TQM Implementation Issues Bijay Lal Pradhan

TQM Quality is a mind-set, a fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person’s response to and interpretation of situations. With the greater successes of Japanese companies, companies all over the world found that it is necessary to have good quality management practices to stay competitive.

TQM TQM as a management approach of an organization is centered on quality, based on the participation of all its members and aiming at long term success. This is achieved through customer satisfaction and benefits to all members of the organization and to society.

Total Quality Management Everything and Everyone in the organization is subject to improvement. It is a never ending journey. (Park, 2002)

Total Quality Management Most companies are trying to satisfy their customer’s needs and expectations. This can only be achieved through, improvement in product quality, increased customer satisfaction, and continuous improvement towards world class organizations. These challenges urged companies around the globe to change their old traditional systems, and implement new quality approaches to deliver high quality goods and services. Companies that can deliver quality are the ones that will be able to compete on the globalization era.

TQM Implementation and Impact dimension Key Factors of TQM Implementation Top Management commitment and involvement Suppliers' empowerment and relationship Policy deployment Customer relationship Process control and involvement Research and development Evaluation and Assessment Training and Education Employee empowerment and involvement Key factor of TQM impact Employee Satisfaction Customer Satisfaction Product Quality Business Performance

TQM implementation Benefits Many firms in the world have arrived at the conclusion that effective TQM implementation can improve their competitive abilities and provide strategic advantages in the marketplace. Benefits of TQM implementation (Islam and Karim, 2010) improved quality, employee satisfaction, employee participation, productivity, teamwork, communication, working relationship, profitability, and customer satisfaction, market share

Benefits… 90% improvement rate in employee relations, operating procedures, customer satisfaction, and financial performance is achieved due to TQM implementation (Becker, 2001) Coronado and Antony (2002) indicated that achieving high product quality and pursuing successful TQM implementation are highly dependent on top management support.

Challenges A study conducted by Ahmed and Hassan (2003) showed that in Western European countries, for instance France, Italy, England, and Norway the way firms implement their TQM practices is very complicated and has a long process. following were the problems noted in the implementation of TQM: Do not have even a single conception of quality; No clear vision, mission and concrete quality policy for the institutions; t he leaders of the institutions do not understand the modern concept of quality and obligation to it; firms have poor observation, care and control of quality; there is lack of time and resources and most enterprises prefer short-term goals to the long-term ones; the process of achieving total quality management is complicated involving all members of the organization; organizations require enough time to change employees’ traditional standpoint to the concept of quality.

Why Some Organizations Fail Failing to consider customer wants and needs Failing to establish good internal communications Too much emphasis on short-term financial performance Failing to take advantage of strengths and opportunities Neglecting operations strategy Failing to recognize competitive threats Too much emphasis in product and service design and not enough on improvement Neglecting investments in capital and human resources