The first and most important is that customers are vital to the operation of the organization. Without customers, there is no business, and without business, there is no organization. A company will see continuous improvement in products only when managers realize all systems consist of interdependent parts and work to aim all those parts toward a vision of quality, proponents argue. TQM is more than just a philosophy. In addition to proposing new theories about the workplace, it advocates specific changes that managers need to make if they want to improve the system.
Customers can be either internal or external to an organization.
Just as a customer is the person buying a product in a store, an employee is the customer of management. Since workers know more about their jobs than management does, their input is vital to improving the system. Most companies monitor the quality of their products by doing mass inspections that determine how many low-quality items are being produced, but Deming calls for monitoring of the production process by continually gathering statistical data so that problems can be identified as they are happening instead of when it is too late to solve them. People need to feel comfortable discussing problems and suggesting solutions. Managers need to work at breaking down barriers between departments so that interactive discussion can take place.