Confirmation of a four‐variable quality management model

Abstract

Most “quality management models” to date have been largely “experience‐based”. For example, Deming’s famous chain reaction model and Juran’s trilogy model are validated by the gurus’ own observations and experience in the industry. Such “experience‐based” models have laid the cornerstone for some more “theory‐driven” approaches to quality management, usually encompassing theories from other related disciplines such as motivational theories and group dynamics. Such approaches have, in turn, formed the basis for some widely accepted and implemented quality management models. The TQM model of the US Department of Defense is an excellent example of a blueprint of quality strategies adopted by outstanding companies worldwide. Very little literature to date has attempted to verify the veracity of such models using actual data collected from the industry. The present paper aims at presenting an interesting exercise in verifying and confirming one such model using structural equation modelling techniques.