Author: Mohamed, Mona Abou Eleaz./ Title: Hierachic Framework for Quality Improvement/

الموضوع

Total quality management (TQM) is a foundation for continual improvement although it is just one of several current paradigms in modern management. TQM had been originated in the manufacturing industry in Japan and USA and achieved well known and advertised success. TQM begins with understanding the needs of the customers. These needs are translated back into the work of the organization, that is, the tasks or processes by which the organization creates value for its customers. The processes of the organization are in turn closely aligned and linked with their suppliers, and these suppliers are treated as an integral part of the organization. The entire value-creating chain from supplier to customer is managed and continually improved to be ever more efficient in resource consumption and maximally effective in creating value for customers.<br> The main objective of this thesis is to present and demonstrate a comprehensive framework that enables management to choose the suitable one or more TQM methods for the application purpose. Choosing a TQM method mainly depends on the activity type (industry, enterprise, etc.), age and size of organization, and managers’ perceptions of TQM. As shown later, this task isn’t that easy one because of the vast and interacted factors that bound the process.<br> This thesis studies the TQM from the view of the performances of existing TQM methods. First, it explains the necessary contents of quality such as quality definitions, quality dimensions, quality measurements, quality costs, and basic quality tools. Then the popular TQM methods such as Juran, Deming, and Crosby methods have been discussed. The criteria that affect the quality in general have been extracted after carrying out a comprehensive analysis of such TQM methods, TQM practices, and the relationships between both. Two multicriteria decision methods, AHP and ANP, are discussed. Both methods are the most prominent in use for performance measurement. Therefore, this thesis proposes AHP and ANP