Question

Nowadays, companies look at Total Quality Management (TQM) as another business change that must be implemented due to market pressure. However, there are still many companies fail to implement it. Based on your experience, briefly explain FOUR (4) obstacles associated with TQM implementation.

Answer 1

The first obstacle is the weak management commitment and willingness. It is the top management that shows the actual willingness and communicates the message across the organization. It is done by the proactive approach towards the implementation of total quality management, apart from time and resource commitment. If it is not done, then other people in the organization, also don’t take TQM seriously and it becomes very difficult to implement it. The second obstacle is the resistance showed by the people and inability to change the organizational culture. TQM demands to establish a culture that focuses upon the quality improvements on a regular basis and for this to happen, employees as well as culture has to change. People don’t change as they don’t want to come out of their comfort zone and it contributes to rigidity in the organization culture of the organization. The third obstacle is lack of training & education programs that could prepare people and process to change as per the demands of the TQM. It is the regular training and education that not only spreads awareness about the benefits of the TQM, but also develops capabilities to work as per the requirements of the TQM. If these programs are not there on a regular basis, then TQM will not be implemented. The fourth obstacle is the lack of understanding and policy toward quality and its benefits to the organization. A lack of awareness about the quality, will not bring desired efforts from within the organization and TQM implementation will fail. It generally happens where the business environment is more static in nature and attention upon quality is perceived slowly.