Quality Assurance: Something is made or a service provided and then checked - either using a measure or the complaints record is analyzed. This approach can work well, but it can be limited as it looks only at the process itself to eradicate the problem (including training, machinery, raw materials), and usually after the process has finished to produce the product or service. It doesn't address organizational factors or any cultural problems that might be the root cause. For example poor communication between departments.

Quality Standards: The goal, objective, target, or even checklist is centered at lower-employee levels, and usually conducted during the production process, service delivery, or it is ongoing. The method is useful but working to only the level of a standard gives rise to the notion that as long as the standard is met the job has been done properly. This has radical implications for safety. Furthermore, when the system is overly centered on targets or metrics, the company can lose its way and progress and development are threatened - the purpose becomes the target! Perhaps the worst result of this, though, is where a lack of planning is covered with a veneer of activity and there is an illusion of achieving things. Similarly, when this happens rather than letting personnel get on with their work, the organization has become a controlling entity that distracts from the real purpose.

TQM: This is a method of improving quality whereby responsibility is placed into the hands of employees to a greater extent. The rationale here is that the organization's employees are the people who do the job and are really the experts. If there is something wrong in the company - or there is a particular problem that needs addressing - they are the best placed to identify it and put it right.

One of the best known methods of utilizing employee knowledge that we may implement is the quality circle. These are self orienting or self directed groups that provide the opportunity for individuals to participate in decisions about tasks and products or service improvements. They can also boost morale and impact on the quality of employees' working life.

Throughout any TQM implementation, Psychonomics works to increase involvement of employees, enhance business effectiveness, as well as using the quality circle as a vehicle for any required organizational culture change. These systems are, in fact, sometimes initiated by a realization that poor quality in performance may be a result of current job design; the end result being that the product made might not be up to a comparable standard to the competition, as a result of the way task elements to make the product are organized or checked. Hence, the method also provides an excellent starting point for us to help clients redefine work practices, needed competencies, and job specifications.

Besides quality circles, Psychonomics also implements several other support initiatives that include critical incident analysis, and sensitivity training. And from our perspective support is often key. For example, in order for TQM to work, employees must feel committed. To develop commitment we take a quality of working life (QWL) approach which seeks to make working life more meaningful, with jobs being more satisfying, involving and participatory, and to which employees can make a contribution. It is also a philosophy where people are viewed as assets rather that costs, having knowledge, skills, experience etc. Within this context Psychonomics may also seek to provide employees with greater empowerment by implementing methods such as semi-autonomous work groups and flexible work patterns.