What is the fundamental methodology used in Total Quality Management (TQM)?

The fundamental methodology used in Total Quality Management (TQM) is statistical process control (SPC). TQM emphasizes continuous improvement, customer satisfaction, and the involvement of all employees in quality initiatives. Statistical process control employs statistical methods to monitor and control processes, ensuring that they operate at their full potential to produce a consistent product.

By using SPC, organizations can identify variations in their processes, understand their causes, and implement corrective actions to minimize these variations. This ability to measure and analyze process performance is crucial in TQM, as it supports data-driven decision-making and allows companies to improve their quality over time.

Other methodologies mentioned, like critical path methods, linear programming, and operations research, are useful in project management, optimization, and decision-making scenarios. However, they do not specifically focus on the quality improvement processes central to TQM like statistical process control does.