Enablers for Implementation of TQM practices

In today’s intensely dynamic market, achieving quality in product and satisfaction among customer are two main critical benchmarks for organization’s sustainability. To retain their business in this competitive world, many organizations have looked upon implementing TQM practices as an effective method to have high-quality goods and services [1]. Total quality management (TQM) is termed to be an integrated management methodology which eventually focuses on continuously improving processes, resources & strategies in order to meet customer needs. 

Irrespective of any industry or sector, TQM is being implemented by public or private sector organizations as well, in order to satisfy customer needs more effectually. Successful businesses have realized that customer loyalty has a strong effect on their bottom line and as a result, implementing a quality culture will boost competitiveness. Creating an ecosystem that fosters a quality culture necessitates a formal, systemic approach. Most organizations, however, are having difficulty in implementing TQM because they do not follow the goals and principles of TQM [2]. Following are the prominent enablers which are responsible for successful TQM implementation which will aid in bringing the process in full circle.

Figure 1: Enablers for TQM implementation

Top Management Commitment

One of the main elements considered for TQM implementation is Top management commitment as it is considered to be an essential element for safeguarding implementation of TQM. Also, in order to demonstrate the availability of tangible measures, top-level management support is needed. Direct presence of top management speeds up decision-making and facilitates the TQM journey[3].

Communication

A good input and communication mechanism are important for communicating ideas to management. A communication paradigm reduces uncertainty and fear, allowing TQM to be applied more quickly.  Direct communication among workers & managers, as well as face-to-face communication, are the most effective modes of communication [2].

Customer Focus

Customer focus refers to the extent that a business takes to make satisfied customer. One of the most important aspects of TQM is the emphasis on the consumer, since consumers enable organizations to survive. A good company recognizes the importance of identifying the consumer first at all times in order to fully ascertain their needs [4].

Employee Involvement

Employee involvement is a method of allowing employees at all levels of the company to partake in management decision-making and development practices. TQM can be implemented effectively if the workforce is committed and has the necessary skills. As a result, all workers, from the top down, must be empowered to take ownership of their work and collaborate efficiently in order to improve quality at all levels. [5].

Training

Training is a vital element that aids in the pursuit of quality growth. Increased participation entails greater accountability, which necessitates a higher degree of competence, which can only be attained by training. Quality training entails training of employees as well as assisting them in expanding their expertise and providing information about the chore, goal, and organizational structure in order for them to learn skills thereby improving Quality [6].

Teamwork

Teamwork will bring the entire organization’s workforce together to achieve quality management results. Working a team would enable businesses to find effective solutions to challenges as they will feel free to communicate with each other openly [4].

As a result, the success of organizations is determined by their management plan for identifying, classifying, analyzing, and reacting to the most successful solution. Despite the fact that TQM incorporation results in a broad variety of organizational improvements, many organizations have yet to follow this strategy. Also, more researchers have classified the essential success factors for implementation of TQM practices in different sectors, but still the researchers are attempting to improve the results of previous studies.

References

[1]      A. P. Anil and S. K.P., “TQM practices and its performance effects – an integrated model,” Int. J. Qual. Reliab. Manag., vol. 36, no. 8, pp. 1318–1344, Sep. 2019, doi: 10.1108/IJQRM-10-2018-0266.

[2]   M. T. Al Nahyan and S. F. Abdel All, “Key Enablers of Effective Implementation of TQM in Royal Jet Airways,” Adv. Decis. Sci., vol. 2017, pp. 1–10, Sep. 2017, doi: 10.1155/2017/3197585.

[3]  T. Van TRANG and Q. H. DO, “Critical Success Factors of TQM Implementation in Vietnamese Supporting Industries,” J. Asian Financ. Econ. Bus., vol. 7, no. 7, pp. 391–401, Jul. 2020, doi: 10.13106/jafeb.2020.vol7.no7.391.

[4]   N. Virmani and R. N. Yadav, “Key Enablers for Effective Implementation of TQM In Indian Manufacturing Industries,” IJITE, vol. 24, no. 2, 2016, [Online]. Available: https://www.ijite.com/citations/IJITE_24021602.pdf.

[5]  S. Georgiev and S. Ohtaki, “Critical success factors for TQM implementation among manufacturing SMEs,” Benchmarking An Int. J., vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 473–498, Sep. 2019, doi: 10.1108/BIJ-01-2019-0037. [6]        N. M. Salleh et al., “Critical success factors of total quality management implementation in higher education institution: UTM case study,” 2018, p. 020007, doi: 10.1063/1.5080060.