26 a core value model for implementing total quality management in small organisations

A core value model forimplementing totalquality management insmall organisations

Jonas Hansson andBengt Klefsjo

Background

The ability of organisations to adapt to newcustomer requirements on a global market isof vital importance for a long-term successDuring the last decades this has influencedmany organisations to work with qualityissues on a strategic level and total qualitymanagement (TQM) has frequently beenused as a management strategy to developorganisationsrsquo quality strategies andinitiatives

However many organisations do not realisethat the implementation of TQM in mostcases is a comprehensive organisationalchange As a consequence severalorganisations have not succeeded as expected(Eskildson 1994) Based on theseexperiences some authors have expresseddoubt as to whether implementation of TQMreally is profitable

Today small organisations constitute alarge part of the economy However smallorganisations have been slow to adopt andimplement TQM (Lee and Oaks 1995)There are several reasons for this One barrierfor small organisations is lack of resourceswhich limits the feasible initiatives that a smallorganisation can implement (Lee and Oaks1995) Another one is that most advocates ofTQM consider the concept as a fixed entity tobe utilised by any organisation in anycircumstance (Lawler 1993) This tendencyto adopt a universal approach to TQMindicates a need for adjustment of the TQM-work to a more customised approach for smallorganisations Since larger companies havemet considerable difficulties the prospect ofadapting TQM must be daunting for smallorganisations where lack of resources if notthe motivation could easily impede theadoption of such fundamental change(Huxtable 1995)

On the other hand several authors indicatethat small organisations also have advantagescompared to large ones when implementingTQM For example Ahire and Golkar (1996)emphasise greater flexibility Taylor andAdair (1994) point at more effectivecommunication Lee and Oaks (1995) statethat small organisations have advantages

The authors

Jonas Hansson and Bengt KlefsjoEgrave are based in the

Division of Quality Technology and Statistics

University of LuleaEcirc LuleaEcirc Sweden

Keywords

Total quality management Implementation Small firms

Organizational change Values

Abstract

Total quality management (TQM) has been recognised

and used during the last decades by organisations all over

the world to develop a quality focus and improve

organisational performance In spite of this TQM

implementation is still problematic for many

organisations In this perspective important factors to

succeed with the organisational change that TQM

implementation implies will be discussed in this paper

Also presented is a multiple-case study of TQM

implementation processes in small organisations with a

focus on core value aspects An overarching

implementation model is presented based on the

multiple-case study analysis and the theoretical frame

This model implies that TQM implementation will start

with core values committed leadership everybodyrsquos

commitment and customer orientation

Electronic access

The Emerald Research Register for this journal is

available at

httpwwwemeraldinsightcomresearchregister

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is

available at

httpwwwemeraldinsightcom0954-478Xhtm

Perspective

The financial support from lsquolsquoSparbankstiftelsen iNorrbottenrsquorsquo which made the thesis Hansson(2001a) possible and the financial support fromthe Swedish Institute for Quality SIQ aregratefully acknowledged

71

The TQM Magazine

Volume 15 Number 2 2003 pp 71-81

MCB UP Limited ISSN 0954-478X

DOI10110809544780310461071

when changing the organisational cultureand Brown (1993) states that managementparticipation is more visible

From this perspective it is of great interestto study small organisations whichsuccessfully have implemented TQM inorder to find common experiences which canconstitute the base of an implementationmodel for small organisations

In this paper important factors tosucceeding with the organisational changethat TQM implementation implies will bediscussed We will also present a multiple-case study of TQM implementation processesin small organisations with a focus on corevalue aspects An overarchingimplementation model is presented based onthe study

TQM performance and profitability -arguments for and againstThe relation between TQM on one hand andperformance and profitability on the other hasbeen discussed frequently during recent yearsSeveral authors emphasise that a successfuluse of TQM is closely related to economicand performance success see egMoreno-Luzon (1993) Zairi et al (1994)Hendricks and Singhal (1997) Lemak andReed (1997) Easton and Jarrell (1998)Samson and Terziovski (1999) and Wrolstadand Krueger (2001)

However some authors also question theactual benefits of implementing TQM One ofthese is Harari (1997) who presents tenmajor reasons for the failure of TQMinitiatives Another one is Eskildson (1994)who states based on survey results that manyorganisations do not succeed with their TQMefforts The two main reasons are here said tobe vague definitions of TQM andinappropriate implementation Pyzdek (1999)summarizes the criticism of TQM over theyears and adds some new aspects

One problem with this type ofdiscussion is that the concept of TQM in thedifferent investigations often is unclear partlysince the concept has evolved during the lastdecades and partly because the authors usedifferent and sometimes vague descriptions ofwhat TQM really constitutes For instanceHarari (1997) does not define TQM but ratherstudies organisations which claim they areworking with TQM A discussion aboutthis problem can be found in Lindmark (1999)

Several authors use quality award criteria asa model of TQM and accordingly qualityaward reception as a measure of TQMmaturity For instance the investigation byHendricks and Singhal (1997) shows thatAmerican companies which have received aquality award similar to the MalcolmBaldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA)have considerably better financial results thana selected control group A similarinvestigation related to Swedish quality awardrecipients is presented by Eriksson andHansson (2002) Furthermore Przasnyskiand Tai (1999) studied the stockdevelopment for receivers of the MBNQA inthe USA and surprisingly found that theaward recipientsrsquo stocks as a group performedworse than similar firms in similar industriesThis investigation might be compared to theso called NIST study in which the stockdevelopment for award recipients is comparedto the Standard and Poor (SampP) 500 indexsee eg wwwnistgov Here the awardrecipients outperform the SampP index see alsoHelton (1995)

Some authors posit that it is not the conceptof TQM which fails but the implementationprocess see eg Becker (1993) and Shin et al(1998) Our own experience supports thathypothesis We strongly believe that many ofthe failures of TQM are related to badimplementation strategies and processesImplementation work can be seen as atransformation made by actors in a humanactivity system (Pidd 1999) and TQMimplementation could therefore beconsidered as a comprehensive organisationalchange The process of change involved inintegrating the TQM philosophy into anorganisation is complex and wide ranging(Dale et al 1997 Spector and Beer 1994)The changes refer to for instance trainingcoaching and development of employees aswell as changes in organisational structurevalues attitudes management style and theadoption of new working practices (McNultyand Canty 1995 Dale et al 1997)

Altogether this means in our opinion thatTQM is proven to be profitable whenimplemented in a successful way but also thatthere are problems with the implementationThis means in turn that there is a need for anincreased focus on the area of organisationalchange related to TQM In particular thisholds for small organisations which have

72

A core value model for implementing total quality management

Jonas Hansson and Bengt KlefsjoEgrave

The TQM Magazine

Volume 15 Number 2 2003 71-81

specific characteristics calling for a tailoredimplementation process

Theoretical frame of reference

Total quality managementSeveral attempts have been made to defineTQM Most of these definitions are in ouropinion rather vague We can often seeformulations such as lsquolsquoa way to rsquorsquo lsquolsquoaphilosophy for rsquorsquo lsquolsquoa culture of rsquorsquo lsquolsquoanapproach for rsquorsquo lsquolsquoa business strategy that

rsquorsquo and so on Examples of such definitionscan be found in eg Tenner and DeToro(1992) Oakland (1993) Dahlgaard et al(1994) and Kanji (1995)

In recent years some TQM definitionsbased on a system view have been proposedsee eg Shiba et al (1993) Dean and Bowen(1994) and Hellsten and Klefsjo (2000) Inthis paper we choose the definition byHellsten and Klefsjo (2000) According tothem TQM can be defined as a managementsystem which consists of threeinterdependent units namely core valuestechniques and tools The idea is that the corevalues must be supported by techniques suchas process management benchmarkingcustomer focused planning or improvementteams and tools such as control charts thequality house or Ishikawa diagrams in orderto be part of a culture (see Figure 1) The goalof TQM is according to Hellsten and Klefsjo(2000) increased customer satisfaction with areduced amount of resources Hellsten andKlefsjo (2000) argue that this systemdefinition will facilitate for organisations tounderstand and implement TQM Theimplementation work should begin with theacceptance of the core values that shouldcharacterize the culture of the organisationThe next step is to continuously choosetechniques that are suitable as support for theselected values Ultimately suitable toolshave to be identified and used in an efficientway in order to support the chosentechniques

The basis of TQM is the core values whichshould establish the quality culture Althoughthe number of core values and even the exactformulations differs somewhat betweendifferent authors those chosen for ourdiscussion are (see Figure 1 and Bergman andKlefsjo 2002)

committed leadership focus on customersbase decision on factsimprove continuously focus on processeslet everybody be committedfocus on customersfocus on processesbase decisions on factslet everybody be committed

A strategy for TQM in an organisation mustbe built on the managementrsquos continuouscommitment for questions concerningquality The management must establish aquality policy and support quality activitiesmorally and by providing resources (Bergmanand Klefsjo 2002) But management alsohave to set a good example by actively takingpart in the practical work If the managementdoes not show in actions that quality is atleast as important as for example costs anddelivery time the co-operators will not do iteither Successful work towards TQM mustbe built with the managementrsquos continuousinvolvement as a basis The core values areimportant parts of this work

We want to mention that the use of corevalues for managing organisational change isnot unquestioned For example Senge(1995) discusses the question concerningmanagementrsquos limited ability to changeindividual values and stresses that the changehas to come from the inside out rather thanfrom the outside in However we are of theopinion that management can stimulateindividual values by managing recourcessupporting quality activities and working withtechniques and tools that support the corevalues

Organisational change andimplementation of TQMThomsen et al (1994) state that oneimportant experience from theaccomplishment of TQM is that there is aneed for an increasing awareness of the factthat TQM implementation also is a questionof organisational development They alsoargue for improved knowledge among leadersconcerning change managementOrganisational development is a disciplinewith many approaches in which TQM isoverlapping some see for example Grieves(2000) In order to create a foundation for thecase study and its analysis and theimplementation model discussed in thispaper aspects from both the organisational

73



The TQM Magazine


development discipline and the TQMdiscipline will be briefly discussed from animplementation perspective For moredetails see Hansson (2001a)

One necessity to achieve a successfulimplementation is that the managers presentdiscuss and motivate why the TQM way ofworking is better than the present one(Sandberg 1994) The new way of working inthe organisation has to be implemented bymeans of systematic procedures based onproperly chosen methodologies that areunderstood and accepted by all partiesinvolved (Sandberg and Targama 1998Ljungstrom 2000) Therefore studying theprocess of implementation includes thesetting of goals toward which theimplementation is directed Senge (1990)discusses one important quality of leadershipthe ability of building a shared vision in theorganisation When there is a strong andcommon vision and not only a desire in thetop management individuals are developingsee Senge (1990) Kotter (1996) and othersalso emphasise the importance of a sharedvision

The change process - general recommendationsand pitfallsThere are many different descriptions andrecommendations concerning how to

accomplish and manage a change process forreferences see eg Hansson (2001a) Acompilation and synthesis of three differentstrategies for change realisation by Beer et al(1990) Kotter (1996) and Juran (1995) ispresented in Table I Our synthesis of thedescribed change strategies presented in theleft column consists of five overarchingrecommendations for change realisation

On the other hand there are many possiblecauses for failure with organisational changeProblem areas are discussed by for instanceSandstrom (2000) Kotter (1996) andPressman and Wildavsky (1973) All theseauthors mention the permeation of the visionthe lack of strong teams and lack ofcommitted leadership as vital factors for thechange process

Implementation of TQMNewall and Dale (1991) describe the resultsof a study performed at seven industrialorganisations and one organisation within thefinancial service sector Despite differentinterpretations and descriptions it is evidentthat they had in fact passed through thesame basic stages although under differentnames and in somewhat different sequences

Oakland (1993) states that by integratingTQM into the strategy of the businessorganisations will avoid the problems of

Figure 1 Total quality management (TQM) seen as a continuously evolving management system consisting of

values techniques and tools the aim of which is to increase external and internal customer satisfaction with a

reduced amount of resources

74



The TQM Magazine


change programmes by concentrating onprocess alignment recognising that peoplersquosroles and responsibilities must be related tothe processes in which they work

According to Oakland (1993) some of theobstacles to TQM implementation are that itcan be seen as time-consuming bureaucraticformalistic rigid and impersonal Some of theresistance to TQM is typical resistance to anychange This resistance may be more severe ifthe organisation is successful if there is aparticularly deep-seated culture if there hasbeen a great deal of change already or if thechange lacks legitimacy training andcommunication

Implementation of TQM in smallorganisationsThere are many ways of defining smallorganisations Some are based on sectormarket share owner type and independencyHowever most definitions are based on thenumber of employees In this study theclassification by the European Commission is

adopted (see eg Wilkes and Dale 1998)which defines small organisations as the oneswith between ten and 49 employeesEmployment figures are easily available fromdata registers and furthermore employmentfigures are frequently used for sampleselection in other studies which facilitatescomparisons With organisation we in thispaper mean any private or public business

The strategies and recommendationsdiscussed earlier are mainly described from alarge organisationrsquos perspective It isimperative that an implementation frameworkshould be developed that lsquolsquofits the purposersquorsquo ofsmall organisations and so paves the way forbetter TQM adoption in this particular sector(Yusof and Aspinwall 2000)

Small organisations are believed to have anadvantage over larger ones in implementationof TQM due to their flexible organisationalstructure innovation ability lack ofhierarchical positions and strongorganisational culture (Haksever 1996)Since the work with TQM demands strong

Table I Some different strategies for change realisation The left column describes our synthesis of the three strategies

Synthesis of thedescribed activities

Six steps describedby Beer et al (1990)

Eight steps describedby Kotter (1996)

Seven steps describedby Juran (1995)

Establish a common view thatthe change is needed

Mobilize commitment to change

though joint diagnosis of business

problems

Establish a sense of urgency Breakthrough in attitude concerning

the necessary change

The prospect of carrying out the

change analysed

Create a shared vision for thechange process and anorganisational platform toaccomplish it

Develop a shared vision of how to

organise and manage for

competitiveness

Foster consensus for the new vision

competence to enact it and

cohesion to move it along

Creating the guiding coalition by

putting together a group with

enough power to lead the change

Develop a vision and strategy to

help direct the change effort

The creation of a steering part and

an analysing part in order to obtain

new and required knowledge

Spread and communicate thechange vision and createsufficient knowledge

Spread revitalisation to all

departments without pushing it from

the top

Communicating the change vision by

using every vehicle possible

The creation of sufficient knowledge

resulting in a breakthrough in

knowledge

Facilitate the change process byremoving obstacle in structurespolicies beliefs and habits

Institutionalise revitalization through

formal policies systems and

structures

Empowering broad based actions by

getting rid of obstacles and by

changing systems or structures

Create a social change in beliefs

habits etc

The result is evaluated andadjustments are made in orderto anchor the new approaches inthe organisation

Monitor and adjust strategies in

response to problems in the

revitalisation process

Generating short term wins by

planning for visible improvements in

performance or wins

Consolidating gains and producing

more change

Anchoring the new approaches in

the culture

The previous steps bring a possibility

to attain a breakthrough in results

The process is controlled in order to

keep the change

Source Beer et al (1990) Kotter (1996) Juran (1995)

75



The TQM Magazine


commitment of the management the small

organisation has the advantage that themanagement actions are very apparent

(Ghobadian and Gallear 1997) In a large

organisation it is more difficult to

demonstrate management commitment to the

entire workforce The size of the workforce

also affects the time it takes to introduce and

establish the TQM system among the

employees and also the costs for developing

co-workers and implementing TQMFurthermore the manager and the owner of

the organisation often is the same person

This means that the manager feels strong

solidarity with the organisation and that the

managerrsquos and the organisationrsquos goals often

correspond (Deeks 1976) Due to the

managerrsquos dominant position the

organisation strongly depends on the

managerrsquos interest and competenceGhobadian and Gallear (1997) present ten

key steps for implementing TQM in small

organisations based on empirical material

from four case studies see Table II One of

their conclusions is that there is support for

the hypothesis that small organisations can

readily adopt the TQM principles although

the implementation process has some specific

requirements Also Huxtable (1995) presents

an implementation guide for the small

business manager with roughly the same

steps The main difference between the two

implementation sequences is not the actual

sense of the steps but more at which detail

level they are described

Methodology

The objective of the research project behindthis paper was to investigate core valueaspects of TQM implementation processes insmall businesses A multiple case study ofnine small organisations was carried out inorder to study their TQM implementationprocesses The organisations studied are allorganisations in Sweden with between tenand 49 employees which have received anational or regional quality award up to 1999The selected organisations show differencesin several ways

both external and joint ownershipstructures are representedthe organisations are from the privatesector as well as from the public sectorboth the service sector and themanufacturing sector are represented

This gives opportunities of finding as manydifferent natural cases of the phenomenon aspossible which in turn is important in orderto discover many different characteristics ofthe phenomenon (Eneroth 1986)

Three different data collection methodshave been chosen interviews documentationcollection and to a certain extent directobservations The approach for eachorganisation consisted of tape-recordedinterviews one interview with themanagement group and one interview with aco-worker representative The questionsasked during the interviews were related tothe organisationrsquos implementation processfrom when the actual quality developmentwork started to the point of receiving theaward The core values techniques and toolsas described in the TQM definition byHellsten and Klefsjo (2000) served as areason which the questions were based The tworespondent groups described the successfulimplementation process of TQM and the prosand cons they could recollect of their qualityjourney connected to their resource situationknowledge situation and the theory of TQM

First a within-case analysis was performedin which the core values that were perceivedas part of the culture and the problematiccore values were analysed for the differentmanagement groups and the co-workersseparately Furthermore the order in whichthe core values were recommended to beintroduced according to the two groups wasanalysed Then a cross-case analysis wasperformed leading to the empirical model

Table II A presentation of the different steps in a

recommended plan for TQM implementation in small

organisations

1 Recognition of the need for the introduction of TQM

2 Developing understanding among management and

supervisors

3 Establish goals and objectives of the quality

improvement process

4 Plan the TQM implementation

5 Educate and train all employees

6 Create a systematic procedure

7 Align organisation

8 Implement the TQM concepts

9 Monitor the implementation of the TQM concepts

10 Engage in continuous improvement by going back

to step 3

Source Ghobadian and Gallear (1997)

76



The TQM Magazine


discussed in the next section For furthermethodological details see Hansson (2001ab)

Empirical findings and analysis

The comparison between the cases referringto which core values the respondentsconsidered permeating the organisationshows both similarities and differences seeHansson (2001a)

The major result is which of the six corevalues (see Figure 1) that permeates theorganisations since it indicates both whichcore values the organisations mainly havebeen working with and which core valuesthat presumably are advantageous to focuson at the beginning of the implementationprocess Two groups of core values could beidentified in the analysis one groupconsidered permeating all organisations andone group permeating just someorganisations

One significant similarity is that the threecore values (committed leadershipeverybodyrsquos commitment and customerorientation) are permeating all organisationsat the time when they received the qualityaward In a majority of the cases at least oneof these three core values was partlypermeating the organisation even before theformal quality development work started Thefact that all organisations had implementedthese core values implies that they are bothnecessary and suitable to start with whenimplementing TQM

During the implementation process someof the core values were problematic toimplement in the organisations Onesimilarity between the cases is the problemsrelated to the core value process focus Allrespondents in all cases except onerespondent in one organisation describedprocess focus as problematic

The similarities between the nine cases canbest be described for the core valuescommitted leadership everybodyrsquoscommitment and customer orientation In allcases the respondents stated that these threecore values should be among the first to beimplemented among the six available For theremaining core values it is difficult to see anyclear connection between the different casesTable III illustrates the respondentsrsquorecommendations concerning the succession

for introducing the core values in the differentorganisations

Tangible strategies and structures for theuse of techniques and tools rarely occurredfrom the within-case analysis This affects ourpossibility to formulate an implementationmodel with distinguished strategies methodsand activities The area in which one couldsee evident structures and patterns was thework with and implementation of core values

The suggested model

Comparing the empirical findings concerningthe implementation and permeation of thecore values with the theoretical frame ofreference one could interpret three discerniblephases in the change process By combiningthe empirical regularities with these steps anoverarching model structure is obtained Themodel structure depicted in Figure 2describes the three phases where work withcore values and activities interact and affecteach other This means that the extent towhich the described core values permeate theorganisation affects the work with theactivities at the same time as the activitiespositively affect the permeation of the corevalues The three phases of the model inFigure 2 are shortly discussed below

The first phaseWhen discussing the introduction of corevalues in relation to organisational changeand TQM implementation in smallorganisations committed leadership is crucialFor most cases in this study committedleadership was a core value that to a greatextent permeated the organisations evenbefore the implementation process startedThis emphasises that committed leadershipshould be the first core value that needs to beaddressed in an effort to implement TQMThis is also in agreement with the core valuemodel discussed by Bergman and Klefsjo(2002) see also for instance Kotter (1996)and Spector and Beer (1994)

The main objective for the involvement ofmanagement in this phase is to establish asense of urgency that the change is neededie a changed attitude among the staffconcerning the necessary transformation seeTable I This has in the different cases beenattained by information and by involving theemployees at an early stage which stresses the

77



The TQM Magazine


importance of developing the core value ofeverybodyrsquos commitment The kind ofinformation used has been dependent on theinitial cause for the change The managementhas in some way described the alarmingsituation that the organisation turned out to

be in In other cases where an anticipatedneed of change was present seminarsintroducing the quality concept have beenused Another objective for the managementin this phase is to create funds for carrying outthe change process It can be external funds

Table III The recommended succession for introducing the core values in the different cases Some organisations did not mention all the six values and

in some cases two values were given the same order

Organisation Order suggested by management Order suggested by co-worker representative

RaEcirc torp Nursery School 1 Committed leadership 1 Committed leadership

2 Everybodyrsquos commitment and customer orientation 2 Everybodyrsquos commitment and customer orientation

3 Continuous improvement 3 Continuous improvement

4 Process focus and fact-based decisions 4 Process focus and fact-based decisions

Bulten Automotive AB 1 Customer orientation 1 Committed leadership

2 Committed leadership 2 Everybodyrsquos commitment

3 Everybodyrsquos commitment 3 Continuous improvement

4 Continuous improvement 4 Customer orientation

Broman Upper Secondary 1 Committed leadership and customer orientation 1 Committed leadership

School 2 Everybodyrsquos commitment 2 Everybodyrsquos commitment

3 Customer orientation

The Wisby Hotel 1 Committed leadership 1 Committed leadership and fact-based decisions

2 Customer orientation 2 Everybodyrsquos commitment

3 Process focus 3 Customer orientation

4 Everybodyrsquos commitment 4 Process focus

5 Fact-based decisions 5 Continuous improvements

6 Continuous improvements

Visby Architect Group 1 Committed leadership and everybodyrsquos commitment 1 Committed leadership

2 Customer orientation and process focus 2 Everybodyrsquos commitment

3 Fact-based decisions and continuous improvements 3 Customer orientation

4 Process focus

Aesculapen Company 1 Committed leadership 1 Everybodyrsquos commitment

Health Service AB 2 Everybodyrsquos commitment 2 Committed leadership

3 Customer orientation 3 Customer orientation

4 Process focus 4 Fact-based decisions

5 Continuous improvements 5 Continuous improvements and process focus

6 Fact-based decisions

BjoEgrave rknaEgrave s Dental Care 1 Committed leadership 1 Committed leadership

Centre 2 Everybodyrsquos commitment 2 Everybodyrsquos commitment


4 Fact-based decisions continuous improvements

and process focus

4 Fact-based decisions continuous improvements and

process focus

HaEgrave llbyskolan 1 Committed leadership and everybodyrsquos commitment 1 Committed leadership and everybodyrsquos commitment


3 Fact-based decisions process focus and continuous

improvements


improvements

Pulmonary Clinic 1 Committed leadership 1 Committed leadership

2 Everybodyrsquos commitment 2 Everybodyrsquos commitment

3 Customer orientation and process focus 3 Customer orientation

4 Fact-based decisions and continuous improvements 4 Continuous improvements process focus and fact-

based decisions

78



The TQM Magazine


or resources taken from the budgetConcerning investments based on budgetmeans the establishment of a lsquolsquochangeattitudersquorsquo among the staff is of importance

The second phaseWhen a positive sense and attitude towardsthe change process is established among thestaff and a joint view of how to change iscreated the next proposed stage is to establisha structure to work towards the joint view Ifthis view includes starting to work with aquality award model cross-functional teamsfor the different criteria with continuousfollow-ups are recommended Otherwisecross-functional teams working withtechniques and tools supporting customerorientation are proposed Training must takeplace before and during the work within thegroups For suitable techniques and tools seefor example Ehresman (1995) The corevalues that should be the main focus in this

phase are everybodyrsquos commitment andcustomer orientation Everybodyrsquoscommitment was also pointed out in phaseone as a condition for establishing a changeattitude among the staff In this phase thiscore value is mainly a part of the objectivewith the work with cross-functional teamsbut also a necessary condition for that work tobe fruitful Since process focus has shown tobe a complicated core value to embrace therecommendation is also to begin someeducational efforts with respect to this corevalue in this phase

The third phaseIn the third phase the organisation shouldcontinue to work according to the newstructure The different teams should workwith the different assignments that involveddifferent techniques and tools Different toolsand approaches that support the core valuesformally and informally are for example

Figure 2 The recommended overarching implementation model consisting of three different partly overlapping

phases structured by the core values

79



The TQM Magazine


described in Ehresman (1995) Working withquality award criteria is a formal approachthat supports the different core values(Hellsten and Klefsjo 2000) Training is alsohere an important investment for theaccomplishment of these activities It is alsoimportant that the activities in phases two andthree result in apparent gains such asincreased customer satisfaction and that theeducational efforts have evident pay-offsThese gains should be visualised in order tokeep the inclination to change and furtherdevelopment among the employeesconsistent The three core values that arerecommended to be in focus during this phaseare process focus fact-based decisions andcontinuous improvements

Conclusions and discussion

The core value-based model consisting ofthree phases in Figure 2 describes anoverarching recommendation for how toimplement TQM in a small organisationActivities in combination with working withcore values demonstrate the authorsrsquoconclusions from successful implementationprocesses in nine organisations compared andanalysed with the theoretical base The studyalso confirms the ideas by Hellsten andKlefsjo (2000) that it is important thatsuitable techniques and tools support the corevalues in order to establish a quality culture

The described theoretical frame ofreference together with the empiricalfindings creates a knowledge foundation thathopefully will facilitate the understanding ofsmall organisationsrsquo implementation of TQMWe also want to say that although the studyfocused on small organisations we stronglybelieve that the findings also are of value forlarger organisations

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Becker SW (1993) ` TQM does not work ten reasonswhy misguided attempts failrsquorsquo ManagementReview May pp 30-3

Beer M Eisenstat RA and Spector B (1990) ` Whychange programs donrsquot produce changersquorsquo HarvardBusiness Review Vol 68 November-Decemberpp 158-66

Bergman B and KlefsjoEgrave B (2002) Quality from CustomerNeeds to Customer Satisfaction 2nd edStudentlitteratur Lund

Brown A (1993) ` Case study quality management in thesmaller companyrsquorsquo Asia Pacific Journal of Quality

Management Vol 2 No 3 pp 67-76Dahlgaard JJ Kristensen K and Kanji GK (1994) The

Quality Journey A Journey Without an End Carfax

Publishing Company AbingdonDale BG Boaden RJ Wilcox M and McQuater RE

(1997) ` Sustaining total quality management whatare the key issuesrsquorsquo The TQM Magazine Vol 9No 5 pp 372-80

Dean J and Bowen D (1994) ` Management theory andtotal quality improving research and practicethrough theory developmentrsquorsquo Academy ofManagement Review Vol 19 pp 392-418

Deeks J (1976) The Small Firm Owner-Manager PraegerPublishers New York NY

Easton GS and Jarrell SL (1998) ` The effects of totalquality management on corporate performance anempirical investigationrsquorsquo Journal of BusinessVol 71 pp 253-307

Ehresman T (1995) Small Business Success ThroughTQM ASQC Quality Press Milwaukee WI

Eneroth B (1986) Hur maEgrave ter man ` vackertrsquorsquo Grundbok ikvalitativ metod (How Do You Measure ` BeautifulrsquorsquoThe basics of qualitative research)Akademilitteratur Stockholm

Eskildson L (1994) ` Improving the odds of TQMrsquossuccessrsquorsquo Quality Progress Vol 27 No 4 pp 61-3

Ghobadian A and Gallear D (1997) ` TQM andorganisation sizersquorsquo International Journal ofOperations amp Production Management Vol 17No 2 pp 121-63

Grieves J (2000) ` Introduction the origins oforganizational changersquorsquo Journal of ManagementDevelopment Vol 19 No 5 pp 345-447

Haksever C (1996) ` Total quality management in thesmall business environmentrsquorsquo Business HorizonsVol 39 No 2 pp 33-40

Hansson J (2001a) ` Implementation of TQM in smallorganisations Experiences from award winners in

Swedenrsquorsquo Licentiate thesis 200113 Division ofQuality Technology amp Statistics LuleaEcirc University ofTechnology LuleaEcirc

Hansson J (2001b) ` Erfarenheter fraEcirc nkvalitetsutvecklingsarbete i smaEcirc organisationerrsquorsquo

(` Experiences from quality development workwithin small organisationsrsquorsquo) Research Report20011 Division of Quality Technology amp StatisticsLuleaEcirc University of Technology LuleaEcirc

Hansson J and Eriksson H (2002) ` The impact of TQMon financial performancersquorsquo Measuring BusinessExcellence Vol 6 No 4 pp 44-54

Harari O (1997) ` Ten reasons why TQM doesnrsquot workrsquorsquo

Management Review Vol 86 No 1 pp 38-44Hellsten U and KlefsjoEgrave B (2000) ` TQM as a

management system consisting of valuestechniques and toolsrsquorsquo TQM Magazine Vol 12No 4 pp 238-44

Helton RB (1995) ` The Baldie playrsquorsquo Quality Progress Vol 28 No 2 pp 43-5

Hendricks KB and Singhal VR (1997) ` Doesimplementing an effective TQM program actually

80



The TQM Magazine


improve operating performancersquorsquo ManagementScience Vol 43 No 9 pp 1258-74

Huxtable N (1995) Small Business Total QualityChapman amp Hall London

Juran JM (1995) Managerial Breakthrough McGraw-Hill New York NY

Kanji GK (1995) ` Quality and statistical conceptsrsquorsquo inKanji GK (Ed) Proceedings of the First WorldCongress on Total Quality ManagementChapman amp Hall London pp 3-10

Kotter JP (1996) Leading Change Harward BusinessSchool Press Boston MA

Lawler EEI (1993) ` Debatersquorsquo Harvard Business ReviewVol 71 No 3 p 32

Lee GL and Oaks I (1995) ` The `prosrsquo and `consrsquo oftotal quality management for smaller firms inmanufacturing some experiences down the supplychainrsquorsquo Total Quality Management Vol 6 No 4pp 413-26

Lemak DJ and Reed R (1997) ` Commitment to totalquality management is there a relationship withfirm performancersquorsquo Journal of Quality ManagementVol 2 No 1 pp 67-86

Lindmark C (1999) ` Beliefs about motivation and workwith quality environment and working environmentin small organisationsrsquorsquo Licentiate thesis 199909Division of Quality Technology amp Statistics LuleaEcircUniversity of Technology LuleaEcirc

LjungstroEgrave m M (2000) ` Obstacles towards a work-development-oriented TQM-strategyrsquorsquo Licentiatethesis 200024 Division of Quality Technology ampStatistics LuleaEcirc University of Technology LuleaEcirc

McNulty NG and Canty GR (1995) ` Proof of thepuddingrsquorsquo Journal of Management Development Vol 14 No 1 pp 53-66

Moreno-Luzon MD (1993) ` Can total qualitymanagement make small firms competitiversquorsquo TotalQuality Management Vol 4 No 2 pp 165-81

Newall D and Dale BG (1991) ` The introduction anddevelopment of a quality improvement process astudyrsquorsquo International Journal of ProductionResearch Vol 29 No 9 pp 1747-60

Oakland JS (1993) Total Quality Management TheRoute to Improving Performance 2nd edButterworth-Heinemann Ltd Oxford

Pidd M (1999) Tools for Thinking Modelling inManagement Science John Wiley amp SonsNew York NY

Pressman JL and Wildavsky AB (1973)Implementation plusmn How Great Expectations inWashington are Dashed in Oakland University ofCalifornia Press Berkeley CA

Przasnyski ZH and Tai LS (1999) ` Stock marketreaction to Malcolm Baldrige National QualityAward announcements does quality payrsquorsquo TotalQuality Management Vol 10 No 3 pp 391-200

Pyzdek T (1999) ` A road map for the quality beyondcontrolrsquorsquo Quality Progress Vol 32 No 13pp 33-8

Samson D and Terziovski M (1999) ` The relationshipbetween total quality management practices andoperational performancersquorsquo Journal of OperationsManagement Vol 17 No 4 pp 393-409

Sandberg U (1994) ` On the implementation and use ofcomputer systems in industrial processes for qualityand security controlrsquorsquo doctoral dissertation RoyalInstitute of Technology Stockholm

Sandberg J and Targama A (1998) ` Ledning ochfoEgrave rstaEcirc else plusmn Ett kompetensperspektiv paEcircorganisationer (Management and comprehension plusmnOrganisations from a competence perspective)rsquorsquoStudentlitteratur Lund

SandstroEgrave m B (2000) ` Att lyckas som foEgrave raEgrave ndringsledare(` To succeed as change managerrsquorsquo)Industrilitteratur Stockholm

Senge PM (1990) The Fifth Discipline plusmn The Art ampPractice of the Learning Organisation CenturyBusiness London

Senge PM (1995) ` Reflections accomplishments andchallenges in developing the Centre forOrganisational Learningrsquorsquo in Ayas K and FoppenJW (Eds) The Learning Organisation andOrganisational Learning Rotterdam

Shiba S Graham A and Walden D (1993) A NewAmerican TQM Four Practical Revolutions inManagement Productivity PressThe Center forQuality Management Portland OR

Shin D Kalinowski JG and El-Enein GA (1998)` Critical implementation issues in total qualitymanagementrsquorsquo SAM Advanced ManagementJournal Vol 63 No 1 pp 10-14

Spector B and Beer M (1994) ` Beyond TQMprogrammesrsquorsquo Journal of Organizational ChangeVol 7 No 2 pp 63-70

Taylor WA and Adair RG (1994) ` Evolution of qualityawards and self-assessment practices in Europea case for considering organization sizersquorsquo TotalQuality Management Vol 5 No 4 pp 227-37

Tenner AR and DeToro IJ (1992) Total QualityManagement Three Steps to ContinuousImprovement Addison-Wesley Publishing CompanyReading MA

Thomsen C Lund K and Knutsen K (1994) TotalQuality Management plusmn resultat och visioner (TotalQuality Management plusmn Results and Visions) BorsenBoger Copenhagen

Wilkes N and Dale BG (1998) ` Attitudes to self-assessment and quality awards a study in small andmedium-sized companiesrsquorsquo Total QualityManagement Vol 9 No 8 pp 731-9

Wrolstad MA and Krueger TM (2001) ` Study showsthat quality pays winnersrsquorsquo The QualityManagement Forum Summer pp 11 14

Yusof SM and Aspinwall E (2000) ` A conceptualframework for TQM implementation for SMEsrsquorsquoTQM Magazine Vol 12 No 1 pp 31-7

Zairi M Letza SR and Oakland JS (1994) ` Does TQMimpact on bottom linersquorsquo The TQM Magazine Vol 6No 1 pp 38-43

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The TQM Magazine


when changing the organisational cultureand Brown (1993) states that managementparticipation is more visible

From this perspective it is of great interestto study small organisations whichsuccessfully have implemented TQM inorder to find common experiences which canconstitute the base of an implementationmodel for small organisations

In this paper important factors tosucceeding with the organisational changethat TQM implementation implies will bediscussed We will also present a multiple-case study of TQM implementation processesin small organisations with a focus on corevalue aspects An overarchingimplementation model is presented based onthe study

TQM performance and profitability -arguments for and againstThe relation between TQM on one hand andperformance and profitability on the other hasbeen discussed frequently during recent yearsSeveral authors emphasise that a successfuluse of TQM is closely related to economicand performance success see egMoreno-Luzon (1993) Zairi et al (1994)Hendricks and Singhal (1997) Lemak andReed (1997) Easton and Jarrell (1998)Samson and Terziovski (1999) and Wrolstadand Krueger (2001)

However some authors also question theactual benefits of implementing TQM One ofthese is Harari (1997) who presents tenmajor reasons for the failure of TQMinitiatives Another one is Eskildson (1994)who states based on survey results that manyorganisations do not succeed with their TQMefforts The two main reasons are here said tobe vague definitions of TQM andinappropriate implementation Pyzdek (1999)summarizes the criticism of TQM over theyears and adds some new aspects

One problem with this type ofdiscussion is that the concept of TQM in thedifferent investigations often is unclear partlysince the concept has evolved during the lastdecades and partly because the authors usedifferent and sometimes vague descriptions ofwhat TQM really constitutes For instanceHarari (1997) does not define TQM but ratherstudies organisations which claim they areworking with TQM A discussion aboutthis problem can be found in Lindmark (1999)

Several authors use quality award criteria asa model of TQM and accordingly qualityaward reception as a measure of TQMmaturity For instance the investigation byHendricks and Singhal (1997) shows thatAmerican companies which have received aquality award similar to the MalcolmBaldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA)have considerably better financial results thana selected control group A similarinvestigation related to Swedish quality awardrecipients is presented by Eriksson andHansson (2002) Furthermore Przasnyskiand Tai (1999) studied the stockdevelopment for receivers of the MBNQA inthe USA and surprisingly found that theaward recipientsrsquo stocks as a group performedworse than similar firms in similar industriesThis investigation might be compared to theso called NIST study in which the stockdevelopment for award recipients is comparedto the Standard and Poor (SampP) 500 indexsee eg wwwnistgov Here the awardrecipients outperform the SampP index see alsoHelton (1995)

Some authors posit that it is not the conceptof TQM which fails but the implementationprocess see eg Becker (1993) and Shin et al(1998) Our own experience supports thathypothesis We strongly believe that many ofthe failures of TQM are related to badimplementation strategies and processesImplementation work can be seen as atransformation made by actors in a humanactivity system (Pidd 1999) and TQMimplementation could therefore beconsidered as a comprehensive organisationalchange The process of change involved inintegrating the TQM philosophy into anorganisation is complex and wide ranging(Dale et al 1997 Spector and Beer 1994)The changes refer to for instance trainingcoaching and development of employees aswell as changes in organisational structurevalues attitudes management style and theadoption of new working practices (McNultyand Canty 1995 Dale et al 1997)

Altogether this means in our opinion thatTQM is proven to be profitable whenimplemented in a successful way but also thatthere are problems with the implementationThis means in turn that there is a need for anincreased focus on the area of organisationalchange related to TQM In particular thisholds for small organisations which have

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problems




change analysed




competitiveness















the top





knowledge




structures





habits etc







performance or wins


more change


the culture




keep the change


75



The TQM Magazine


































Methodology








organisations



supervisors


improvement process








to step 3


76



The TQM Magazine











The suggested model




77



The TQM Magazine



























4 Process focus











and process focus


process focus




improvements


improvements





based decisions

78



The TQM Magazine








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References





























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The TQM Magazine




































81



The TQM Magazine












73



The TQM Magazine












74



The TQM Magazine
















problems




change analysed




competitiveness















the top





knowledge




structures





habits etc







performance or wins


more change


the culture




keep the change


75



The TQM Magazine


































Methodology








organisations



supervisors


improvement process








to step 3


76



The TQM Magazine











The suggested model




77



The TQM Magazine



























4 Process focus











and process focus


process focus




improvements


improvements





based decisions

78



The TQM Magazine








79



The TQM Magazine






References





























80



The TQM Magazine




































81



The TQM Magazine












74



The TQM Magazine
















problems




change analysed




competitiveness















the top





knowledge




structures





habits etc







performance or wins


more change


the culture




keep the change


75



The TQM Magazine


































Methodology








organisations



supervisors


improvement process








to step 3


76



The TQM Magazine











The suggested model




77



The TQM Magazine



























4 Process focus











and process focus


process focus




improvements


improvements





based decisions

78



The TQM Magazine








79



The TQM Magazine






References





























80



The TQM Magazine




































81



The TQM Magazine
















problems




change analysed




competitiveness















the top





knowledge




structures





habits etc







performance or wins


more change


the culture




keep the change


75



The TQM Magazine


































Methodology








organisations



supervisors


improvement process








to step 3


76



The TQM Magazine











The suggested model




77



The TQM Magazine



























4 Process focus











and process focus


process focus




improvements


improvements





based decisions

78



The TQM Magazine








79



The TQM Magazine






References





























80



The TQM Magazine




































81



The TQM Magazine


































Methodology








organisations



supervisors


improvement process








to step 3


76



The TQM Magazine











The suggested model




77



The TQM Magazine



























4 Process focus











and process focus


process focus




improvements


improvements





based decisions

78



The TQM Magazine








79



The TQM Magazine






References





























80



The TQM Magazine




































81



The TQM Magazine











The suggested model




77



The TQM Magazine



























4 Process focus











and process focus


process focus




improvements


improvements





based decisions

78



The TQM Magazine








79



The TQM Magazine






References





























80



The TQM Magazine




































81



The TQM Magazine



























4 Process focus











and process focus


process focus




improvements


improvements





based decisions

78



The TQM Magazine








79



The TQM Magazine






References





























80



The TQM Magazine




































81



The TQM Magazine








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The TQM Magazine






References





























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26 a core value model for implementing total quality management in small organisations

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