Why Total Quality Management Fails: Perspective of Top Management

TQM philosophy is that continuous improvement within an organization is possible. It is people‐oriented and customer focused. To be successful it must involve all people within the organization and must have customer feedback. Discusses in detail the reasons why this fails: managers do not delegate quality to involve everyone in the organization; appropriate consultants to implement the system are not evaluated properly; lack of employee involvement; failure of management leadership with too much emphasis on cost cutting and profits, not customer service; poor communication with workforce; resistance to change. Benchmarking must be established to measure the effects of TQM and a long‐term plan to establish goals. A good supplier relationship, teamwork and employee participation are all required concepts within a successful TQM programme.