Total Quality Management - by Lill Roberts
Is it the saviour of Australian horticulture and floriculture, or just too much trouble?

Total Quality Management (TQM), burst on to the International scene in the early 1980s. Individuals such as Jurran and Deming achieved guru status by extolling its virtues, and business managers in every industry could have been forgiven for believing that TQM was the holy grail of business success.

In 1989, the Nurserymen's Association of Victoria (NAV) introduced a wholesale nursery accreditation scheme to reduce the incidence of pests and disease in nurseries. [1] By 1994, the NAV, content with the success of the initial accreditation scheme, stated '...as NAV members became more comfortable with the nursery assessment criteria,... the scheme has been improved to eventually embrace Total Quality Management.' [2]

Since this commitment, TQM in the wider business community has come under fire. Claims that some small businesses have almost been destroyed trying to implement irrelevant international standards, has caused a rethink about the whole accreditation process. [3] In an outward sign of TQM falling from grace, the favoured treatment given to accredited suppliers by the Australian Government has been discontinued.

Few people would argue that quality is important if Australia is to compete on the world stage. Markets such as Asia and particularly Japan will not accept anything less than consistently top quality material.

So where does that leave the horticulture and floriculture industry in Australia? Are they still committed to a scheme in which the rumbles of discontent are reverberating across international borders?

Clarification of the difference in TQM, (a management philosophy) and Quality Assurance (currently evidenced by accreditation) will start to answer the question. Quality Assurance (QA) relates to the production process. Standards have been set in most aspects of manufacture, for example water quality, growing media; treatment of stock plants; hygiene in growing houses; chemical storage and use; and nursery presentation. In order to be accredited, processes must be documented and audits conducted to ensure compliance with the standard. It is the maintenance of this documentation and the costs of audits which have been the main causes of so many complaints. QA in many respects is a black and white issue where a nursery either complies or it does not.

TQM, on the other hand is much wider. For a business to embrace TQM fully, quality becomes the driving force of operations. Quality is taken into account in all aspects of the business. Functions such as strategic planning, selection of staff; product development, customer interaction, corporate communication are all quality focused. No activity is excepted. Corporate and individual performance is measured in terms of increased quality. QA is the processing arm of this philosophy.

Therefore the introduction of QA and accreditation without embracing TQM, is a fundamentally flawed strategy: a body without a head. In these cases the paper work will be excessive because it is not seen as part of the mainstream work of the organisation.

Unlike QA however, philosophies and culture cannot be audited, and levels of commitment cannot be ascertained. Contrary to common held beliefs, introducing TQM is not just about maintaining documentation and changing a few processes, it requires complete paradigm shifts, and that is where the difficulty arises. People are creatures of habit, and change usually doesn't come easily.

There are benefits to the horticulture and floriculture industries if TQM is introduced. A competitive advantage through improved quality will stand the industries in good stead in the international markets. However, in order to reap the full advantage, the focus must move away from simple accreditation, and more emphasis must be placed on all aspects of TQM.

Footnotes
[1]Kosmer, H., Part B Check list accreditation of wholesale nurseries - setting industry standards. Nurserymen's Association of Victoria 1994.
[2]Kosmer, H., Part A Introduction accreditation of wholesale nurseries - setting industry standards. Nurserymen's Association of Victoria 1994, page 1.
[3] Total Quality Madness, Business Review Weekly, September 30 1996, pp 38 - 44.

About the writer:
Lill Roberts has a degree in business and an MBA as well as a Graduate Diploma in Applied Science (Horticulture). Having expertise in both business and horticulture, places her in an excellent position to comment on TQM in the horticultural industry. She lectures on the subject at Burnley College. Lill is a consultant to the industry in business planning and horticultural services and may be contacted by e-mail at Biloba Consulting.

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