Total Quality Management – a theory or a tool?

A filosofia Total Quality Management (TQM) surgiu no século XX, através dos contributos de vários gurus da qualidade – Deming, Feigenbaum, Ishikawa, Juran, Crosby, Oakland. No entanto, apesar do seu crescimento e da sua implementação em diversas organizações, existiram vários críticos que consideraram a TQM como uma moda em gestão, composta essencialmente por técnicas e ferramentas. O objetivo deste estudo é apresentar uma descrição e análise crítica sobre a TQM, de forma a confirmar a sua existência enquanto filosofia.

A TQM está relacionada com uma visão holística, uma filosofia que as organizações devem adotar, não existindo um único modelo conceptual, por isso depende muito de como é abordada e, essencialmente, de como é implementada. O facto de ser um conceito amplo, com uma base conceptual ambígua, também origina que vários investigadores e gestores explorem o conceito de diferentes formas e consigam adaptá-lo às suas necessidades.

Ana Rita Correia, Physiotherapist at the Regional Health Administration of Alentejo; with training in neurological rehabilitation. At present, in addition to the functions of physiotherapist belongs to the work group of the activity report. And Ph.D. student in Business Management at the University of Évora.

Carmen Alfaiate, Speech Language Therapist, currently Manager of the Management Support Unit at the Health Center Group of Alentejo, Portugal. Master in Management at the University of Évora. Currently Ph.D. student in Business Management at the University of Évora.

Luís Pedro Gomes, Ph.D. student in Business Management at the University of Évora. Registered Nurse in Alentejo Regional Health Administration. His main interests are organizational behavior and decision models.

Margarida Saraiva has received a Ph.D. from the ISCTE Business School – Portugal, Lisbon in 2004. Now is an Assistant Professor at the Management Department of the University of Évora – Portugal and a Researcher at BRU-Business Research Unit / Iscte-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.

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Análise Critica; Filosofia de Gestão; Gestão pela Qualidade Total