Does TQM play a significant role in management and customer styles when it comes to achieving corporate success? Does ensuring customer happiness through organisational integration of TQM have an impact on the performance of the business?

Assignment Task

Introduction

For the first time in the 1980s, quality was viewed as a competitive tool that could be utilised against rivals (Zairi, 2002). It is a well-known reality that very few businesses worldwide focus on quality as a means of gaining a competitive edge (Oakland, 1993). Quality advancements lead to increased market share, profitability, and expansion of the market (Omachonu & Ross, 2004). Thus, Total Quality Management (TQM), with an emphasis on the word “total,” and a broad understanding of “quality,” is a competitive weapon that encompasses all activities at all levels and in all areas (Shin et al., 1998) to achieve sustainability and long-term business objectives in the global market. However, as a result of globalisation, new opportunities and difficulties also arise. In this proposal, a study will be carried out to identify if the usage of TQM will eventually enhance or play in an important role on improving business success of an organization.

TQM Elements

Principles of Total Quality Management

The key principles of total quality management include:

Management Commitment
Employee Empowerment
Decision Making
Continuous Improvement
Customer Focus

Key elements of Total Quality Management

In order to implement total quality management successfully, an organization must concentrate on the eight elements. These elements drive the force behind improvement, leadership, design and planning initiatives. These are:

Ethics
Integrity
Trust
Training
Teamwork
Leadership
Recognition
Communication

For the last 20 years, the framework and principles of TQM have been enjoying word wide popularity and most of the companies around the world have been experiencing it as a critical tool to achieve competitive advantage (Venkateswarlu & Nilakant, 2005). Practices of TQM principles probably one of the best-understood change management program and could be the best option for an organization to face challenges of highly changing global market (Wali et.al, 2003) since quality superiority results in greater customer loyalty, market share improvements, higher stock prices, reduced service calls, higher prices and greater productivity (Omachonu & Ross, 2004) as well as improved competitive position (Wali et.al, 2003). In fact, adaptation of TQM principles are not only benefited manufacturing and service organizations but also have significant implications in technology (telecommunications, IT), health care (hospitals, medicines), educational institutes (universities/colleges), training centre and government agencies and departments (defence).

Problem Statement

TQM is widely use in Malaysia as a method to improve the quality in all functions at all levels of the organization. While the TQM is widely use in Malaysia but most of the companies did not fully implement the concept of TQM due to the limited knowledge about the whole TQM concept and lack of enforcement from the top management and lack of involvement from the employees. Some of the organization, will have a nice idea and product to bring into the market but the follow through is not there. Some cargo Airline in Malaysia, with the lack of QTM in the management has cause the deterioration of their business. Customer satisfaction was unable to be met.

The six basic concept of TQM are; leadership, customer satisfaction, employee involvement, continuous process improvement, supplier partnership and performance measures.

In the service industry such as air cargo, aircraft availability cannot be made available on time for operations to ensure uninterrupted schedules. Tendency to over commit to the customer’s request prior to confirming of the actual strength and capability.

Aircraft maintenance was not kept to the required standard to ensure uninterrupted service and could not meet the service level required for operations. Aircraft breaking down due to the unethical practice of the maintenance department and also with the quality of the spare parts that are being used.

Unable to keep aircraft from breaking down, unhealthy work culture from quality assurance personal, has caused a lot of problem in rendering an efficient service to customer. Thus, the cargo cannot be delivered on time to customer.

That is the reason that the company must fully implement the TQM. If TQM is fully implemented, it can improve the performance of companies in several areas such as eliminating product delays, enhancing attractiveness of product offering, efficient service delivery, higher productivity and reducing cost.

In order to achieve a competitive edge and improve overall business performance in a rapidly changing global market environment, the major goal of this research is to identify and assess the effectiveness of using Total Quality Management (TQM) and its applications and principles.

Research Objective

In this research , it is hope that when a new venture or an existing airline or cargo operator could seriously implement the QTM to ensure is viability.

Proposed Research Questions

The major goal of this study is to emphasise the value of using TQM as an efficient management technique to create competitive advantage and establish a strong market position (local and international) in the face of a fiercely competitive global market. This research will continue with the following target focus, in order to attain the goal and to achieve the objective of the research, the following research questions will be addressed:

Does TQM play a significant role in management and customer styles when it comes to achieving corporate success?

Does ensuring customer happiness through organisational integration of TQM have an impact on the performance of the business?

Does TQM play an important role in ensuring business success?

How effectively and efficiently do the organization apply TQM principles in achieving business excellence?

And how the principles of TQM imply to change of management of a service industry business?

Literature Review

TQM Success

TQM refers to a company’s culture, mindset, and organisational structure with the goal of satisfying customers with its goods and services.

The organization’s operations must adhere to the culture’s demands for quality in all areas, with tasks being completed correctly the first time and flaws and waste being eliminated (Guangming et al., 2000).

A company’s TQM culture demonstrates its dedication to achieving complete customer satisfaction through continuous improvement. Such a culture deploys and fully utilises resources, materials, equipment, and quality management systems (Gunasekaran, 1999; and Youssef et al., 1996). TQM has been widely used around the world and has emerged as one of the preferred competitive tactics during the 1990s. TQM is a method of organisation management that is widely accepted as a means to increase a company’s overall effectiveness to compete worldwide (Easton, 1993; Handfield, 1993; Hendricks and Singhal, 1997; Anderson et al., 1994; Womack et al., 1990; Kanji and Tambi, 1999; Kunst and Lemmink, 2000; and Quazi et al., 1998).

Less faults, shorter rework and lead times, lower inventory levels, lower costs, improved business competitiveness, greater market share and profit, greater flexibility, and higher employee and customer satisfaction are the benefits (Gunasekaran, 1999; Youssef et al., 1996; Lawler et al., 1995; Salegna and Fazel, 2000; and Mosadeghrad, 2003).

TQM failure

However, in reality, achieving these TQM advantages is not simple. Recent data indicates that despite its theoretical promise, attempts to implement it frequently fail (Erickson, 1992; Fuchsberg, 1992; Kendrick, 1993; Boyett et al., 1992; Douglas and Judge, 2001; Caudron, 1993; Charles, 1993; and Korukonda et al., 1999). As a result, accounts of numerous instances where TQM deployment has failed to improve organisational performance can be found in the extant literature.

According to several researchers, approximately 20 to 35 percent of the organisations that have implemented TQM have shown increases in quality, productivity, and competitiveness (Benson, 1993, Schonberger, 1992; and Gatchalian, 1997). Hubiak and O’Donnell’s (1996) assertion that around two-thirds of US corporations have either failed or paused in their attempts to implement TQM supports this. Due of the detrimental effect on earnings, many of these TQM programmes have been cancelled or are in the process of being cancelled.

Respondents to a survey on the success of TQM in Fortune 500 companies only gave their TQM implementation an effectiveness rating of about 50%. (Lackritz, 1997). Burrows (1992) noted a 95?ilure rate for TQM implementation efforts that had already been started. According to Eskildson (1994), implementing TQM can have ambiguous or even detrimental effects on performance. According to the most recent statistics, an increasing number of businesses are abandoning their quality programmes due to a lack of promising outcomes (Krumwiede et al., 1998).

Although TQM has been widely used in the management of change, failure rates that occasionally exceed 70% raise issues. It is challenging for many businesses and organisations to implement TQM. Lack of a formalised strategic plan for change, ambiguous improvement goals, unclear strategies, and conflicting priorities are all factors that contribute to the failure of TQM. Other factors include the inability of senior management to consistently commit to and support TQM, managers’ leadership styles being too top-down or laissez-faire, the lack of employees’ motivation, participation, and teamwork, and employee apathy.

Inadequate recognition for accomplishments, a lack of education, training, technical expertise, and experience with TQM, poor coordination, inadequate vertical communication (top down and bottoms up), and a lack of work discipline are further issues. Eskildson, 1994, Young, 1992; Franc ois et al., 2003; Merron, 1994; Huang et al., 1998; and Mosadeghrad, 2005). These factors will then affect corporate culture and pose challenges for the successful implementation of TQM. They include a lack of resources and support, financial crisis, organisational approach, long-term focus, and failure to understand the voice of the customer.

Organisational elements that affect TQM, the beliefs, values, conventions, customs, and practises of the organisation make up its organisational culture (Ott, 1989). According to Schein (1992), the idea is a set of expectations, shared views, and concerns that all members of an organisation understand and embrace.

The organization’s members embrace these as true, practise them, and pass them on to new members as a model for problem-solving as well as the necessary mindset and behaviour. When new employees enter a company, they may carry with them preconceived notions about the culture; nevertheless, established employees also pass on the culture to the new hires, sometimes overtly and more frequently implicitly. The organisational culture is shaped and articulated by both new and traditional organisational aspects in addition to by individuals. Organizational structures, practises, expectations for command and control, and operational norms all have an impact (Langfield-Smith, 1995).

Methodology Of Data Collection And Analysis

This study will employ a quantitative research approach with a survey method. A data collection techniques will include an anonymous online survey. The sample consists of employees from Malaysian airlines and air cargo companies. Criterion selection will include top management to the working level, however those that are involved in clerical and non-core job specs will be excluded from the survey.

The questionnaire that will be used eventually will lead to the confirmation if Total Quality Management (TQM), will help improve the overall performance of the organization in doing business.

Primary data in this research is respondent data. Respondent data is needed to know the responses of respondents about the effect of quality management implementation on organizational performance on service industry, mainly targeting airline.

Assignment Task

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