Empirical, Conceptual, and Practical Issues
Total Quality Management: Empirical, Conceptual, and Practical Issues
J. Richard Hackman
Harvard University
Ruth Wageman
Columbia University
In recent years, total quality management (TOM) has become something of a social movement in the United States. This commentary returns to the writings of the movement 's founders-W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran, and Kaoru Ishikawa-to assess the coherence, distinctiveness, and likely perseverance of this provocative management philosophy. We identify a number of gaps in what is known about TOM processes and outcomes and explore the congruence between TOM practices and behavioral science knowledge about motivation, learning, and change in social systems. The commentary concludes with a prognosis about the future of TOM-including some speculations about what will be needed if TOM is to take root and prosper in the years to
come."
It has now been a decade since the core ideas of total quality management (TOM) set forth by W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran. and Kaoru Ishikawa gained significant acceptance in the U.S. management community. In that decade, TOM has become something of a social movement. It has spread from its industrial origins to health care organizations. public bureaucracies. nonprofit organizations. and educational institutions. It has become increasingly prominent in the popular press. in the portfolios of trainers and consultants. and, more recently. in the scholarly literature. ' Institutions specifically chartered to promote TOM have been established. and a discernible TOM ideology has developed and diffused throughout the managerial community. And. in its maturity, TOM has become controversial-something whose worth and impact people argue about. Some writers have asserted that TOM provides a historically unique approach to improving organizational effectiveness, one that has a solid conceptual foundation and. at the same time. offers a strategy for improving performance that takes account of how
J. Richard Hackman
Harvard University
Ruth Wageman
Columbia University
In recent years, total quality management (TOM) has become something of a social movement in the United States. This commentary returns to the writings of the movement 's founders-W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran, and Kaoru Ishikawa-to assess the coherence, distinctiveness, and likely perseverance of this provocative management philosophy. We identify a number of gaps in what is known about TOM processes and outcomes and explore the congruence between TOM practices and behavioral science knowledge about motivation, learning, and change in social systems. The commentary concludes with a prognosis about the future of TOM-including some speculations about what will be needed if TOM is to take root and prosper in the years to
come."
It has now been a decade since the core ideas of total quality management (TOM) set forth by W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran. and Kaoru Ishikawa gained significant acceptance in the U.S. management community. In that decade, TOM has become something of a social movement. It has spread from its industrial origins to health care organizations. public bureaucracies. nonprofit organizations. and educational institutions. It has become increasingly prominent in the popular press. in the portfolios of trainers and consultants. and, more recently. in the scholarly literature. ' Institutions specifically chartered to promote TOM have been established. and a discernible TOM ideology has developed and diffused throughout the managerial community. And. in its maturity, TOM has become controversial-something whose worth and impact people argue about. Some writers have asserted that TOM provides a historically unique approach to improving organizational effectiveness, one that has a solid conceptual foundation and. at the same time. offers a strategy for improving performance that takes account of how
References: Zbaracki, Mark J. 1994 "The rhetoric and reality of Total Quality Management." Paper presented at the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology Annual Meeting, Nashville.