A Survey of TQM Success Factors in the UK

Abstract

There are many key factors suggested in the literature that have been attributed to the successful implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) which include strong leadership, economic survival and global competition. Also, there are some underlying factors that exist within organizations that have a significant influence on the overall success. The aim of this research was to rank TQM success factors by reviewing the available literature and then performing two surveys. The first postal survey by questionnaire was carried out on the winning organizations of the European Quality Award (EQA) and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA). The second survey was performed using 'enterprising' UK organizations to establish what was happening within UK industry. The conclusions of this research were that the findings from the literature were confirmed by the analysis of the surveys carried out. There are key factors that contribute to the successful implementation of TQM and these have different levels of importance. These key factors, in order of importance, are: effective leadership, application of best practice, economic survival, market orientation and employee involvement.