Threats and Commitment on Total Quality Management Implementation - Literature review Example

Total Quality Management Literature Review Name Instructor Course Date Total Quality Management Literature Review The search for the means of production that would lead to quality products triggered the minds of various philosophers into thinking about quality control mechanisms. Indeed, the quality control strategies enabled organizations to create value for the products in the bid to satisfy their customers in turn gain competitive edge. However, total quality management (TQM) has been defined differently by various scholars and philosophers. TQM works toward enhancing the quality of work and satisfying employer through participation, commitment and consequently the image of the organization. It builds a culture of participation where employees take part in decision-making concerning their work. TQM also delights customers internally and externally in the bid to achieve, the expectations continually as it involve everyone in the quality improvements on all the products through problem solving methodology. The various literary works by various philosophers provides ample information regarding TQM definition and threats upon its implementation. Golhar et al defined TQM as philosophies of the expertise that contributed to the acquisition of knowledge quality management reasoning with the aim of integrating all the functions to focus on meeting and surpassing the expectations, requirements and the objectives of the organization[Gol95]. From this definition, the working teams are expected to embrace knowledge management techniques in the integration of the entire organization’s operations to meet the maximum quality production. In this context, the ideas are surrounded with the attempts to develop a culture of participation of the task force teams in their respective areas of expertise. Therefore, the implementation of TQM in an organization based on this philosophy involves the commitment of top leadership to allow autonomy to the subordinate employees to make decisions affecting their areas of specialization. The quality improvement was aligned with the need to produce low-cost products in the bid to establish and maintain competitive advantage over the other companies. Companies started to prioritize the needs of the customers tied to the products meeting and even going beyond their expectations. Literary work concerning TQM written by John defined TQM in different perspectives from other philosophers. TQM involve continuous programmes that help in solving of problems on the activities undertaken by the work place teams, organizational structure, statistical control, quality assessment, identification of customers and extensive training[Joh00]. The implications of the definition are that the companies that embrace the use of TQM in this context enjoy benefits concerning the improved quality products and more competitive costs. The quality of the products is based on the ability of TQM to enhance the performance of the employees and the organizational flexibility to change for the achievement of the TQM strategy implementation. In this context, the implementation of TQM depends on the flexibility of the organizational structure and the employees to adopt changes in the production of quality products. In the same point, the flexibility allows the organization to change in terms of costs of production and in turn sustain quality products. Due to the decline in quality goods and services production George et al proposed that TQM is an integrated strategy, management practices and organizational results to develop quality organization with ability to to continually improve and sustain performance[Geo03]. It is evident from the definition that organization suffered a decline of quality and market share shrinks because of failure in strategies and practices to enhance maintenance of quality products. In this context, the organizational performance is connected to the internal and external human resource performance. The definition implies that the entire process involving TQM aim at improving the organizational performance thus embraced by various managers to enable the build and sustain competitive edge. However, the program has limitation on the implementation because of the difference in the directions of measures regarding performance of the organization. However, about the TQM implementation and benefits to organizations cannot be actually measured in terms of productivity, profitability and quality. Therefore, the implementation of TQM in organizations is hampered by the difficulties to replicate and yield positive outcomes. Danielle et al are the proponents of the philosophy that TQM is an integrated management philosophy involving the sets of principles and practices that continually advocate for improvement, meeting customers’ needs as well as allowing an organization to carry out its production activities in the right manner in the first attempt[Dan13]. The review provides the insight that there are difficulties in assessing the efficacy of TQM because of the challenge in defining the processes that fall under the TQM. The variability of the results from benchmarking and evaluations fail to give required tenets to solve customers’ needs. In this context, TQM work toward achieving the measurability of the expected results on the top of the completion of the processes. However, the process success is subject to the involvement of leaders in the organization on the activities of the task force. In addition, the TQM model in this definition involves incorporation of additional management approaches for improvement process to be successful. However, according to Juran et al TQM entails the set of goals that ensure the identification the customers and the customer’s needs[Jur10]. From this perspective, the quality control evaluates the performance; compare it with the goals and adaption of the best quality control mechanisms. To support their idea, the authors pinpointed that there are tenets that determines the progress and success of TQM implementation and positive impacts on the products quality. The tenets are built on the ability to select and establish the appropriate infrastructure, identify the project and the task force required to accomplish the organizational objectives. The determination of the customers and their needs culminates into the development of the products that satisfy the needs that is achieved thorough the creation of awareness of chances to improve. The key areas on the achievement of the process involve robust training, provision of adequate resources and communication of the progress rated appropriately. TQM is not final in any organization but a continuous journey toward improvement. TQM is the platform for improving personal performance and effectiveness to enhance alignment as well as focus on individual efforts in the entire organization[Man10]. The definition means that the process involve the human resource and quantitative methods to improve materials and services to an organization, entire processes in an organization and the degree in which the customer needs are currently addressed and in future. In this context, TQM manages the quality of management as well as the management of quality in an organization. The drawbacks in the implementation of TQM culminate into lack of competitiveness, declining production capability and inadequate leadership for organizational transformation. Threats and Commitment on TQM Implementation Organization encounters the threat of reduced market share and the limited customer loyalty as well as the distorted perception concerning the products[Chr03]. The number of the opinions presented by the respondents on the questionnaire indicated the decline of the market and the customer response. N= 231 of the stakeholders who reflected on the challenging affecting the organization. From the questionnaire, 87% of the participants strongly agree on the statement on decline of both customer and market while 07% were neutral and 3% disagreed. To counteract the reported results from the questionnaire that the organization has failed in services provision and quality of the products, the organization management needs to incorporate the human resource, leadership skills, develop team working and establish flexible culture. Despite the efforts by TQM to improve service quality and reduce costs to win the trust from customers, the customer’s strong perception of inferior services and products leads to shrinking market share. The failure of the quality improvement in the bid to satisfy the needs of the customers for the creation of the competitive advantage has influenced the loyalty of the customer. The market share of the organization has been shrinking over the last few tears while that of the others has been increasing gradually[Aid02]. From the questionnaire conducted from the organization, the performance of the top management influence the performance of the subordinate employees. The reduced contact of the managers with the employees culminated into reduced market share[Joi05]. The value of the products form the organization has greatly failed to attain the required threshold to meet the requirements of the customers. In this context, the other organizations capitalize on the use of the TQM strategies to ensure improvement of products. On the other hand, while inadequacy in leadership leads to decline in the employees and organization performance, successful implementation of TQM, proper training of the teams, customer-oriented focus, unfailing top management support and process management improve the quality and in turn market share. The quality of the products enhances the perception of the products as superior or inferior. The products from the organizations have declined in terms of customer’s perception basing the low quality as the reason for the declined popularity. Customers strongly supported the motion on the inferiority of the organization products. The rating from the customers proves that the products improvement has not been achieved because of the stagnation on the implementation of TQM[Des10]. The questionnaire associated the inferiority of the organization products with the barriers to the implementation of TQM to guide the production process. The inability to measure the improvement on products contributed to the wrong perception from the customers. However, the commitment to establish the equilibrium between the customer’s perception and the quality improvement include the integration of Information Technology and execution of the quality improvement programs. The organization CEO is committed to the implementation of TQM on daily basis regarding the change of organizational behaviors and making of informed decisions. Conclusion The paper aimed at reviewing the impacts of TQM on the performance of organization in profitability, productivity, market share, customer trust and competitive advantage. However, the implementation of TQM faces barriers thus reducing the functionability of the work teams. TQM cannot work successfully without the intervention of other tenets such as human resource, motivation and technology in enhancing culture that is flexible in changing for improvement. The variability of the results from benchmarking and evaluations fail to give required tenets to solve customers’ needs. The processes are maintained and results communicated through regular systems and processes improvement at a given interval. TQM is concerned with the integration of the efforts of the expertise and task force to ensure quality improvement, quality development and quality maintenance to achieve the expectations of the consumers in all levels of economy. TQM works toward enhancing the quality of work and satisfying employer through participation, commitment and consequently the image of the organization. It builds a culture of participation where employees take part in decision-making concerning their work. References Gol95: , (Golhar, Landeros, & Ahire, 1995), Joh00: , (John, 2000), Geo03: , (George, Rajendran, & Anantharaman, 2003), Dan13: , (Danielle, Jill, & Courtney, 2013), Jur10: , (Juran, Deming, & Crosby, 2010), Man10: , (Mansi & Schacht, 2010), Chr03: , (Christopher, 2003), Aid02: , (Aidan, Helen, & Daniel, 2002), Joi05: , (Joiner, 2005), Des10: , (Desai, 2010), Read More