Influence of the soft and hard factors on successful quality management system implementation: Russian companies' experience

The success of the TQM implementation is based on both "hard" elements which are targeted on the changes in the system of an organizational functioning and "soft" elements which pay great attention to the changes in the way how people work. The role of the "soft" elements in the successful TQM implementation is described in the article. Traditionally, the indicator of the TQM existence in the organization is the ISO certificate. We analyze the correlation between the development of the "soft" elements in the company and the certificate which it has.