What is the primary focus of Total Quality Management (TQM)?

The primary focus of Total Quality Management (TQM) is meeting customer needs. TQM emphasizes a customer-centric approach, where the aim is to enhance customer satisfaction by improving the quality of products and services through continuous processes. This methodology involves all members of an organization working towards this objective and recognizes that customer feedback is critical in driving improvements and modifications.

In TQM, ensuring that processes are aligned with customer expectations leads to better quality outcomes, which in turn creates customer loyalty and can enhance the organization’s reputation. While other factors, such as profit margins, employee retention, and operational costs, are important for business health, they are not the core focus of TQM. Instead, these aspects are addressed as a result of achieving high quality and customer satisfaction. Thus, prioritizing customer needs directly contributes to the overall success of the organization as envisioned by TQM principles.