TQM and organisational change

Citation

Cao, G., Clarke, S. and Lehaney, B. (2000), "TQM and organisational change", Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 4 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/mbe.2000.26704daa.002

TQM and organisational change

TQM and organisational change

What counts as organisational change? From the point of view of an individual in an organisation, a new job description or a new post may be seen as change, whilst from the perspective of higher management this may seem insignificant. Even changes which higher management feels to be important may from outside the organisation appear relatively minor. In a vehicle assembly plant, for example, the overall management perspective may be of a stable system of production based on just-in-time systems and robot manufacture. To the operational management, however, the manufacturing processes necessary to support this overall approach often seem turbulent in the extreme.

Change can in fact be:

• •

  strategic or non-strategic;

• •

  incremental or radical;

• •

  planned or emergent.

Furthermore, change can occur in:

• •

  organizational processes;

• •

  organisational structure;

• •

  values, beliefs and behaviours; and

• •

  politics and power distribution.

And finally, change is a dynamic process, with change in any one dimension often resulting in compensatory change in others. Any attempt to carry out change through isolated single efforts is likely to fail. A significant and lasting change in organisational behaviour needs structural change, task change, change in social environment, as well as changes in the individuals themselves.

Both TQM and business process re-engineering (BPR) can be used to manage changes in process. In such cases, what is the basis for deciding the methods to be used? Criteria need to be developed, from which informed choice of approach can be made. But we cannot necessarily know that we are making the most appropriate decisions, since it is impossible to know all the facts and values that could lead to alternative conceivable options and consequences. We make decisions based on our current knowledge and within the limitation of organisational resources.

...Since TQM frequently uses scientific methods, including statistical process control, it may be argued that process change is central to the concept of TQM...

TQM emphasises that each step of the production process is seen as a relationship between a customer and a supplier (whether internal or external to the organisation). Suppliers have to meet customers' agreed requirements, formal and informal, at lowest cost, first time every time.

Since TQM frequently uses scientific methods, including statistical process control, it may be argued that process change is central to the concept of TQM. This view is supported by a number of researchers. For example, Peters (1994) suggests that TQM programmes always involve addressing key business processes, and constructs a five-level "road-map" to help the implementation of TQM:

1. 1.

   operational sub-process improvement;

2. 2.

   intra-process improvement;

3. 3.

   inter-process relationship improvement;

4. 4.

   process redesign; and

5. 5.

   total process re-conception.

However, improving organisational processes also relates to other organisational dimensions in terms of the four interrelated types of organisational change. It could be argued that TQM pays little attention to what sort of organisational structure should be designed to enable people to produce quality products. TQM does not cover how to achieve cultural change in line with its team-based philosophy. As a result, TQM will inadequately address the well-being (such as job satisfaction, work motivation and organisational commitment) and work-related perceptions (including goal and process clarity, openness of communication, extent of participation and innovativeness, and degree of autonomy) of participants.

Finally, TQM seems to say little about organisational politics, which might lead to some groups benefiting and others suffering, and to ideological control, manipulation and mistrust.

Ultimately, TQM is an approach to change management that focuses almost entirely on changes in process, lacking the power to deal adequately with the other dimensions. Moreover, its benefits may all be negated by structural, cultural or political constraints. For TQM to be applied successfully, either an approach is required which adequately addresses all types of change context – a so-called "systemic" approach, in which, rather than focusing on different change management methods according to the problem context or preference of the interventionist, all such methods are valued and used to complement each other within the intervention.

Guangming Cao, Steve Clarke and Brian LehaneyLuton Business School, University of Luton, Luton, UK

Reference

Peters, J. (1994), "Operationalizing total quality: a business process approach", The TQM Magazine, Vol. 6 No. 4, pp. 29-33.