Relationship between National Culture and Soft Total Quality Management

in Iranian Multinational Firms

Abbas Mardani 1; Mahdi Mohammad Bagheri 2; Ehsan Kish Hazrate Soltan 3;
Mansooreh Kazemi Lari 4
1

Department of Management, Faculty of Management and Human Resource Development,

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
abbas.mardani.2000@gmail.com,

Department of Management, Faculty of Management and Human Resource Development,

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
ehsan.kish@gmail.com

Department of Management, Faculty of Management and Human Resource Development,

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
mahdi_moba@yahoo.com
4

Department of Mathematical Science, Faculty of Science,

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
mansooreh_kazemilari@yahoo.com
Abstract TQM is a management philosophy involving everyone in the
organization seeking to achieve organizational excellence. The adoption of TQM
requires the participation of all members in the organization working as a team.
Garvin believes that, TQM is itself a philosophy with its own existence and does
not incline toward any particular country or national culture. This study
investigates the impact of national culture by the Hofstede dimension on soft total
quality management (STQM) in Iranian Multinational firms. This research employs
two of Hofstedes (1983) national culture dimensions and the seven elements of
TQM implementation. A total of 100 Iranian Small and Medium Enterprises
participates in this survey. The survey result is an analysis by regressing cultural
dimensions of TQM elements.
Key Words Iranian SMEs, National culture, Organizational culture, Soft Total
Quality Management.

Introduction

Total Quality Management (TQM) can be traced back to Taylor's application of scientific
management. In the mid-1940s, Deming characterized TQM as remaining competitive in quality and
service by a set of transforming principles that quality is not determined by the capabilities of workers
but by the system of how work is performed (Rahman, 2004). Corresponding to the agreement of
Deming and other organizational studies, the constructions for TQM embrace visionary leadership
(Anderson & Rungtusanatham, 1994; Rahman, 2004; Soltani, 2005; Waldman, 1994). Juran delineated

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the concept of TQM as a "trilogy": quality planning, quality control, and quality improvement
(Hafeez, Malak, & Abdelmeguid, 2006; Rahman, 2004). (Rahman, 2004; Hafeez, et al., 2006).
(Crosby, 1979) claimed, Zero defects, Do it right the first time. This prevention based system
emphasized prevention rather than inspection and defined quality as "conformance to requirement."
He argued that quality management should be used to prevent the problem. Unlike Crosby, Kaoru
Ishikawa countered that "zero defect" activities forced employees to achieve the highest standard goal
but did not teach them how to do it. He promoted the concept that "the next process is your customer,
and believed that soft (people) issues are the key to solving problems and creating success (Ishikawa,
1985).
In the 1980s, manufacturing was flourishing and auto manufacturing was the focal point in statistical
management control. The value of quality management was not limited in numbers of performance but
in how to utilize the numbers to enhance performance. Thus, ISO and national quality evaluation
standard (e.g., the Malcolm Baldrige Award and the European Quality Award) was established.
Quality management activities were detailed to whole organizations and whole processes: the "total
quality management" was acknowledged. Many organizations utilized TQM as a savior and then
challenged the outcome. Organization is a human system (Pike & Barnes, 1995). The organization
should always take "human" issues into consideration while implementing OD interventions. In 1992,
Wilkinson first argued that TQM has both "hard" and "soft" sides (Wilkinson, 1992).
A variety of authors have identified national culture, or: the collective programming of the mind
(Hofstede, 2001) and organizational culture, or: the shared set of values, beliefs and assumptions
(Schein, 1996), as major determinants for TQM implementation (Sousa-Poza, Nystrom, & Wiebe,
2001; Tata & Prasad, 1998). Moreover, some authors see a root cause of TQM implementation failures
in the universal applicability of todays TQM approaches, regardless of organizational context and
environment (Dean & Bowen, 1994; Mardani, Jusoh, Soltan, & Bagheri, 2012; Mardani & Kazemilari,
2012; Sitkin & Sutcliffe, 1994). It is in this context that this study employs a cross disciplinary
approach: it furthers previous research in operations research (Lagrosen, 2003; Sousa-Poza, et al.,
2001; Tata & Prasad, 1998) by developing an empirical model and by focusing on national culture
rather than on organizational culture. The study transplants the more recent discussion on the influence
of national culture dimensions on soft TQM from the field of operations research of organization
Theory. It is in this way that the study contributes to the organization theory literature on management
practices, cross-cultural studies and TQM. This study intends to answer the following questions:
(a) Does national culture affect how well soft TQM is implemented?
(b) Which national culture elements are more influential towards which soft TQM elements?

Literature Review

2.1

TQM vs. Soft TQM

TQM is extensively recognized as the abbreviation for Total Quality Management since the mid1980s. It combines methods, theories, techniques, and quality strategies for achieving exceptional
quality, and it emphasizes the important role of management in the quality process. Quality
practitioners, like Deming, Juran, and Crosby, emphasized the management of quality improvement
efforts and the practice of statistical methods used in measuring and monitoring the quality control
process (Boon, Arumugam, & Hwa, 2005; Hafeez, et al., 2006; Shingo, 1986).
More recently, Rahman (2001, 2004) summarized the studies regarding TQM and categorized two
different groups: hard TQM and soft TQM. Hard TQM tends to use more practical, numeric, and

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systematic quality-control tools; soft TQM focuses on long-term natures and is more humanistic
(Rahman, 2001, 2004). The constructs of soft TQM are variable by different scholars' practices. Using
existing research, the researchers consolidated the elements of soft TQM in the following:
management leadership, employee fulfillment, employee involvement, training and education,
strategic quality policy, and customer focus. Definitions of these elements are briefly described below.
With Deming, Juran, Crosby, and Ishikawa's theoretical basis, Saraph et al. (1989) labeled eight
factors of TQM, and then Powell (2006) defined twelve key elements of TQM based on literature
reviews by the quality gurus as well as the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA)
framework (Powell, 2006). Furthermore, Black and Porter's (1996) ten factors of TQM are
theoretically based on the assessment items of MBNQA (Black & Porter, 1996). Rahman (2004)
consolidated the mentioned scholars and his own description of TQM and divided the elements into
soft and hard aspects (Rahman, 2004; Zbaracki, 1998). Soft TQM is also known as people-related
TQM or institutional TQM (Rahman, 2004; Zbaracki, 1998). There is no uniform definition of soft
TQM today. Although some scholars began to discuss the significance of soft TQM, there is little
agreement as to its primary construct and statement.
Oakland and Oakland (2001) further described the people-related TQM covered reward and
recognition, organizational trust, extensive training, teamwork, empowerment, customer focus, high
level of communication, employee involvement, management commitment at all levels, and
organizational culture (Oakland & Oakland, 2001). To more fully understand soft TQM, the researcher
reviewed related TQM literature and suggested a list of six key constructs of soft TQM: Leadership,
Employee Fulfillment, Employee Involvement, Training and Education, Strategic Quality Policy, and
Customer Focus. Detailed explanations of these six theoretical constructs are described in the
following section.
2.1.1 Leadership
The European model of excellence defined a leader as one who is in a team leadership position, such
as an executive. According to the Malcolm Baldrige Award and the European Quality Award criteria,
the character of management leadership is in creating goals, values, and a continuously improving
environment for business success. One critical responsibility of top management is to pursue quality
improvements and to empower employees.
2.1.2 Employee Fulfillment
Employee fulfillment means how an organization continuously satisfies employee's needs, including
job satisfaction, job commitment, and pride of workmanship (Anderson & Rungtusanatham, 1994;
Grandzol & Gershon, 1998). Appropriate reward and recognition could also increase employee
satisfaction.
2.1.3 Employee Involvement
Robbins (2006) claimed that employee involvement is a participative process that uses the input of
employees to increase their commitment to the organization's success (Robins, 2006). The underlying
logic is that involving workers would increase their autonomy and their control over the work life.
Thus, employees will become more motivated, more committed to the organization, more productive,
and more satisfied with their job.

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2.1.4 Training and Education

Training is not a one-time job but a continuous self-improvement education. Training and education
nurse the organization's ability to develop its skills, abilities, and knowledge (Grandzol & Gershon,
1998). Within an organization, employees should be regarded as valuable, long-term resources worthy
of receiving education and training throughout their careers (Abdullah, Ahmad, & Ismail, 2008;
Zhang, 1999). According to Ishikawa (1985), quality education and training must be continual
(Ishikawa, 1985). Firstly, the employees in an organization change constantly. Secondly, the customers
have ever-changing needs and expectations. The aim of a training program is to make it everybodys
concern. Every employee must be familiar with the philosophy about quality, and must be able to
master the tools and techniques of TQM.
2.1.5 Strategic Quality Policy
The strategic quality policy focuses on the planning of a long-term objective for continuous
improvement that pursues the organizational goals such as improving its processes, products, and
service (Grandzol & Gershon, 1998). (Grandzol & Gershon, 1998). Quality is a process not a program.
Rao et al. (1999) argued that strategic quality planning must integrate quality and customer satisfaction
into an operational map (Rao, Solis, & Raghunathan, 1999).
2.1.6 Customer Focus
Anderson et al. (1994) proposed this element as customer-driven focus (Anderson & Rungtusanatham,
1994). According to Rampersad (2001), everyone in an organization should consider continuous
improvement as one's daily life to comprehend customer satisfaction (Rampersad, 2001). Like
Toyota's successful sales experience, Toyota's vehicles are designed with customers' need, not by a top
executive's opinion (Liker & Kaisha, 2004). In a way, quality can rely on customer satisfaction.
2.2

National Culture

Culture provides a sense of belonging to the people. Most management research proposes that the
ideal outlook of culture is "a set of ideas shared by members of a group" (Jaeger, 1986). Flynn and
Saladin (2006) cited Hofstede's words that national culture is "collective programming (Flynn &
Saladin, 2006)." This collective programming develops as a result of the experiences shared by the
inhabitants of the same nation from those of another. Hofstede's work on national culture is often
described as a landmark and is widely used as a theoretical framework for guiding cross-cultural
comparisons. Hofstede (1993) conducted research across forty countries and summarized most culture
elements into four principal factors: individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and power
distance (Hofstede, 1993). Power Distance is defined as "the extent to which the less powerful
members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed
unequally"; Individualism means the degree that people prefer to act as individuals rather than as
members of groups; Masculinity focuses on the scale of "masculine" values such as assertiveness; and

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Uncertainty Avoidance is the extent to which a society feels threatened by uncertainty and tries to
avoid it (Hofstede, 1980; Robins, 2006).
Flynn & Saladin, (2006) argued that National culture is the collective programming that results from
experiences derived from values such as family, government, religion, architecture, and even science
(Flynn & Saladin, 2006). Hofstede (1993) conducted research across forty countries and surveyed over
116,000 employees from multinational organizations to develop a system for national culture
(Hofstede, 1993).
2.2.1 Individualism
This dimension handles to which extent individuals take care of themselves or are more dependent on
strong groups (Hofstede, 1991). In individualistic nations the individual interests are preferred over the
groups. In this kind of society the family is your parents with relatives not living close by. The focus is
on the I when you grow up and you focus on your own interests and preferences. In the workplace
individualist are expected to act in their own interest and you should have self interest in the work you
perform that match the interest of the employer. Also the hiring process is based on skills (Hofstede,
1991). In collective nations people belong to groups which remove the focus on the I. The group is
protective in return of loyalty towards it. The hearing takes the group that the individual is put in into
account (Hofstede, 1991). This reduces risk if you know the family from before and the group will
also see to it that the employee does not embarrass them. The collectivism also reflects how they work,
when working in a group and the result is a group effort they perform at their best. Therefore
management is this kind of society is often management of the group instead of individuals (Hofstede
& Hofstede, 2005). Individualism stands for a society in which the ties between individuals are loose:
everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and his or her immediate family only (Hofstede,
1991). In collectivist cultures, people also think that members beliefs and behavior should be
submissive to the preference of the group. People recognize that different groups have different
principles and standards. External social pressures and shame are ways to regulate the members (Yoo,
Rao, & Hong, 2006). On the contrary, in individualistic cultures, people think that personal beliefs and
behavior should be determined by personal preference. People also think that all people should share
some common values. Internal pressure and guilt are ways to regulate the members. People place more
emphasis on self-respect (Yoo, et al., 2006).
2.2.2 Uncertainty Avoidance
It is the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain or unknown situations
(Hofstede, 1991). In countries of high uncertainty avoidance, employment can be lifelong. In contrast,
in countries of low uncertainty avoidance, high job turnover is not unusual. In countries of low power
distance and uncertainty avoidance countries, companies have simple organizational structures. Direct
communication between everyone is expected and encouraged. However, in countries of low
uncertainty avoidance and high power distance, companies are like traditional families. The father is
the head of the family and offers physical and economical protection for each family member. In
return, the father expects each member to be loyal to the family. In countries high in uncertainty
avoidance and power distance, companies are considered pyramids of people. In the pyramidal
organization, the lines and layers of authority are clearly defined by the management in order to reduce
the uncertainty to its members. In countries of low power distance and high uncertainty avoidance,
companies have high predictability. It is not necessary to have a rigid organizational structure.
Uncertainty is reduced by clear definitions of roles and procedures (Miroshnik, 2002).

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2.3

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TQM and National Culture

Quality management implantation is popular in these decades. A number of scholars in management

analyze what quality management is and should be in different frameworks. While discussing total
quality management, the majority of papers refer to Malcolm Baldrige or some other national quality
award. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria are frequently assumed to be one way
to codify TQM practices. Reviews of current literature suggest that TQM is a set of philosophical-like
principles and the national quality award is a set of guidelines used to evaluate an organization's
performance. Flynn and Saladin (2006) in their study found that some Baldrige criteria are consistent
with Hofstede's cultural dimensions. They then examined the relationship between Baldrige constructs
and national cultural dimensions. The results show that with the Baldrige constructs work success has
higher levels of uncertainty avoidance, power distance, collectivism and masculinity (Flynn & Saladin,
2006).
Pun (2001) studied the cultural effect on TQM in Hong Kong and China enterprises. He concluded
that the traditional Chinese values have no significant influence on promoting the adoption of TQM in
China. In other words, he suggests that Hofstedes long-term orientation or Confucian dynamism has
no significant influence on TQM adoption (Pun, 2001). Largrosen (2003) studied the influence of
national culture on the views of the values of TQM within a multinational firm. Many of his
hypotheses were rejected in the study. However, he still could conclude a few significant relationships.
He found that some values of TQM are affected by the dimensions of individualism-collectivism and
uncertainty avoidance (Lagrosen, 2003).

Methodology and Survey Instrument

The study employs Hofstedes (2001) national culture dimensions of individualism and uncertainty
avoidance and the constructs of soft TQM by Rahman (2001, 2004) include: leadership, employee
fulfillment, employee involvement, training and education, strategic quality policy, and customer
focus. The study contributes to the literature on management practices and cross cultural studies. The
survey result is an analysis by regressing cultural dimensions on TQM constructs. Questions for soft
TQM statements were developed by the researcher because there was no existing instrument for soft
TQM implementation and the Hofstedes national culture elements. Respondents were asked to rate
their perceptions and experiences on cultural elements and TQM constructs on a 5-point Likert-type
scale. Each element was comprised of two questions. To ascertain the cultural dimensions underlying
the 10 items, factor analysis was conducted using a principal component factor method and varimax
rotation to confirm the factor structure. Two factors were generated automatically by SAS using
eigenvalue test (Kaiser-Guttman) which indicates that two factors should be used because only two
eigenvalues are greater than 1 (Kim & Mueller, 1978). Table 1 shows the factor structure of our
instrument measuring national culture. The structure indicates that our instrument is valid and reliable.
Reliability analysis was conducted to measure the consistency of the questionnaire. Cronbachs Alpha
scores range from 0.830 for the customer driven variable to 0.955 for the top management team
involvement variable, indicating a very good overall consistency of the questionnaire. Details of
Cronbachs Alpha scores are shown in Table 2.

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Table 1: Factor structure of national culture (Method = principle component and rotation = varimax)
Individualism 1

0.04

0.09

0.90

0.14

-0.10

Individualism 2

0.02

0.14

0.89

-0.14

0.07

Uncertainty avoidance 1

-0.07

0.84

0.10

0.14

0.05

Uncertainty avoidance 2

0.12

0.90

0.13

- 0.05

-0.04

Table 2: Reliability of the TQM Scales (Cronbachs Alpha)

Leadership

0.955

Employee fulfillment

0.830

Employee involvement

0.832

Training and education

0.875

Strategic quality policy

0.929

Customer focus

0.869

Individualism

0.854

Uncertainty avoidance

0.835

The sample was collected from 100 managerial personnel of Iranian small and medium enterprises
(SMEs) in 30 companies. The survey participants were located in Iranian small and medium
enterprises from the Markazi province. Table 3 provides further demographic information about this
research. These companies were chosen because of their availability, but also because they represent a
wide range of variation in their cultural dimension measures. In this study quality experts attempt to
identify the TQM constructs. The population of experts includes academician who is conducting
research on quality, quality consultants, and quality managers. These three groups choose because they
have interactively shaped TQM constructs. Executives of an organization can exert important
influences on the actions, activities and processes of the organization because they are the
organizations leaders and, typically, its most powerful actors (Andrews, 1998; Mintzberg, 1973).
Table 3: Sample demographics
Type of industry

264

Frequency

Percent

Automotive

15

0.15

Electronics and ICT

10

0.10

Chemical

10

0.10

Food

12

0.12

Plastic

10

0.10

Pharmaceutical

11

0.11

Textile

10

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Type of industry

Frequency

Percent

Mechanical

10

0.10

Others

12

0.12

Total

30

100

1.00

Results and Discussion

The mean and standard deviation values of each element are shown in Table 4. A majority of our
respondents had international business experiences, which might have influenced their cultural
perceptions to a certain degree. Table 4 summarizes our results where cultural elements are regressed
on TQM constructs.
Table 4: Survey results with a mean and standard deviation scores
Variables

Mean

SD

Leadership

3.04

0.89

Employee fulfillment

2.83

1.04

Employee involvement

3.55

0.81

Training and education

3.58

0.72

Strategic quality policy

4.06

0.86

Customer focus

3.87

0.71

Individualism

3.53

0.83

Uncertainty avoidance

4.15

0.81

Individualism: Collectivism stands for a society in which people from birth onwards are integrated
into strong, cohesive in-groups, which throughout peoples lifetime continue to protect them in
exchange for unquestioning loyalty (Hofstede, 1991). Individualism stands for a society in which the
ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and his or her
immediate family only (Hofstede, 1991). In collectivist cultures, people also think that members
beliefs and behavior should be submissive to the preference of the group. People recognize that
different groups have different principles and standards. External social pressures and shame are ways
to regulate the members. People learn to think in terms of we, Harmony and consensus are the
ultimate goals (Yoo, et al., 2006). On the contrary, in individualistic cultures, people think that
personal beliefs and behavior should be determined by personal preference. People also think that all
people should share some common values. Internal pressure and guilt are ways to regulate the
members. People place more emphasis on self-respect. Individuals tend to form looser relationships
and learn to think in terms of I. Self-actualization by every individual is an ultimate goal (Yoo, et
al., 2006). We expected members in organizations that are high in individualism to be less favorable of
implementing TQM, especially the hard (more technical and routine) elements (Samson & Terziovski,
1999). However, our results are mixed. Individualism has a significant negative impact on Training
and education, but has a significant positive impact on Strategic quality policy and Customer focus.

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This result suggests people in individualistic organizations are less comfortable and less willing to
adopt TQM elements. However, we argue individualistic organizations emphasize on HR-related
issues such as training and education, and they would be more likely to succeed in implementing
Strategic quality policy, which requires frequent changes. Further, we argue an individualistic
organization is more prone to focus on visible tasks with results, rather than considering the potential
impact of resulting organizational chemistry and harmony. Consequently, individualism significantly
impacts on Customer focus.
Uncertainty avoidance: It is the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain
or unknown situations (Hofstede, 1991). It is the extent to which they try to avoid these situations by
providing greater career stability, establishing more formal rules, rejecting deviant ideas and behavior
and accepting the possibility of absolute truths and the attainment of expertise (Miroshnik, 2002). In
countries of high uncertainty avoidance, employment can be lifelong. In contrast, in countries of low
uncertainty avoidance, high job turnover is not unusual. In countries of low power distance and
uncertainty avoidance countries, companies have simple organizational structures. Direct
communication between everyone is expected and encouraged. However, in countries of high power
distance and low uncertainty avoidance, companies are like traditional families. The father is the head
of the family and offers physical and economical protection for each family member. In return, the
father expects each member to be loyal to the family. In countries high in power distance and
uncertainty avoidance, companies are considered pyramids of people. In the pyramidal organization,
the lines and layers of authority are clearly defined by the management in order to reduce the
uncertainty to its members. In countries of low power distance and high uncertainty avoidance,
companies have high predictability. It is not necessary to have a rigid organizational structure.
Uncertainty is reduced by clear definitions of roles and procedures (Miroshnik, 2002). We expected
managers from high uncertainty avoidance culture to be more favorable of implementing various TQM
elements. Although relatively less significant ( p , 0.10), our results point out uncertainty avoidance
affects two TQM elements (Training and education and Customer focus). We argue that managers with
high uncertainty avoidance culture favor routines and prefer to avoid uncertainties in their decision
making processes. They also prefer having clear rules and guidance. These characteristics favor the
use of quality based data and standardized reporting system. Furthermore, they are motivated by
having legitimate procedures and protocols and thus are proponents of HR-related issues such as
training and empowerment.
Table 4: Regression analyses of cultural elements on TQM constructs (n=100)
Individualism

Uncertainty avoidance

Leadership

0.045

0.006

Employee fulfillment

-0.003

0.025

Employee involvement

-0.064

- 0.050

Training and education

-0.138 *

0.139

Strategic quality policy

0.112 *

0.067

0.116 *

0.125

Customer focus
Notes: *p, 0.05; * *p, 0.01; * * *p, 0.001; p, 0.10

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Conclusion

Research on TQM shows that, organizations adopting TQM practices experience a great variety of
results, ranging from implementation failure (Harari, 1993; Krishnan, Shani, Grant, & Baer, 1993) to
increase competitive advantage (Douglas & Judge, 2001; Powell, 2006) and improved organizational
performance. A variety of authors have identified national culture, or: the collective programming of
the mind (Hofstede, 2001) and organizational culture, or: the shared set of values, beliefs and
assumptions, as major determinants for TQM implementation (Sousa-Poza, et al., 2001; Tata &
Prasad, 1998). Moreover, some authors see a root cause of TQM implementation failures in the
universal applicability of todays TQM approaches, regardless of organizational context and
environment (Dean & Bowen, 1994; Sitkin & Sutcliffe, 1994).
The results of the study have implications for theory. The study provides further evidence to
(Hofstede, 1983; Laurent, 1986; Newman & Nollen, 1996), and others who have argued that
management practices are culturally bound. More specifically, that national culture shape values,
beliefs and perceptions of people and that different values that societies or groups hold will lead their
behavior in different ways.
This study also provided support to the complex and comprehensive nature of TQM that a number of
authors described earlier (Hackman & Wageman, 1995). This studys finding underline the importance
of TQM constructs such as management by factor total quality methods, the so-called hard aspects of
TQM. These hard aspects seem to be the forgotten half of TQM since the literature more recently
tends to emphasize the soft aspects of TQM, which are related primarily to leadership and employee
involvement. Recalling the importance of hard aspects, this study provides further support to Hackman
and Wageman (1995) who argued that TQM effectiveness requires the implementation of a
comprehensive set of TQM constructs (Hackman & Wageman, 1995). Implementing soft or hard
aspects alone will not achieve the envisioned results associated with TQM. Instead, both soft and hard
aspects need to be integrated into any TQM program.

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