City Research Online

Abstract

As the debate over the success of total quality management continues, the number of attempts to measure the effectiveness of total quality programmes increases. Almost all of these methods have been based on either surveys or questionnaires, or some other subjective way of evaluating customer satisfaction. Furthermore, many companies perceive themselves as practitioners of total quality management, when in fact all they are doing is engaging in the peripheral highlights of the initiative adopted. This not only forestalls success of the programme it actually proves to be counterproductive. True total quality requires total commitment, total integration and total system-wide adoption of the quality concept.

As a result of the special, interwoven relationship that just-in-time inventory management and total quality enjoys, research was conducted to determine whether the presence of superior inventory performance indicates the presence of total quality in manufacturing organisations.

An objective, two-tier quantitative model has been developed for assessing the presence of total quality in an organisation and for determining the level of effectiveness of a company’s total quality management initiatives. The model utilised inventory performance as a stand-alone indicator of the presence of total quality and then combined it with return on capital employed and employee value to create a multifactor model for a more detailed evaluation.

Both rating methods were tested on a population of 48 companies including reputed TQ and non-TQ organisations and the results were compared and contrasted. Detailed analysis revealed that some companies claiming the presence of total quality did not meet the performance criteria established by the benchmark TQ companies.

Statistical tests showed that the inventory performance rating method developed through this research is a reliable stand-alone indicator of a total quality organisation. Further analysis determined that the multifactor rating method is useful in assessing the exact areas of success or failure for any given company.

Publication Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Departments:	Bayes Business School Bayes Business School > Bayes Business School Doctoral Theses Doctoral Theses

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