Abstract
Periodically, organizations need to change the quality management aspects of processes and products in order to suit the demands of their internal and external (consumer and competitor market) environments. In the context of the present study, quality management changes involve tools, programs, methods, standards and procedures that can be applied. The purpose of this study is to help senior management to identify types of change and, consequently, determine how it should be correctly conducted within an organization. The methodology involves a classification model, with multicriteria support, and three organizational change ratings were adopted (the extremes, type I and type II, as confirmed in the literature, and the intermediary, proposed herein). The multicriteria method used was ELECTRE TRI and the model was applied to two companies of the Textile Local Productive Arrangement in Pernambuco, Brazil. The results are interesting and show the consistency and coherence of the proposed classification model.
Highlights
Nowadays, companies are naturally in a constant state of change since they must operate in a completely multicultural environment in which changes occur constantly
In the context of the present study, there has been a shift of focus among studies of total quality management from its “hard” aspects, which are more notable, such as tools, techniques and systems, to the “softer” behavioral and cultural aspects of TQM, which are more difficult to measure and change (Prajogo & McDermott, 2005)
Convergence was observed in the classification of all alternatives from the medium-sized company regarding pessimistic and optimistic procedures
Summary
Companies are naturally in a constant state of change since they must operate in a completely multicultural environment in which changes occur constantly. One important characteristic of a flexible organization is the ability to modify or develop new products in order to satisfy consumers (Moreira, 2014) This change becomes a natural process over the life of an organization, in response to several external forces. In the context of the present study, there has been a shift of focus among studies of total quality management from its “hard” aspects, which are more notable, such as tools, techniques and systems, to the “softer” behavioral and cultural aspects of TQM, which are more difficult to measure and change (Prajogo & McDermott, 2005). The elaboration of a classification model with multicriteria support is important in this context
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