Identification of Critical Success Factors for Total Quality

Management Implementation in Organizations: A Critical Review

Rashid Jehangiri

(This critical review is a permutation of articles published in 1998 to 2014. References to articles
are mentioned at the end)

TQM is described as a collective, interlinked system of quality practices that is associated with
organizational performance and customer satisfaction (Choi & Eboch, 1998; Karuppusami &
Gandhinathan, 2006; Seetharaman, Sreenivasan, & Boon, 2006). Some authors have argued that
TQM has little to do with the actual improvement of performance and some view TQM as a fad
(Choi & Eboch, 1998). Total quality management (TQM) principles and techniques are now a
well-accepted part of almost every manager's “tool kit” (Motwani, 2001). According to Choi &
Eboch (1998) TQM is a pathway to organizational performance and customer satisfaction. There
are four areas of management practices within the TQM system to assess: management of
process quality, human resources management, strategic quality planning, and information and
analysis. An integrated TQM can be viewed as a composite of the following seven constructs i.e.
top management commitment; quality measurement and benchmarking; process management;
product design; employee training and empowerment; supplier quality management and
customer involvement and satisfaction (Motwani, 2001). TQM is a proven systematic approach
to the improvements of the organisation's overall business process, including quality of products
and services (Lau & Idris, 2001; Karuppusami & Gandhinathan, 2006; Seetharaman,
Sreenivasan, & Boon, 2006). The transformation to a TQM organization depends on the extent to
which firms successfully implement certain quality management practices (Lau & Idris, 2001).
TQM practices include top management support; customer relationship, supplier relationship,
workforce management, quality information, product/service design, and process management
(Zu, Robbins, & Fredendall, 2009). CSFs are those which are critical to success of any
organization in the sense that, if objectives associated with the factors are not achieved, the
organization will fail perhaps catastrophically. CSFs represent the essential ingredients without
which a project stands little chance of success (Coronado & Antony, 2002). Critical success
factor are: the role of management leadership and quality policy, supplier management, process
management, customer focus, training, employee relations, product = service design, quality
data, role of quality department, human resource management and development, design and
conformance, cross functional quality teams, bench marking and information and analysis
(Karuppusami & Gandhinathan, 2006; Nicholas, 2014). Improving the quality of products and
services is fundamental to a firm’s business success. In an attempt to improve quality, firms have
pursued many continuous improvement programs, most notably total quality management and
more recently, Six Sigma (Zu, Robbins, & Fredendall, 2009). According to Coronado & Antony
(2002) six sigma is defined as a business improvement strategy used to improved business
profitability, drive out waste’ to reduce cost of poor quality and to improve the effectiveness and
efficiency of all the operations, so as to meet or even exceed the customers’ needs and
expectations. Six Sigma principles and methods involve six sigma role structure, Six Sigma
structured improvement procedure, and Six Sigma focus on metrics (Zu, Robbins, & Fredendall,
2009). The definitions of both quality and TQM have been debated for many years by quality
management researchers and a number of definitions have emerged (Sila & Ebrahimpour, 2003).
Many firms have found that adding a six-sigma program to their current business gives them all,
or almost all, of the elements of a TQM program (Karuppusami & Gandhinathan, 2006).
However, there is still no universal agreement on these definitions. Quality management consists
of a set of components: critical factors, tools, techniques and practices (Tarı, 2005). TQM is
rather than a mere set of factors, a network of interdependent components, a management system
consisting of critical factors, techniques and tools (Tarı, 2005). TQM is much more than a
number of critical factors; it also includes other components, such as tools and techniques for
quality improvement (Tarı, 2005). Many firms are focusing on TQM as a means of improving
profits, market share and competitiveness (Seetharaman, Sreenivasan, & Boon, 2006).

Historically, the on-going debate over the various definitions of quality and their implications
for manufacturing and service industries is further complicated by the lack of a widely accepted
definition and an implementation framework for TQM (Sila & Ebrahimpour, 2003). Some
authors focused on the technical and programmatic properties of TQM, while others look at the
general management philosophy so there was the broad range of approaches used by various
TQM authors (Motwani, 2001). One of the biggest differences between six sigma and TQM is
that previous philosophies focused on fixing the problem and did not worry about the cost
(Coronado & Antony, 2002). The research by various authors shows both strengths and
weaknesses of TQM, for none of them offers the solutions to all the problems encountered by
firms (Tarı, 2005).

Previous studies show, organization wide change often goes against the strong values held dears
by members in the organization, that is, the change may go against how members believe things
should be done. This behavior can be the result of different facts i.e. technical, political,
individual and organizational (Coronado & Antony, 2002). Although there is some agreement
over which factors constitute TQM, different studies still produced different sets of TQM factors,
which may have arisen from certain differences in the definitional or methodological approaches
taken by various researchers (Sila & Ebrahimpour, 2003). Six Sigma cannot be treated as yet
another stand-alone activity. It requires adherence to a whole philosophy rather than just a usage
a few tools and techniques of quality improvement (Coronado & Antony, 2002). Management
leadership, training, employees’ participation, process management, planning and quality
measures for continuous improvement are some common issues that was observed (Tarı, 2005).
Several organizations failed in their campaigns because of many reasons like lack of top
management commitment, ignoring customers etc. (Seetharaman, Sreenivasan, & Boon, 2006).
TQM is a sure bet to reverse poor performance, but when it did not yield the expected results, it
was deemed a failure (Seetharaman, Sreenivasan, & Boon, 2006). Four major areas where
management can show their support on the TQM implementations are allocation of budget and
resources, control through visibility, monitoring progress, organizational change (Seetharaman,
Sreenivasan, & Boon, 2006). CSFs can be defined as the critical areas which organization must
accomplish to achieve its mission by examination and categorization of their impacts. Thus, in
the current study they can be viewed as those things that must go right in order to ensure the
successful implementation of TQM (Salaheldin, 2009).

Problems identified in previous studies shows, lack of management commitment and

management understanding on quality, lack of awareness on the benefits of TQM
implementation in the organization, Inadequate knowledge of TQM and improper understanding
of the measurement techniques that are used to measure the effectiveness of TQM
implementation, lack of clarity in the guideline, implementation plan and implementation
methods, lack of understanding about the positive results of continuous improvement and
ignoring the importance of customers (Seetharaman, Sreenivasan, & Boon, 2006). TQM
implementations fail because of lack of senior management participation, lack of vision and
planning, lack of clarity in measurement systems/lack of real business measurable and lack of
real people involvement (Nicholas, 2014). Choosing a proper time period for examining the
performance is the critical issues in linking TQM to financial performance. A lack of research
with regard to some critical factors of TQM implementation e.g. employees satisfaction, product
design and building teams and solving problems, and this could be due to the fact that these
factors are related to any new managerial approach such as JIT and ERP, not necessarily to TQM
only (Salaheldin, 2009). There is little synergy developed between these three fields and few
empirical evidences focusing on the relationship between TQM, learning orientation and market
performance (Lam, Lee, Ooi, & Lin, 2011). Organizational lack of information and data on the
critical success factors are an obstacle in implementing TQM effectively and successfully (Lau
& Idris, 2001).

Critical analysis shows, implementing TQM is a major organizational change that requires a
transformation in the organization's culture, processes, strategic priorities, and beliefs, among
others (Motwani, 2001). A study on the critical success factors of TQM implementation is
needed because there appears to be a wide variation in TQM results (Lau & Idris, 2001).
Relationship between the soft elements of critical success factors on TQM tangible effects
influences by soft elements activities such as culture, trust, teamwork, employment continuity,
education and training, top management leadership for quality and continuous improvement,
employee involvement and customer satisfaction (Lau & Idris, 2001). To make good use of
personnel is difficult, but it is an issue that is required and must be overcome (Lau & Idris,
2001). Upper management, organization infrastructure, training and statistical tools as the major
components for a successful six sigma implementation (Coronado & Antony, 2002). A
communication plan is important in order to involve the personnel with the six sigma initiative
by showing them how it works, how it is related to their jobs and the benefits from it. By doing
this, resistance to change can be reduced (Coronado & Antony, 2002). CSFs of TQM are latent
variables and cannot be measured directly. For example, top management commitment to quality
is a CSF that cannot be measured directly. However, when top management is committed to
quality, adequate resources will be allocated to quality improvement efforts. Thus, allocation of
adequate resources to quality improvement efforts can be one of the manifestations of top
management commitment to quality (Karuppusami & Gandhinathan, 2006). There is a lack of a
well-established framework to identify CSFs and guide researchers (Karuppusami &
Gandhinathan, 2006). The effectiveness of TQM implementation involves defining and
deployment of several key elements. They include both the “soft” aspects of leadership,
employee empowerment culture and the “hard” aspects which include the systems, improvement
tools and techniques (Seetharaman, Sreenivasan, & Boon, 2006). Top management commitment
was the most important success factor whereas training and education is the most critical factor
(Seetharaman, Sreenivasan, & Boon, 2006). Weaknesses identified were lack of awareness of
quality at the management level and lack of employee involvement. Many of the criticisms
associated with TQM were the result of improper implementation (Seetharaman, Sreenivasan, &
Boon, 2006; Karuppusami & Gandhinathan, 2006). Several critical issues which may improve
the possibility for successful implementation of TQM have identified i.e. the importance of
management commitment and management understanding of quality, understanding of TQM
guidelines, methods and implementation plan, the benefits of TQM implementation,
understanding of TQM philosophy and its measurement techniques, understanding that
customers are key to the organizational success, understanding the importance of continuous
improvement and incorporating it into the system (Seetharaman, Sreenivasan, & Boon, 2006).
CSFs for TQM implementation in the SMEs are management leadership, continuous
improvement system, measurement and feedback, improvement tools and techniques, supplier
quality assurance, human resource development, systems and processes, resources, education and
training, and work environment and culture (Zu, Robbins, & Fredendall, 2009). As a strategic
factors top management commitment, organizational culture, leadership, continuous
improvement, quality goals and policy, resources value addition process and benchmarking have
impact on TQM (Zu, Robbins, & Fredendall, 2009). As a tactical factors employee
empowerment, employee involvement, employee training, team building and problem solving,
use of information technology to collect and analyze quality data, supplier quality, supplier
relationships, integration with other systems and assessment of performance of suppliers (Zu,
Robbins, & Fredendall, 2009). The least important or less critical factors are classified as
operational factors and it includes product and service design, process control, management of
customer relationships, customer orientation, customer and market knowledge, realistic TQM
implementation schedule, resources conservation and utilization, inspection and checking work
and enterprise performance metrics for TQM (Zu, Robbins, & Fredendall, 2009).
Theoretically, TQM components must be considered by managers who desire to successfully
implement TQM within their firms (Tarı, 2005). Most of the project fails due to poor
management skills, setting agendas, setting and keeping ground rules, determining the meeting’s
roles and responsibilities, or undesired facilitative behaviors (Coronado & Antony, 2002). The
goal of firms should be to constantly improve their services and products for the customers (Choi
& Eboch, 1998). It is wasteful to implement TQM practices mainly for show or to please the
customer (Choi & Eboch, 1998).

Practically, the benefits of the implementation of TQM are reductions in manufacturing costs,
reductions in scrap, and reductions in overhead costs (Seetharaman, Sreenivasan, & Boon, 2006).
The degree of visibility and support that management takes in implementing a total quality
environment is critical to the success of TQM implementation (Motwani, 2001). Putting top
management commitment to TQM is the base or foundation. Without a strong foundation, the
house will never stand. Once the foundation is in place, attention should be given to employee
training and empowerment, quality measurement and benchmarking, process management, and
customer involvement and satisfaction (Motwani, 2001).

In a conclusion, TQM concept is a proven systematic approach to the improvements of the

organization’s overall business process, including product and services. TQM addresses overall
organizational performance and recognizes the importance of processes along with customer–
supplier interfaces, both internally and externally. Managers must be familiar with critical factors
and methods in order to successfully implement them. TQM has been both praised for its
ingenuity and criticized for a lack of measurable results. But that lack of results can be due to the
fact that TQM is often misunderstood. TQM critical success factors (CSFs) should be
implemented holistically rather than on a piecemeal basis to get the full potential of the TQM.
Moreover, the review emphasizes the need to link CSF to organizational performance to achieve
the success of TQM implementation. Managers need to know which aspects they must consider
to successfully develop critical success factors of TQM in their firms.

References
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Coronado, R. B., & Antony, J. (2002). Critical success factors for the successful implementation of six
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Karuppusami, G., & Gandhinathan, R. (2006). Pareto analysis of critical success factors of total quality
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Lam, S.-Y., Lee, V.-H., Ooi, K.-B., & Lin, B. (2011). The relationship between TQM, learning orientation
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