Ebrahim Soltani

Breaking through barriers to TQM effectiveness: Lack of commitment of upper-level management

Abstract This paper examines the importance of senior management commitment to successful implementation of TQM initiatives. Subsumed under the general heading of senior management commitment will be the issues of employee commitment and, in consequence, the TQM success. The interrelationship between CEO commitment, employee commitment and effectiveness of TQM programmes is usually a very close and linear one, not least because, if a TQM organization wishes to improve and achieve success it has no choice but to be committed fully from top to shop floor. As commitment of senior management and employees are not substitutable, it is difficult to study either issue in isolation. The paper opens with an attempt to offer a clear explanation of TQM practices, and goes on from this to outline the importance of a highly-committed CEO and his or her senior management team as a test of whether an organization considers TQM initiatives as a managerial panacea towards competitive advantage or just another management fad. The implications of management commitment for employee motivation and wider aspects of TQM success are discussed. The paper then examines the evidence that ‘mobility of management’ – Demings fourth deadly disease – has a negative effect at both aggregate and company levels, and instances the ways in which world-class organizations utilize senior management commitment to act as a spur to the adoption and successful implementation of TQM programmes. The changes in CEOs or other top executives that have recently taken place are surveyed, and it is argued that the evidence indicates the centrality of ‘mobility of senior management’ to TQM failure. Following on from this, some potential problem areas in terms of current causes of low commitment of senior management and why CEO commitment dropped off so dramatically, are discussed, followed by a number of general organizational factors adduced to explain these barriers to TQM success. The paper concludes with some brief remarks about prospects for the highly-committed senior management of TQM organizations, and the need for further empirical research on the factors that impedes transition to a stable total quality (TQ) environment.

The Compatibility of Performance Appraisal Systems With TQM Principles - Evidence From Current Practice

Purpose – This paper aims to address the question whether or not quality‐driven organisations have, in practice, tended to adjust their performance appraisal systems to integrate total quality management (TQM) requirements.Design/methodology/approach – To do so, the findings of an initial literature survey suggested the combined use of quantitative and qualitative methods for empirical research. The quantitative element consists of a postal questionnaire survey of 64 UK‐based, quality‐driven organisations on the topic of performance appraisal in the context of TQM. Key informants from ten of these organisations were subsequently interviewed in order to gather detailed information on the reasons behind their initial responses.Findings – The results indicated that only a minority of the respondents were satisfied with their TQM programmes. But this comparative lack of success did not lead them to eliminate performance appraisal altogether, as advocated by Deming and others because of the role of systems‐lev...

A review of the theory and practice of managing TQM: An integrative framework

This paper on Total Quality Management (TQM) is concerned with the problem of defining quality as well as examining a universal set of precepts to safeguard it as a management philosophy. In contrast to the traditional approaches to the subject, which tends to see things largely in universalistic terms, this paper, through a comparative analysis of this view versus contingent approach, argues that the actual practice of TQM is deeply rooted in specific contexts. Having recognised the implications of various definitions, precepts and approaches in more detail, this paper then goes on to consider whether quality-driven organisations are in a state of transition, or if not, what would be the main barriers that impede transition to a stable total quality (TQ) environment. Here, particular attention is given to the role and status of senior management. Based on these issues, the paper suggests an integrative hypothesised framework of the linkages between top management commitment and TQM success or failure; and concludes with critical challenges ahead for organisational researchers to advance knowledge in the field of TQM.

HR performance evaluation in the context of TQM: A review of the literature

While the concepts of performance evaluation and total quality management (TQM) have been explored in the management literature of the last decades, there has been relatively little work on the particular characteristics that an organisation with a TQM approach to human resource (HR) performance evaluation should adopt. To this end, this paper provides a review of the literature in the area of TQM and HR performance evaluation, in order to establish the context for future empirical research. This study provides a brief overview of the implications of a quality orientation for the evaluation of employee performance. It reveals the main difficulties with the concept of performance evaluation from a quality perspective; and it also examines particular characteristics of performance evaluation that could maximise the effectiveness of HR performance evaluation in organisational environments with a quality orientation. Both the assumptions of TQM and the requirements for HR evaluation are used as a foundation from which to examine the ways in which HR performance evaluation might have changed to integrate TQM requirements. By examining the relevant literature, the main criteria of a TQM-based HR performance evaluation system are refined and enhanced, thus moving towards a situation in which TQM can drive HR performance evaluation in practice. The results also serve as a guide for the evaluation of the effectiveness of such a system.While the concepts of performance evaluation and total quality management (TQM) have been explored in the management literature of the last decades, there has been relatively little work on the particular characteristics that an organisation with a TQM approach to human resource (HR) performance evaluation should adopt. To this end, this paper provides a review of the literature in the area of TQM and HR performance evaluation, in order to establish the context for future empirical research. This study provides a brief overview of the implications of a quality orientation for the evaluation of employee performance. It reveals the main difficulties with the concept of performance evaluation from a quality perspective; and it also examines particular characteristics of performance evaluation that could maximise the effectiveness of HR performance evaluation in organisational environments with a quality orientation. Both the assumptions of TQM and the requirements for HR evaluation are used as a foundation f...

Quality performance in a global supply chain: finding out the weak link

Much has been written on the intensive interconnection between supply chain management (SCM) and quality management (QM) with a particular focus on the systems-based view as the common thread between these two operation management topics. Absent in this debate has been any examination of the dynamics of SCM and QM practices and the resultant implications for the end customer in terms of product/service quality at a global level. In consequence, the nature and extent of their interconnection or interlinking and the resultant implications for the product/service quality has remained tangential. Using a qualitative study of two very large branded athletic and casual sports apparel and footwear manufacturers based in Asia with world-wide suppliers and distribution centres, this study aims to broaden the debate by arguing that partnering with suppliers of high QM capabilities in chains of relationships does not necessarily result in downstream benefits to both the manufacturer and end customers. We argue that both SCM and QM practices must advance from traditional firm-driven, fire fighting and product-focused mindsets to a more collaborative mode of inter-firm relations in that a much greater level of co-operation among both upstream and downstream chains is regarded as a key to competitive advantage.

Approaches to quality management in the UK: survey evidence and implications

Purpose – This paper seeks to shift the focus to the implications of various quality management systems, as a pervasive feature of modern organisational life, for business excellence.Design/methodology/approach – A mail‐based survey is conducted among a total of 150 UK‐based European Foundation for Quality Management‐affiliated organisations. This quantitative methodology sounds appropriate, given that there is a relative dearth of evidence regarding the nature of quality management systems as quality‐driven organisations pursue continuous improvement through such systems.Findings – Together, International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) series and other total quality management (TQM) models were seen as helping organisations in the journey towards business excellence. Despite the apparently high level of interest in various forms of quality management systems, however, a major discrepancy was found between the rhetoric of these systems and the reality of their practice. For example, little evidenc...

A TQM Approach to HR Performance Evaluation Criteria

The impact and effectiveness of Human Resources (HR) performance evaluation system is studied through a questionnaire survey of Scottish-based quality driven organizations. Findings suggest that improvement of employees performance, customer care, active involvement and approaching performance evaluation as a quality effort are the most generally agreed components of a Total Quality Management (TQM) driven HR performance evaluation

Conflict between theory and practice: TQM and performance appraisal

Purpose – A remarkable amount of theory‐based research is beginning to suggest that, even in organisations that pride themselves on having a quality orientation, the approach driving current policies and practices for human resource (HR) performance appraisal might be in fundamental conflict with essential requirements of total quality management (TQM). Seen in this light, this article aims to explore such (in)consistency between HRM theory and TQM precepts and assumptions.Design/methodology/approach – Given that there is relatively little evidence regarding the nature of HR performance appraisal in quality‐driven organisations, this research used a combination of quantitative and qualitative investigation of performance appraisal and TQM assumptions.Findings – The research highlights that while some of the quality management gurus, followed by other TQM scholars, advise organisations to relinquish and eliminate performance appraisal practices, this is not a unanimous view in both the literature and pract...

Towards a TQM‐driven HR performance evaluation: an empirical study

Reports findings from a research designed to investigate the main issues of the current human resource (HR) performance evaluation systems in over 150 UK‐based quality‐focused organisations. The study identified the main characteristics of HR performance evaluation systems currently conducting in total quality management (TQM)‐based organisations. The research approach consisted of a questionnaire survey in a sample of cross‐section organisations in different economic sectors with enough experience of quality management to reflect the widest possible range of characteristics in the HR performance evaluation practices. The survey results provide the most recent details of the performance appraisal systems currently conducting in TQM organisations and their effectiveness in improving and achieving TQM objectives. Also discusses implications of these findings for HR performance evaluation system in general, and a quality‐driven HR performance evaluation in particular.

Challenges Posed to Performance Management by TQM Gurus: Contributions of Individual Employees Versus Systems-Level Features

There is a plethora of literature to suggest that even in quality-oriented organizational contexts, the approach driving performance appraisal is fundamentally in conflict with Total Quality Management (TQM) precepts, which put heavy emphasis on systems-level features of performance management. This inconsistency arguably impedes the transition to a stable Total Quality (TQ) environment, or even actively encourages regression to traditional ways. In response to this inconsistency, this paper discusses the contributions of individual employees towards organizational performance versus systems-level features, based on a wide-ranging literature survey and an empirical study of a sample of EFQM-affiliated organizations. The results indicate that most performance appraisal systems fail to meet TQ expectations in practice, and that they contradict TQM assumptions about the relatively low importance of individual employees as a source of variation in organizational performance. In this paper, we argue that performance management should be based on both systems-level features and contributions from individual employees, as these tend to complement each other. Our findings suggest that individual employees--as a basis for competitive advantage in the new millennium--will retain a critical role in providing a potential source of quality improvement. Thus, our research findings will provide a new insight into how quality-driven organizations not only cope with apparent mismatches between TQM precepts and the performance appraisal system used in practice, but also attempt to utilize the latter system to the advantage of both the organization and its employees.