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What really works in Quality Management

A comparison of approaches
Dr Prakesh J. Singh

Dr Prakash J. Singh

CB030—2003
ISBN 0 7337 5123 7
 What really works in Quality Management
a comparison of approaches
This is a free 10 page sample. Access the full version online.

Dr Prakash J Singh
This is a free 10 page sample. Access the full version online.

What really works in Quality management – a comparison of approaches

is reproduced from the author’s PhD thesis entitled “A study of Theoretical and Empirical Bases of
Operationalising Popular Quality Management Approaches in Manufacturing Organisations in Australia”,
submitted to the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, the University of Melbourne,
Australia.



© Dr Prakash J Singh
CB 030—2003
ISBN 0 7337 5123 7

All rights are reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by Consensus Books, an Imprint of Standards Australia International Ltd.

GPO Box 5420, Sydney NSW 2001, Australia
Email: copyright@standards.com.au

Website: www.standards.com.au
 What really works in Quality Management

Abstract

Quality management, an organisation-wide approach to infusing quality in all aspects of

operations, came to the serious attention of managers in the West in the middle to late
1980s. This approach was, and still is, promoted as an alternative management paradigm
to the conventional scientific management approach that dominates how work is
organised. With its philosophical emphasis on the primacy of customers over other
stakeholders, advocacy of greater employee participation and support for continual
improvement of operations, quality management has acquired a substantial following.
Yet, despite its inherent attractiveness, it has failed to establish itself as a mainstream and
serious management paradigm. Quality management is currently viewed in mixed ways.
At one extreme, it is viewed as a revolutionary new approach that holds substantial
promise and potential to improve organisational performance. At the other extreme, there
is apathy, dissatisfaction and misgivings about the efficacy of the paradigm. As is the case
with many similar management paradigms, a possible overriding explanation for the
precarious state of quality management is that its theoretical and conceptual bases have
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not been sufficiently well developed, and this is preventing organisations from deriving
the promoted benefits of quality management.

In this study, a rigorous study was designed to test this supposition. The underlying
theoretical models of three popular approaches to quality management implementation
(the standards-based approach, concentrating on ISO 9000 standards; the prize-criteria
approach, typified by the business excellence/quality awards; and, the elemental
approach) were extracted from a careful review of relevant literature. These theoretical
models were conceptually analysed with respect to how well they addressed key aspects
such as business environment, stakeholders, business processes and expected outcomes –
results showed that all three approaches were different from each other and they had
apparent shortcomings. These theoretical models were then empirically tested using a
confirmatory approach. Data relating to quality management practices were collected
from 418 manufacturing organisations in Australia using a scientifically developed
measurement instrument especially designed for this research. Statistical analysis of this
data (using structural equation modelling technique) suggested little support for the
models of these approaches. However, there was greater conceptual and empirical support
for the model of an integrated quality management approach that was synthesized from
the three existing approaches. This integrated approach, therefore, provides an avenue
through which quality management can address its problems and establish itself as a
serious and sustainable management paradigm.

i
 What really works in Quality Management

Acknowledgements

A study of this magnitude could not have been undertaken without the generous support
of many people. First and foremost, I wish to thank Dr Alan Smith for giving me the
opportunity to undertake this study and providing supervision and guidance throughout.
Professor Kevin Foley, while attached to the Department of Management on a visiting
basis, provided valuable feedback and encouragement by reviewing the early drafts of the
first few chapters of this study. Associate Professor Ian Gordon of the Statistical
Consulting Centre provided helpful advice on the design of the empirical study and
subsequent data analysis. Dr Gary Kakos of the Advanced Manufacturing Centre kindly
provided contacts for the pilot phase of the empirical study, and together with Professors
Amrik Sohal, Daniel Samson, Peter Harvey, Ian Gordon, Dr Andrew Wirth and Mr John
Weir, generously supported this research by serving on the pre-test panel.

The Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering provided all the facilities
and resources required for the study. Also, the University of Melbourne provided
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financial support through a Melbourne Research Scholarship, without which, it is highly

unlikely that I would have been able to study on a full-time basis. The Department, the
University and the Advanced Engineering Centre for Manufacturing also provided funds
to enable me to attend and present papers based on this research at four international
conferences.

This study has benefited from the collegiate interactions with many people. Fellow
postgraduate students, particularly Mei Feng and Yue Qiu, provided the forum for critical
discussions, especially in the early stages of this research. Delegates to the four
conferences where some of the findings of this research were presented provided useful
comments. The conference conveners, reviewers and journal editor provided interesting
insights1.

The genesis of this research project was formed while I was employed at the Department
of Technology at the University of the South Pacific, Fiji - Dr Samuel Aborhey was a
munificent mentor. Early interest in the field was developed when I was an undergraduate
student at Queensland University of Technology where Professor Walter Wong and
Dr Mahalinga Iyer were instrumental in introducing and developing many of the relevant
concepts.

1
To date, the following papers based on the research conducted as part of this study have been published:
1. Singh, P.J. and Smith, A., “Comparison of Performance of TQM and Non-TQM Manufacturing Organisations,” The
Journal of Enterprise Resource Management, 2001, Vol.6, No.2, pp.62-66.
.
2. Singh, P.J. and Smith, A. TQM and Innovation: An Empirical Examination of their Relationship. Conf. Proceedings of
the 5th International and 8th National Research Conference on Quality and Innovation Management. The University of
Melbourne, Australia. 12-14th February 2001. (pp.525-542).
3. Singh, P.J. and Smith, A. Comparison of Performance of TQM and Non-TQM Manufacturing Organisations. Conf.
Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Manufacturing Engineering. The University of New South Wales,
Australia. 27-30th August 2000. (CD-ROM)
4. Singh, P.J. and Smith, A. Assessing the Effectiveness of the Underlying Model of the ISO 9000 Quality Systems
Standards. Conf. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on ISO 9000 and Total Quality Management. The
National University of Singapore, Singapore. 25-27th April 2000. (pp.98-104)
5. Singh, P.J. and Smith, A. Process of Validating a Quality Management Measurement Instrument. Conf. Proceedings
of the 4th International & 7th National Research Conference on Quality Management. The University of Technology,
Sydney, Australia. 6-9th February 2000. (pp.146-155).

ii
 What really works in Quality Management

Finally, and importantly, I wish to thank my family and friends for their support over the
years. My wife, Joanne, has provided enduring and selfless support during and prior to
this study – I am truly grateful for this. My daughter, Nikita, has been very understanding
and patient, allowing me the time to spend on this study. Also, I am thankful to my late
parents who gave me the opportunities to develop my scholastic potential early in my life,
and my parents-in-law for the encouragement that they have provided. Last, but not the
least, I wish to thank all my family and friends who have assisted me during my studies.
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iii
 What really works in Quality Management

Preface

This is an important book. What really works in quality management: A comparison of

approaches, is a very timely practical guide through what has become a confusing maze
of management models that give primacy to quality of product and service. However,
what is most appealing about this work, and takes it beyond a practical guide to that of a
major contribution to management thought, is the insight it offers into one of the great
management mysteries: Why did Quality Management, a key component of Japan's
Phoenix-like post-war economic revival, and universally regarded in the late 80s and
early 90s as a management revolution, fail to the point of being widely rejected as a fad?

Thanks to Consensus Books, readers are able to access the scholarly research of Prakash
Singh almost immediately the research has been completed. Consensus Books has taken
the bold, and unusual, step of publishing Prakash Singh's Ph. D. thesis, as it was
presented to his examiners at the University of Melbourne in 2002. Most Ph. D. theses are
not published and valuable research is effectively lost. When theses are published they are
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almost always re-written to make them accessible to a non-academic audience - a process

that often takes 2-3 years. While the material looks and reads better, the price of that
delay is a loss of immediacy, and often relevance.

Of the very many features that distinguish this book from the overwhelming majority of
other contributions to quality management literature the most important is Singh’s
unwillingness to accept the almost universally held view that Quality Management has
failed because organisations either did not understand it, and/or failed to implement it
correctly. What Singh has done is to show that the fault lies with quality management
itself. Specifically quality management has a fundamental deficiency - it lacks a theory.

Despite Deming's claim that his “14 points” constituted the theoretical foundation of
quality management, and the unquestioning acceptance of that assertion, quality
management did not then, and does not now, have the support of a theory.

Without the reference point provided by a theory each promoter of quality management
had the freedom to provide his or her own definition, with the result that there were
many - often very different - definitions (remember the Deming v Juran debates), usually
expressed as “steps” or “points” and marketed under the banner of vacuous, misleading
but effective slogans such, as “quality is free”. Without the benefit of a theory, quality
management lacked the intellectual respectability necessary to attract the attention of
management scholars with the result that quality management did not enter mainstream
management thought and, for the most part, avoided exposure to scholarly and rigorous
analysis. Furthermore, the lack of a theory meant there were no criteria to establish either
research priorities or assess the relevance of research - not surprisingly research was often
self-serving and seldom appeared in refereed journals.

When those characteristics are added to the lack of an agreed definition of “quality” itself
the mystery, so neatly unravelled by Prakash Singh, shifts from why Quality Management
failed, to how it has survived for so long.

iv
 What really works in Quality Management

What is special about What really works in quality management, is that it does not take
what seems to be the obvious course of suggesting that nothing really works in quality
management. Singh demonstrates that even without a theory, and all that implies, quality
management, in its various guises, can be a valuable management aid - particularly if the
three principal approaches he identifies are used in combination. This conclusion is of
immense practical value and will bring a long overdue clarity, and breathe new life into
an approach to management that has for too long escaped the attention of scholarly
address.

But Prakash Singh has done much more than that. His critical analysis identifies the
principal reason why quality management has failed to match its rhetoric, gives us a
glimpse of what it might yet become, and indicates how that transformation might be
achieved.

With the benefit of a theory, rigorous and relevant empirical research, addressing not one
but all stakeholders, seen as a means to an end (organisation excellence), and not an end
in itself, quality management begins to look very much like an aid to strategic
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management that is uniquely appropriate to better understanding and more effectively

managing the contemporary organisation.

If Quality Management is to be resurrected and restored, as it should and must, its

transformation will owe much to the research reported in this outstanding book.

Dr Kevin Foley
Professor
School of Management, University of Technology, Sydney
Centre for Management Quality, RMIT

v
 What really works in Quality Management

Contents

Abstract .................................................................................................................................i
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. ii
Preface .................................................................................................................................iv
Contents...............................................................................................................................vi

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1 Competition in the Australian Manufacturing Industry ...........................................................1
1.2 The Imperative for Quality.......................................................................................................2
1.3 Research Problem.....................................................................................................................3
1.4 Aim of this Study .....................................................................................................................4
1.5 Research Approach...................................................................................................................4

CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction ..............................................................................................................................7
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2.2 Quality as a Competitive Strategy Dimension .........................................................................8

2.3 Emerging Consensus on the Definition of the Term ‘Quality’ ..............................................13
2.4 Approaches to Operationalise Quality-Based Competitive Strategy......................................16
2.5 Philosophy of Quality Management.......................................................................................38
2.6 Definition of Quality Management ........................................................................................41
2.7 Theory of Quality Management .............................................................................................43
2.8 Results of Implementing Quality Management: Empirical Evidence ....................................49
2.9 Difficulties and Problems with Quality Management ............................................................57
2.10 Concluding Remarks ..............................................................................................................62

CHAPTER THREE MODELS, PROPOSITIONS & HYPOTHESES

3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................65
3.2 Analysis Framework...............................................................................................................65
3.3 Underlying Theoretical Model of the Standards-Based Approach to Quality
Management ...........................................................................................................................70
3.4 Underlying Theoretical Model of the Prize-Criteria Approach to Quality
Management ...........................................................................................................................73
3.5 Underlying Theoretical Models of the Elemental Approach to Quality Management...........77
3.6 Underlying Theoretical Model of the Integrated Approach to Quality Management ............80
3.7 Propositions and Hypotheses..................................................................................................83
3.8 Concluding Remarks ..............................................................................................................85

CHAPTER FOUR RESEARCH METHOD

4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................86
4.2 Epistemological Orientation...................................................................................................87
4.3 Quality Management Survey Instruments ..............................................................................91
4.4 Mechanics of Developing and Validating a Measurement Instrument ..................................98
4.5 Methodological Issues Relating to the Data Analysis Technique used to Test
Theoretical Models: Structural Equation Modelling Analysis Process................................136
4.6 Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................................146

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 What really works in Quality Management

CHAPTER FIVE RESULTS AND ANALYSES (1): DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

5.1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................149
5.2 Demographic Characteristics of Participating Organisations...............................................149
5.3 Level of Interest in Formal Quality Management Implementation Approaches..................154
5.4 Perceptual Reponses to Measures of Quality Management Practices..................................160
5.5 Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................................170

CHAPTER SIX RESULTS AND ANALYSES (2): HYPOTHESES TESTS

6.1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................172
6.2 SEM Analysis Process..........................................................................................................172
6.3 SEM Analysis of the Theoretical Model of the Standards-Based Approach .......................174
6.4 SEM Analysis of the Theoretical Model of the Prize-Criteria Approach ............................190
6.5 SEM Analyses of the Theoretical Models of the Elemental Approach................................206
6.6 SEM Analysis of the Theoretical Model of the Integrated Approach..................................220
6.7 Results of Hypotheses Tests.................................................................................................242
6.8 Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................................245
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CHAPTER SEVEN DISCUSSION

7.1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................248
7.2 Comparison of Models .........................................................................................................248
7.3 Implications of Hypothesis Test Results on the Research Propositions...............................249
7.4 Results Compared with Previous Research Findings...........................................................251
7.5 Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................................263

CHAPTER EIGHT FINAL CONCLUDING REMARKS

8.1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................265
8.2 Overview of Findings...........................................................................................................265
8.3 Contributions of this Research .............................................................................................268
8.4 Implications of Research Findings .......................................................................................270
8.5 Future Research Possibilities and Implications for Researchers ..........................................271
8.6 Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................................274

REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................275

APPENDICES
I Pretest Panellists...................................................................................................................303
II Summary of Pilot Test Data Analysis ..................................................................................304
III Final Survey Measurement Instrument ................................................................................317
IV Sample Report Provided to Survey Participants...................................................................329
V Polychroic Correlation Coefficients .....................................................................................335
VI Test for Unidimensionality of Items Assigned to Constructs...............................................342
VII Discriminant Validity Test Results ......................................................................................351
VIII Predictive Validity Tests ......................................................................................................354
IX Procedure for Calculating Statistical Power of Structural Equation Models
(Summarised from MacCallum et al. [463]) ..........................................................................357
X Data Relating to the SEM Analysis of the Model of the Standards-Based Approach .........359
XI Data Relating to the SEM Analysis of the Model of the Prize-Criteria Approach...............370
XII Data Relating to the SEM Analysis of the Model of the Elemental Approach ....................388
XIII Data Relating to the SEM Analysis of the Model of the Integrated Approach ....................393

vii
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CB 030-2003 What really works in Quality

Management - A comparison of approaches
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