Revisiting a TQM research project: The quality improvement activities of TQM

Abstract

To celebrate the 70th birthday and achievements of Professor Gopal Kanji, the author revisits the state of TQM at the time Gopal founded the Total Quality Management & Business Excellence journal in 1990. The author provides a commentary on the quality movement of this period, and shares findings from his doctoral research project into TQM, which was undertaken from 1988 to 1992. To the author's knowledge, this was the first doctorate in the UK that was solely focused on TQM. It therefore provides a unique glimpse into the period when interest in TQM was probably at its greatest and models and frameworks of TQM were first emerging. The doctorate was entitled ‘The development of a framework to assist in the implementation of TQM’. This paper describes the views of quality practitioners on TQM at that time and shows the most commonly used quality improvement activities (65 tools and techniques) that had been implemented by TQM companies. The methodology encompassed structured interviews at 21 TQM companies. The research contributed to the understanding of TQM by presenting the quality activities of which it can be composed, as well as the areas of the organisation the quality activities primarily address. The research is still of value today, and can assist organisations in determining which quality activities to use to improve performance in specific areas of operation. The research presented here has previously been peer reviewed and published. However, this is the first time these important research findings have been presented in an academic journal.

Keywords:

• TQM
• history of quality
• quality improvement