Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of Contributors
- 1 What Works at Work: Overview and Assessment
- 2 Diffusion and Performance of Modular Production in the U.S. Apparel Industry
- 3 Modular Production: Improving Performance in the Apparel Industry
- 4 The Participatory Bureaucracy: A Structural Explanation for the Effects of Group-Based Employee Participation Programs on Productivity in the Machined Products Sector
- 5 Methodological Issues in Cross-sectional and Panel Estimates of the Link between Human Resource Strategies and Firm Performance
- 6 The Adoption of High-Involvement Work Practices
- 7 The Effects of Total Quality Management on Corporate Performance: An Empirical Investigation
- 8 Implementing Effective Total Quality Management Programs and Financial Performance: A Synthesis of Evidence from Quality Award Winners
- 9 Public Policy Implications
- Index
8 - Implementing Effective Total Quality Management Programs and Financial Performance: A Synthesis of Evidence from Quality Award Winners
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of Contributors
- 1 What Works at Work: Overview and Assessment
- 2 Diffusion and Performance of Modular Production in the U.S. Apparel Industry
- 3 Modular Production: Improving Performance in the Apparel Industry
- 4 The Participatory Bureaucracy: A Structural Explanation for the Effects of Group-Based Employee Participation Programs on Productivity in the Machined Products Sector
- 5 Methodological Issues in Cross-sectional and Panel Estimates of the Link between Human Resource Strategies and Firm Performance
- 6 The Adoption of High-Involvement Work Practices
- 7 The Effects of Total Quality Management on Corporate Performance: An Empirical Investigation
- 8 Implementing Effective Total Quality Management Programs and Financial Performance: A Synthesis of Evidence from Quality Award Winners
- 9 Public Policy Implications
- Index
Summary
Introduction
The past decade has witnessed a remarkable spread and awareness of total quality management (TQM) practices. Surveys indicate that TQM initiatives and adoption rates are increasing in the United States (Haim [1993]). However, studies by some management consultancy firms have raised concerns about whether investments in TQM programs have created economic value (see, e.g., the International Quality Study, a joint project by Ernst & Young and American Quality Foundation [1992] and Kelly [1992] that discusses the studies done by Arthur D. Little Inc., A. T. Kearney, and Rath and Strong). Although these studies report management perceptions as to whether TQM is beneficial or not, they rarely provide objective data and statistical evidence to support their claims. Nonetheless, these studies have received widespread publicity in the business press and seem to have left many firms confused about the value of TQM (see, e.g., Fuchsberg [1992a, 1992b], Mathews and Katel [1992], and Mathews [1993]). Ittner and Larcker's (1995a) survey results indicate that top management in many firms is concerned about the impact of TQM practices on financial performance, and is putting pressure on its quality departments to demonstrate whether investments in TQM have paid off.
Proponents of TQM have reacted to the negative publicity by reminding critics of the few well-publicized success stories of TQM, and have used these examples to make the case that TQM works. Others have revisited the theory of TQM to reiterate what TQM is, why there is nothing wrong with the theory of TQM, and what organizations must do to implement TQM successfully (King [1992] and Johnson [1993]).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The American WorkplaceSkills, Pay, and Employment Involvement, pp. 234 - 272Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000
- 5
- Cited by