THE INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT

This article is divided into two main sections, in the first section, we argue that total quality management (TQM) implementation necessitat es reliance on substantially more information in the design, productio n and service activities of firms. in the second section, we present a blueprint of TQM information requirements using data flow diagramming and suggest changes that occur in system usage within the three main organizational functions: planning organizational activities, making p roduce and the selling of products. The major contribution of the pape r ir in presenting evidence, albeit anecdotal, from organizations at t he forefront of TQM practice, that TQM is an information-intensive man agement system, and then developing a model for the information requir ements in TQM.