Cellular structure for total quality management in a globalized economy

Proponents of Total Quality Management (TQM) have strongly suggested that TQM implementation will lead to employee empowerment. However, in a surprisingly large number of cases, it was found that employee empowerment remains a dream. Instead, in some cases, with the implementation of TQM, employees found the organization even more hierarchical and their power is further eroded. In most of these cases, employee resentment was so strong that quality improvement was impaired. This problem arises mainly due to management's belief that a separate organization may be created to implement TQM above the existing organization structure in the company. Evidence has shown that this does not work and could be one of the main reasons for the implementation failure of TQM. For TQM to work there is a necessity to revamp or level the whole organization structure. This article attempts to present an organization structure that is believed to be able to facilitate the successful implementation of TQM.