Jay has raised an interesting subject about adopting TQM to his
museum.  I am a bit surprised at the notion but then I don't know what
kind of museum he works for or just what he expects from TQM.  Let me
ramble with some thoughts.  

1.  "Quality" does not mean that a Cadillac is higher quality than a
Ford, or a Rolex is higher quality than a Timex.  We use the term
"Grade" to differentiate between items that do the same thing.  

2. The best definition I know for Quality is:  "Doing what you say you
are going to do"    Timex has "quality" by mass producing an
inexpensive watch that keeps accurate time.   Rolex has quality by
producing extremely accurate, attractive, and recognizable watches.

3. TQM is generally associated with manufacturing industries and their
ongoing production of goods.  TQM strives to get everybody in the
organization to improve each and every operation such that the
rejection rate in reduced, the efficiency improved and, without
saying, profits increase.   The whole process takes time.

4. My experience with museums, other than as a visitor, is as a
Trustee of an art museum.  We do not have a "production line" to
improve in the TQM concept.  Instead, we have a series of art
exhibitions that pretty much stand alone, like individual projects.
The only thing the exhibitions have in common, besides the walls of
the museum, are the general steps of selection, fundraising, curating,
preparing, advertizing and hanging; each one of which is tailor made
for the individual exhibit.

5.  Project Management  is my field and it, like the museum consists
of producing individual  activities or projects, (in my case design
and build chemical plants).  TQM in its purest sense, does not apply,
however, that does not mean one cannot improve quality in doing one of
a kind projects.  

4.  Putting these points together for a museum would be for the staff
to collectively define the goal for each exhibit as to what they hope
to achieve, at what cost, and in what time frame, and then get on with
it together.

John Bing
Laguna Beach, CA

On Sat, 19 Jun 1999 12:30:13 -0600, Jay wrote:

>Fellow Listers:
>
>We are considering adopting TQM or the "Total Quality Management"
>philosophy at our facility.  We are a small but growing institution with
>four full time and four part time staff.  There will be some expansion in
>the near future which will require additional personnel as well spread out
>the current staff.  We, of course, have been working as a team for quite
>some time, but we are interested in this primarily from a visitor services
>and resource management & allocation perspective.  Does anyone have any
>experience with museums that have adopted TQM?  All thoughts on this
>subject would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance...
>
>Jay Smith
>Hutchinson, Kansas

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