In search of TQM

Abstract

Total quality management practices have spread widely over the last half decade, while the US and British pioneers have now been involved in TQM for more than a decade. Academic investigation of the phenomenon has lagged somewhat behind these developments, however, and this special issue of Employee Relations brings together a number of articles arising from recent research into TQM. They focus on issues of organization and the management of employee relations, and include US and Australian research as well as British cases. In this article we discuss a number of themes and issues arising out of these contributions and the wider debate over TQM. What is TQM?TQM has been a notoriously imprecise term. There are a number of reasons for this. One is that the original "gurus" of quality management have been long on prescription but shorter on analysis, and moreover, have differed among themselves. Another is that practitioners use the term to describe a very wide range of practices. A third is that the intellectual origins and part of the theoretical basis of TQM derive from statistics, and early applications were in production management, in contrast to most other contributions to management theory which derive from one of the social sciences and have different applications (Grant et al., 1994). As Dean and Bowen (1994, p. 396) observe:Perhaps the fundamental difference between TQ and management theory is in their audiences. Whereas TQ is aimed at managers in general, theory is directed to researchers …Given this difference in audiences, the language used in the two literatures differs substantially.

Interrelationships among lean bundles and their effects on operational performance

“…Generally speaking, all of the TQM content areas call for HRM implications (Hart and Schlesinger, 1991). Such an idea indicates that human resources are necessary for the development of TQM and the associated performance improvements (Briggs and Keogh, 1999;Hill and Wilkinson, 1995). This literature considers HRM practices to be a prerequisite of TQM.…”

The relationship between quality management practices and their effects on quality outcomes

“…training, compensation schemes) in a TQM context (Bowen and Lawler, 1992;Schonberger, 1994). Such idea is suggested by evaluation and academic models incorporating human practices, which indicates that human resources are necessary for the development of TQM (Belohlav, 1993;Briggs and Keogh, 1999;Hill and Wilkinson, 1995). For this purpose, the employees need training; this will allow them to identify and solve problems, to improve work methods, and to take responsibility for quality.…”

An empirical analysis of effective TQM implementation in the Hong Kong electronics manufacturing industry

“…Based on the review of the works of quality proponents (Deming, 1986(Deming, , 1993Juran, 1969Juran, , 1989Juran, Gryna, and Bingham, 1974;Crosby, 1979;Ishikawa, 1985;Feigenbaum, 1983) by Dean and Bowen (1994), Hackman and Wageman (1995), and Hill and Wilkinson (1995), three shared principles and assumptions of TQM are revealed. First, enormous attention and effort should be paid by all members of the organization to customers, and to offer products and services that meet customers' needs.…”

“…Although there is no single universal definition for TQM, it has been regarded as an approach or a philosophy of managing organizations (Hill and Wilkinson, 1995;Dean and Bowen, 1994). Different prescriptions for TQM have been offered by leading quality experts; nevertheless, several common principles and assumptions can be drawn from them.…”