[The following article appears in the March, 1994 edition of
_Public_Sector_Quality_Report_, page 4.]

                   STUDY FINDS TQM BEGINS FROM WITHIN

     Despite all you hear and read about public dissatisfaction
with government productivity and service, a recent survey of
state governments in the United States finds that the impetus for
implementing total quality management (TQM) as an improvement
strategy comes, more often than not, from inside state government
agencies, not from external forces.

     That's just one finding of a survey conducted by three
professors (Evan Berman, Jonathan West, Michael Milakovich) at
the University of Miami's public administration graduate program.
The survey was sent to top executives in 255 state agencies (the
corrections, transportation, welfare, health, and education
departments in each of the 50 states and the District of Colum-
bia). Seventy-one percent, or 181 agencies, responded.

     Among other findings the survey results indicate that
external forces--including complaints by the public, interest in
TQM on the part of legislators, pressure from the media--tend not
to be terribly significant in lighting the fire for TQM.

     Instead, 85 percent of the respondents said that an overall
agency strategic planning effort was either "important" or "very
important" in paving the way for TQM implementation.

     Other internal catalysts deemed "important" or "very impor-
tant" by 67 percent or more of the respondents included a desire
to increase employee productivity, demonstrated interest on the
part of the agency director or senior management, tight budgets,
and interest in TQM among employees.

     The only external force which ranked in the top seven
reasons for implementing TQM was interest on the part of the
governor.

     To gauge the degree to which TQM has been implemented in
state government, the survey quizzed each agency on whether it
had applied TQM in any of 20 "functions," including personnel,
budgeting, and information systems. The results show that 59
percent of state agencies have applied TQM in one or more func-
tions, and 34 percent have applied TQM in 5 or more functions.

     Based on those findings, and the fact that half of the
agencies reported embarking on TQM implementation since 1992, the
study's authors describe TQM implementation by the states as
"preliminary" in an overall sense.

     There's no one right way to implement TQM, at least judging
by the survey. Sixty-four percent of respondents reported using a
comprehensive, top-down approach to implementation, while 60
percent used mid-level implementation teams and 56 pursued "grass
roots" efforts.

     The survey authors note that these findings are consistent
with a multi-phase, mutually reinforcing implementation approach
frequently described in TQM literature.

     Finally, although 25 percent of the respondents said it was
still too early to tell whether TQM would lead to positive
results, most of the others did claim positive experiences with
TQM. In fact, only 2 percent reported negative results.

     Among the areas where TQM was said to have the most impact
were productivity and quality, customer satisfaction, communica-
tion and group decision-making capability. Meanwhile, somewhat
more modest improvements were reported in the area of cost
reduction.

Contact: Michael E. Milakovich, associate professor, University
of Miami, (305) 284-2401.

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