Abstract
There is a vast literature on Total Quality Management (TQM), one of the most influential management concepts introduced during the twentieth century. In the TQM literature, there are multiple conflicting views on TQM’s historical popularity trajectory. In the past, commentators have debated whether TQM represents a lasting trend, or instead should be considered a more short-lived management fad or fashion. Since the 1990s, skeptics have speculated about the imminent fall, death, and burial of TQM, and even delivered eulogies. However, others claim that the level of interest has picked back up and that TQM is alive and well. Therefore, this paper attempts to synthesize and reconcile these differing views on the long-term trajectory of TQM and provide an updated picture and status report, taking into account the latest findings and developments in research and practice. The evidence reviewed in this paper suggests that, even though TQM has become much less noticeable in public management discourse compared to the heydays of the 1980s and 1990s, the concept has persisted and even to this day remains widely used by organizations worldwide.
Highlights
Total Quality Management (TQM) can be defined as a “business discipline and philosophy of management which institutionalizes planned and continuous business improvement” (Hill 1995, p. 36).TQM is “the most celebrated and widely adopted form of quality management” (Wilkinson and Willmott 1995b, p. 8) and one of the most influential management concepts and ideas (Hindle 2008). the roots of TQM can be traced back several decades to the post-war period (Wilkinson and Willmott 1995a), the concept of TQM did not take center stage in the business world until the 1980s when it started enjoying immense popularity
The historical review has shown that the emergence of TQM to a large part was driven by quality gurus such as Deming, Juran, and Crosby
By synthesizing and reconciling the findings of the vast literature on TQM, this paper provides an updated status report and a longitudinal overview of the trajectory of TQM from its inception up until today
Summary
TQM is “the most celebrated and widely adopted form of quality management” The roots of TQM can be traced back several decades to the post-war period (Wilkinson and Willmott 1995a), the concept of TQM did not take center stage in the business world until the 1980s when it started enjoying immense popularity. Rüling (2005) was not alone in making this observation, as the meteoric rise of TQM during the 1980s and 1990s led many researchers to suggest that there was much hyping of the concept and perhaps a fashion-like aspect involved in its rapid rise and popularization The concept is no longer perceived as new and has been pushed into the background by newer concepts such as
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