Total quality management $($TQM$).$

$1.$ Do you agree with their identified choices?

$2.$ Do you think there were more pressing issues that they could have chosen?

Explain your position and support.

I will use my current employer, Arc$3$ Gases. Arc$3$ Gases $($Arc$3)$ resulted from a true $50/50$ merger between two family$-$owned companies in $2014.$ We are one of the largest independent packaged and bulk gas, welding supply, and industrial equipment suppliers in the mid$-$Atlantic and southeast US$.$

When evaluating my organization against the key elements of an organization that uses a TQM approach, we do exceptionally well in most areas. The goals for each department are strategically based on that area of the organization, and there is no doubt we are laser$-$focused on our customers. We also excel in long$-$term commitment, teamwork, process improvement, education and training, freedom through control, and unity of purpose. $($Goetsch & Davis, $2020)$

We have a culture of customer service, employee wellness and happiness, and family. Maintaining that culture as we grow is a constant challenge, but ownership and leadership work diligently to keep the family$-$owned atmosphere and culture alive. They believe that if they take care of their employees, the employees will take care of the customers. It is a culture in business you rarely see anymore, and it works in our organization. TQM fits well with our culture because we all want to give our best for the organization and the customer. $($Goetsch & Davis, $2020)$

Where we fall short in TQM is using a scientific approach to process improvement. Too often, we recognize a problem and throw solutions around to hopefully find the right one instead of looking at it through a TQM lens. For example, our beverage Co$2$ division is inefficient in running its delivery routes. Using DMAIC, you could find a better solution through the Measure and Analysis sections by using historical trend charts, Pareto charts, and histograms, then taking that information, identifying potential root causes, and conducting hypothesis tests to determine if the hypothesis is correct. $($Pyzdek & Keller, $2018)$