The Six Sigma programme has recently gained popularity throughout the world. There are a number of claims of its successes as well as failures. Successful claims are mostly supported in the ...literature with the popular case studies of Motorola, GE, and some other American companies. Based on the popularity of these success stories, many companies started implementation of this programme. Some did it successfully while many failed to achieve the desired results. This paper explores and analyses the critical success and failure factors of implementing Six Sigma in organisations based on lessons drawn from real life practices and case studies, as well as available literature. The paper also draws useful conclusions and recommendations for strategists, CEO's and quality managers on how to effectively implement Six Sigma.
Purpose
This paper aims to empirically investigate how structural barriers affect the relationship between total quality management (TQM) practices implementation and organizational performance in ...service industries.
Design/methodology/approach
This research hypothesized the moderation effect of structural barriers on the relationship between TQM practices implementation and organizational performance. A questionnaire was adopted to collect data form 153 Egyptian service companies. Moderated regression analysis was used to test the study hypothesis.
Findings
The empirical analysis suggests that structural barriers partially moderate the relationship between TQM practices implementation and organizational performance. The analysis reveals that the effect of Quality Improvement, Process Improvement, External and Internal Relations and Employee Development – being as TQM dimensions – on performance is moderated by structural barriers. While the results provided insufficient evidence on the moderating effect of structural barriers on the relationship between both Performance Management – being as a TQM dimension – and performance.
Research limitations/implications
This research presents a new perspective for researches to understand the TQM–Performance relationship in the light of the contingency theory. However, the adopted sampling technique and the small sample size might limit the generalizability of the research findings.
Practical implications
This study provides useful insights for service organizations about the necessity of developing suitable structural platform for supporting their TQM efforts to boost their performance which, in turn, improves their competitiveness.
Originality/value
This research proposed and empirically validated how structural barriers play a significant role as moderators to the relationship between TQM implementation and organizational performance within service organizations context.
Total Quality Management (TQM) is recognised for emphasising customer needs and contributing to organisations' efficiency and effectiveness through process orientation and continuous improvement. ...Previous research has highlighted the risk that TQM might impede firms' ability to innovate and quickly adapt to changes, especially in rapidly changing environments. However, other researchers have concluded that some of the best practices of innovation management could be recognised as TQM elements. A recurring issue concerns the conceptualisation of TQM that is contributing to ambiguity, as there are various definitions. The question of whether TQM supports innovation or not is, therefore, unsettled. The purpose of this paper was to compare Organisational Characteristics for Continuous Innovation (OCCI) in rapidly changing industries with key TQM Principles in order to discuss the relationship between TQM and continuous innovation. The OCCI used for the comparison have been generated through an empirical study of Google in combination with a literature review of research on continuous innovation in fast-changing environments. A comparison with the OCCI reveals that there are many similarities with TQM principles but also some distinct differences, for example, in terms of orientation towards innovation. While TQM has become closely related to process orientation, OCCI are more related to semi-structure and ambidexterity. The conclusion is that TQM needs to change in order to also support continuous innovation. In order for TQM to contribute both to continuous improvement and continuous innovations, a partly new management paradigm is needed. However, even if TQM is changed, the brand 'TQM' is still associated with 'quality' and 'continuous improvement'. A re-branding strategy might, therefore, be necessary.
Balancing global integration and local responsiveness (I-R) is becoming critical for multinational enterprises (MNEs). In considering information technology's (IT's) supporting role for I-R, an ...in-depth case study of a leading Taiwanese global network manufacturer was conducted. A virtuous cycle model with dual fit was developed to link the research in I-R and IT governance mechanisms to achieve the MNEs' global strategy and respond agilely to the environmental change. Practical arrangements and critical mechanisms were derived to develop the dual fit model, which explores factors like structure redesign and value-creation modular design as structural arrangements. In addition, three critical mechanisms to achieve the dual fit model, including organisational configuration design, modular structure reconfiguration design, and adaptive IT co-management were suggested, consistent with total quality management key principles. Since few studies report the practices of achieving I-R and how IT governance should adjust simultaneously, this study made a contribution to knowledge in the subject area.
This article presents the findings of a study which examined the relationship between people-related elements of total quality management (TQM) practices and employees' job satisfaction. Data were ...collected from 201 employees across 23 organisations in Victoria, Australia. Using structural equation modelling (SEM), TQM was operationalised as a second-order latent variable measured by five first-order factors (top management commitment, empowerment, training, involvement and teamwork) and job satisfaction was also operationalised as a second-order latent variable measured by two first-order factors (internal work satisfaction and high growth satisfaction). The findings support the validity of modelling TQM as a hierarchical, second-order latent construct and demonstrate its strong relationship with job satisfaction. This study highlights the importance of people-related aspects of TQM in predicting job satisfaction. This study differentiates itself from others on the similar topic in terms of the analytical method used which provides a stronger case for the holistic view of TQM practices in organisations.
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implementation of hoshin kanri as a novel alternative system to balanced scorecard (BSC) for deploying corporate social responsibility (CSR) ...strategies. Hoshin kanri stems from the total quality management (TQM) world and it is usually employed for strategies related to such fields. Design/methodology/approach - This research is based on multiple case studies from private sectors. In particular, a qualitative inquiry among ten large manufacturing companies has been carried out. The inquiry is based on document review as well as unstructured interviews. The companies have implemented hoshin kanri for at least five years in all the plants. Findings - The paper demonstrates the full suitability of hoshin kanri for CSR strategies. Hoshin kanri is more flexible than BSC and CSR objectives can be managed at the same level as financial and market ones. A particular hoshin kanri process called "catchball" creates a large consensus and involvement of the staff and management. Moreover it has been found that managers and employee are supposed to manage CSR measures day-by-day with a strong sense of urgency when daily CSR measures do not perform well, reinforcing the value of pursuing an effective CSR implementation and performance measurement. Research limitations/implications - This research is based on a limited sample of ten private case studies. Furthermore BSC analysis is mainly based on what other studies have investigated on it. TQM researchers should carry out a quantitative survey in order to understand if these results can be generalised and validated as hypotheses. Practical implications - Practitioners are now informed and aware of the prospect of using a different system for deploying and managing CSR strategies; the discussion of the results shows them examples and a model in this sense. Originality/value - For the first time a research has compared in the private sector two important strategic systems, BSC and the TQM hoshin kanri, regarding their suitability of use for CSR strategies. In particular there is no trace in the literature of an in-depth analysis of hoshin kanri applied in CSR context.
The purpose of this paper is to examine how the implementation of quality management and total quality management (TQM) particularly contributes to organisational change, and to analyse the impact of ...integration of TQM and of a balanced scorecard (BSC) into a new management model and into the effectiveness of an organisation. The paper adopts a descriptive longitudinal case study, and deals with the implementation of innovative management frameworks in a Portuguese government agency. The study was built on quality management/business excellence and on performance measurement systems (PMS)/BSC literature. The main findings of the paper show that a new management model of the organisation, based on a quality management programme (particularly TQM), and on a performance measurement programme (basically a BSC) proved to be efficient. Moreover, evidence shows that TQM contributed to organisational change and to increase of financial performance. The paper contributes to the literature on quality management by highlighting the role of quality management and TQM as important tools to help organisations to change and to improve efficiency and financial performance. It also contributes to show that organisations can integrate successfully quality management and PMS/BSC, which is a topic slightly investigated within scientific literature. Furthermore, it covers a government agency where few practical situations have been studied. These implications are important for academics and for practitioners.
According to the literature, quality management consists of a series of critical components that have a purpose. This study test the impact of the "Soft" TQM aspects on the business performance of ...startups. To make it better understood by startup owners, construction models were made to show the situation of 171 startups in Surabaya regarding these elements. To achieve this goal, a literature review and a survey were conducted on 171 startups in two categories: technology and non-technology startups. The results of this study reflect that start-up companies must consider factual approaches, such as considering the quality of suppliers and the processes in them. The study also found that startups began to consider the needs of consumers rather than only focusing on an innovative dynamic solution as their main goal. This study shows the elements in the "Soft" aspects of TQM that are important to be maintained and made continuous improvements by the startups so that they have a competitive advantage.
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