Quality management can be considered to have four main components: quality planning, quality control, quality assurance, and quality improvement. Quality management is focused not only on product/service quality, but also the means to achieve it. Quality management therefore uses quality assurance and control of processes as well as products to achieve more consistent quality.

Quality management adopts a number of management principles that can be used by top management to guide their organizations towards improved performance. The principles include:

• Customer focus
• Leadership
• Involvement of people
• Process approach
• System approach to management
• Continual improvement
• Factual approach to decision making
• Mutually beneficial supplier relationships