Factors affecting the implementation and success of TQM

The importance of tailoring TQM to the specific needs of organizations is well known. Shows the findings of a research programme that investigated which organizational factors are important to consider when implementing TQM. Questionnaires and structured interviews, involving the participation of over 200 companies, were used as the main tools for the investigation. Identifies as a result, seven prime factors affecting the implementation of TQM: process factors, type of employees, shared values, management style, organizational structure, number of employees and industrial relations. Recommends that organizations should give these factors special consideration when developing their TQM approaches, and provides a guideline to show how these factors are likely to affect the implementation of TQM.