WORLD-CLASS MANUFACTURING, PRODUCTIVITY A ND TOTAL QUALITY

Among the actions undertaken by firms in an effort to achieve and main tain competitiveness, three have been particularly emphasized at one t ime or another. These are world class-manufacturing, total quality man agement, and productivity improvement. Far from being mutually exclusi ve, these approaches are interrelated, overlap, and complement each ot her. In this paper, we propose to outline the interrelationships betwe en these three approaches. By so doing, we try to demonstrate how TQM can be viewed as a management approach which operationalizes a new par adigm in management. The new paradigm has surpassed mass production as the most attractive management philosophy in most dynamic, global ind ustrial sectors.