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This paper deals with total quality management (TQM) with an emphasis on developing suitable strategies for improving quality and productivity in manufacturing systems. In recent years, TQM has been seen as an important strategy for achieving success in business both in terms of quality and productivity. However, there seem to be no clear strategic framework and guide‐lines for implementing TQM in manufacturing in the light of available advanced production concepts and technologies. A review of previous implementation approaches of TQM in practice has been presented in order to gain further insights into the implementation aspects of TQM. The main objective of this paper is to present a general framework for the development of TQM in manufacturing organizations considering the recent developments in production concepts and technologies and competitiveness among firms to utilize quality as a competitive weapon.

Total quality management does improve organizational performance and remains the most viable long‐term business strategy around. These were the findings of a recent report entitled “TQM: Forging a Need or Falling Behind?”, commissioned by Development Dimensions International of Pittsburgh, the Quality & Productivity Management Association of Schaumburg, Illinois, and Industry Week, which were based on interviews with 6,500 people in 84 organizations. However, on considering the various elements which help or hinder TQM implementation, training emerged as the one successful theme in successful programmes.

For many, quality circles have been a struggle, total quality management has been something to “get around to one day” and continuous improvement has just been another expression meaning total quality management, which, of course is something that we will “get around to one day”. Worse, the acronyms used ‐ QC, TQM, CI ‐ have joined such exotic practices as JIT (Just‐in‐Time inventory), CAD‐CAM (computer‐aided development and manufacturing) and more recently BPR (business process re‐engineering) in an alphabet soup of consultant‐led packages, available to the discerning manager ‐ at a price.

Consumer expectations of quality have grown in recent years, forcing organisations, both service and manufacturing, to adopt total quality management (TQM) principles to satisfy customer demands efficiently. However, previous studies on the performance impacts of total quality management practices have mainly focused on the financial performance of firms in the manufacturing sector. This study focusses on the research questions: (1) What is the effect of TQM practices on operational performance? and (2) How do TQM practices combine to influence the operational performance of healthcare facilities?

Using a sample of 154 health facilities (i.e. private hospitals, pharmacies, maternity clinics, and diagnostic centres), the authors applied symmetric (PLS-SEM) and asymmetric (fsQCA) data analysis approaches to examine how TQM practices influence the operational performance of health facilities in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.

The PLS-SEM results revealed that five out of the seven TQM practices investigated influenced operational performance. However, the fsQCA results identify five different complex combinations of TQM practices that lead to operational performance.

Longitudinal studies can be conducted in the future to assess changes in the variables over time. A control variable, such as firm size, should be considered to assess the level of implementation of TQM practices based on firm size. A different performance measure, for instance, sustainability indicators or the balance score card, could be used to examine performance.

A proper and coordinated integration of the TQM practices is required for firms to be able to achieve operational performance. TQM practices vary in their sufficiency for operational outcomes; therefore, management needs to carefully consider their implementation as part of the organisation's strategy.

This research, by focussing on TQM practices from both symmetrical and asymmetrical perspectives, contributes to the understanding of the literature on TQM, thereby providing actionable insight on how to invest in the various TQM practices for improved operational performance.

This study develops an integrated theory about how Total Quality Management (TQM) based capabilities can be leveraged for Environmentally Responsible Manufacturing (ERM). It suggests that efforts should be coordinated to take advantage of the potential synergies between TQM and ERM. The means for capturing these synergies might be accomplished by using the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) framework. The MBNQA framework was adapted to address environmental issues and it was shown that the framework can be used as a basis for an integrative definition of ERM. This adaptation of the MBNQA framework suggests that there is an environmental version of the MBNQA framework and that quality principles can be seamlessly integrated into the practice of managing environmental issues. However, an empirical examination of the linkage between TQM and ERM remains untested. The findings of this study provide an important foundation for accomplishing this goal.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the critical success factors for total quality management implementation and implications for sustainable academic libraries in Ghana. This study is part of a PhD project that focussed on selected technical university libraries in Ghana.

This study adopted a quantitative approach to collect the data. Samples of 124 participants were involved in this study. PLS-SEM (Smart PLS3) software was used to analyse the data. Convergent, discriminant validity assessment was computed. Eight variables of critical success factors were tested in relation to total quality management implementation at selected academic libraries in Ghana.

This study established that out of the eight variables tested, six of them (i.e. top management commitment, employee innovation employee training, organisational culture, teamwork and effective communication, quality performance) indicated a significant positive relationship with total quality management implementation apart from strategic planning and human resource management.

This study was limited to eight variables as the critical success factors mentioned in the previous paragraph. The use of one methodology might be a limitation as the use of multimethod might have given a more comprehensive picture than the case. This study was limited to only technical university libraries in Ghana hence caution must be exercised when applying the results to contextually different academic environments. The results are applicable to academic universities library in Ghana and beyond if they are adjusted to suit the context.

This study is timely as it may lead to effective total quality management implementation and the sustainability of technical university libraries in Ghana and Africa in general.

The proposed model can be used to enhance the smooth implementation of total quality management in academic libraries in general and Ghana in particular. The framework is termed as Eddie and Pat's Achievement of Quality Performance (EPAfQP) model.

The “United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal” 9 seeks to “… foster innovation” in all sectors of an economy. Thus, this conceptual piece addresses the indirect effect of innovative behaviour (INB) between total quality management (TQM) and innovation performance (INP). It further explores the context-contingent effect of four external factors [government regulation (GOV), market dynamism (MKD), competitive intensity (CMP) and technological turbulence (TUR)] on the TQM–INB linkage.

By incorporating both theoretical and empirical works in the fields of strategic management, innovation and business performance, this conceptual piece constructs a conceptual model, using a systematic literature review, alongside suppositions that can be tested in further studies.

This conceptual piece puts forward that TQM will be favourably connected to INP, and this favourable association will be mediated by INB. Moreover, GOV, MKD, CMP and TUR will have a favourable context-contingent effect on the favourable direct connection between TQM and INB.

This conceptual piece affords suggestions for both practitioners and researchers alike in the areas of innovative and strategic decision-making in banking establishments for reinforcing INP by introducing TQM, INB, GOV, MKD, CMP and TUR as innovative-strategic tools. It also delivers suggestions for forthcoming academics to examine this conceptual piece, empirically, in diverse banking sites worldwide.

Practical lessons for managers, employees, customers and consultants within the banking sector for the superior advantage of all key stakeholders are deliberated.

This study provides a new model to demonstrate how TQM leads to INP by passing through INB of employees, and how TQM fosters INB under diverse degrees of GOV, MKD, CMP and TUR. It shows how internal factors (7 TQM dimensions) and external factors (GOV, MKD, CMP and TUR) interact to foster employee INB. It also underscores the theoretical authority of three theories utilised, both individually and in combination, by using them to explain new relationships.

The entrepreneurial vision, strategic goals, organizational capabilities and processes, alone, will not be adequate to attain business success, unless there is a quality management philosophy in the company (Al-Dhaafri, Al-Swidi, & Yusoff, 2016). Successful entrepreneurial endeavours essentially rest on action, assertiveness, persistence and know-how of leadership (Azyan, Pulakanam, & Pons, 2017) who comprehend the application of quality management methods as a long-term ‘quality journey’. The appropriate implementation of a quality management system (QMS) or total quality management (TQM) system results in enhanced organizational performance (Sahoo & Yadav, 2017).

A wide range of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have nowadays been aware of the indisputable importance of quality and have reaped the benefits of TQM, having in mind that TQM is not just a method or a tool but a whole business philosophy. TQM is a systematic approach that focuses on continuous improvement of the organizational processes with the participation and contribution of all the stakeholders, so as to manage and enhance quality, productivity and customer satisfaction. It is the best way for the enterprise's growth and domination in the contemporary national and international competitive marketplace (Kriemadis, Thomopoulou, & Sioutou, 2017). According to several studies, by embracing the TQM philosophy, SMEs can compete in the global competitive environment (Womack & Roos, 1990; as cited in Karani & Bichanga, 2012; Sainis & Kriemadis, 2019; Pashiardis & Kriemadis, 1999).

The present study aims to develop a generic TQM model for SMEs in order to improve their competitiveness, productivity and quality as well as to enhance their entrepreneurial orientation.

This paper aims to review total quality management (TQM) literature in the past three decades to identify the quality related key terms, to analyse their linkage among the identified key terms and their developmental trends.

Bibliometric and statistical methods are used to analyse article titles published in the Total Quality Management and Business Excellence journal during 1990–2019. The current research is based on a search from the ProQuest academic database and the journal’s website, resulting in 2,452 articles collected. The VOSviewer and Microsoft Excel were then used for the analyses.

A total of 52 key terms were extracted from the journal’s 2,452 article titles, the top three key terms in terms of occurrences were “quality,” “total quality management” and “service quality.” Five themes were then proposed from clustering the 52 key terms: “frameworks/models,” “essentials/enablers,” “methods/techniques,” “culture/characteristics” and “effects/results.” Trend analyses were also conducted regarding the five themes in an attempt to highlight the patterns of research publications from 1990 to 2019. It is found that the research publications for “essentials/enablers,” “methods and techniques” and “effects/results” have steadily increased during the analysis period, while “frameworks/models” and “culture/characteristic” have slightly decreased. These insights provide implication for the historical evolution of quality from “quality control,” “total quality management” and “service quality,” combining with the development of “service sciences.”

This paper highlights the concept of quality since its meaning has changed and evolved over time from quality control, TQM to service quality. And it is emerging in the present and future development of service sciences because of both of TQM and service sciences having the same nature of multidisciplinary background and characteristics. Also the authors can conclude that quality and service sciences are in fact two sides of the same coin because both of them having the same duality of “tangible-intangible” and “physical-virtual” faces which are the important topics that TQM should focus on.