Implementation of quality management programmes as a process of planned organisational change

Abstract

In the last decade, Indian organizations have been paying increasing attention to quality of products and services. Reasons for this focus on quality are increased competition and more demanding and discerning customers in domestic markets. Besides, adherence to quality standards like ISO 9000 is increasingly becoming a prerequisite for entry into the highly competitive global markets. Many Indian organizations are embarking upon various types of quality management programmes (QMPs) to improve the quality of their goods and services. Experiences of the developed countries show that implementation of these QMPs has ‘not had a very high success rate. As a result it is now felt that the contextual factors affect the implementation of QMPs. Hence more attention is being paid to study these factors (Grant et al., 1994). In recent literature on the subject, QMPs have been conceptualized as a new type of organizational change which affects many levels and aspects of an organisation (Bushe & Shani, 1991; Porras & Silvers, 1991; Ledford & Mohrman, 1993). It is being argued that the implementation of QMPs does not follow the existing models of planned change implementation. Hence there is a need to study the implementation of QMPs to help in both improving the effectiveness of QMPs as well as to advance our knowledge about organizational change (Almaraz, I994; Marguiles, 1994). In this context it was decided to study the implementation of QMPs. The research questions addressed were: 1. How is a QMP implemented? 2. What are the activities in the implementation of a QMP ? 3. What are the critical factors affecting the implementation of a QMP ?

A framework to understand the process of QMP implementation was developed on the basis of organizational change and QMP literature. QMP implementation was conceptualized as having five steps namely understanding, structuration, awareness, action, and adaptation. It was conceptualized as being affected by thirteen factors: top management support, middle management support, workers’ support, training, resources, communication, review and monitoring, rewards and recognition, earlier implementation, egalitarian practices, aligning HR practices, and participative management.

Case studies of QMP implementation were conducted in two organizations in the Colour Picture Tube industry. A total of one hundred and eighty interviews were conducted. Interviewees comprised of employees at all the levels in the two organizations, union functionaries, and officials of the industry associations. In addition, organizational records for the period of implementation of QMP and published data were collected. The activities undertaken in the implementation of the QMP in these two organizations were related to the seven processes: understanding, structuration, awareness, action, adaptation, codification and role modelling. The last two processes were in addition to the steps proposed in the framework. There was no strict sequence discernible among the activities related to these individual processes. Eleven of the thirteen factors proposed in the framework had an effect on the implementation of the QMP in these two organizations. These were: top management support, middle management support, workers’ support, training, resources, communication, review and monitoring, rewards and recognition, egalitarian practices and aligning HR practices. Out of the remaining two factors, earlier implementation was not found to be applicable in the case of these two organizations. There was not enough evidence in the cases to comment upon the influence of participative management on QMP implementation. In addition, two new factors, namely supervisors’ support and product-market situation were found to have an effect on the implementation of the two QMPs. This study has helped in developing an understanding of the implementation process of QMPs - a new type of organizational change. It also increases our understanding of the factors affecting this process. It proposes a framework for developing this understanding by documenting two cases of implementation. The findings of this research would also be helpful to managers involved in the implementation of a QMP.