Adolfo E. Vázquez-Sánchez

TQM and business success: Do all the TQM drivers have the same relevance? An empirical study in Spanish firms

Purpose – Prior studies by Salaheldin (2009) and Talib et al. (2011) have assessed the relationships between TQM critical success factors (CSF) and business results. The purpose of this paper is to build upon this research by considering the relationships between these CSFs and their sequencing during the implementation of TQM. Furthermore, the influence exerted by the maturity of TQM implementation on the link between instrumental drivers and performance is explored. Design/methodology/approach – The TQM drivers are clustered by means of three constructs: strategic enablers, tactical drivers and instrumental drivers and a model employed in which the strategic and tactical factors are treated as antecedents of the instrumental drivers. The direct effect of each cluster on business results and the indirect relationship of strategic and tactical factors via the mediating role of the instrumental drivers are assessed. These assessments use the partial least squares (PLS) approach which is a variance-based st...

Excellence and Organizational Institutionalization: A Conceptual Model

Organizations, while dealing with the institutionalization process, seek the way to assure their long-term survival. With this aim, firms try to further the economic-managerial dimension in order to turn themselves into institutions capable of satisfying the needs and expectations of all their interest groups. Nevertheless, there is a lack of concrete guidelines and a defined waybill. Hence, there exists a need for a transformation model that could turn into a set of structured processes which organizations would systematically implement. This model aims to serve as a guide for firms in their intention of becoming institutions. The EFQM excellence model is a non-prescriptive framework that helps organizations in their purpose of meeting the needs and expectations of all their stakeholders and thus achieving outstanding, sustainable, long-term results. In our chapter, we reveal how organizations use the EFQM model and implement the fundamental concepts of excellence as a roadmap for the conversion from organizations to institutions. Moreover, firms approach this in a structured, consistent, measurable, open and flexible way. In order to endorse our findings, we propose a conceptual model that considers all the drivers that characterize organizational institutionalization and the fundamental concepts of excellence as a result of the implementation of conceptual maps with a panel of first-level experts in Excellence in Management in Spain.

Refocusing Isomorphism to Explain Organizational Legitimacy: A New Approach

Isomorphism is the process by which organizations adopt similar structures, routines, or even strategies. Through this process, organizations obtain legitimacy and become institutionalized. This paper criticizes the traditional definition of isomorphism by suggesting that the idea of similarity has been used to imply that organizations are static, which is only true in a small number of cases. In reality, most organizations change according to internal or external contingency factors. The authors note that isomorphism is at the same time a process as well as a state that is reached by sharing essential organizational characteristics. Through this redefined approach to isomorphism, common characteristics are studied, and new propositions are put forth to improve our understanding on how organizational structures are built while also acknowledging and explaining differences among them.

The Impact of TQM Critical Success Factors on Business Performance. The Mediating Role of Implementation Factors in Linking Enabler and Instrumental Factors

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management philosophy focused on customer satisfaction and continuous improvement, and positively related to organizational performance. TQM implementation programs sometimes fail, causing a loss of resources, distrust in top management and a lack of the outcomes expected. This chapter examines the relationship between the implementation of Critical Success Factors and Business performance. For a better understanding, we have divided these factors into three constructs, hypothesizing causal relationships between them and how they affect business performance. We use data collected from a sample of 113 Spanish organizations. Three hypotheses were tested simultaneously using Partial Least Squares, a variance-based Structural Equation Modeling technique. The results support the existence of a mediating role played by implementation factors in ties between enablers and instrumental factors. Our research findings provide practical insights for managers in order to prioritize those critical factors on which they focus their actions to enhance business performance.