MBNQA-oriented self-assessment quality management system for contractors: fuzzy AHP approach

Many construction clients are not satisfied with the quality performance achieved on their projects though many contractors are ISO9000:1994 certified. Total quality management (TQM) has been a widely applied quality management system for obtaining the benefits of better quality and higher customer satisfaction through the spirit of continuous improvement, which is also adopted by ISO9001:2000 version. It is believed that TQM can help to raise quality and productivity in the construction industry. Self-assessment systems provide an opportunity to design in quality on an organization-wide basis, in which the self-assessment process allows the organization to identify its strengths and weaknesses for continuous improvement actions. A MBNQA-oriented self-assessment quality management system (SQMS), which is based on the seven criteria of Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA), for construction contractors to benchmark, is proposed. A questionnaire survey of Hong Kong construction quality management experts, in which a fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was employed to calculate the weights of the seven criteria, was carried out. Remarkable differences for the allocation of weights in the seven criteria particularly in the input criteria (leadership, strategic planning and customer and market focus) and the 'results' criterion compared with the original weights of MBNQA were observed.