RESEARCH PAPER ON

IMPLEMENTATION OF
TOTAL QUALITY
MANAGEMENT (TQM)
PRINCIPLES
Abstract:
This study came to investigate the impact of Total Quality management (TQM) practices and
strategies on organizational performance. TQM is defined as a strategy that essentially aimed to establish
and deliver high quality products and services that cover all customers' demands and achieve a high level
of customer satisfaction. This paper discusses the implementation of total quality management in
Pakistan and explores the relationship between the effective implementation and organizational
performance. TQM in Public Office Sector was implemented in three categories of implementation
methods which are; quality control, quality assurance and continuous improvement. The findings
indicate that TQM has two organizational performances, either is TQM practices effect the organizational
performance, or it hinders organizations to achieve their goals in which this will negatively affect the
organizational performance
Abstract:

This study came to investigate the impact of Total Quality management (TQM) practices and
strategies on organizational performance. TQM is defined as a strategy that essentially aimed to establish
and deliver high quality products and services that cover all customers' demands and achieve a high level
of customer satisfaction. This paper discusses the implementation of total quality management in
Public office sector employee and explores the relationship between the effective implementation and
organizational performance. TQM in Public office sector was implemented in three categories of
implementation methods which are;, leadership, employee involvement, Process focus. The findings
indicate that TQM has two organizational performances, either is TQM practices effect the organizational
performance, or it hinders organizations to achieve their goals in which this will negatively affect the
organizational performance.

Introduction

TQM is presented here as one alternative towards a productive and quality service, which can find
appropriate niches to start with in government. Its incremental approach to effecting change largely sets its
difference from reengineering. From this characteristic alone, it may be said that for one, it would not be
necessarily caught in the snag of the legislative mill, and second, • is suggestive of appropriate changes
conscious of existing subcultures in the administrative system.
What is TQM?

Defining total quality management inevitably walks us through its evolution and how it was developed
and adopted by particular nations like Japan and the United States. At the onset, total quality management
was meant mainly for corporations experiencing the dire need to qualitatively improve their production,
especially with the increasing competition vis-a-vis cost effective strategies in the market, and their influence
over the satisfaction and dissatisfaction of customers.

Quality is the key word for the TQM principle, which emphasizes that such value needs to be
inculcated all throughout the organization, whether on products or services, extending from supplier to
customer. Hence the word total. The American Society for Quality Control defines quality as "the totality of
features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs"
(Render and Heizer 1998: 90). One could derive from 'quality' several values that invoke positive intentions
in shaping a more civilized society. For a particular private firm, the importance of quality comes in the form
of increased market share and cost savings. However, aside from ensuring profitability, quality also attributes
responsibility to an organization with respect to any product liability it may produce. In like manner, quality
precedes reputation. While all these aspects may seemingly revolve around firms and corporations, the
overall impact is on the millions of consumers worldwide. In this age of globalization, the international
impression that quality can reach is therefore unlimited.

TQM has gained wide acceptance by a great number of organizations after more than a decade
since its core ideas were advanced by W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran, and Kaoru Ishikawa (Hackman
and Wageman 1995: 309). Like the reengineering movement, TQM has spread out from its industrial origins
to public organizations, nongovernmental organizations, educational institutions, and health care
organizations. Early applications of TQM dates back to the organizational framework designed by Deming
for organizations in the United States after the Second World War and in Japan in the 1950s. They began
institutionalizing their own concepts, though not abandoning Deming's basic philosophy. These concepts are
the ones today's TQM is known for. Some of the more popular concepts, termed in Japanese, are: (1) Kaizen
or the making of continuous improvement, (2) Kanban or Just-In-Time (JIT), and (3) Ishikawa or the Cause-
Effect Diagram.

Kaiz;en literally means "good change" but its essence is really the continuous improvements in
outputs and processes (Roman 1993: 27). Its basic objective is to achieve quality rather than revenues,
further promoting that the latter is just the result of the former. It likewise thrives on the motto that "If it works,
it is obsolete." That is, if something right is done correctly, there must be another way of doing it better - it
could be faster, cheaper, safer (Domingo 1992: 10).

The Kaizen concept drives an organization to develop better outputs to replace their present line,
which may have been already modified by competitors. It represents a process for educating managers and
their staff with perspectives on quality. Hence, TQM works on the assumption that constant improvement in
quality is the key to success. The "quality" banner is interpreted not only as quality of product or service, but
quality in its every manifestation, i.e., quality of work, quality of people, quality of objectives, etc.

TQM considers defects as inefficiencies which if ignored would cost the organization much more had
they been addressed earlier. TQM demonstrates that improvements in quality do not cost more in the long
run, but can indeed reduce costs and lower real prices. Being directed toward client satisfaction, it lives by
the maxim that clients are kings and queens, and are always right. Improvements of quality must be in
consonance with the client's perception of quality and value. In the end, an organization's performance is
measured not only in terms of outputs but also, more importantly, in terms of client satisfaction.

Translating these components into quality management principles, we have:

Effective Leadership.

Deming highlights the importance of good leadership, citing that "80% of quality problems is caused by
management, and 20% by employees" (Domingo 1994: 9). This does not mean downplaying the equally
important role of the employees, but it just stresses where the responsibility of establishing unity of purpose
and direction lies. It is up to the leaders to create an environment that fosters total quality. The operating level
of a company looks up to their leaders for direction and motivation. Thus, leaders are required to promote
open communication and clear organizational vision. If management fails in this responsibility, it is expected
that discontinuities will follow.

Employee Involvement

Employee Involvement refers to the involvement of the entire workforce to guarantee quality of an
organisation’s production/services. It also embodies the external customer as a vital feedback mechanism to
confirm that the product/service meets expectations. In turn, internal customers manage such feedback by
implementing strategies to control for risks and establish standards for quality maintenance. In respect of
policing, a main problem is the hierarchical nature of law enforcement agencies, which can militate against
the free flow of information from the external customer to the internal customer, or indeed information
pertaining to what is happening purely within the organization.

Furthermore, the departmental or precinct level, having encountered a quality issue, may deal with
this on a piecemeal basis rather than reporting the matter to the top management for the development of an
overall strategy to combat the issue.

Workforce motivation is in part, an outcome of organizational culture, and this in itself is a product of
nationality which has a significant effect on behavior within organizations as mentioned earlier when
considering the differences in approach of Japanese workers to that of American and European workers. For
instance, national characteristics determine promotion criteria, and whether merit (performance), seniority,
loyalty or dedication function as the benchmark for reward.

National culture also impacts upon the perceptions of whether a business is successful or not. In this
respect, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which embodies the idea of conducting business ethically,
has become a yardstick by which companies in Western countries evaluate their success, and consequently
the TQM processes reflect the need to meet that objective. Corporate Social Responsibility recognizes a
company’s obligations to all its stakeholders, going beyond its immediate customers.
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