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This paper describes the development of a scale for measuring top management commitment towards continual quality performance improvement in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). A set of self‐assessment questions of the ISO 9004: 2000 Standard was used to assess the adoption status of quality management practices. This paper investigates the inter‐item reliability and the content validity of the Quality Management Principles Scale (QMPS) in an integrated improvement process in SMEs. An empirical study was conducted to acquire senior management views on the use of the QMPS in manufacturing sectors in Trinidad and Tobago. Based on 328 responses from 110 SMEs, statistical software packages were used to analyse the empirical data and determine the reliability and validity of the QMPS. The paper contributes to develop a self‐assessment scale that can be used to measure top management commitment. It is anticipated that the findings would provide practical insights for evaluating the levels of maturity on performance improvement in SMEs.

This paper presents the main findings of an empirical study that investigates the effects of the “soft” and “hard” criteria of total quality management (TQM) in four ISO 9001 certified small and medium‐sized enterprises (SME) in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T).

The study adopted an ethnographic research approach, and used the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to determine the extent to which these criteria were implemented at the point of ISO 9001 certification. By complementing the literature review, a hierarchy framework of TQM implementation via ISO 9001 was developed. The framework comprised three levels of criteria, sub‐criteria and elements which determine the effectiveness of TQM implementation in SME. Inputs from 16 evaluators including senior executives and representatives from the studied companies were invited. The combined opinions from evaluators were used to identify and prioritize these criteria and components.

The results showed that the “soft” criteria were implemented less than the “hard” criteria in SME. The AHP findings supplement the body of knowledge existing in compliance requirements of ISO 9001 and provide insights on how SME perceive the importance of “soft” versus “hard” criteria in TQM implementation. These findings highlight the need to align SMEs' prevailing quality culture with top management and considers it as one of the focal compliance requirements for future revisions of the ISO 9001:2000 Standard.

Because of the ethnographic nature of the study, it was possible to obtain data from only four SME.

SME in T&T may apply the findings of the empirical research to design, implement and continually improve their quality management system

This paper makes a contribution to the body of knowledge in the field of quality management in a region where such work is limited. It adds value by empirically measures TQM implementation by determining the extent to which its criteria is implemented in ISO 9001 certified SME.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the perception of total quality management (TQM) benefits, practices and obstacles in Kuwaiti industrial organizations certified against ISO 9001:2000 (or later) and following a TQM approach. A discrepancy in perception between project managers (PMs) and quality management representatives (QMRs) of organizations in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries has already been identified (Jaeger and Adair, 2013), and this study compares the perception of these two groups in more depth.

Extensive representatives of both groups have been individually interviewed, a classification system for TQM benefits, practices and obstacles has been developed, and interview responses have been analyzed against this classification system.

It emerges that all responses matched one of the benefits, obstacles and practices of the classification system. Comparing the total group of PMs with the total group of QMRs, it was found that both groups agree on their perception of the most important practice (i.e. an implemented management system) and, the biggest obstacle (i.e. lack of employee involvement). However, they disagree on their perception of the most important TQM benefit (i.e. PMs prefer quality of products and services, and QMRs prefer productivity).

The results of the total groups and sub-groups give new insights regarding the different perceptions of PMs and QMRs. Also, the results enable practitioners of these two functions to discuss the differences and align their perceptions. This should increase the effectiveness of the TQM approach in their organizations. Finally, the results allow management consultants to focus on areas with high potential for improvements.