Can selecting the right values help TQM implementation? A case study about organisational homogeneity at the Walt Disney Company

Abstract

Total quality management (TQM) is often referred to as a value-based management philosophy, built on a set of core values. These TQM values should ideally be conformed to by all employees in order to achieve a thriving organisation. A strong organisational culture with shared core values can therefore be identified as of importance for a successful TQM implementation. This paper discusses how organisations can act to achieve shared values among co-workers. In theory, two strategies appear: to select people who appear to possess the desired values in the first place and to socialise employees once hired. When working with TQM, several examples of socialisation can be found in described techniques and tools, however the selection strategy seems to be both unapplied and underestimated. In order to find empirical examples, a case study was conducted at an organisation which is renowned for the way in which it works with values. A conclusion of this paper is that, as a complement to the use of socialisation, a selection strategy is proposed to achieve shared values in order to facilitate TQM implementation.

Keywords:

• values
• total quality management
• socialisation
• selection
• organisational culture
• recruitment
• Disney