Pei-Lee Teh

Self‐assessment of TQM practices: a case analysis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the current level of TQM practices within a major computer hard disk USA based manufacturing company in Malaysia and to identify improvement opportunities.Design/methodology/approach – Original research using self‐administered questionnaires, distributed to all staff within this organization, is thoroughly reported. The study sample consisted of 299 employees, resulting in a response rate of 66.4 percent. The data were analyzed using descriptive and multiple regression analyses.Findings – The analysis revealed that the strengths of the company, in its quality management implementation, lie in customer focus and process management. It was also perceived to attain a “good” level of practices in leadership, strategic planning, human resource development and management. On the other hand, supplier relationship and information and analysis both received only moderate scores. This suggested that more effort needs to be focused on improving supplier quality and re...

Does total quality management reduce employees' role conflict?

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the total quality management (TQM) practices of both manufacturing and service firms in order to determine the relationship between the multidimensionality of TQM practices and role conflict of employees., – Questionnaires are distributed to 433 employees of 98 different firms from manufacturing and service industries in Malaysia., – The results support significant negative correlation among all TQM practices (i.e. leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, human resource focus, process management and information analysis) and role conflict. By employing multiple regression analysis, leadership, process management and information analysis are found to have significant and negative relationship with role conflict. Human resource focus is reported to have a significant and positive relationship with role conflict., – This model is ideal for practical usage by managers to evaluate the perceptions of role conflict of employees in TQM‐oriented firms. The findings suggest that firms should look into ways of developing the major roles of leadership and process management as well as improving efficient use of information analysis in order to reduce the detrimental role conflict of employees. This finding may also help administrators and individuals to attain a fine‐grained understanding of different dimensions of TQM in relation to role conflict., – TQM practices appear to be related to role conflict, addressing an apparent noticeable gap in the literature of TQM and the psychological well‐being of employees. This paper also lays the foundation for formation of a theoretically based model which integrates the elements of TQM and role conflict.

Developing an integrated model of TQM and HRM on KM activities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated model of total quality management (TQM) and human resource management (HRM) to elucidate the influence of TQM and HRM practices on knowledge management (KM) activities.Design/methodology/approach – The theory of KM serves as a starting‐point to develop the integrated conceptual model linking TQM and HRM aspects. Based on an extensive review of the current literature, three practices of TQM and three practices of HRM are integrated in an organized manner to examine the influence of TQM and HRM practices on KM activities.Findings – These findings provide a basis for developing a model to advance the HRM, TQM and KM research literature.Practical implications – The practical implication of this study could be useful for business managers, who want to enhance organizational KM activities through implementing HRM and TQM practices that support their organizations KM efforts.Originality/value – This paper makes a significant contribution by develop...

Does TQM impact on role stressors? A conceptual model

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model to examine the multidimensionality of total quality management (TQM) practices and its impact on role stressors.Design/methodology/approach – The background of TQM philosophy and theory of role stressors serve as starting‐points to develop the conceptual model. From the extensive literature review, six practices of TQM and two components of role stressors were identified to construct the model.Findings – The model based on TQM with respect to role stressors provides a basis for assessing the level of role conflict and role ambiguity under which the use of different aspects of TQM should be retained or revised. This finding suggests that TQM is not a panacea that can be unthinkingly applied, but must be practised with a clear sense of the impact on role stressors.Practical implications – Given that role stressors are often detrimental to organizational functional efficiency, it is appropriate for management to invest time and effort to di...

Does TQM support innovation performance in Malaysia's manufacturing industry?

This empirical study examines the association of TQM practices (i.e. leadership, customer focus, strategic planning, people management, information analysis and process management) with the innovation performance as perceived by the managers in Malaysia. The research model is constructed on the basis of established theory and on well-known criteria such as Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Six hypotheses are formulated and tested by multiple regression based on a sample of 206 managers working in the ISO 9001:2000 certified manufacturing firms in Malaysia. The results of this study show that TQM has a significant positive relationship with innovation performance. In particular, the findings of this study show that process management, strategic planning, people management and customer focus have positive relationships with innovation performance of firms surveyed in Malaysia. Therefore, both researchers and practitioners are advised to consider these relevant TQM practices when assessing the innovation performance of an organization. Implications for managers and researchers, as well as study limitations are also discussed.

TQM, knowledge management and collaborative commerce adoption: A literature review and research framework

This article discusses the influence of total quality management (TQM) and knowledge management (KM) on collaborative commerce (c-commerce) adoption. An extensive review of literature was carried out to develop an integrated model of TQM and KM to examine the influence of TQM and KM on c-commerce adoption. The findings provide a basis for developing a model to advance the TQM, KM and innovation adoption research literature. This study proposes a new integrated model which includes practices from both TQM and KM theories to examine if these practices will result in an improvement in the adoption of c-commerce. Organisations intending to adopt or increase the level of adoption of c-commerce will be able to make managerial decisions based on TQM and KM practices from this research. The study makes a significant contribution by combining TQM and KM models as a methodological example which is useful for practitioners to track the degree of TQM and KM effects on c-commerce adoption. This model can be used by companies to do a pre-test baseline measurement, and then periodically reassess the effects of any TQM and KM change.

Knowledge sharing among Malaysian universities’ students: do personality traits, class room and technological factors matter?

Active and voluntarily sharing of knowledge is an essential element of effective and meaningful learning at university level. Recognising the role and importance of Big Five personality traits (extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability and openness) in encouraging knowledge-sharing behaviour, this paper adds the classroom (instructor support and degree of competition) and technological factors (technology availability and support) to model general knowledge-sharing patterns. Survey instrument was used to collect from six private and six public universities in Malaysia. Out of 700 surveys distributed, 474 data were used for analysis representing the response rate of 67.71%. Extraversion, conscientiousness, instructor support, degree of competition and technology support are found to have positive relationship with knowledge-sharing patterns. However, emotional stability is found to have negative relationship. A practical implication of these results is that instructors could advance knowledge sharing via personnel screening in forming assignment groups in their class as well as providing sufficient support and technology support to promote knowledge sharing among students.

Revisiting quality management and performance

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between quality management practices as well as their impact on organisational performance in the ASEAN regional context.Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 115 data collected from automotive parts/components manufacturing companies in five ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam) was used to test the proposed research hypotheses. A two‐step modelling approach was employed to model the data by using structural equation modelling (SEM).Findings – Leadership of the organisations tend to focus on their external (customers and suppliers) rather than internal (employees) partners. The result of this study also suggests that tier 1 suppliers of the automotive industry in ASEAN considered quality information and supplier relationship instead of people management, as the drivers of process management.Research limitations/implications – The study was limited to a single industry. The study did not consider som...

Secure Encrypted Steganography Graphical Password scheme for Near Field Communication smartphone access control system

We propose a two-factor authentication access control system using NFC smartphone.First credential is steganography key on NFC smartphone (ownership).Second credential is Encrypted Steganography Graphical Password scheme (knowledge).Integration of both credentials provides higher security to access control system.Evaluation shows users weigh security as a dominant attribute to use the system. The revolutionary development of smartphone which offers compelling computing and storage capabilities has radically changed the digital lifestyles of users. The integration of Near Field Communication (NFC) into smartphone has further opened up opportunities for new applications and business models such as in industry for payment, electronic ticketing and access control systems. NFC and graphical password scheme are two imperative technologies that can be used to achieve secure and convenient access control system. One of the potential uses of such technologies is the integration of steganography graphical password scheme into NFC-enabled smartphone to transcend conventional digital key/tokens access control systems into a more secure and convenient environment. Smartphone users would have more freedom in customizing the security level and how they interact with the access control system. As such, this paper presents a secure two-factor authentication NFC smartphone access control system using digital key and the proposed Encrypted Steganography Graphical Password (ESGP). This paper also validates the user perception and behavioral intention to use NFC ESGP smartphone access control system through an experiment and user evaluation survey. Results indicated that users weigh security as a dominant attribute for their behavioral intention to use NFC ESGP smartphone access control system. Our findings offer a new insight for security scholars, mobile device service providers and expert systems to leverage on the two-factor authentication with the use of NFC-enabled smartphone.

Age-group differences in Near Field Communication smartphone

Purpose – The purpose of this paper are twofold: first, develop a novel concept of a mobiquitous home application (Near Field Communication Smartphone Entertainment Systems (NFC SES)) with the use of photo interface and NFC smartphone. Second, examine age-group differences in relation to the influence of intuitive, convenience and perceived usefulness on users’ behavioural intention to use NFC SES. Design/methodology/approach – Using design science research, NFC SES is developed and a survey of 52 users is conducted to evaluate NFC SES. Findings – There are age differences in individual behavioural intention to use NFC technology. Convenience appears to be the primary factor for the youths. The adult cohort, in contrast emphasizes intuitive and perceived usefulness as two significant determinants of their behavioural intention to use NFC SES. Practical implications – This study offers a fresh insight for mobile device manufacturer and application developers to focus their design efforts around three aspec...