Speedy Implementation of TQM

The corporate culture that results from demanding that employees and managers demonstrate values like integrity, respect, trust, and responsibility would make that organization smoothly earn the respect of employees, managers, suppliers, customers, and other relevant parties. That organization would be trustworthy, and that means it would be trusted by customers to reliably produce high-quality goods or services.

Like both Goetsch & Davis (2021) and Deming et al (2018) state, moving to total quality in a company or organization is a long-term process. Does it have to be, though?

Consider Apple Inc, which was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in 1976. Very quickly Apple established a reputation of developing high quality and innovative products, especially under CEO Steve Jobs.

Unfortunately, internal machinations lead to Jobs leaving the company in 1985, being replaced by John Sculley.

Under Sculley’s leadership, the company floundered. In 1997, Apple was close to bankruptcy, and in response they purchased NeXT Inc, the computer company founded by Jobs after his exit from Apple. This brought Steve Jobs back into Apple, and Jobs brought Apple back to profitability. Jobs simplified the computer product lineup, downsized the management team, introduced the iPod music player, began offering music streaming, and later introduced the iPhone and iPad product lines. (Isaacson, 2011)

Jobs was apparently familiar with the works of both Dening and Juran, but he seems to have changed their philosophy.

Was Jobs’ return sufficient to return Apple Inc to its position as a premiere microcomputer manufacturer? I’m not sure, but something that helped the situation was Jobs’ activities during his time away from Apple. First, Jobs founded NeXT Inc, also a microcomputer manufacturer. What made NeXT different was the technology they developed: the first web browser and the first web server. Second, Jobs founded Pixar Animation Studios. These two companies demonstrated Jobs’ innovative way of thinking, and any doubts that Apple Inc was a fluke were dispelled.

Apple became profitable shortly after Jobs’ return, earning $309 million profit that year (Hobson, 2023). The company began producing quality products almost immediately, and he convinced those who were disillusioned with the Apple products Sculley produced to return. This really is a deus ex machina event, where Apple’s existence was saved by an unexpected and improbable event.

References

Deming, W. E., Cahill, K. E., & Allan, K. L. (2018). Out of the Crisis. The MIT Press.

Goetsch, D. L. & Davis, S. B. (2021). Quality management for organizational excellence: Introduction to total quality (9^th ed.). Pearson.

Hobson, N. (2023, 19 April). 25 Years Ago, Steve Jobs Saved Apple From Collapse. Fast Company & Inc. https://www.inc.com/nick-hobson/25-years-ago-steve-jobs-saved-apple-from-collapse-its-a-lesson-for-every-tech-ceo-today.html

Isaacson, W. (2011). Steve Jobs. Simon & Schuster.