Total Quality Management as a Cultural Phenomenon

Abstract

The origin and development of the quality management discipline as a practice-oriented approach to management has provided a challenge for academic research that aims at discovering the theoretical foundations of total quality management (TQM). The ISO 9000 family of quality standards and quality award criteria have led to the practical development and diffusion of the discipline, and currently they provide the most comprehensive definition for TQM. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award has been selected as the practical definition of TQM for this study.TQM is studied as a cultural phenomenon. The multiple levels of the discipline are identified and analyzed based on Schein's framework for organizational culture. The focus is on the most comprehensive level, the analysis of basic assumptions underlying the more visible levels of quality management. They include an organization s mission and relationship to external environment, the nature of human nature and relationships, and the nature of reality and nature of time. An integrated set of mutually compatible basic assumptions forms quality culture, which is considered to be the theoretical foundation of quality management. In practice, the implementation of a successful quality management program requires a change in organizational culture to be compatible with quality culture. Theoretical analysis and development of the discipline should focus on understanding the consequences of some superficial assumptions inherent in the discipline, and implementation problems that arise from a mismatch between quality culture and organizational culture.