Although quality and quality management does not have a formal definition, most agree that it is an integration of all functions of a business to achieve high quality of products through continuous improvement efforts of all employees. Quality revolves around the concept of meeting or exceeding customer expectation applied to the product and service. Achieving high quality is an ever changing, or continuous, process therefore quality management emphasizes the ideas of working constantly toward improved quality. It involves every aspect of the company: processes, environment and people. The whole workforce from the CEO to the line worker must be involved in a shared commitment to improving quality.

Therefore, in brief, quality and total quality management (TQM) in particular can be defined as directing (managing) the whole (total) production process to produce an excellent (quality) product or service.

It differs from...