Although academic interest in TQM increased substantially in the last decade, still
the gap in the literature is hardly surprising given that research and theory in TQM
implementation are still at a very early stage in the West. To-date, there are only a
handful of empirical researches reported in the literature that have attempted to
identify what constitute as constructs of TQM that can be manipulated to
effectively implement TQM. All but very few are studies done in developed
economies. Moreover, knowledge of TQM in developing economies is almost
totally lacking. Against this backdrop, this researcha ddressesth e identified gaps
in the literature on TQM. Thus this thesis focuses on the effective implementation
of total quality management in Palestine, a developing economy, through an
empirical investigation of critical quality factors.
The research methodology involves combining quantitative and qualitative
methodologies to identify the key quality factors cited in the literature and
considered by consultants and experts as essential to successful TQM
implementation. The research design also included: Lan empirical investigation to
assessth e level of TQM awarenessa nd understandingi n the Palestinian context,
2. determining which key quality factors are critical to successful implementation
using a survey questionnaire, 3. determining what tactics and techniques are used
in addressing and implementing these critical quality factors by Palestinian
organisations, using semi-structured interviews, 4. determining the prerequisites
of effective TQM implementation in the pre-launch stage using in depth
interviews. By complementing and integrating the findings, an implementation
framework was constructed with the support of the knowledge acquired from the
literature review. A simple and practical step by step with implementation
guidelines framework aiming at assisting Palestinian organisations in planning on
effective implementation of TQM was constructed. The research findings
indicate that top management commitment and involvement, employee
commitment and involvement, managing by customer-driven system and
processes and continuous performance improvement, are essential to effective
implementation of TQM. This implies that Palestinian organisations recognise
and implement the same critical quality factors found in Western countries.
The proposed framework is built around four major constructs that relate to top
management commitment, employee commitment, customer-driven system and
processes, and continuous improvement. It emphasises an implementation
approach of top-down deployment and bottom-up participation focussing on
businessp rocessesth at add value to customers atisfaction.
In conclusion, this empirical research revealed that TQM could be implemented in
the developing economies (such as Palestine) as Palestinian organisations
subscribe to the same quality factors as those found in the developed economies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/3794 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Baidoun, Samir D. |
| Contributors | Zairi, Mohamed |
| Publisher | University of Bradford, Management Centre. European Centre for Total Quality Management. |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, doctoral, PhD |
| Rights | <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>. |
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