نقشه برداری لینک های مهم بین فرهنگ سازمانی و مدیریت کیفیت جامع (TQM) / شیوه شش سیگما

This study investigates how organizational culture influences the implementation of different practices incorporated in the recent Six Sigma approach as well as those associated with traditional total quality management (TQM). We employed the competing values framework to capture the underlying value orientations of organizational culture. Using survey data collected from 226 US manufacturing plants, the relationships between four culture types and 10 TQM/Six Sigma practices were examined via the structural equation modeling technique. The results reveal the differential effects of the culture types on the implementation of TQM/Six Sigma practices. The implications of the links between different cultures and different TQM/Six Sigma practices are discussed. While the relationship between TQM practices and culture has been the subject of prior research, this is the first look at the relationship between organizational culture and a comprehensive set of quality management practices including the new Six Sigma practices. The understanding of the advantage of each culture type should help managers achieve effective implementation of TQM/Six Sigma practices from a holistic perspective of both quality management and culture.

Improving the quality of products and services is fundamental to a firm's business success. In an attempt to improve quality, firms have pursued many continuous improvement programs, most notably total quality management (TQM) and more recently, Six Sigma. As companies such as Motorola, General Electric, Honeywell, Sony, Caterpillar, and Johnson Controls claimed substantial financial benefits from their investments in Six Sigma, the adoption of Six Sigma showed an upward trend in industry (Desai, 2006). However, despite the claimed benefits from TQM and Six Sigma implementation, there are numerous reports of problems in the process of implementing them (e.g., Ahire and Ravichandran, 2001; Gijo and Rao, 2005; Sila, 2007; Szeto and Tsang, 2005). In order to better understand whether and how quality management approaches affect organizational performance, it is important to study the organizational contexts in which these approaches are implemented (Sousa and Voss, 2002). An appropriate organizational culture is widely considered a necessity for successful implementation of TQM (Buch and Rivers, 2001; Lagrosen, 2003; Lewis, 1996; Prajogo and McDermott, 2005) and Six Sigma (Antony and Banuelas, 2002; Cheng, 2007; Kwak and Anbari, 2004). While the impact of organizational culture on TQM has been extensively studied in the literature, little research has been done to examine the implementation of Six Sigma relative to culture, despite the recognized importance of organizational culture for Six Sigma adoption and deployment (Antony, 2004; Goffnett, 2004). Recently, Schroeder et al. (2008) have called for research investigating the question of internal fit in Six Sigma implementation, i.e., what types of organizations can successfully adopt Six Sigma and what changes in culture and structure may be required. This study investigates the influence of the organizational context on individual quality management practices by empirically examining the links between different culture types and different TQM/Six Sigma practices. In addition to the traditional TQM practices, this study includes three distinctive Six Sigma practices that are identified as essential in applying Six Sigma principles and methods, which addresses the lack of empirical research on Six Sigma and its implementation in the literature. The results of this study can provide an up-to-date view of the effect of culture on quality management and supply managers with more pertinent information and guidance. Moreover, when examining the culture–quality management relationship, this study conducts a comprehensive assessment of different cultural characteristics. Most prior studies have focused on the effects of people- and flexibility-focused cultural characteristics on quality management, but “there has been little effort to synthesize what dimensions of culture have been studied to date or, more important, to identify which of these culture dimensions are more related to the implementation of change programs and subsequent improvements in important human and organizational outcomes” (Detert et al., 2000, p. 850). This study adopts the competing values framework (CVF) of culture to capture the underlying value orientations of an organization's culture. This culture framework has been widely used to examine the relationship of different culture types and organizational practices. In this study, we seek to analyze in detail, how different culture types as defined in the CVF model affect the implementation of various TQM/Six Sigma practices in order to produce guidelines on how to better implement the TQM/Six Sigma practices in an organization according to its specific cultural environment.

While culture is recognized as critical for quality management, few studies have systematically examined the relationships between different culture types and individual practices. This study sought to provide a better understanding of the culture–quality management relationship through a comprehensive assessment of the links between different culture types and TQM/Six Sigma practices. Six Sigma provides new structure and methods to complement TQM in continuous improvement (Revere and Black, 2003; Schroeder et al., 2008; Yang, 2004; Zu et al., 2008). This study extended previous studies of culture and quality management by including the Six Sigma practices as well as the traditional TQM practices in the analysis, which helps to advance our knowledge of the influence of organizational culture on contemporary quality management practices. The theoretical constructs and measurement scale developed in this study may assist future researchers who wish to simultaneously measure TQM and Six Sigma and address their distinctions in relationships with other variables. This study has important implications for management practices. Based on the results of this study, different culture types affect different practices. Before adopting TQM/Six Sigma initiatives, managers need to be aware of the cultural values emphasized in their organization so that the multiple TQM/Six Sigma practices can be effectively implemented in the organization. The findings of this study provide the managers some guidelines to design their policies or adjust their systems to better adopt different TQM/Six Sigma practices. Managers would be prudent to assess their company's current cultural values and develop necessary action plans and policies to create a supportive cultural environment to ensure that multiple TQM/Six Sigma practices will be successfully implemented. For instance, it may be easier for an organization emphasizing the developmental culture values to establish the Six Sigma role structure to encourage intra-organization entrepreneurial behaviors through leadership in quality improvement; and when organizations put an emphasis on the core values of rational culture such as goal achievement and direction, the use of core TQM and Six Sigma practices can be facilitated to ensure consistent and effective application of tools and techniques for quality improvement.