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ACCA Strategic Professional · Advanced Performance Management · Performance improvement models and techniques

Verano Ltd has adopted TQM. A divisional manager proposes the following: (1) appoint a quality inspector to check all output at the end of the line; (2) give each employee responsibility for quality at their own stage and encourage stopping the line when a fault arises; (3) set a target of zero defects as the ultimate standard; (4) treat the next process in the chain as an internal customer. Which proposal is inconsistent with TQM principles?

Proposal 1 is inconsistent with TQM. TQM aims to get things right first time by making every employee responsible for quality at their own stage, rather than relying on final inspection. Stopping the line, pursuing zero defects and treating downstream processes as internal customers are all established TQM features.

  1. AProposal 1, because TQM moves responsibility from end inspection to getting it right first timeCorrect
  2. BProposal 2, because stopping the line raises costs
  3. CProposal 3, because zero defects is unachievable and so should not be adopted
  4. DProposal 4, because only external customers matter under TQM

Explanation

TQM builds quality in at every stage, with employees responsible for their own work, so reliance on end-of-line inspection is inconsistent. Stopping the line, zero defects targets and internal customers are all standard TQM features, so the other options misstate TQM.

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