Since 1988, when the Secretary of Defense directed all the Services to incorporate Total Quality Management (TQM) principles throughout their organizations, the Army has implemented various management initiatives to improve the way we do day-to-day business.

• In February 1992, the Army Management Division was established to coordinate and facilitate the implementation of Total Army Quality (TAQ) Army-wide.

• In June 1992, AR 5-1, Army Management Philosophy, and The Leadership for Total Army Quality Concept Plan were published which formally adopted TAQ as the Army's management philosophy.

• In 1994, the Director of Management, Management Practices Branch, Office of the Chief of Staff, Army, developed the Army Performance Improvement Criteria (APIC), a Baldrige based criteria, as a framework for improving operational performance.

• In 1994, the Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) was the Army Quality Improvement Prototype (QIP) winner.

• In 1995, the Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) was the Army winner to receive the Presidential Quality Award. Red River Army Depot, Texarkana, Texas, and Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC), Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, were 1995 Army Quality Improvement Prototype winners. In addition, TARDEC and Red River Army Depot were Federal Quality Award winners in 1995.

• In 1996, ARDEC was selected as the only Presidential Quality Award winner and CECOM LRC won the Quality Improvement Prototype Award.

In 1997, the U.S. Army Infantry Center and Fort Benning was the only Federal organization to win the Presidential Award for Quality. Though these are good examples of sound management initiatives and quality oriented organizations, the Army, in general, continues to recognize the need to more fully deploy the tenets of Total Quality throughout the total Army.

The Strategy

The Army strategy proposes a holistic approach to managing change and improving performance, and embodies the four cornerstones of Leadership, Doctrine, Education, and Recognition. The strategy also proposes that the Malcolm Baldrige or a Baldrige based criteria become the means for assessing and improving Army-wide organizational and operational performance. TAQ is applicable to both the institutional Army and the operational Army. As a result, the Army plans to phase in TAQ by:

-- making HQDA an example;

-- educating the Army about the APIC and its comprehensive and holistic approach to managing change and assessing improvement initiatives;

 

-- publicizing the successes of organizations that have incorporated the APIC as their assessment tool;

-- making TAQ an integral part of our leader development programs.

Though much remains to be done in the area of institutionalizing TAQ in the Army, TAQ has the support of the Army's most senior leaders and is the philosophy for managing change and improving performance in all Army organizations as they face the challenges of today, tomorrow, and the 21st Century.

To guide you in assessing your organization, the following links take you to one-page assessment examples for each type of unit:

Combat Arms                    Combat Support            Combat Service Support 

In addition, the instructors at the Laverene E. Weber Army National Guard Professional Education Center (PEC) have created a useful template for organizations performing the next level of self-assessments.  This level will provide a more in-depth view of the organiztion.  Click on this link for an Adobe Acrobat version that follows the 2003 APIC..

Please send updates to:leadingchange@hqda.army.mil

Last revision: 18 Aug 2008