Building a quality culture through small and large successes.

Abstract

Total quality management (TQM) is a unifying business strategy for achieving and sustaining growth. TQM proceeds, step by step, project by project, to transform the organization into one smoothly working, quality-focused team. For successful implementation of TQM, the small projects are every bit as important as the large ones. The simple, accessible successes validate the skills that employees are acquiring and encourage them to try more complex, long-term endeavors. This article discusses several TQM projects conducted at Baptist Medical Center in Columbia, SC: streamlining medical records processing (a large project that freed up millions of dollars in cash flow); improving the reliability of all hospital equipment; and ongoing small successes in the recovery room. Although the dollar value of the projects varied considerably, all were critical to creating a culture of total quality management at Baptist Medical Center.