Total Quality Management Case Study

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Total Quality Management is another widely accepted process improvement model which usually provides competitive advantage for companies. Gunasekaran and McGaughey (2003) defined TQM as a strategy “that encourages cost reduction, the creation of high quality goods and services, customer satisfaction, employee empowerment and the measurement of results”. TQM is closely linked to the concept of continuous improvement in all work ranging from the strategic planning and decision making which takes place at the top level to how it is executed on the lower level. This is completely understandable seeing as TQM operates on a premise that all mistakes and failures within a business can be rectified. There are several success stories in regards to the …show more content…

Notwithstanding these many achievements, some theorists argue that there is a conflicting relationship between TQM and innovation. On the one hand, Juran (1988) argues that given the fact that the whole ideology of TQM emphasises customer focus, this could prove to be beneficial as it encourages organisations to persistently examine customer wants and needs which leads to the organisations being innovative in regards to producing products that serve not only as a response to customer needs but also as a continual adaptation to the market’s changing needs. On the other hand, Slater and Naver (1998) refute this argument by stating that this customer focus premise could hinder innovation and instead it may contribute to the emergence of a “tyranny of the served markets” as organisations could end up focusing solely on incremental improvements on their products and services rather than attempting to create unique solutions. Simply put, one could argue that TQM could prove to be disastrous for innovation because in the constant attempt to respond to customer needs and expectations, organisations may lose sight of what their primary aim was and end up creating and developing uninspired and uncompetitive “me too” products that lack real …show more content…

Schumpeter (1934) first put forward the notion of innovation in regards to business; he argued that innovation is the pivotal driving force of growth in any business. This led to a research in innovation management which lasted over 5 decades and resulted in the establishment of 5 stages of innovation management; research on individual innovation, research on organisational promotion, research on outsider involvement or influence, research on portfolio, integrated and systematic innovation and finally research and implementation of TIM at the start of the 21st century. Shapiro (2002) defines TIM as the “reinvention and management of innovation value network that dynamically integrates the conception, strategy, technology, structure and business process, culture and people at all levels of an organisation”. Prajogo (2002) notes that TIM helps to divert business focus from ‘downstream processes such as manufacturing into upstream processes which explore areas concerned with product planning and

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