An empirical investigation of the successful implementation of quality management in service organisations

Quality management (QM) is a holistic management philosophy that emphasises the involvement of every employee at different levels of an organization to achieve customer satisfaction and improve organizational effectiveness through continuous process improvement. There has been a rising interest among service sector professionals in examining the applicability and usefulness of quality management methods in service organisations. Many service organisations that have implemented quality management has achieved substantial benefits, but it is clear that implementation initiatives in some organisations have failed to live up to expectations. These mixed results point to a need to identify the factors that lie behind the success and failures of quality management programs. Empirical research in this area is extremely limited. The results of the study point to the importance of the role of employee support and encouragement of departmental co-operation for the successful implementation of quality management programs. These factors were found to be important not only initially, but also throughout the whole implementation period of QM programs. Another interesting finding is the relationship between QM success and implementation issues concerning internal organisational communication, corporate cultural change, and internal marketing. Significant differences exist in the way that each of these factors are practised and emphasised across organisations. Respondents rated the way in which they drew upon the culture, communication pattern and other behaviour to promote QM within the organisation. They also rated how important they thought these various activities were. It was found when these factors were emphasised in QM programs the chance of successful implementation was increased. Implications for quality management professionals and suggestions for further research are discussed