute directly to long-term sustainability and impact:

Enhanced Effectiveness: Quality directly translates to greater success in addressing the organization’s core mission and objectives.
Boosted Credibility: A reputation for quality builds trust with stakeholders, partners, and the community, strengthening the organization’s standing and influence.
Ethical Imperative: Organizations have a moral obligation to provide the highest possible standard of service and advocacy to those they serve.
Long-Term Economy: Investing in quality systems and processes reduces errors, waste, and inefficiencies in the long run, leading to greater resource optimization.

Cultivating a Culture of Quality: Internal Benefits

Beyond external impact, a deeply ingrained “culture of quality” fosters a thriving internal environment with significant advantages:

Improved Morale and Pride: When staff and volunteers are confident in the organization’s commitment to excellence and their own contributions, it fosters a sense of pride and boosts morale.
Competence Development: The continuous pursuit of quality necessitates ongoing learning and skill enhancement, leading to both organizational and individual growth.
Performance Enhancement: A quality-focused approach drives continuous improvement in service delivery and overall performance, creating a positive feedback loop of progress and success.

Core Principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) for Organizational Excellence

Total Quality Management (TQM) provides a robust framework for organizations seeking to achieve consistently high-quality work. Rooted in a set of core principles, TQM emphasizes a holistic approach to quality that permeates every aspect of an organization’s operations. These principles, adapted for diverse organizational settings, form the bedrock of a quality-driven culture.

Key Elements of TQM: A Blueprint for High-Quality Work

Customer Focus: The Guiding Star: Every organizational endeavor must begin and end with the customer in mind. In the context of non-profits and community organizations, the “customer” is the target population or the community served. Understanding their needs, expectations, and perspectives is paramount to delivering relevant and impactful programs. Organizations must proactively ask: What needs are we addressing? How can we meet these needs effectively, respectfully, and appropriately?
Obsession with Quality: Embedding Excellence: Quality is not an afterthought; it must be ingrained into the very DNA of the organization. This requires meticulous planning, rigorous monitoring, and constant evaluation and adjustment. The focus shifts from reactive error correction to proactive error prevention. Building systems that minimize mistakes from the outset is the cornerstone of quality assurance. This mindset must be embraced by every member of the organization for true quality performance to flourish.
Continual Improvement of Systems: A Journey Without End: Organizational work is not a static entity but a dynamic process of continuous evolution. Every program, every service, every process has the potential for refinement. As community needs and target population demographics shift, organizations must be agile and adapt their approaches accordingly. Embracing a culture of continuous improvement ensures ongoing relevance and effectiveness.
Unity of Purpose: Synergy for Success: Quality thrives in an environment of collaboration and shared goals. Organizations must cultivate a sense of unity where every individual works in concert towards common objectives. This necessitates breaking down silos, fostering mutual support, and eliminating internal competition. Interactions among team members should be characterized by helpfulness and a shared commitment to the organization’s overarching mission.
Teamwork: Collective Strength: Harnessing the power of teamwork amplifies individual contributions and fosters a stronger organizational fabric. Working collaboratively, individuals build stronger connections, enhance creativity, and achieve superior outcomes. Teamwork diffuses individual performance pressure and unlocks collective potential, driving better results for the organization as a whole.
Employee Involvement: Empowering Contributions: A commitment to quality must be inclusive, engaging every member of the organization. Staff and volunteers need to be empowered to contribute their unique skills and perspectives to quality enhancement. This requires granting individuals sufficient autonomy over their roles, valuing their opinions, and actively soliciting their ideas for improvement.
Education and Training: Investing in Growth: Quality is not static; it requires continuous learning and development at all levels of the organization. Learning should be woven into the organizational culture, fostering a thirst for knowledge and skill enhancement. Organizations should actively encourage staff and volunteers to pursue external learning opportunities, participate in training programs, attend workshops, and engage with other organizations to broaden their perspectives and acquire new expertise.
Scientific Approach: Evidence-Based Excellence: Organizations, particularly grassroots and community-based initiatives, should anchor their programs in evidence and best practices. This entails leveraging available research, drawing upon the experiences of others, and employing data-driven decision-making to design effective interventions. A scientific approach minimizes reliance on intuition or subjective opinions, enhancing the likelihood of program success and ensuring high quality outcomes.

Example of Scientific Approach in Action: A community-based adult literacy program, founded by experts in developmental psychology and reading theory, meticulously designed its curriculum based on the latest research in both fields. By integrating educational and support components, and rigorously training staff, they created a program that, despite initial criticism for deviating from traditional phonics-based methods, achieved remarkably low dropout rates and high student success rates. Over 15 years, this program became a state model, continuously evolving based on student feedback and emerging research.

Long-Term Commitment: Sustained Dedication: Quality is not a destination but an ongoing journey. Achieving and maintaining high standards requires a sustained commitment to continuous improvement. Organizations must resist complacency and embrace a long-term perspective, recognizing that “acceptable” is never “good enough.” The pursuit of quality is an unending quest for “the best that can possibly be.”

The Deming Cycle: A Roadmap for Quality Improvement

These foundational principles converge in the “Deming Cycle,” also known as the PDCA cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act) or PDSA cycle (Plan, Do, Study, Act), a practical framework for creating and refining quality products and services. This iterative cycle provides a structured approach to continuous improvement, applicable across diverse organizational contexts:

Plan: Conduct thorough research to understand needs and define desired outcomes. This involves consumer research in business contexts, and needs assessments in community and social service organizations.
Do: Implement the planned product or program, translating the plan into action.
Check (or Study): Evaluate the implemented product or program against the initial plan and desired outcomes. Assess its effectiveness and identify areas for improvement.
Act: Based on the evaluation, take corrective actions to refine the product or program. This may involve adjustments, modifications, or even complete redesigns.
Analyze: Reflect on the results of the “Act” phase, analyzing data related to quality, cost, and other relevant metrics to inform future planning cycles.

This cycle is not a one-time event but a continuous loop, driving ongoing improvement and adaptation.

TQM’s Relevance to Diverse Organizations: Adapting Principles for Success

While TQM originated in the business sector, its core principles resonate deeply with organizations in advocacy, community development, health, and human services. However, it’s crucial to adapt and selectively apply TQM elements to align with the unique goals and values of these organizations.

TQM Elements Applicable Across Sectors: Universal Pillars of Quality

Certain TQM elements are universally beneficial and contribute to quality enhancement in any organizational setting:

Systematic Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation: The emphasis on structured approaches to planning, monitoring progress, evaluating outcomes, and making necessary adjustments is essential for effectiveness in any organization.
Teamwork and Empowerment: Fostering collaboration, empowering individuals at all levels, and valuing diverse perspectives are critical for innovation and quality improvement, regardless of sector.
Continuous Learning and Development: Investing in ongoing education and training for all staff is a cornerstone of organizational growth and quality enhancement in any field.
Target Population Focus: Prioritizing the needs and well-being of the target population or community served is paramount for organizations focused on social impact.
Identifying and Addressing Inefficiencies: Proactively seeking out and rectifying ineffective processes and practices is a hallmark of a quality-driven organization, regardless of its mission.
Encouraging Innovation and New Ideas: Creating a culture that welcomes new ideas, encourages experimentation, and rewards innovation is vital for continuous improvement and adaptability in any sector.
Cultivating a Quality Culture: Building an organization-wide commitment to quality, where excellence is a shared value, is fundamental for sustained success across all types of organizations.
Long-Term Perspective: Adopting a long-term vision and committing to ongoing quality improvement efforts are essential for lasting impact and sustainability in any organizational context.

TQM Elements Requiring Adaptation: Navigating Sector-Specific Nuances

Conversely, some TQM elements, rooted in a business-centric approach, may require careful consideration and adaptation for non-profit and community-focused organizations:

Product and Production Focus: The strong emphasis on “products” and “production” in traditional TQM might overshadow the human-centered focus of organizations working in social sectors. The focus needs to shift from tangible products to intangible services and human outcomes.
Hierarchical Structures and Top-Down Leadership: TQM’s assumption of hierarchical structures and top-down leadership may clash with the collaborative and participatory ethos often prevalent in non-profit organizations. Leadership styles need to be adapted to empower diverse voices and foster shared decision-making.
Supplier-Customer Metaphor: The TQM framework often frames all relationships in terms of “suppliers” and “customers.” This metaphor may be inappropriate for grassroots organizations where relationships are more nuanced and often involve shared participation and reciprocal exchange rather than purely transactional interactions.

Achieving Quality Performance: Practical Steps and Strategies

To translate TQM principles into tangible quality performance, organizations can leverage the Deming Cycle as a practical roadmap. This cyclical approach provides a structured framework for designing, delivering, refining, and sustaining high-quality programs and initiatives.

Deming Cycle in Action: A Step-by-Step Guide to Quality Improvement

1. Plan: Laying the Foundation for Success

Conduct a Comprehensive Needs Assessment: Engage all stakeholders, including the target population, community members, and organizational partners, to gain a deep understanding of needs and challenges.
Define Desired Outcomes: Clearly articulate the intended results of the program or initiative from the perspectives of all stakeholders. What positive changes are you aiming to achieve for the target population, the organization, and the broader community?
Determine Feasible and Inclusive Strategies: Develop action plans that are practical, resource-appropriate, aligned with the organization’s values, and respectful of the target population’s culture and context. Ensure inclusivity by considering the needs and perspectives of diverse groups.
Develop Measurable Indicators: Establish specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) indicators to track progress towards desired outcomes and monitor program effectiveness. These indicators will serve as benchmarks for evaluation.
Foster Stakeholder Participation in Planning: Actively involve all stakeholders in the plan development process to ensure buy-in, ownership, and diverse perspectives are incorporated.

2. Do: Program Design and Implementation

Learn from Existing Efforts: Investigate past programs and initiatives in the community to understand what has worked well and what challenges have been encountered. Identify potential pitfalls to avoid and best practices to adopt.
Address Past Negative Experiences: Be sensitive to any negative perceptions or past experiences associated with certain methods or individuals within the community. Proactively address potential concerns and build trust.
Emulate Successful Models (with Adaptation): Study successful programs in other communities that have addressed similar needs. However, recognize that what works in one context may not directly translate to another. Adapt successful models to fit the specific needs and context of your community.
Consult Research and Best Practices: Leverage research findings and evidence-based practices to inform program design and implementation. This ensures that programs are grounded in sound principles and have a higher likelihood of success.
Engage Stakeholders in Program Development: Actively involve all stakeholders, particularly those who will be directly involved in program delivery, in the design and development process. This fosters ownership and ensures program feasibility.
Address Logistical Considerations: Carefully plan and secure essential resources, including facilities, equipment, supplies, staffing, and volunteer support, to ensure smooth program operation.

3. Check: Evaluating Alignment and Readiness

Compare Program to Plan: Conduct a thorough review of the program’s design and implementation against the initial plan. Assess the degree of alignment and identify any deviations.
Assess Needs Alignment: Re-examine whether the program effectively addresses the needs identified in the needs assessment.
Evaluate Outcome Potential: Assess whether the program design is likely to achieve the desired outcomes in a manner that is inclusive, feasible, and consistent with organizational values.
Confirm Stakeholder Involvement: Verify that all relevant stakeholders were appropriately involved in the program’s development and implementation.
Determine Feasibility and Readiness: Evaluate the program’s practicality, resource availability, and overall readiness for launch.

4. Act: Program Execution and Marketing

Ensure Process Understanding: Ensure that everyone involved in program delivery fully understands the program’s rationale, philosophy, design, and operational procedures.
Cultivate Commitment to Success: Foster a shared commitment among all team members to strive for program success. Emphasize the importance of consistent effort, follow-through, and dedication to quality implementation.
Embrace a Culture of Excellence: Promote a mindset of striving for the best possible outcomes and exceeding expectations. Encourage a proactive approach to problem-solving and a dedication to continuous improvement.

5. Analyze: Evaluation and Refinement

Assess Needs Fulfillment: Evaluate whether the program effectively addresses the identified needs of the target population. Re-assess whether the initial needs are still relevant or have evolved.
Measure Outcome Achievement: Determine whether the program is achieving the desired outcomes and making progress towards established indicators. Evaluate whether the initial outcomes remain appropriate and relevant.
Evaluate Feasibility and Sustainability: Assess the program’s practicality in terms of resource utilization, time commitment, personnel capacity, and accessibility for participants. Evaluate staff and volunteer workload and ensure sustainable operating conditions.
Assess Community and Organizational Acceptance: Gauge the program’s acceptance within the community and among partner organizations. Evaluate its alignment with community values and norms.
Evaluate Mission and Values Alignment: Assess whether the program remains consistent with the organization’s overarching vision, mission, philosophy, and guiding principles. Re-examine whether these foundational elements remain relevant and aligned with the current context.
Ensure Inclusivity and Respect: Evaluate whether the program is inclusive and respectful of the target population and the broader community. Assess its sensitivity to cultural diversity and individual needs.
Uphold Ethical Standards: Critically examine the program’s ethical conduct and ensure adherence to principles of fairness, honesty, civility, democracy, and accountability. Address any potential ethical dilemmas or conflicts proactively.

Ethical Considerations: It’s important to recognize that ethical conduct is not always synonymous with legal compliance. There may be instances where ethical obligations necessitate actions that challenge legal norms, such as acts of civil disobedience in pursuit of social justice. Organizations must navigate this complex terrain with careful consideration and a commitment to ethical principles.

Restart the Cycle: Continuous Improvement Loop

The “Analyze” phase naturally leads back into the “Plan” phase, initiating a new cycle of continuous improvement. Evaluation findings inform program refinements, adjustments, or even fundamental rethinking of organizational strategies. This iterative process ensures ongoing adaptation, relevance, and quality enhancement.

Maintaining Quality Performance: Sustaining Excellence Over Time

While the Deming Cycle provides a framework for continuous improvement, maintaining quality performance requires proactive strategies to institutionalize dynamism and foster a long-term commitment to excellence.

Institutionalizing Dynamism: Embracing Change and Growth

Organizations must cultivate a dynamic culture that embraces change, encourages continuous improvement, and adapts proactively to evolving needs and contexts. This “institutionalization of dynamism” involves:

Embedding Dynamism in Organizational Culture: Ensure that a mindset of continuous improvement and adaptability is deeply ingrained in the organization’s values, norms, and operational practices. Cultivate a shared understanding and commitment to ongoing evolution.
Prioritizing Learning and Development: Actively support and encourage learning at all levels of the organization. Provide resources and opportunities for staff, volunteers, and participants to enhance their skills, knowledge, and perspectives.

Supporting Learning: Organizations can demonstrate their commitment to learning through various means, including providing professional development opportunities, sponsoring university courses, offering training programs, facilitating certifications, allocating time for learning activities, recognizing learning achievements, establishing organizational libraries, and fostering study circles or reading groups. Leadership should model learning behavior and actively participate in development opportunities.

Valuing and Evaluating Diverse Ideas: Create mechanisms for soliciting, considering, and evaluating ideas from all members of the organization, regardless of their position or role. Foster a culture of open communication and idea sharing.
Embracing Change and Experimentation: Cultivate a willingness to embrace change and experiment with new approaches and strategies. Encourage calculated risk-taking and create a safe space for innovation.

Leadership Role in Fostering Openness: Organizational leaders play a crucial role in modeling openness to change by demonstrating a willingness to re-examine existing procedures, policies, and practices, and adapting them as needed. Empower staff and volunteers to experiment with new ideas, even those that may initially face skepticism. Frame even unsuccessful experiments as valuable learning opportunities that contribute to organizational growth.

Combating Complacency: Actively guard against complacency and maintain a proactive stance in seeking out opportunities for improvement. Challenge the status quo and foster a culture of continuous questioning and refinement.
Incorporating Feedback and Re-evaluation: Establish systematic processes for gathering feedback from the target population, community members, and other stakeholders. Regularly re-evaluate programs and initiatives based on feedback and data.
Maintaining Mission Focus, Embracing Change: While remaining grounded in the organization’s core mission, be adaptable and willing to evolve strategies and approaches in response to changing community needs and circumstances. Ensure that any mission evolution remains consistent with the organization’s foundational principles and philosophy.

Long-Range Strategic Planning: Charting a Course for Sustained Quality

To maintain quality over the long term, organizations must engage in ongoing strategic planning that looks beyond immediate needs and anticipates future challenges and opportunities. This involves asking critical questions about the organization’s role, effectiveness, and future direction:

Ongoing Need Fulfillment: Is the organization effectively addressing a continuing community need? If not, what adjustments are necessary to enhance effectiveness?
Evolving Community Needs: Have community needs changed? Are further changes anticipated? How can the organization adapt to meet emerging needs and remain relevant?
Expansion and Diversification: Are there additional needs the organization should address? Should current activities be expanded to meet broader community needs?
Resource Adequacy and Future Needs: Are current resources sufficient? Will future resource needs increase? What are potential sources of funding and support?
Organizational Structure Alignment: Is the organization’s structure aligned with its current activities, mission, and guiding principles? Does it support effective operations and decision-making?
Vision, Goals, and Philosophy Relevance: Are the organization’s vision, goals, and philosophy still relevant to the current community context and consistent with its mission and guiding principles?

SWOT Analysis: A Tool for Strategic Self-Assessment

SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) provides a valuable framework for exploring these strategic questions. By systematically examining internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats, organizations can gain a comprehensive understanding of their current position and future prospects.

Strengths and Weaknesses: Assess both current capabilities and potential vulnerabilities. Recognize that strengths and weaknesses may be dynamic and context-dependent. Consider factors beyond program success and staff skills, such as relationships, reputation, and community connections.
Opportunities: Identify potential avenues for growth, expansion, and enhanced impact. Opportunities may include expanding services, reaching new populations, securing new funding sources, collaborating with other organizations, or leveraging positive recognition and partnerships. Carefully analyze both the potential benefits and challenges associated with each opportunity before committing to action.
Threats (Challenges): Anticipate potential obstacles and challenges that could hinder the organization’s success and sustainability. Threats may include funding instability, staffing shortages, maintaining consistent effort across all functional areas, navigating controversy, and addressing external opposition. Proactively plan mitigation strategies to minimize the impact of potential threats.

By applying SWOT analysis across all facets of organizational operations, organizations can enhance their preparedness, capitalize on opportunities, and mitigate potential risks.

Re-examining Core Elements: Ensuring Continued Alignment

Strategic planning should also include regular re-examination of the organization’s foundational elements:

Vision, Guiding Principles, and Mission Statement: Periodically review and reassess the organization’s vision, guiding principles, and mission statement to ensure they remain relevant, inspiring, and aligned with the organization’s current work and aspirations.
Organizational Goals: Re-evaluate organizational goals to ensure they continue to address relevant community needs, align with the vision and mission, and are ambitious yet achievable.
Current Strategies: Critically assess the effectiveness, efficiency, and appropriateness of current strategies for achieving organizational goals. Ensure strategies are consistent with the organization’s values, ethical principles, and community context.

The Unending Pursuit: Sustained Effort for Lasting Quality

The most critical insight for maintaining quality performance is that it requires continuous, unwavering effort. No quality initiative, no matter how robust, will sustain itself without ongoing attention, evaluation, and refinement. Institutionalizing dynamism and implementing strategic planning processes are essential, but they are not one-time fixes. They demand constant nurturing and adaptation. Sustained commitment to quality, embedded in the organizational culture and driven by continuous improvement, is the ultimate key to long-term success and lasting impact.

The Fourteen Points: Deming’s Principles for Management Transformation

W. Edwards Deming distilled his TQM philosophy into “Fourteen Points,” a set of management principles designed to guide businesses towards quality and competitiveness. While initially targeted at businesses, these points offer valuable insights for all types of organizations seeking to improve their performance and achieve high-quality work:

Create Constancy of Purpose: Commit to long-term improvement of products and services to enhance competitiveness, ensure organizational survival, and provide employment opportunities.
Adopt the New Philosophy: Embrace a new economic age where quality is paramount. Management must recognize their responsibilities and lead the shift towards a quality-focused culture.
Cease Dependence on Inspection: Build quality into the design and production process from the outset, rather than relying solely on inspection to catch errors after they occur.
End the Practice of Awarding Business Based on Price Tag Alone: Consider quality and long-term value, not just the lowest bid, when selecting suppliers and partners.
Improve Constantly and Forever the System of Production and Service: Continuously seek ways to enhance quality, productivity, and efficiency, thereby reducing costs and improving outcomes.
Institute Training on the Job: Provide employees with the necessary training and skills development to perform their jobs effectively and contribute to quality improvement.
Institute Leadership: Focus on leadership that empowers and supports employees, enabling them to work effectively and contribute to organizational goals.
Drive Out Fear: Create a work environment where employees feel safe to express concerns, ask questions, and contribute ideas without fear of reprisal.
Break Down Barriers Between Departments: Promote collaboration, communication, and teamwork across different departments and functional areas to foster a unified approach to quality.
Eliminate Slogans, Exhortations, and Targets for the Workforce: Focus on systemic improvements rather than relying on motivational slogans or arbitrary targets that can create adversarial relationships and undermine quality.
Eliminate Quotas and Management by Objectives: Shift from a quota-driven, management-by-objectives approach to a leadership-driven system that emphasizes continuous improvement and employee empowerment.
Remove Barriers that Rob Employees of Their Pride of Workmanship: Empower employees to take pride in their work by removing obstacles that hinder their ability to perform effectively and contribute meaningfully.
Institute a Vigorous Program of Education and Self-Improvement: Invest in ongoing education and professional development for all employees to foster a culture of continuous learning and growth.
Put Everybody in the Company to Work to Accomplish the Transformation: Make quality improvement everyone’s responsibility and engage all members of the organization in the pursuit of excellence.

In Summary: A Path to Sustainable Quality

Achieving and maintaining high-quality work is not merely desirable—it is essential for organizational success, credibility, and ethical responsibility. By embracing TQM principles, implementing the Deming Cycle, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement, organizations can embark on a journey towards sustained excellence.

Key elements for achieving and maintaining quality performance include:

Meticulous Planning: Laying a solid foundation through thorough needs assessments, outcome definition, and strategic program design.
Quality-Focused Program Development: Ensuring that program design and implementation are guided by quality principles and best practices.
Quality-Conscious Implementation: Executing programs with a commitment to excellence, attention to detail, and a proactive approach to problem-solving.
Continuous Re-evaluation: Regularly assessing program effectiveness, organizational performance, and alignment with mission and values.
Dynamic Organizational Culture: Embracing change, fostering learning, and promoting a culture of continuous improvement and adaptation.
Sustained Commitment: Recognizing that quality is an ongoing journey that requires unwavering dedication, consistent effort, and a long-term perspective.

By diligently implementing these steps and institutionalizing a commitment to quality, organizations can unlock their full potential, achieve lasting impact, and truly learn how to accomplish high-quality work consistently.

Online Resources

ASQ: The Global Voice of Quality

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

ISO 9000 WWW Pages

Simply Quality

Little-Bitty Quality Steps

Publich Health Quality Improvement Exchange (PHQIX)

Total Quality Management

Print Resources

Deming, E. Out of the Crisis. (1986). Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for Advanced Engineering Study.

Deming, E. Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position. (1982). Cambridge, MA: M.I.T., Center for Advanced Engineering Study.

Goetsch, D., & Davis, S. Introduction to Total Quality: Quality Management for Production, Processing, and Services, 2nd Edition. Merrill, an imprint of MacMillan Publishing Co.

Hunt, D. (1992). Quality in America: How to Implement a Competitive Quality Program. Homewood, IL: Business One Irwin.

Latzko, W., & David, M. Four Days with Dr. Deming: A Strategy for Modern Methods of Management. (1995). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.

Sashkin, M., & Kenneth, J. (1993). Putting Total Quality Management to Work. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.