The purpose of this research is to understand the state of art of total quality management in Hong Kong Hotel Industry and to develop a model of business excellence to help monitor and guide hoteliers in search of excellence. With this in mind, a preliminary study was conducted to understand the concepts, management practices, barriers to their implementations and future plan that are pertinent to total quality management. Founded on Kanji's Business Excellence Model, the Business Excellence Model for Hong Kong Hotel Industry is developed, tested and applied using survey data from 28 members of the Hong Kong Hotels Association and the questionnaires are mainly responded by directorates of the hotels. To compliment the business excellence study, over 2,400 interviews were made from guests of 62 hotels to set up a customer satisfaction index for Hong Kong Hotel Industry. A full-scale study on customer satisfaction for three international and two Asian hotels is included as a case study. Five critical success factors are identified in the preliminary study and they are People Management, External Customer-Satisfaction, Teamwork, Internal Customer-Satisfaction and Leadership. Under staffing is the major barrier to the hotel's implementation of TQM in terms of both frequency and degrees of difficulty, and the approach believed to be short-lived gimmicks or fads comes second. The customer satisfaction survey 1999 reveals that Customer Satisfaction is mainly influenced by both Expectation and Perceived Quality. This, perhaps, gives the hoteliers the starting points for improving their customer satisfactions. Contrasts between the two groups of hotels in the case study reveal that the Asian group outperforms the International group of hotels in all the five dimensions of the Customer Satisfaction Model for both sexes and for both ethnic groups of White and Chinese. This indicates that the difference is something fundamental, perhaps in their quality cultures, quality initiatives and, most importantly, leaderships.

Creating customer value and building stockholder value are the cornerstones for excellence in any business endeavour. In an under-developed economy, financial institutions may accomplish these objectives through a customer focus strategy and implementation of some quality management principles. However, with the increasing accessibility to new technologies and intensified competition, managers have been alerted and become more aware of the fact that achieving excellence is made even more difficult - financial institutions must now do much more to excel in the competitive retail banking environment of the new millennium. It is believed, and the findings of the present work support, that the formulation of a robust improvement model capable of guiding through the whole excellence pursuant process will provide a solid foundation for successfully meeting the challenge. The burning desire to enhance competitiveness and drive for achieving business excellence have nurtured the development of a new Business Excellence Model for successful implementation of TQM in retail banking. It was found that existing TQM and business excellence models provide only prescriptive and indicative roadmaps for companies to follow but fail to provide a complete coverage of TQM concepts, holistic measure of business excellence and validated links between TQM elements and business excellence. Hence, some financial institutions may cast doubts on their applicability of TQM because the relationships between TQM principles and the results of business excellence are not assessed. As such, it should be valuable to develop and provide a model, which is capable of covering the TQM essence in a structured way to drive total quality improvement efforts. The present research aims to develop a theory-driven as well as practical model for retail banks and the retail banking sector to achieve business excellence. In the process, Hong Kong retail banks and the Hong Kong retail banking sector were chosen as the context for the present research to obtain valuable data on how successful implementation of TQM essence could contribute to business excellence in a Chinese society. Both employees and customers inputs, being the important sources of stakeholder information, have been the basis for analysis. Top performing bank's executives were interviewed to identify the core activities and factors that determine their bank's success. Further, data were collected from executives of 47 retail banks in Hong Kong. Structural equation modelling was employed to develop the new Business Excellence Model (BEM). SEM's software programme was employed to analyse the goodness of fit of the new BEM. The forces of excellence indices and business excellence indices of the sampled retail banks were computed using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique. The same procedure was also applied to the data collected ll from retail customers in the survey to measure the level of customer satisfaction of the retail banking sector. The indices of the BEM were then matched to the customer satisfaction indices of retail banks and retail banking sector for higher level of analysis. Findings of the present work indicate that the new BEM fits the data of the 47 retail banks very well. The BEM is a valid and reliable model for enabling retail banks to review the current level of practice in relation to their critical success factors continuously. With the new BEM, they can now measure and drive improvement in their critical activities and finally achieving business excellence. Similar results obtained for customer focus dimension of the BEM and the customer satisfaction measurement have further substantiated the robustness and usefulness of the new BEM. Hence, the new Business Excellence Model should be a valuable means for retail banks and the retail banking sector to pursue business excellence and to gain a competitive edge in the new millennium.

Syftet med detta examensarbete var att identifiera vad en lämplig modell för en strategisk styrning av hantering av verksamhetsinformation borde innehålla. För att få reda på detta analyserade jag vilka modeller som används, vilka utmaningar som uppges och vilket stöd kvalitetsteknik gav i arbetet att ta sig an utmaningarna. Främst användes fördjupad litteraturstudie och analys av förekomst av värderingar, teman och uttryckta utmaningar i den valda litteraturen. En enkät sändes ut till åttio professionella inom arkiv- och informationshantering och intervjuer har genomförts med fyra personer med stor erfarenhet av arbete med informationsstyrning på en strategisk nivå. För att avgränsa området för studien har kvalitetsteknik avgränsats till värderingar och teman angivna i hörnstensmodell och kvalitetsprismodeller. Analysen indikerar att de i litteraturen angivna utmaningarna till stor del kan mötas av de värderingar och teman som förekommer inom kvalitetsteknik, samtidigt som såväl modeller för strategisk styrning av verksamhetsinformation och BPM, Business Process Management, kan ge stöd inte minst då det gäller att involvera intressenter/stakeholders och hålla deras intresse. / This study aimed to identify what a suitable model for Information Governance should contain. In order to find out, I analyzed which models people commonly used, which challenges people expressed and to what extent Quality Management supported dealing with these challenges. The study mostly relied on literature studies. The presence of values, key temes and challenges have been noted and analyzed. A questionnaire was sent out to 80 IG-professionals and interwievs were held with four people with in-depth experience from working with information Governance. In order to define the scope for this study ” Quality Management has been delimited to values and key themes used in Excellence Models and the corner stones of TQM. The analyzes indicates that the expressed challenges to a great extent could be met with values and key themes present in Quality Management. Models dealing with Information Governance and BPM, Business Process Management, could also support dealing with the challenges, esp. dealing with stakeholders. / <p>2017-09-12</p>

Object of this thesis is to give elaborated view of ways and methods for officiating of the efficiency of quality management systems. This thesis is describing and evaluating the current state of quality management systems in chosen firm. In this firm are further applied chosen indicators of the efficiency of quality management. On the basis of quantification of quality management systems efficiency are exposed main problems in quality management in selected firm. This thesis contains proposed correctional remedies for chosen problems elimination. On the basis of repeated measures is further efficiency assessed for realized remedies and is discovered current efficiency of quality management systems in chosen firm.

Lean Six Sigma is one of the tools organizations use to help their processes run faster and thus maximize their profits. It is a thorough approach that can reveal defects in companies' processes through examining customers' needs and its statistical data Its popularity spreads fast from the early adopters such as General Electric, Toyota or Motorola and many companies are keen to get their hands on it and achieve similar success as above mentioned. Czech companies are not different. There is, however, a tendency to lay it aside based on first time impressions. The most frequent reasons are: complexity, need to make dramatic changes in the company's culture and high initial costs. Main goal of this thesis is to show that Lean Six Sigma does not necessarily have to be a thorough approach. It can also be used as a one-time tool to improve company's processes, just by picking the right parts and combining them in the right order. This thesis describes the most useful tools and also shows how they can be used in the real situation. By aligning them in a row it also creates a framework for Lean Six Sigma implementation projects which can be used repeatedly. One chapter also describes various problems that might occur during the implementation and provides readers with possible solutions to overcome them.

Syftet med studien har varit att identifiera de viktigaste områdena mindre företag bör fokusera på vid övergång till ISO 9001:2015. Examensarbetet har utförts på det tillverkande företaget FIG Metall. Den nya utgåvan av standarden har en mer tolkningsbaserad struktur i jämförelse med tidigare vilket har bidragit till en svårighet för företag att förstå kraven i den nya utgåvan. Forskningsmetodiken som tillämpats är av kvalitativ karaktär. Vid genomförande av studien gjordes observation, intervjuer och dokumentstudier hos FIG Metall för att få en inblick i hur verksamheten fungerade samt identifiera deras gap mot ISO 9001:2015. Andra intervjuer som gjordes var med organisationerna Qvalify och SIS för att få reda på de största skillnaderna i den nya utgåvan av standarden samt vanligaste svårigheterna företag har vid övergången. De kvalitativa intervjuerna var semi-strukturerade vilket innebär att intervjupersonerna haft stor frihet att tolka frågorna som ställts samt att intervjuaren inte kan förutspå respondentens svar. I analyskapitlet jämfördes empirin från studiens olika metoder med hjälp av triangulering, se figur 10. Där kopplades resultaten även till relevanta teorier. I intervju med Qvalify och SIS framkom samstämmighet om vilka områden som behövde uppfyllas för en övergång till ISO 9001:2015. Resultatet av studien visar de viktigaste områdena mindre företag bör fokusera på för övergången. Istället för att gå igenom standarden krav för krav ska företag fokusera på ledarskap, organisationens förutsättningar, riskbaserat tänkande samt processinriktning. Studien visar även på att ISO 9001:2015 har en nära koppling till TQM, verksamhetsutveckling och organisationspsykologi och kan därmed användas som komplement till standarden. / The purpose with this study aims to identify the most important and critical factors for small-sized companies to make way for a successful transition to ISO 9001:2015. Because of the new structure, it is difficult for companies to interpret the standard and what is required to achieve a certification. This study has therefore been carried out at the manufacturing company FIG Metall in Gnosjö.  The study is based on qualitative research. Observation, interviews and document views were made at FIG Metall. Interviews were also carried out with the auditing company Qvalify and the Swedish Standards Institute to receive their views on which the important factors are as well as the general difficulties for companies when transitioning.  The interviews were semi-structured which resulted in an open discussion where the respondents were free to answer based on how they perceived the questions. The results of the empirical data were the basis of the analysis and the conclusion. The different methods used in the report can be seen in figure 10 which shows the triangular approach of the study. Qvalify and SIS agreed upon the same areas companies need to focus on when transitioning to ISO 9001:2015. The result of this study shows that the most important areas smaller companies need to focus on when transitioning are Leadership, Context of the organization, Risk based thinking and Process approach. The study concluded that ISO 9001:2015 is closely related to total quality management (TQM), organizational development and organizational psychology and can be used as complementary tools to the standard.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / The objective of this work is to develop a quality management system focused on the principles of TQM for cocoa micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in the province of La Convención, Cusco - Perú. The diagnosis for this investigation was made using in-depth interviews to the cocoa farmers that facilitated the identification of the current situation of cocoa MSEs. With the results obtained and based on the scientific articles studied, the critical elements in each activity related to the cocoa production process were determined, and it is focused on establishing a quality management system adaptable to the requirements of the plots studied. As a result of the analysis of the experts, the system in question is based on the following principles of TQM: documentation, customer focus, process-based approach and continuous improvement.

Banking services are perhaps the largest industry that caters to -the needs of various segments of the population reflecting the diverse Diasporas of the society. Moreover, perceived service quality tends to play a significant role in high involvement (high interaction between customers and service providers) industries like banks. Also, banks often have long-term business relationships with customers. In addition, the banking sector is large enough to capture and represent almost all the critical features of the customer-perceived service quality and the critical dimensions of excellence that the management may have to encounter, in order to effectively manage a service organisation. . However, there is considerable lack of literature with respect to service industry management, especially in the banking industry of developing economies. Therefore an analysis of banks in the UAE from a 'service-quality perspective' may sound interesting at this juncture. Such an investigation is vital for the bankers in order to enhance their business performance. The main objective of this research is to develop a theoretical framework to understand and explore CSFs for banks that succeed in the field of TQM and to identify marketoriented activities that are affected by the use of this approach. This research adapts an interdisciplinary approach that makes use of TQM, service quality, IT, and information systems literature. It takes a holistic view of TQM in the banking sector and considers the different stages of implementation and implications of the TQM. The research design involves a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies to incorporate: (1) TQM development; (2) the identification of key TQMsuccess factors commonly cited in the literature, and endorsed by practitioners and experts as important to effective TQM implementation; (3) an in-depth case studies. approach to understand how TQM processes, and critical success factors identified are addressed and implemented; and (4) the possible impact of TQM practices on efficiency. Furthermore, the research framework, which emerged from the literature search, is tested and validated by rigorous quantitative analysis using SPSS. The statistical analysis using Factor Analysis, Regression Analysis, One-Sample Test and Ranking Analysis to test a series of relationships and research constructs to provide solid support for the resulting relationships. i The study has identified twelve CSFs for the successful implementation of TQM: (1) Top Management Support, (2) Strategy, (3) Continuous Improvement, (4) Benchmarking, (5) Customer Focus, (6) Quality Department, (7) Human Resource Management, (8) Quality Technology,. (9) Service Design, (10) Employees, (11) Servicescapes, (12) Quality Systems. Furthermore, it *has been found that the organisational experiences of TQM implementation in-the service- sector in UAE are far from being mature. There is a lot of evidence with reference to the survey results and case studies presented in this study that TQM is still a new management concept, and is widely unknown. In many cases, there is some reluctance to introduce it. . The study has pointed out the CSFs for successful TQM implementation because it is vital for organisations to capture the minds of everybody, starting at the top and permeating throughout the whole organisation and beyond. The philosophy maintains that an organisation's primary objective is to enhance its ability to meet customer requirements by improving the quality of its services. People are the most important management resource and ultimate goal of business. TQM generally means a quest for excellence, creating the right attitudes and controls to make prevention of any possible errors, and optimise customer satisfaction by increased efficiency and effectiveness. Further, this study points out TQM as being an organisation-wide activity which has to reach every employee. Therefore, TQM has been an. approach for continuously improving the quality of services delivered through the participation at all levels and functions of the organisation. From this study, it is evident that the effectivetransformation to TQM has been linked to the extent to which firms implement certain CSFs. This study contributes to the emerging literature on TQM in banking sector in a number of specific ways: (1) It provides new theoretical grounds for studying TQM in banking sector in the context of CSFs that affect competition in the dynamic marketplace; (2) It computes and analyses the total quality management indices with respect to the 16 factors which have been developed from the literature for the banking industry as a whole; (3) It ascertains the level of TQM implementation in the UAE banking scene; (4) It Offers key insights on the criticality of the different TQM dimensions with respect to the banking sector in UAE and (5) It provides a foundation and proposals for future research and investigation.

This study examines the relationship between organisational culture and TQM implementation barriers to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the factors affecting TQM implementation. For TQM implementation to take root effectively, the critical role of organisational culture is widely recognised. The existence of pitfalls and obstacles (barriers) to implementing TQM is also widely recognized, as is the importance of understanding these TQM implementation barriers. Nevertheless, whilst many TQM implementation models and frameworks have been designed and proposed, no study has been located in the literature that has systematically examined the relationship between organisational culture and TQM implementation barriers. This theoretical lapse in the TQM literature necessitates an investigation of the direction and significance of the relationship which can help in devising more informed TQM implementation models. In this context, a quantitative research methodology was adopted to examine the profiles of organisational culture and of TQM implementation barriers in organisations in Bahrain and to examine the relationship between these variables. Bahrain is presently going through a rapid expansion in quality management system adoption. Accordingly, the research uses four constructs of organisational culture as independent variables and six constructs of TQM implementation barriers identified through the literature as dependent variables. A set of hypotheses was developed describing the expected relationships between these two sets of variables. The study adopted a positivist, deductive approach using an online survey questionnaire to obtain quantitative data for hypothesis testing. The research instrument was assessed for validity and reliability through structured interviews. Responses to the survey were obtained from 325 organisations located in Bahrain. Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) version 16.0 was used to test the measurement model using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and to test the structural model using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Both models showed a very good fit to the data, with good construct validity and reliability. The findings of the study showed that group culture, which is believed to be an ‘ideal’ culture for TQM implementation helps decrease employee barriers, information barriers and customer related barriers as predicted. However group culture wasn’t found to help decrease top management barriers. Rational culture was found to decrease top management barriers as predicted but it wasn’t found to help decrease employee and customer barriers. The findings confirm the significant impact of hierarchical culture in the Bahrain context in decreasing planning and process management barriers. Developmental culture’s potential to lower employee and customer barriers was observed but was not found to be statistically significant. This research makes several contributions in both academic and practical terms. Theoretically, positioning organisational culture as an antecedent of TQM implementation barriers, this study is the first holistic approach that attempts to empirically investigate which type of organisational culture is related to which TQM implementation barriers. Understanding the nature, strength and direction of these relationships can help to inform and support future TQM implementation attempts. Practically, this research will benefit organisations who have not been able to fully realise TQM, or who are in the process of planning the introduction of TQM. The findings of the study can help Bahraini organisations to realise the long term quality objectives of the Bahrain Centre of Excellence’s Vision 2030 programme. Furthermore, the study has contributed a new empirically tested scale for measuring TQM implementation barriers - a valuable tool on its own, or in conjunction with the organisational culture profile assessment tool - for both practitioners wishing to examine their readiness for TQM or progress in creating a TQM ethos, and for future researchers wishing to extend our understanding of the influence of TQM barriers and/or culture on major organisational improvement interventions. It is expected that replication of this study in other countries and regions with different culture and context may help in developing an improved model of TQM implementation. Implications for managers and future research are advanced.

In the last decade, the rapid development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has forced its government to implement modern management styles such as Total Quality Management (TQM) to ensure continuous improvement in the provision of healthcare. There is a considerable body of literature that shows the benefits of implementing TQM in hospitals, but there are few empirical studies that show TQM implementation efforts in the healthcare sector. Furthermore, the healthcare literature did not explore the implementation of TQM in a context of gender segregated environment such as the case in KSA. This research project is an exploratory investigation assessing the impact of TQM in a gender segregated healthcare environment such as KSA. The research design used triangulation methods to investigate the problem at hand. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used through field-work and external comparisons. The approach was based on the following: (1) Assessing the level of perception and understanding of TQM principles in several KSA hospitals, taking into account the differences and similarities between the different gender population, (2) Examining the approach to TQM implementation and its degree of effectiveness in four Saudi hospitals to highlight critical factors for effective implementations using the Baldrige assessment method; (3) Benchmarking the Saudi hospital experiences to UK and USA hospitals to highlight key facilitating and inhibiting factors; (4) Using key findings from the previous steps to identify the critical factors and propose a model for TQM implementations in a segregated healthcare environment such as the case in the KSA. The survey research findings show a weak appreciation, awareness and understanding of TQM in managing healthcare organisations by the respondents in the KSA. It clearly shows that many employees in the organisations do riot understand TQM. The degree of emphasis for each quality activity varied and thus more research needs to be done to investigate the importance of each quality activity to a TQM implementation process, as there are varying degrees of emphasis across the board. The KSA case studies show that in implementing organisations, TQM intentions and TQM policy frameworks are generally acceptable. However, the implementation process is generally weak and lacks coordination in the majority of these organisations. It is clear that the majority of the KSA cases have not succeeded in total commitment towards a total quality culture. When compared to the UK and USA hospitals, the majority of the KSA cases show deficiencies in most of the critical activities that form the foundation of a successful quality process. Furthermore, the study indicates three critical factors in KSA hospitals that either did not exist or were not given full attention. The importance of these factors were further validated in the literature. The factors were continuous top management commitment, continuous education and training, and culture awareness. These factors were then used to develop a model for TQM implementation for a segregated healthcare environment.