The Origins and Development of TQM

The aim of this chapter is to trace the origins and development of the quality movement. We begin by discussing the origins of TQM in the writings of the US quality experts such as Shewart, Deming and Juran, and its adoption and development by Japanese manufacturing industry. We then review the development of quality management in the West, where interest arose in response to Japanese competition. The chapter thus puts TQM into its historical context and in so doing identifies the rationale and difficulties involved in its implementation, issues which are developed in more detail in subsequent chapters.