ENABLING TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT THROUGH INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Although Total Quality Management (TQM) has been increasingly adopted as a strategic tool for efficient and competitive management of organizations, many of the adopting organizations have failed to achieve the long‐term, substantial gains once deemed possible. While scholars and practitioners blame these failures on numerous causes, most, if not all, can be linked either directly or indirectly to the more general problem of inadequate quality Information Systems (IS). This paper elaborates on the IS role in resolving two critical TQM issues, namely, effective codetermination/coexecution of quality decisions and progress measurement. TQM is information‐intensive and, therefore, IS departments should utilize the powerful tools of information technologies to provide information and capabilities necessary to enable TQM efforts. If IS departments are unwilling or unable to meet the challenge of supporting TQM initiatives, organizations will have to bypass them in their quality journey.