A Chinese approach to quality transformation

This case study serves to illustrate the fact that Chinese philosophy may play an important role in guiding a firm along the path of quality transformation. We examined the successful quality transformation of a Chinese firm in Taiwan. We presented the firm’s experiences from the perspectives of people, technology, and structure. By adopting Confucian tenets, the case company stressed humanistic management and implemented a step‐by‐step procedure to first build positive work environment, then to change employee attitude, behaviour, and work habits, and finally to form an organizational culture. On the technological level, the firm implemented the following step‐by‐step quality programs: 5S, QCC, SQC, TQC, and TQM to keep employees in touch with the people management. From the structural point of view, the firm stressed a team‐based approach both internally and externally. Furthermore, we observed that in this Chinese setting, relentless learning, consistency in strategic business planning, a step‐by‐step approach, and teamwork were crucial to the successful implementation of its quality programs.