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Quality management: a fixture or a vital process?
Author(s) -
Murphy William H.,
Leonard Denis
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
strategic change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.527
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1099-1697
pISSN - 1086-1718
DOI - 10.1002/jsc.848
Subject(s) - quality (philosophy) , fixture , process (computing) , total quality management , quality management , business , realization (probability) , marketing , process management , operations management , computer science , risk analysis (engineering) , economics , engineering , mechanical engineering , service (business) , operating system , philosophy , statistics , mathematics , epistemology
We address the current status of quality management (QM) in companies in this paper. Interviews with senior executives of 19 companies spanning multiple industries and company sizes indicate that there are now at least five recurring themes related to QM's current role in companies: — Realized gains from QM keep it a fixture at most companies. — The aim of well‐serving customers is appropriately integrated into quality efforts. — The realization that pursuit of QM solely for the sake of winning awards can have harmful consequences. — QM's emphasis on self‐assessment and quality models is seen as valuable for providing focus and direction. — Gaps in integrating QM beyond operations exist in most companies. Our findings suggest that most businesses continue to have substantial opportunities for improvement in terms of more fully engaging QM throughout the firm. This makes it imperative that strategists engage and ultimately evolve companies so as to achieve their full potential. QM is not a fad of the century just past. Instead, it is a powerful means for companies to continue on a path to superior performance.Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.