Selection of TQM pilot projects using an MCDM approach

Abstract

BackgroundSagging domestic and global market shares in key industries in the early 1980s and subsequent analysis of Japanese manufacturing practices [1,2] prompted US companies to formulate a conscious quality management strategy. This led to the total quality management (TQM) revolution in the late 1980s. To improve the quality of goods and services of US companies, Congress established the Malcolm Baldrige Award in 1987. The Baldrige Award has generated a very strong and lasting wave of interest by many US businesses to improve the quality of their operations. In fact, entries for the Baldrige Award have increased manifold over the last four years, and the number of applications distributed every year now runs into thousands [3].In the rush of this rising tide of TQM popularity, however, many companies miss one important point -TQM is a long-term improvement process which has to be taken very seriously, and every person in the company must commit themselves to the philosophy of improvement [4][5][6][7]. Unfortunately, many of the new followers of TQM philosophy have failed to implement the TQM paradigm successfully [8]. Several possible reasons have been cited for this failure, major among these being a lack of top management commitment and a lack of appropriate human-resource management. Companies with lower top-management commitment also show a lack of co-ordination of human-resource management and overall quality efforts. In these companies, quality responsibility is relegated to the middle-and lower-level managers, and shopfloor employees. An apparent assumption in these companies is that a pot-pourri of statistical qualitycontrol tools will be the solution to their productivity and quality problems. Since no one sincerely believes in viewing quality management as a process rather than a specialist function, there is no real emphasis on long-term and organization-

A state-of-art survey on TQM applications using MCDM techniques

“…Ahire and Rana (1995) proposed an MCDM model using AHP to identify and to select key pilot of Total Quality Management (TQM) projects and worked on developing it. This model helps organizations prioritize and enhance the returns from TQM efforts applied to a hospital environment.…”

TQM implementation: an empirical examination and proposed generic model

“…Central to these is the requirement that for TQM to take root successfully in the longterm, it must have a positive influence not only on employees' behaviour, but also on their attitudes and values. Ahire and Rana [1] proposed that as with any new concept, the extent to which TQM will be successful in any organisation is determined by its initial impact and its perceived worth as a new way of operating. According to Ahire and Rana [1], the literature dealing with participative decision making and organisational dynamics points to the fact that any new technical or management approach is either accepted sincerely or rejected based on the first few experiences with it.…”

“…[15]. 1 For example, the ABI Inform CD-ROM Database, which provides citations of articles in a large and diverse number of journals dealing with management-related issues, revealed that between January 1986 and December 1991 a total of 407 articles were referenced. Between January 1992 and December 1995 the number of articles referenced was 2281 -a significant increase in volume.…”

“…An examination of relevant databases bears witness to the large increase since the early 1980s in the volume of TQM related publications and the range/variety of types of publications where TQM related contributions appear 1 . Furthermore, these publications range from those dedicated to the subject to those concerned with marketing, economics, general management, personnel and human resource management, industrial engineering and strategic management.…”

“…It is broadly agreed that central to the long term success of TQM within an organisation is the implementation process [47,43,1,38,52]. Motwani [38] proposed that TQM will nearly always work when the proper methods to execute it are employed.…”