Rethinking total quality management

Since the 1980s, total quality management (TQM) has become one of the most commonly used management acronyms. As a change management tool, TQM has bee n well-accepted by managers as it is seen as providing a "unified set of pr inciples which can guide them through numerous choices or might even make c hoosing unnecessary" (Huczynski, 1993, Management Gurus: What Makes Them an d How to Become One (London, Routledge), p. 289). Although the management o f quality has often been identified as a key to business success in the hig hly competitive climate of the 1990s, this is not to say that TQM is withou t its critics.