بررسی اثرات عوامل زمینه ای در مدیریت کیفیت جامع (TQM) و عملکرد از دریچه نگاه نظریه های سازمانی: مطالعه تجربی

Although much has been written about TQM, little attention has been paid to the potential effects of contextual factors on TQM and TQM–performance relationships. The use of organizational theory to formulate propositions regarding the effects of such factors is especially scarce in the TQM literature. This study uses institutional theory and contingency theory as the basis to test a number of such propositions. First, a model of TQM and organizational performance is developed. Then using survey data, the effects of five contextual factors – three institutional factors and two contingency factors – on the implementation of TQM practices and on the impact of TQM on key organizational performance measures are analyzed within a TQM–performance relationships model framework. The three institutional factors include TQM implementation, ISO 9000 registration, and country of origin, and the two contingency factors include company size and scope of operations. The results show that the implementation of all TQM practices is similar across subgroups of companies within each contextual factor. In addition, the effects of TQM on four performance measures, as well as the relationships among these measures, are generally similar across subgroup companies. Thus, for the five contextual factors analyzed, the overall findings do not provide support for the argument that TQM and TQM–performance relationships are context-dependent. The implications of the study for managers and researchers, as well as study limitations, are also discussed.

In general, previous studies obtained mixed results about the success and failure rates of total quality management (TQM). Some of these studies reported estimates of TQM failure rates as high as 60–67% (Dooyoung et al., 1998). However, other studies yielded more optimistic results. For instance, according to a study conducted by Mohrman et al. (1995), 83% of the surveyed companies had a “positive or very positive” experience with TQM, and 79% planned to “increase or greatly increase” their TQM initiatives in the next 3 years. One likely reason for some of the unsuccessful TQM implementations is the possibility that TQM is context-dependent. That is, contextual factors such as company size and scope of operations might play a role in the implementation of TQM practices and outcomes. However, this issue has largely been ignored in the literature. Thus, one of the objectives of this study is to empirically analyze and compare TQM practices across companies with different characteristics using several contextual factors. The study will also examine how these factors affect the relationships among TQM and key organizational performance measures. These analyses are intended to shed light on whether the universal or the context-dependent approach to TQM is warranted. The use of organizational theory to test the validity of these two approaches has been scarce in the TQM literature. To fill this void, this study uses two organizational theories, institutional theory and contingency theory, as the basis to formulate propositions regarding the effects of contextual factors on TQM practices and TQM–performance relationships. There are differing views on whether a context-dependent or universal approach to TQM implementation is appropriate. However, despite a lack of empirical evidence, the assumption of universal applicability has permeated the literature with little attention being given to the context-dependent argument. Several recent studies (e.g., Sousa and Voss, 2002, Sila and Ebrahimpour, 2002 and Sila and Ebrahimpour, 2003) also emphasized the need to conduct contingency studies in the field of TQM.

Empirical evidence in this study suggests that a context-dependent argument for TQM and its effects on key organizational performance measures is not warranted for the contextual factors analyzed. However, findings suggest that although the same TQM practices will mostly yield similar performance results across subgroups of companies within each contextual factor, some of these results can be different. Reasons for such differences should be explored in future studies. The model developed and tested in this study should also be replicated using other contextual factors to make stronger assertions about the effects of institutional and contingency factors. This study's findings on the effects of company size are similar to the findings of Benson et al. (1991) and Ahire and Golhar (1996) who also reported that this contextual factor was insignificant in explaining variation in TQM practices. However, since the contextual factors and research designs used were different across these studies, replication studies should be conducted to shed more light on the effects of contextual factors. In addition, future research should examine theoretically plausible moderating effects. For example, the relationship between company size and TQM practices may be moderated by unit level strategy. Overall, this study contributes to the discussion in the literature over whether a universal or a context-dependent approach to TQM is needed by drawing on institutional theory and contingency theory. So far, these discussions have been scant and mainly prescriptive. The use of organizational theory in this context has been especially rare. This empirical study will hopefully lay the groundwork for more such studies.