What is Total Quality Management?

Total quality management question, help needed!?

• "Compare and contrast traditional western approaches to quality management and total quality management", - what is meant by traditional western approaches and what are they? Thank you!

• Answer:

  Total Quality Management is from eastern, Japan which changed the former Quality Management in west. TQM is more customer oriented than former managements. It suggested to go to Gemba (where the product is used) and see customer needs and problems for more innovative changes. But in western countries the concept of quality was far from the customers; they produced good products based on high standards without considering the user and his situation. By 1918, half of all cars in America were Model T's. However, it was a monolithic black; as Ford wrote in his autobiography, "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black" Did you see? just black for customer; it's all the quality management by them!