Quality management and quality practice: Perspectives on their history and their future

The purpose of this article and a companion article is to explore a number of topics in Statistics in Business and Industry. This article sketches the history of Quality Management, from its emergence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries through to the present day. Particular emphasis is placed on activities in Japan immediately following the end of the Second World War, and subsequent developments elsewhere in the world. We draw a careful distinction between Quality Management and various methodologies that aid in its implementation, such as Six Sigma. In the words of one management practitioner, Norbert Vogel, ‘TQM in its broadest sense examines all aspects of management and the alternative methodologies being promoted are merely sub‐sets of what should be an integrated management system.’ The article concludes with some speculative thoughts about the future of Quality Management from a statistician's point of view. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.