u.c jha, sunand kumar

8/3/2019 U.C Jha, Sunand Kumar

1/13

2010 Oxford Business & Economics Conference Program ISBN : 978-0-9742114-1-9

Critical Success Factors (CSFs) of TQM : A literature review & Analysis

Jha, U.C & Sunand Kumar

Abstract

This paper represents a review of the literature on critical success factors (CSFs) of Total

Quality Management (TQM) and supported by various philosophies of TQM. Such factors areconsidered as conducive to the success of TQM implementation.

Critical Success Factors (CSFs) are internal or external factors that can seriously affect the firmfor better or worse. They provide an early warning system for management and a way to avoidsurprises or missed opportunities. In the context of TQM, it is essential that the organizationsidentify a few key critical success factors, which should be given special attention for ensuring

successful implementation of TQM program.

The present study will guide the researchers in selecting the reliable set of CSFs for empiricalstudies. Industries can benefit by adopting the results of this study for effective implementation ofTQM.

Keywords: TQM; CSF; Implementation; Empirical

Prof. U.C. Jha, Professor & Head, Department of Mechanical Engg., Kanpur Institute of

Technology, Kanpur(UP) India. E Mail: [email protected]

Prof. Sunand Kumar, Department of Mechanical engg., National Institute of Technology,

Hamirpur(HP) India. E Mail: [email protected]

1. INTRODUCTION

June 28-29, 2010St. Hughs College, Oxford University, Oxford, UK

1


2/13


Today, quality management has become one of the important forces leading to organizational

growth and a companys success in national and international markets. To be successful in the marketplace, each part of the organization must workproperlytogether towards the same goals, recognizing that each person and each activity

affects andin turn is affected by others. To improve competitiveness, organizations are lookingfora higher level of effectiveness across all functions and processes and are choosing

TQM as a strategy to stay in business. The increased awareness of senior executives,whohave recognized that quality is an important strategic issue, is reflected as animportantfocus for all levels of the organization. This requires defining and implementingseveral factors (identified as critical factors in this paper).

Many companies are frustrated in their effort to improve quality through TQM because these

companies have exclusively focused on financial measures instead of quality measures . Other

studies, in the recent past also observed the failure of TQM. These failures are due to the toomuch- too soon effort without proper foundation and focus . Manufacturing firms, therefore, need

to understand the TQM CSFs for the successful implementation of TQM. Therefore, there is a

pressing need to establish TQM CSFs for manufacturing firms. This paper examines the TQM

frameworks developed by scholars and businesses and develops the TQM CSFs for

manufacturing firms.

1.1 Understanding Total Quality Management (TQM)

Total Quality Management has many definitions. Gurus of the total quality

management discipline like Deming, Juran, Crosby, Ishikawa and Feigenbaumdefined the concept in different ways but still the essence and spirit remainedthe same. According to Deming, quality is a continuous quality improvementprocess towards predictable degree of uniformity and dependability. Demingalso identified 14 principles of quality management to improve productivityand performance of the organization. Juran defined quality as fitness foruse. According to him, every person in the organization must be involved inthe effort to make products or services that are fit for use. Crosby definesquality as conformance torequirements. His focus has been on zero defects and doing it right the firsttime. Ishikawa alsoemphasized importance of total quality control to improve organizational

performance. According to him quality does not only mean the quality ofproduct, but also of after sales service, quality of management, the companyitself and the human life. Feigenbaum defined total quality as a continuouswork processes, starting with customer requirements and ending withcustomers satisfaction.

Definitions of quality have changed with the passage of time with changingcustomers needs and


2


3/13


requirements. But the essence has more or less been to develop an approachto problem solving,conformation to standards for customer satisfaction. With managementfunctions getting complex, approaches to managing quality in functionalareas are becoming difficult. Organizations, which have successfully use TQMprinciples, have customer and quality embedded in their corporate strategy.

Any organization is a system of interrelated units. For TQM to succeed, all ofthe components within the organization must be collectively involved.Initially, organizations implemented TQM in the hope that improvement in theshop-floor activities would solve all existing productivity and qualityproblems.Later, they have realized that TQM is much more than just shop-floorimprovements. The definitions of quality incorporate factors like topmanagement commitment, leadership, team work, training and development,rewards and recognition, involvement and empowerment of employees etc.

These critical factors are the foundation for transformational orientation tocreate a sustainable improvement culture for competitive advantage on acontinuous basis.

According to Selladurai Raj, TQM interventions or activities must be guided byfour change principles, namely work processes, variability, analysis, andcontinuous improvement. Product design and production processes must beimproved; variance must be controlled to ensure high quality; data must besystematically collected and analyzed in a problem-solving cycle; andcommitment made to continuous learning by the employees about theirwork.

2. SELECTION AND ANALYSIS OF TQM FRAMEWORKS

An extensive literature survey has been carried out to select TQM frameworks for this study. The

relevant literature has revealed that different countries have adopted similar TQM frameworks inthe form of quality awards with a different title. Today, there are more than a hundred quality

awards existing in different countries. However, all these quality awards are basically derived

from three basic and prestigious awards: the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

(MBNQA), the European Quality Award (EQA) and the Deming Prize. This study, therefore,

includes only these three basic awards as TQM frameworks along with other frameworks

developed by scholars. Furthermore, through the study of TQM literature, eleven TQM

frameworks developed by researchers have been selected. In total, fourteen important TQM

frameworks viz. Deming prize, MBNQA, EQA, Saraph et al., Oakland, Flynn et al., Babbar and

Aspelin, Ahire et al., Black and Porter, Pheng and Teo, Ang et al., Zhang et al., Nwabueze and

Thiagarajan et al., were chosen from the TQM literature for the purpose of establishing TQM

CSFs for the construction industry. A detailed analysis of the frameworks with respect to CSFs is

carried out and presented in Table 1 Based on the frequency analysis, the CSFs are prioritised asshown in Table 2.


3


4/13


Table 1: List of CSFs as recommended by various authorsSource: Wali, Deshmukh and Gupta, 2003

Table 1. Analysis of TQM Frameworks

Juran

1974

Ishikawa

1976

Crosby

1979

Feigen-

Baum

1983

Deming

1986

Garvi

n

1987

Sarap

h

et. al.

1989

Lu &

Sohal

1993

Porter

&Parker

1993

Motwani

et. al.

Powe

l

1995

1 x x x x x x x x x x x

2 x x x x x x x x x

3 x x x x x x x x x x

4 x x x x x x x x x

5 x x x x x x x x x x

6 x x x x x x x x

7 x x x x x x

8 x x x x x x

9 x x x x x x x

1

0

x x x

1

1

x x

1

2

x x

1

3

x x

1

4

x x

1

5

x

1

6

x


4


5/13


*Note: 1 - Top management commitment; 2 - Strategic quality management;

3 - Process quality management; 4 - Design quality management; 5 - Education and Training; 6 -

Supplier quality management; 7 - Customer satisfaction; 8 - Employee empowerment andinvolvement; 9 - Business results; 10 - Information and Analysis; 11 - Benchmarking; 12 -

Resources; 13 - Impact on society and environment; 14 - Statistical process control; 15 - Culture.

Table 2. Prioritisation of CSFs

Sr.

No.

Critical Success Factors No. of

studies in

which the

factor was

extracted

No. of

country

categories

in which

the factoris present

1 Top management

commitment and leadership 67 23

2 Customer focus 53 21

3 Information and analysis 53 17

4 Training 50 19

5 Supplier management 47 17

6 Strategic Planning38

16

7 Employee Involvement 32 18

8 Human Resource

Management

26

169 Process management 26 13

10 Teamwork 22 9

11 Product & Service Design21

11

12 Process Control 21 8

13 Benchmarking 16 12

14 Continuous improvement 16 10

15 Employee empowerment 16 6


5


6/13


16 Quality assurance 15 12

17 Social responsibility 10 9

18 Employee satisfaction 9 6

Table 2: Most commonly extracted factors across the 76 studies andthe 23 countriesSource: Sila and Ebrahimpour, 2003

The basic concerns & issues for the Deming Prize is given in Table 3 asbelow:

1. Policy2. Organization and its Management3. Education and Dissemination4. Collection, Dissemination and use of Information on Quality

5. Analysis of Data6. Standardization7. Control8. Quality assurance9. Results10. Planning for the future

Table 3: Broad categories for the Deming Application PrizeSource: Total Quality: Management, Organization & Strategy (1999),Evans & Dean

In an attempt to establish empirically validated factors that influencesuccessfulimplementation of TQM, Black and Porter (1996) have identified ten factorswhich affectsuccessful implementation of TQM. They are:

(i) Corporate quality culture(ii) Strategic quality management(iii) Quality improvement measurement system(iv) People and customer management(v) Operational quality planning(vi) External interface management

(vii) Suppliers partnerships(viii) Teamwork structures(ix) Customer satisfaction orientation(x) Communication of improvement information

An early exploratory attempt to arrive at CSF in the Indian context was madebyMotwani, Mahmoud and Rice (1994) wherein they arrived at nine criticalfactors for


6


7/13


effective management of quality in Indian manufacturing industry. As the TQM literature in India moved from introductory level discussion on TQM(Lakhe & Mohanty 1994) to more robust research work, the emphasis alsoshifted from a mere duplicating of western models of quality to trying todevelop indigenous models. Wali, Deshmukh and Gupta (2003) made areview of various critical success factors which different authors including the

founding fathers of TQM like Deming, Juran, Ishikawa, Crosby, Feigenbaum,and Garvin had recommended. Wali, Deshmukh and Gupta started from theearly work of identification of the critical success factors (CSF) by Saraph,Benson and Schroeder (1989) to the more recent one by Ahire, Golhar andWaller (1996). From there, they attempted to identify the critical successfactors (CSF) for adoption of TQM in the Indian context. Their study claimsthat these CSFs are derived based on actual practices followed by Indianorganizations and it was based on a statistically validated instrument andfactor analysis. It was not based on constructing a priori set of pre-definedCSFs and then matching it with actual practice (Wali, Deshmukh & Gupta2003, p. 12).

The study by Wali, Deshmukh and Gupta (2003) is perhaps the firstcomprehensiveempirical study of quality practices in the Indian context. Thus it isworthwhile to look indetail at the twelve factors identified by them. They are listed below indecreasing order of importance.

3. ESTABLISHMENT OF CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

The frequency analysis shown in Tables 1. and 2. revealed that 13 out of the 14 frameworks

have three CSFs in common: process management, education and training, and customer

satisfaction. The analysis further revealed that 11 out of the 14 frameworks have four CSFs incommon, viz., top management commitment, supplier quality management, employee

empowerment and involvement and information and analysis. The strategic quality management

and design quality management CSFs have their presence in nine and eight frameworks

respectively. Quality culture, CSF, however, occurs only in the Black and Porter framework

(Black and Porter, 1996). However there is ample evidence from the literature on the

culture and success of quality initiatives. For instance, these researchers, Ahire and

Ravichandran (2001), Ambroz (2004), Butch and Rivers (2001), Chan and Tse (2003), Jabnounand Anwar (2002), Jenner et al. (1998), Laszlo (1998), Lewis (1996), Manley (1998), Perry

(1997), Roney (1997), Sinclair and Collins (1994), Waldman and Gopalakrishnan (1996), and

Youssef and Zairi (1995) have all emphasised the importance of organizational culture for the

implementation of quality initiatives in their studies. Culture is more powerful than anything

else in the organization. Culture, ``how we do things around here in order to succeed,'' is anorganization's way of behaving, identity, pattern of dynamic relationships, ``reality,'' or genetic

code (Schneider, 1994). It has everything to do with implementation and how success is actually

achieved. No management idea, no matter how good, will work in practice if it does not fit the

culture. Therefore, quality culture is considered as one of the important CSFs of TQM.

Thus, the examination of of TQM frameworks has revealed that not all the frameworks are

comprehensive, but in many respects these frameworks complement one another. Therefore, a


7


8/13


blending salient feature of these frameworks is the best approach for the establishment of critical

factors for construction quality management.

Therefore, the following ten CSFs have emerged out of the above analysis:

1. Top management commitment

2. Quality culture3. Strategic quality management

4. Design quality management

5. Process management

6. Supplier quality management

7. Education and training

8. Empowerment and involvement

9. Information and analysis

10. Customer satisfaction.

(i) Leadership, Creativity and quality strategy: Successful quality performance

requires that the leadership is dedicated to quality. It must also provideinitiative and resource support. It must enable creativity to be nurtured andaccordingly chalk out the strategy. Given the importance of leadership, it isnot surprising to find that, in all quality awards, leadership issues are placedat the top of the list of criteria. Such leadership will drive quality strategy inan organisation and nurture creativity.

(ii) Worker Manager interaction : This means that healthy interactionbetween worker and manager is important from quality point of view. Themanager provides the direction for improvement and accordingly, workersare motivated to take initiative. In case of anydifficulty, the worker interacts with the manager to improve the situation.

(iii) Results and Recognition : Crosby (1979) considers recognition as one ofthe mostimportant steps of the quality improvement process. The organisation shouldreward theiremployees for their contribution to quality. There should be a quickrecognition system for outstanding performance by the employees. Theserewards may not be purely financial.

(iv) Work culture : The work culture must be very conducive. There should bean activeinteraction amongst the peers and support from supervisors. The critical

importance of the employees involvement in the quality process of anorganisation should be based on the belief that the best process innovationidea comes from the people actually doing the job.

(v) Information and Data management: Information is the critical enabler ofTQM. Thisfactor emphasises that the key processes are regulary measured andquantified. There should be focus on benchmarking which provides a stimilus


8


9/13


for improvement. The facts and information should be made available to all.This is mainly relevant for managing quality costs.

(vi) Customer Focus : Quality should be customer driven. . Employeesshould be wellaware of the concept of internal and external customers. They should care

about meeting and exceeding the customer expectations. There must be afocus on customer feedback and accordingly the process should be driven.(vii) Value and ethics : It is important for the people in an organisation to liveup to thehighest ethical standards. There should be perception of fair treatment to all.

The organization must be guided by the value and ethical standards.

(viii) Communication across the organization: Effective communicationchannels must exist in the organization between various work units. With thehelp of information technology, comunication can be made effective.Effective communication is vital in aligning the workforce towards corporateexpectations.

(ix) Team working: According to Crosby (1979), team work is a criticalelement of TQM.

Teamwork delivers synergistic enhancement of quality efforts. Employeesmust demonstrate cooperative behaviour and positive attitude towardsworking in a team.

(x) Congenial inter personal relations : The atmposphere in the organisationmust behighly congenial to promote active interaction. There must be mutual respectand faithamong employees.

(xi) Delegation and empowerment: In a TQM setting, both delegation andempowerment are required. People must share responsibility for the successor failure of their work.

(xii) Process improvement: Employees must identify opportunities forcontinuousimprovement. If employee involvement is key to the attainment of customersatisfaction,managing the process is key to engaging an organisations employees totake responsibilities for what they are doing in relation to satisfying thecustomers.

5. CONCLUSION

The analysis of fourteen of the most prominent TQM frameworks has revealed that out of

fifteen CSFs, nine CSFs, are common in most of the frameworks. The analysis further pointed out

that none of the frameworks are comprehensive. Apart from the Black and Porter framework,


9


10/13


quality culture CSF does not exist in other frameworks even though there is ample evidence in

the literature on the culture and success of quality initiatives. Using the nine common CSFs and

the quality culture CSF, ten TQM CSFs are proposed for constuction firms, namely, top

management commitment, quality culture, strategic quality management, design quality

management, process management, supplier quality management, education and training,empowerment and involvement, information and analysis, and customer satisfaction. These CSFs

presented act as a guide for constructionorganizations contemplating a TQM initiative.

REFERENCES

1. Ambroz, M. (2004). Total quality system as a product of

the empowered corporate culture. The TQM Magazine, Vol. 16.No. 2, pp. 93-104.

2. Ang, C. L., Davies, M. and Finlay, P N.( 2000).

Measures to assess the impact of information technology on


10


11/13


quality management, International Journal of Quality andReliability Management, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 42-65.

3. Babbar, S. and Aspelin, D. (1994). J. TQM it is as easy

as ABC. The TQM magazine, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 32-38.

4. Black, S. And Porter, L. (1996). Identification of criticalfactors of TQM.Decision Sciences, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 1-21.

5. Brah, S.A.; Tee, S.S.L. and Rao, B. M. (2002), Relationship

between TQM and performance of Singapore companies,

International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol.19 No. 4, pp. 356-379.

6. Culp, G., Smith, A., and Abbott, J. (1993). Implementing TQM

in consulting engineering firm. J. Management in Engineering,Vol.9, No. 4, pp. 340-356.

7. Flynn, B., Schoeder, R. and Sakibaba, S. S. (1994). Aframework for quality management research and associated

measurement instrument. Journal of Operations Management,Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 339-366.

8. Harjeev, K., Sharma, D.D. and Sharma, R.(2007).

Critical Success Factors for Implementation of TQM in the

Indian Manufacturing Industry. The Icfai Journal of Operation

Management, Vol.6, No. 3, pp. 46-58.

9. Jha, U.C., (2009) Competitiveness of Indian

Manufacturing Industry : An Empirical Analysis in

Manufacturing Technology Today (under Publication).

10. Jha, U.C. and Sunand Kumar (2008) Impact of TQM

on firms performance : An Empirical Analysis of Indian

Manaufacturing Industry at 12th International SOMConference , Indian Institute of Technology , Kanpur

11. Jha, U.C., (2006) Measuring the Competitiveness of

Indian Manufacturing Industry at Summit on IndianManufacturing Competitiveness , Indian School of Business ,

Hyderabad

12. Jha, U.C., (2004) World Class Manufacturing An Indian

Perspective at National Conference of Mechanical Engg.(COMET), Institute of Technology , BHU (India)

12. Kaynak, H. (2003), The relationship between total quality

management practices and their effects on firm performance,

Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 21, pp. 405435.


11


12/13


12. Elvin B. Hendricks and V. R. Singhal (2001a), Firm

characteristics, total quality management, and financial

performanceJournal of Operations Management, Vol. 19 No.3,pp 269-285.

13. Laszlo, G. P.(1998). Implementing a quality

management program-3 Cs of success: commitment, culture,cost. The TQM Magazine, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp.281-287.

14. Lewis, D. (1996). The organizational culture saga - from

OD to TQM: a critical review of the literature. Part 2 -

applications.J. Leadership and Organization Development, Vol.17, No. 2, pp. 9-16.

15. Motwani, J., Ashok K., Mohamed, A.Y. and Essam M.

(1997), Forecasting quality of Indian manufacturing

organizations : An exploratory analysis, Total QualityManagement, Vol. 8 No.6, pp. 361-374.

16. Oakland, J.S. (1993). Total Quality Management: The

Route to Improving Performance. Butterworth-HienmanLimited, Oxford, pp. 128 157.

17. Rao, S.S., Raghu-Nathan, T.S. and Solis, L.E. (1997), A

comparative study of quality practices and results in India,

China and Mexico, Journal of Quality Management, Vol. 2,

pp. 235-250.

18. Rao, S.S., Solis, L.E. and Raghunathan, T.S. (1999), A

framework for international quality management research:

development and validation of a measurement instrument, TotalQuality Management, Vol. 10 No. 7, pp. 1047-1075.

19. Samson, D. and Terziovski, M. (1999), The relationship between

total quality management practices and operational performance,

Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 17, pp. 393-409.

20. Saraph, J. V., George Benson, P., and Shroeder, R. G.

(1989). An instrument for measuring the critical factors of

quality management. Decision sciences, Vol. 20, No.4, pp. 811-

829.

21. Thiagarajan, T., Zairi, M. and Dale, B.G. (2001). Aproposed model of TQM implementation based on an empirical

study of Malaysian industry. International Journal of Qualityand Reliability Management, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 289-306

22. Wali; Deshmukh and Gupta (2003). Critical success

factors of TQM: a select study of Indian organizations.

Production Planning & Control, Volume 14, Issue 1, pages 3 - 14


12
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713737146~db=allhttp://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713737146~db=all~tab=issueslist~branches=14#v14http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713737146~db=allhttp://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713737146~db=all~tab=issueslist~branches=14#v14


13/13


23. Youssef, M. A., and Zairi, M. (1995). Benchmarking

critical factors for TQM part-II empirical results from different

parts of the world. J. Benchmarking for Quality Managementand Technology, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 3-19.

24. Zhang, Z., Waszink, A. and Wijngaard, J. (2000). An

instrument for measuring TQM implementation for Chinesemanufacturing companies. International Journal of Quality and

Reliability Management, Vol. 17, No. 7, pp. 730-755.


13

u.c jha, sunand kumar

Documents