Investigating the impact of Total Quality Management (TQM) on innovation in iranian oil companies

Abstract

Today, the concept of innovation has captured the attention of many scholars and scientists of different fields, and has gained a paramount importance in modern ever changing organizations for competing with rival’s organized management and to survive in the cycle of change. The purpose of the present study is to answer the key question of whether total quality management is able to have any impact on the incremental and radical innovation of Iranian oil companies through cultural changes. This study should be considered as an applicable one in terms of its purpose, a descriptive - correlational one in terms of the method it has followed and a field study in terms of its way of data collection. The sample of the study consisted of 30 Iranian oil Companies, all of which we have thoroughly investigated. The results of the study derived from data analysis done by means of equation modeling method verified all the hypotheses of the study except for hypotheses 2 and 6. According to our results it is possible to increase the rate of innovation in companies by increasing the level of total quality management. Keywords: Total Quality Management (TQM), cultural changes, incremental and radical innovation, Iranian oil Companies