These attributes as will be shown in the following discussion are the basic elements of TQM. Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort. Total quality is a way of acting and policy aimed at the quality of products (Services), the quality of functioning and the quality of goals. In our words, effective management and efficient organisation means `total quality orientated'. Quality management is defined in ISO 8402 as: "that aspecto f the overall management function that determines and implements the quality policy, and as such, it is the responsibility of top management" (Kindlarski 1996).
TQM requires that the principles of quality management should be applied in every branch and at every level in the organisation. The concept of `quality' appears to change towards customer-focused activities encompassing all organisational functions. However, to move beyond the rhetoric to where quality action is evident, managements hould encourage a collaborative approach. Recognition by the management that "business survives only on its customers" (Drucker 1967) should mean that sophisticated quality service programmes become central organisational polices. Thus, approaches that build on previous strategies and are based on the quality delivered to internal and external customers are required to sustainc ompetitive advantage. Total quality management (TQM) is a philosophy whose main objective is to meet or exceed the needs of internal and external customers. Organisational awarenesso f the importance of this philosophy is just one of the many facets of TQM. In an era where quality is no longer a variable, time has emerged as an important performancem easurement for assessment and evaluation. TQM affects not only quality but also the ability of the firm to become a time-based competitor. Comparing the evolution of quality movement to that of quantum physics, Miller (1993) maps this evolution into four paradigms: quality control (QC), quality assurance (QA), total quality management (TQM) and quantum quality (QQ). In each of these paradigms, quality is defined differently