Citation:    Industry Week, April 5, 1993 v242 n7 p16(2)

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Title:       TQM: a child takes a first few faltering steps. (total quality
             management)

Authors:     Benson, Tracy E.

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Subjects:    Total quality management_Surveys
             Quality control_Management

Reference #: A13614240

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Abstract: A survey reveals that 1/4 of companies experienced success in
          using Total Quality Management (TQM) techniques, and the rest
          failed largely because of poor application of principles. TQM is
          now seen not as a quick fix but as a long-term strategy.

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Full Text COPYRIGHT Penton Publishing Inc. 1993

A LARGE CONTINGENT OF U.S. BUSINESS writers would have managers believe
that Total Quality Management (TQM) is all but dead and buried. But to hear
it from those in the trenches, TQM is still in its infancy. And the
prognosis from these people is that both as a philosophy and a long-term
business strategy, TQM is here to stay. While awareness of quality issues
rose considerably during the last decade, only in the last five years or so
have companies in North America begun to embrace quality as a total
management concept. Consider that only 56% of the 536 North American
organizations participating in a survey jointly administered by
INDUSTRYWEEK, Development Dimensions International (DDI), and the Quality &
Productivity Management Assn. (QPMA) are currently using the business
strategy known as Total Quality Management. Of these companies, only
one-quarter have seriously embraced quality for more than three years. TQM,
notes Richard S. Wellins, senior vice president of DDI, "is hardly in its
geriatric stage."

It's no wonder that TQM has been getting a bad rap lately, because
"failures" generate a lot of attention. But in most cases, failed quality
programs are not the result of failed quality. This latest reading
indicates that many of these infamous bad-news cases are instead the result
of the way TQM has been applied.

Judging from the track record of TQM's most successful trailblazers, the
payoffs can be sizable if the efforts are properly directed. Companies that
implement TQM as a comprehensive, integrated initiative report results in
the areas of operational efficiency (such as cycle-time reduction, improved
productivity, and fewer defects), in customer retention and satisfaction,
and in cultural factors such as higher morale, lower turnover, and enhanced
quality of work life.

If there is ene thing that separates the high-performance organizations
from the low performers, it is the gap between how important participants
say certain factors are to the success of TQM and how well these factors
are actually executed.

The survey identifies 13 factors that are widely considered to be critical
to the success of any TQM initiative, factors that include leadership
commitment, training, and alignment of organizational systems. Respondents
rated all of them extremely important (4.0 or above on a five-point scale),
with the exception of tools and techniques, which was still considered
important (3.87).

Despite the importance assigned to the factors, however, the nearly 7,000
survey participants (who span five organizational levels in the 536
companies responding to the survey) report only moderate proficiency with
five factors (between 3.0 and 3.23 on the same five-point scale) and scores
of below 3.0 for the remaining factors.

Interestingly, the widest gaps between importance and proficiency show up
for factors that are most closely tied to an organization's underlying
structure, such as leadership commitment, training, alignment of
organizational systems, recognition and rewards, and performance
management/appraisal.

Because awareness of quality as an isolated issue predates TQM as a
philosophy and business strategy, many people still consider TQM as a lot
of tools and techniques. Line managers in particular, says Bill Ginnodo,
executive director of QPMA, tend to want to take the tools and run.

TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES, HOWEVER, RANK dead last in terms of relative
importance to a TQM effort. "TQM is at least 80% concept and probably only
20% tools and techniques," Mr. Ginnodo says. "It's far more important to
deal with leadership, training, and empowerment--the conceptual issues that
will get people in sync with the effort."

When it comes to barriers within the organization corporate leaders lay
more blame on themselves than on line employees or first-line supervisors.
In low-performance organizations, for example, 54% of participating senior
executives consider themselves the biggest barrier to TQM success. Senior
managers in high- and moderate-performing companies are more likely to
point a finger at middle managers as sources of resistance to the concept.

The popular notion that TQM success depends on support from the senior
ranks appears to be true. As one survey respondent sees it: "The [TQM] seed
has been planted in our area. If upper management keeps the sun and water
coming, this plant will choke off the weaklings." In terms of overall
business direction, North American executives clearly see TQM as the
strategy most likely to impact their competitive positions in the
long-term. Most repondents see strategies that require change in
organizational culture and processes rather than quick fixes as roads to
longterm impact on competitiveness.

The same executives tend to devalue external strategies, such as
benchmarking, ISO 9000 certification, and governmental trade regulations
and assistance. And they rank the Baldrige application process and reward
dead last as a strategy most likely to have longterm impact on
competitiveness. Clearly senior managers are beginning think about strategy
from a systems view, taking the entire organization--and its culture--into
account.

Although the trends are encouraging, there will still be those who, in Mr.
Ginnodo's estimation, "don't have the staying power or haven't dealt with
all the issues." These companies, he says, will continue to "fall by the
wayside and find that TQM is not all it's cracked up to be." Companies that
bring their underlying structures in line with improvement goals, on the
other hand, will do themselves and the next generation of TQM a great
service.

"The study shows that TQM is alive, reasonably well, and here to stay," Mr.
Ginnodo says.

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