G. S. Sureshchandar, Chandrasekharan Rajendran & R. N. Anantharaman
TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT, VOL. 12, NO. 3, 2001, 343} 363
Abstract
The manufacturing landscape of the corporate world has undergone a quality revolution, resulting in a plethora of research works on the tools, techniques, critical dimensions and other organizational requirements for the et ective implementation of total quality management (TQM). But the same cannot be said with certainty of service industry management. Research works on total quality service (TQS) is not exhaustive in the sense that there appears to be a vacuum in the literature as far as a holistic model ( from the perspective of the management) is concerned. The present study is an attempt to R ll this gap. Based on an extensive review of the vast literature on TQM and TQS, the study has identiR ed 12 dimensions of TQS as being critical for et ective implementation of quality management in service organizations. The momentousness of each of these dimensions from the manufacturing and service perspectives has been authenticated. The diterent roles that these dimensions play in the manufacturing and service milieu have also been discussed. A
conceptual model for TQS has been proposed demonstrating the relationships among its dimensions.
The present work aspires to provide a basis for a thorough and insightful discernment of TQS and
its critical dimensions.
Introduction
Right from the dawn of history, people in all walks of life around the globe have been striving to survive in a highly competitive world. The industrial scenario is no dit erent. Corporate executives have been working overtime to achieve business excellence by striving to R nd solutions to those problems which have defeated their counterparts in other parts of the globe. The message is amply clear: the gospel of globalization has come to occupy centre stage. The focus on price, which hitherto ruled the competition, has shifted to both price and quality. Today, customers are demanding quality in products, services and in life. They have become increasingly discerning and have started looking for options more in tune with their basic needs, requirements and self-esteem. In fact, they are prepared to pay a premium for a quality product or service. One of the approaches that seems to provide the solution to the aforesaid challenges is the management philosophy of total quality management (TQM).
TQM is an approach for continuously improving the quality of every aspect of business life, i.e. it is a never-ending process of improvement for individuals, groups of people and the whole organization (Kanji & Asher 1993, 1996). It is an integrated approach and set of practices that emphasizes, inter alia, management commitment, continuous improvement, customer focus, long-range thinking, increased employee involvement and teamwork, employee empowerment, process management, competitive benchmarking, etc. (Ross, 1993).
The origin of the TQM movement dates back to the early 20th Century when Walter Shewart, in the early 1920s, R rst introduced the concept of statistical process control (SPC) to monitor quality in mass production manufacturing (Shewart, 1931). This was followed by many quality management gurus and practitioners who all advocated various approaches to TQM. Crosby (1979), the four absolutes, Deming (1986), fourteen points, Feigenbaum (1993), total quality control, Ishikawa (1985), quality control circles, Juran et al. (1988), quality triology and Taguchi (1986), loss function, have prescribed dit erent techniques and organizational requirements for et ective implementation of TQM.
The evolution of the quality improvement movement is a conglomeration of various Japanese and US philosophies, precepts, strategies and approaches. Even though the Japanese R rst took the lead in successfully applying the strategy later named TQM in the USA, it is also true that several Americans are recognized internationally as the drivers behind the concept (Milakovich, 1995). The genesis of modern management/administrative theory (let alone quality management) had its roots in the manufacturing milieu and blossomed under the auspices of the manufacturing stalwarts right from the early 20th Century when Fredrick W. Taylor in 1911, introduced the concept of scientiR c management. This development can
be attributed to the fact that the entire industrial world was predominantly manufacturing oriented and undergoing a revolution with a prime focus on assembly lines, mass production manufacturing, supplier partnerships, just-in-time ( JIT) production and cellular manufacturing, etc. Because of these factors, most of the techniques and strategies of administrative theory, and naturally quality management, were quantitative in nature and targeted to address the problems of the production line.
The management of service organizations and marketing of services has been a Cinderella among the organizational behaviour and marketing literature in the past, in contrast to the management of manufacturing organizations and marketing of goods. But with the blossoming of the service sector in almost every economy, quality imperatives are no longer the sole concern and province of manufacturing. Of late, service providers are facing the same ground realities that confronted their manufacturing counterparts in the past.
The subject of quality management in manufacturing industry has been a matter of great interest and concern for business and academia alike. Several works have thoroughly investigated the various dimensions, techniques and organizational requirements for et ective implementation of TQM. These dimensions include top management commitment and leadership, quality policy, training, product /service design, supplier quality management, process management, quality data and reporting, employee relations, workforce management,
customer focus, customer involvement, benchmarking, SPC, employee empowerment, employee involvement, corporate quality culture and strategic quality management. These dimensions are, in essence, tools of the intellect that were forged in the administrative theory, tempered in manufacturing quality management and therefore are naturally expected to be honed to cutting sharpness in service quality management. Per contra, though most of these dimensions and other techniques and strategies proposed by various theorists and practitioners, starting from the birth of the quality revolution, seem to provide a nearuniversal remedy to the problems of the manufacturing business, they are not a complete yardstick for service quality improvement. The reasoning here is that although from a logical point of view most of the dimensions of manufacturing quality management should naturally apply to services, the transferability of manufacturing quality management dimensions to services calls for some serious soul-searching as services dit er from the manufacture of goods in a number of dit erent ways: service intangibility, simultaneity of production, delivery and consumption, perishability, variability of expectations of the customers and the participatory role of customers in the service delivery.
Interestingly, the literature on TQM with respect to services, i.e. total quality service (TQS), seems to be bereft of an integrative framework that will include all the critical dimensions of TQS by addressing the issue of possible transferability of manufacturing quality management dimensions to services, and by focusing on those dimensions that are unique to service organizations.
The present study attempts to develop a conceptual model of TQS with the help of an extensive review of the literature, and by comparing and contrasting the criticality of the dit erent dimensions of quality management in both manufacturing and service organizations.
The main objectives of the this paper are therefore fourfold:
(1) to present an extensive critique of the vast literature on both TQM and TQS;
(2) hence, to identify those dimensions that are considered critical for TQS from the perspective of the management;
(3) to compare and contrast the roles of each of these dimensions in manufacturing and service organizations;
(4) to develop and propose a conceptual model for TQS.
As research into TQM is much more developed than research into TQS, a clear understanding of TQM is a prerequisite to the study of TQS. Therefore, a thorough review of the relevant literature on both TQM and TQS is adduced in the following sections.
Review of the literature
Research on TQM
Saraph et al. (1989) were among the R rst to attempt to organize and coalesce the various
TQM prescriptions. They identiR ed eight critical factors of quality management: the role of
management leadership and quality policy; the role of the quality department; training;
product/service design; supplier quality management; process management; quality data and
reporting; and employee relations. Operational measures of these factors were developed and
were found to be reliable and valid. By using such measures, decision-makers can assess the
level of quality management in their organization in order to devise strategies for further
improvements. Starting from a strategic perspective, the work by Flynn et al. (1994) identiR ed
and accentuated seven key dimensions of quality management that included top management
support, quality information, process management, product design, workforce management
and supplier and customer involvement. These dimensions were then tested for reliability
and validity and, by doing so, described a clear framework for subsequent research and
established a standard by which practitioners could evaluate the et ectiveness of their quality
management programmes. Through a detailed analysis of the literature, Ahire et al. (1996a)
identiR ed 12 constructs of integrated quality management strategies, namely, top management
commitment, customer focus, supplier quality management, design quality management,
benchmarking, SPC, internal quality information usage, employee empowerment, employee
involvement, employee training, product quality and supplier performance. The constructs
spanned the entire ambit of activities deemed to be critical by the Malcolm Baldrige Quality
Award. Based on these factors, a framework to delve the et ects of integrated quality
management strategies on a R rmf s product quality was suggested. Another contribution to
the development of an instrument to measure the levels of TQM implementation was made
by Black and Porter (1996). Their work presented a research methodology that could be
used to improve self-assessment frameworks and make organizations more et ective in the
development of total quality systems. Their research focused on the important elements of
the Baldrige Award model and other established literature, and identiR ed 10 critical components
of TQM, viz. corporate quality culture, strategic quality management, quality improvement
measurement systems, people and customer management, operational quality planning,
external interface management, supplier partnerships, teamwork structures, customer
satisfaction orientation and communication of improvement information. These factors were
found to be reliable and valid, and provided key contributions for the better understanding
of TQM. Black and Porter (1995) also developed a model for TQM which provided visual
information on the various factors of TQM, relationships between those factors, strength of
those relationships and the relative importance (or criticality) of those factors. In a recent
research work Joseph et al. (1999) identiR ed 10 factors of TQM. These include organizational
commitment, human resource management, supplier integration, quality policy, product
design, role of quality department, quality information systems, technology utilization,
operating procedures and training. A measurement instrument was also developed which can
be used to evaluate the extent of TQM practice in an organization.
Flynn et al. (1994) argued that the cornerstone for theory building is enunciation of the
distinction between quality management practices (inputs) and quality performance (outputs),
which, until then, had been lumped together under the broad heading of quality.
Madhu et al. (1996) reasoned that, although many conceptual models do claim the utility of
certain quality dimensions (such as customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and employee
service quality) in improving organizational performance, no empirical study till that time
had veriR ed such claims. In their empirical work, Madhu et al. (1996) investigated the et ect
of the quality dimensions on nine component items that would make up organizational
performance for both manufacturing and service R rms. The measures used for the three
quality dimensions and organizational performance were shown to be reliable and valid.
However, information derived from the study indicated that, when compared to manufacturing,
practising managers in the service sector seem not to have understood some of the
relevance and values of quality management activities.
The decision as to which management practices should be emphasized for et ective
TQM implementation has been a major concern of decision-makers in the R eld (Flynn
et al., 1995). In an exploratory investigation of the relationships between speciR c quality
management practices and quality performance, these authors contrived a framework and
found that dit erent quality management practices lead to success in dit erent quality
dimensions. A study by Adam (1994) examined the relationships between alternate quality
improvement approaches and actual operating and R nancial performance. The results indicated
that each organization has a proR le that identiR es the improvement strategies that are
required to achieve objectives, whether they are to improve quality, operating and/or R nancial
performance. Depending upon the selected measure(s) of quality, operating and R nancial
performance, an appropriate approach to quality improvement can also be selected.
Samson and Terziovski (1999) attempted to R nd the relationships between the various
TQM practices, individually and collectively, and company performance. The results showed
that the intensity of TQM practice does contribute signiR cantly to the performance. In
another investigation, Terziovski and Samson (1999) tested the relationship between TQM
practice and organizational performance with and without the covariates, company size,
industry type and ISO 9000 certiR cation status. The authors concluded that there were
signiR cant dit erences in the relationship between TQM and organizational performance
across industry type and size, especially on the et ect of defect rates, warranty costs and
innovation of new products.
The work of Powell (1995) provided valuable insights into the `soft issuesf of TQM.
Powell explored TQM as a potential source of sustainable competitive advantage and found
that the most generally acceptable features associated with TQM, such as quality training,
process improvement, benchmarking, etc. may not be that useful for et ective TQM implementation,
but that certain tacit, behavioural, imperfectly imitable features, such as open
culture, employee empowerment and executive commitment, are vital for an environment
conducive to TQM. He concluded that these tacit resources, and not mere TQM tools and
techniques, are instrumental for success and that organizations that acquire them can win
over their competitors with or without the TQM label.
With many organizations striving to implement TQM, it becomes paramount that
managers see a link between the quality of their products and their customersf perceptions
of the quality of their products (Waller & Ahire, 1996). If managers fail to see the validity of
this link, they may not appreciate the importance of improving product quality and,
consequently, the signiR cance of implementing TQM or other quality improvement
techniques.
In other research, Ahire et al. (1996b) ventured to provide a clear demarcation between
what is actually meant by TQM and non-TQM R rms. The authors stated that R rms should
be classiR ed on a scrupulous evaluation of the extent to which they have embraced the TQM
philosophy. They also claim that if organizations do practise the various elements of TQM
philosophy to perfection, it will deR nitely help them to ameliorate their quality performance.
There is a belief that the beneR ts of TQM take a long time to show through. Ahire (1996)
argued that successful R rms get the feel of their success with TQM in terms of greater
operational results within the R rst 2} 3 years of its implementation. He concluded that R rms
that manage their TQM et orts R ttingly will beneR t more as TQM mellows in these R rms.
Ahire and Golhar (1996) examined the relationships between company size and TQM
implementation. The R ndings suggested that small R rms, though restrained by such inadequacies
as want of managerial expertise, clout in the market, insuy cient resources, etc. can make
up for that with their relative strengths in P exibility and innovation, thereby implementing
TQM just as et ectively as large R rms.
Research on TQS
The subject of service quality as perceived by the customers has been researched extensively.
Gronroos (1978, 1982, 1983) was one of the R rst few researchers who recognized the need
to develop valid and distinct measures of service quality. In an et ort to explain how customers
perceive service quality, Gronroos (1984) developed a model of service quality based on
three dimensions, viz. (a) functional qualityD how the service is performed and delivered,
(b) technical qualityD what the consumer receives and (c) the image of the service R rm.
These et orts and the authorf s later works on service quality (Gronroos, 1990, 1993) triggered
a lot of interest in service quality research. Parasuraman et al. (1985) also made pioneering
ventures to comprehend the concept of service quality and its determinants. The authors, in
a subsequent research work (Parasuraman et al., 1988), developed an instrument called
SERVQUAL that measured service quality along R ve dimensions, viz. reliability, responsiveness,
assurance, empathy and tangibles. The SERVQUAL instrument had widespread
applications in a variety of organizations ranging from tyre retailing, dental service, hotels,
travel and tourism, car servicing, business schools, hospitality, higher education, business-to348
G. S. SURESHCHANDAR ET AL.
business channel partners, accounting R rms, architectural services, recreational services,
hospitals, airline catering, banking, apparel retailing and local government. On the other
hand, the ey cacy of SERVQUAL in measuring service quality has also been severely criticized
for various reasons by many researchers (see Buttle, 1996, for a detailed discussion).
The importance of service culture has been widely discussed and emphasized in the
TQM literature (Bowen & Schneider, 1988; Harber et al., 1993a, b; Schneider & Bowen
1992, 1993; Schneider et al., 1994, 1996, b). As service businesses are characterized by
certain unique features such as intangibility, inseparability of production and consumption,
heterogeneity, perishability, etc. management R nds it very diy cult to supervise directly
employees when they interact with customers as this would at ect the seamlessness of service
(Schneider & Bowen, 1995). It is therefore highly prudent to establish a service climate and
culture that will guide employee behaviour indirectlyD through the values, mores and beliefs
captured by the procedures, policies and routines and behaviours in the various functional
systems of the organization such as marketing, operations and human resource management
(HRM). In another work Schneider and Bowen (1992) explored four classic personnel /HRM
procedures (entry, socialization/training, compensation/rewards and et ectiveness criteria) as
organizational processes for creating a service climate. Zeithaml et al. (1996) proposed a
conceptual model of the impact of service quality on particular customer behaviours and
demonstrated that improving service quality could increase the likelihood of positive behaviours
and decrease negative attitudes towards the organization.
In an empirical research Bitner (1992) explained how the `built environmentf in service
organizations (i.e. the man-made physical surroundings) inP uenced both customers and
employees.Many other researchers have also emphasized the inP uence of these `servicescapesf
on customers (e.g. Baker, 1987; Berry & Clark, 1986; Bitner, 1986; Booms & Bitner, 1982;
Kotler, 1973; Rapoport, 1982; Shostack, 1977; Upah & Fulton, 1985; Zeithaml et al., 1985)
and employees (e.g. Baker et al., 1988; Becker, 1981; Davis, 1984; Steele, 1986; Sundstrom
& Altman, 1989; Wineman, 1986) in physiological, psychological, emotional, sociological
and cognitive ways. Bitner et al. (1990) targeted particular service encounters/events instead
of general factors and identiR ed the reasons for both satisfactory and unsatisfactory service
encounters through a tool called `critical incident technique (CIT)f . The authors speculated
that employee responses to customer needs and requests, service delivery system failures,
time or money constraints, lack of alternatives, switching costs and habit might at ect service
loyalty.
Three important and often linked dimensions, namely, duration, at ective content and
spatial proximity, play a vital role in comparing service encounters (Price et al., 1995). The
authors suggested a framework that focused on service encounters that fell at the extreme of
these three dimensions, named as extended, at ectively charged and intimate (EAI) encounters.
Utilizing qualitative and quantitative information, they advanced some measures of
service provider performance and tested a structural model of the relationships among service
provider performance, at ective response and service satisfaction for EAI encounters. In
another work, Chandon et al. (1997) proposed a dyadic approach that explored the multiple
dimensions of the quality of service encounters and their evaluation from the two perspectives
of customers and contact personnel.
Service quality and customer satisfaction have, of late, attracted much attention in both
organizational behaviour and marketing theory. Shemwell et al. (1998) developed and tested
a causal model that portrayed exactly how service quality and satisfaction levels are related
to the relationship-oriented outcomes such as the minimization of complaints to others
(complaint behaviour), emotional bonding (at ective commitment) and an increased inclination
to continue the customer} service provider relationship. Kellogg et al. (1997) attempted
A CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR TQM 349
to explore the understanding of the relationship between customer participation and satisfaction,
and presented a typology of service customersf quality assurance behaviours and a
conceptual model of the service customersf value perspective chain. In another interesting
work Stauss and Neuhaus (1997), by taking into account the emotional, cognitive and
intentional dimensions of the satisfaction construct, proposed a qualitative satisfaction model
and suggested a satisfaction/dissatisfaction typology and showed the loss potential of satisR ed
customers according to the satisfaction type to which they belong.
The various factors that inP uenced customer loyalty, satisfaction and purchasing intents
were studied by many authors (Boulding et al., 1993; Cronin & Taylor, 1992; Crosby &
Stephens, 1987; Kelley et al., 1993; Rust & Zahorik, 1993). Keaveny (1995), using CIT,
identiR ed more than 800 critical behaviours of service R rms that caused customers to switch
services. Drawing on basically conceptual research works, Bitner et al. (1997) addressed the
roles of customers in creating quality and productivity in service encounters and proposed
two frameworks that analysed the dit erent levels of customer participation that are required
in a variety of service settings and focused on identifying three major roles played by
customers in service delivery. Drawing on past research and theoretical tools, Roest and
Pieters (1997) investigated the nomological net of perceived service quality across six
dimensions, namely, time, basis, object, content, context and aggregation, and conceptually
modelled the relationships between the constructs `perceived service qualityf , `product valuef ,
`customer satisfactionf and `attitudef . Boshot (1997) proposed a model that addressed the
various features of recovery and concluded that the longer the service recovery is delayed,
the greater the level of reparation that will be required. Employees at the front line are in an
optimal position to report on the degree to which strategic initiatives are being carried out.
Schneider et al. (1996a), in an exploratory investigation, found that employee attitude surveys
could be used for diagnosis of the degree to which a neoteric strategy is being implemented
and the level to which policies and practices are connected to the realization of strategic goals
like customer satisfaction and customer retention. Rosen and Suprenant (1998) strived to
identify the critical indicators for the health of a service relationship. In their work the authors
showed that process issues and value-enhancing components, apart from satisfaction and
quality, strongly determine the health of a service relationship. The usefulness of information
technology in improving service quality was shown by Berkley and Gupta (1994). A model
was developed from case study data that mapped important service quality factors to the
requisite information technologies. The authors concluded that the prototype would help the
managers to ascertain the information technology most appropriate to improving service
quality.
Rust et al. (1994, 1995) advocated a R nancial approach called the `return on qualityf
(ROQ) approach which can be used by decision-makers to determine where to spend on
service quality, how much to spend and the likely R nancial outcomes from service expenditures,
in terms of revenues, proR ts and return on investments in quality improvement. Results
of some other research work also subscribed to these R ndings as they concluded that service
quality and customer satisfaction have a considerable inP uence on R nancial outcomes.
(Danaher & Rust, 1996; Hallowell, 1996; Nelson et al., 1992; Rust & Zahorik, 1993). In a
recent work Rust et al. (1999) applied the ROQ approach to a retail banking network and
found that the ROQ model seemed to provide a basis for estimating the R nancial beneR ts of
service quality et orts.
The research problem
From the above discussions it is evident that the research literature on manufacturing TQM
is quite extensive and exhaustive, covering all the aspects of TQM, viz.
350 G. S. SURESHCHANDAR ET AL.
E the critical dimensions of TQM;
E the relationships between quality management practices and organizational /business
performance;
E the soft issues (i.e. people oriented issues) of TQM;
E the inP uence of contextual factors on TQM;
E the relationships between product quality and customersf perceptions of product
quality;
E the demarcation between TQM and non-TQM R rms;
E the et ect of TQM age on operational results, etc.
Concerning the literature on TQS, the various aspects of TQM in service organizations have
also been independently subjected to extensive research, e.g.
E customersf perceptions of service quality;
E the concept of `service culturef ;
E the critical role of the personnel and HRM function;
E the inP uence of operational, organizational and human resources factors on service
quality;
E the et ect of the `built environmentf ;
E customer satisfaction, loyalty and purchase intentions;
E service switching, service encounters, critical incidents and recovery;
E R nancial outcomes of service quality initiatives.
Though the criticality of the above-mentioned features of TQS have been emphasized
independently, no research work, as yet, has collectively taken all these features into
consideration and provided a holistic model for the et ective implementation of TQS. This
gap in the literature may be due to the feeling that the manufacturing quality management
dimensions can be replicated for services. But the issue of the transferability of manufacturing
quality management dimensions to services is bound to pose some serious challenges, as
services dit er, not only from goods, but also from each other in a number of characteristics.
This point was also underscored by Bowen and Schneider (1988) as the authors explained
that if prototypical services dit er from prototypical goods, then the system by which these
goods and services are produced and marketed will also vary.
The only known et ort to discuss the issue of transferability of quality management
dimensions from manufacturing to services was made by Silvestro (1998). The author
presented a generic model of TQM and argued that the manufacturing quality management
literature is predominantly unstructured, amorphous in nature, conP icting in views, practitioner
oriented and consultancy driven, and therefore it is not based on scientiR c or academic
research, but rather built on the prescriptions by various quality management gurus, case
studies and anecdotal evidence. These arguments do not hold good as one can easily
observe the over-abundance of research literature with respect to quality management in
manufacturing, as explained in the section on `Research on TQMf . The six TQM precepts
proposed by the author are not comprehensive as the work has left out certain key dimensions
of TQM in both manufacturing and service organizations (e.g. social responsibility and union
intervention). Also other dimensions that are highly unique to services, viz. service culture
and servicescapes have not been considered in the framework. Moreover, the relationships
between the various precepts are not demonstrated in the model proposed by Silvestro.
Therefore, there exists a gap in the literature as far as an integrated TQS model (from the
perspective of the management) is concerned, and there also exists a need to address
collectively all the critical aspects of TQS (such as human and non-human aspects of service
A CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR TQM 351
production and delivery, service design and operations, aesthetics of the physical environment,
information technology, industrial relations and corporate citizenship behaviour).
The critical dimensions of TQS
The present work, based on the foregoing thorough review of the prescriptive, conceptual,
practitioner and empirical literature on TQM and TQS spanning over 100 articles, identiR es
12 dimensions of quality management as critical for the institution of a TQM environment
in service organizations. The dimensions that have been identiR ed are as follows:
(1) Top management commitment and visionary leadership.
(2) Human resource management.
(3) Technical system.
(4) Information and analysis system.
(5) Benchmarking.
(6) Continuous improvement.
(7) Customer focus.
(8) Employee satisfaction.
(9) Union intervention.
(10) Social responsibility.
(11) Servicescapes.
(12) Service culture.
These dimensions can be broadly grouped under three categories as follows.
(1) Those dimensions of quality management that are generic to both manufacturing
and service organizations, but which were initially practised in the manufacturing
set-up and later transferred to service milieu (these include dimensions such as Top
management commitment and visionary leadership, Human resource management, Design
and management of processes, Information and analysis, Benchmarking, Continuous
improvement, Employee satisfaction and Customer focus and satisfaction).
(2) Those dimensions that are seldom addressed in the literature but are, nevertheless,
key elements of TQM in both manufacturing and service organizations (e.g. Union
intervention and Social responsibility).
(3) Finally, those factors that are unique to service organizations (namely,
ServicescapesD the man-made physical environmentD and Service culture).
Table 1 brieP y explains the 12 critical factors of TQS. Several works have underlined
the importance of these dimensions. Table 2 summarizes the literature evidence on the
criticality of these dimensions of quality management in manufacturing and service organizations.
Given the fact that services have certain unique characteristics, the dit erent roles that
each of these dimensions play and the various aspects that they bring into the picture (like
skills, values, tools, techniques and other requirements) vary from manufacturing to service
organizations. Table 3 compares and contrasts the signiR cance and relevance of the various
quality management dimensions in manufacturing and service organizations.
A conceptual model for TQS
From the above discussions it is clear that the proposed 12 factors are critical for the
establishment of a TQM ambience in service organizations. These dimensions have dit erent
functions to perform in a TQS movement. Based on literature evidence and logical reasoning,
Table 1. The critical dimensions of TQS
Sl.
No. Critical dimensions Explanation of the critical dimensions
1. Top management Top management commitment is a prerequisite for et ective and successful TQS
commitment and implementation. Although dit erent researchers proclaim various theories on the
visionary leadership organizational requirements for et ective implementation of TQS, all would
agree that the impetus for any quality improvement et ort should come from the
top. Visionary leadership is the art of leading and espousing a mental, strategic
and spiritual change in the organization by the formulation of a long-range
vision for the development of the organization, propagating the vision
throughout the organization, devising and developing a plan of action and R nally
stimulating the entire organization towards the accomplishment of the vision
2. Human resource This refers to the number of organizational behaviour issues (ranging from
management selection and recruitment, training and education, employee empowerment to
employee involvement) that form the cornerstone upon which the corporate
strategy is built. The moot point here is that only if the employers treat their
employees as precious resources would the employees, in turn, treat their
customers as valuable. Therefore, it is indispensable for service organizations
to look upon HRM as a source of competitive advantage
3. Technical system The technical system includes design quality management and process
management
Sound and reliable service design echoes an organizationfs strategic quality
planning abilities and enables the organization to surmount customersf needs,
expectations and desires, consequently resulting in improved business
performance
Service process management essentially involves the procedures, systems and
technology that are required to streamline the service delivery so that
customers can receive the service without any hassles, i.e. it delineates the
non-human element of service delivery, as opposed to human element which
is captured in the dimension `service culturef
4. Information and Services, unlike manufactured goods, cannot be inventoried and used in times of
analysis system emergency or demand. Therefore, during rush or peak periods, unless organizations
keep themselves prepared for any such eventualities, they may not be
able to provide quality service to customers. This can only be achieved by
equipping the employees with information regarding the process and the
customers. Prompt, suy cient and pertinent data that are critical to the
implementation and practice of TQMconstitute information and analysis. In a
TQS ambience people need to communicate across organizational levels,
functions and locations to work out current problems, eschew new ones and
implement change.Measures for proactive prevention rather than reactive
correction are employed to monitor quality in order to sustain a true customer
focus
5. Benchmarking Benchmarking is actually a comparison standard that consists of analysing the
best products/services and processes of the best organizations in the world and
then analysing and using that information to improve onefs own products or
services and processes. While in manufacturing, standards such as product
characteristics, process, cost, strategy, etc. are used as benchmarks, it is all the
more diy cult to benchmark services. Because of the very puzzling nature of
services and the consequent organizational contingencies that it warrants for
its design, production, delivery and consumption, organizations need to focus
on benchmarking not only hard data, but also certain behavioural features
such as customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction, apart from comparing
the services and processes through which they are delivered. An organization
can achieve a world-class tag if benchmarking is targeted at the key or critical
business processes
A CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR TQM 353
Table 1. Continued
Sl.
No. Critical dimensions Explanation of the critical dimensions
6. Continuous The quest for quality improvement is not a speciR c destination but a
improvement continuous journey that throws up more and more opportunities for
improvement. Improvement should be viewed as an ongoing process in the
sense once targets are met, new ones must be set, aiming for even higher
levels of service ey ciency. It is a race which has no R nish line but has the sole
objective of striving for continuous improvement, and looking for
breakthroughs with revolutionary order of magnitude changes that will result
in the transmogriR cation of the organization into a world-class one
7. Customer focus Customer focus is the ultimate goal of any TQS programme because
organizations can outscore their competitors by et ectively addressing
customersf needs and demands and anticipating and responding to their
evolving interests and wants. Focusing on customer needs and wants enables
organizations to have a better market orientation than ever before by
providing a competitive edge over their rivals, thereby resulting in enhanced
business performance. In service organizations, as customer expectations are
highly dynamic and complex in nature, focusing only on customer-deR ned
areas (speciR c customer needs) so as to satisfy the customers will not yield
fruit. In todayfs world of intense competition, satisfying customers may not be
enough. The competitive advantage in a quality revolution comes only from
customer delight. Customer satisfaction is a short-term concept which may or
may not lead to commitment. The managementfs responsibility is to ensure
that satisfaction manifests itself as commitment in the long run
8. Employee Employee satisfaction is a multi-dimensional concept, which is deR ned as the
satisfaction degree to which employees of an organization believe that their needs and
wants are continuously satisR ed by the organization. An organization must not
only have a focus on service quality/customers, but also concentrate on
employee satisfaction, as research has shown much evidence of strong
relationships between employee perceptions of employee well-being and
customer perceptions of service quality and satisfaction
9. Union intervention With a major chunk of the workforce in both developed and developing
nations working in service organizations, industrial relations issues are as
crucial (if not more) as they are in manufacturing industries. As TQM is an
organization-wide approach, its success is greatly inP uenced by its employee
union. These employee relations issues at ect the organizational system and
consequently determine the nature and extent of TQM implementation. And,
with the technological growth (in terms of computerization, networking, etc.)
gripping the service sector, and the known aversions and apprehensions of the
unions towards such advancements, it could be concluded that union attitudes
play a critical role in any quality improvement et ort
10. Social responsibility The concept of corporate citizenship should come to the fore if an
organization has to be successful and progress towards achieving business
excellence. No doubt, a business or industrial enterprise exists to make
proR ts. This can be achieved by fulR lling its mission. At the same time, an
organization must also grow and have a good image, i.e. it should meet its
social and community obligations. At the end of the day, it is not just the
proR t or revenue that counts for an organization, but an indomitable belief in
corporate responsibility to its society becomes indispensable. With the entire
world undergoing an upheavalD a quality revolutionD it is this attitude that
will certainly give an organization a competitive edge in the long run over
many others who vie for greater honours in terms of proR ts, return on
investments (ROI), market share, etc. completely ignoring the fact that they
are accountable to the society in which they thrive upon. This subtle, but
none the less powerful dimension sends strong signals towards improving
354 G. S. SURESHCHANDAR ET AL.
Table 1. Continued
Sl.
No. Critical dimensions Explanation of the critical dimensions
the organizationfs image and goodwill, and consequently et ecting the
customersf overall satisfaction with the services and their loyalty to the
organization
11. Servicescapes The tangible facets of the service facility, i.e. the man-made physical
environment (such as equipment, machinery, signage and employee
appearanceD the `servicescapef ), strongly inP uence both employees and
customers in physiological, psychological, emotional, sociological and
cognitive ways, particularly as the core service becomes more intangible
12. Service culture In service organizations the boundary separating the customers and employees
is very frail and pervious, with the result that the physical and psychological
propinquity between them is so intense that only a R rmfs culture that stresses
service quality throughout the organization could establish the seamlessness in
the service delivery. Service culture is actually the extent to which the
employees at all levels realize that the real purpose of their existence is `service
to customersf . While customer focus is seen as a goal of the TQS movement,
service culture is an organizational strategy that motivates the employees to
have a service orientation in whatever they do. An organization characterized
by such a service orientation is more likely to ot er a reliable, responsive,
empathetic service to customers and provide them with assurance in
conveying trust and conR dence that will result in improved quality in service
delivery, which, in turn, will lead to higher perceived service quality from the
customerfs point of view. A strong internal culture helps an organization to
et ect and sustain an organizational change that will make the TQS approach
more et ective
the various functions executed by these dimensions are portrayed by means of a descriptive
model as shown in Fig. 1. A discussion on the proposed model is presented below.
Top management commitment acts as a driver for the TQS movement. This commitment
coupled with a visionary leadership drives the organizational system consisting of such
subsystems as the HRM, customer focus, technical system, information and communication
system, tangibles and corporate responsibility. The industrial relations issues are represented
by union intervention and the standard of comparison by benchmarking. The advent of
technology in serving customers is quite intense and is on the rise. But, in general, most
service organizations serve customers mostly through their employees, who form the interface
between customers and service organizations. Therefore, customer focus and employee
satisfaction are treated as the two goals of the TQS approach.
The dimensions that have been discussed are all vital components for quality improvement,
but when used in isolation or on an ad hoc basis do not constitute TQS. TQS will be
fruitful only to the extent to which the various dimensions synergically operate in an
environment of continuous improvement. Akin to continuous improvement is the fact that
TQM should be viewed from a long-range perspective, i.e. it requires a clear understanding
that the process will take time, money and determination before its beneR ts become clear.
To encapsulate, TQS is not an outcome of one or two management approaches, but
rather a miscellany of carefully devised strategies derived from several disciplines (e.g.
personnel /HRM, organizational behaviour, psychology, operations management, marketing,
economics, systems thinking, etc.). The arrows in the model are all double headed to imply
that TQS is an approach that should be adopted as a whole rather than piecemeal. Moreover,
in service organizations, the subtle, implicit and behavioural aspects such as service culture,
A CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR TQM 355
Table 2. Topology of the quality management literature accentuating the criticality of the various dimensions in
manufacturing and service environments
Sl.
No. Critical dimensions Manufacturing Services
1. Top management Dale and Duncalf (1984); Garvin Zeithaml et al. (1990); Norman
commitment and (1986); Deming (1986); Saraph et al. (1991); Rust and Oliver (1994);
visionary leadership (1989); Ferdows and Demeyer (1990); Edvardsson et al. (1994); Milakovich
Kanji and Asher (1993, 1999); (1995); Schneider and Bowen (1995)
Anderson et al. (1994); Smith (1995);
Ahire et al. (1996); Flynn et al. (1994,
1995); Samson and Terziovski (1999);
Joseph et al. (1999)
2. Human resource Weiss (1984); Pfau (1989); Everett Sasser (1976); Lovelock (1981);
management and Sohal (1991); Chevalier (1991); Bowen (1986); Bowen and Schneider
Sewell and Wilkinson (1992); Kanji (1988); Zemke and Schaaf (1989);
and Asher (1993, 1999); Flynn et al. Norman (1991); Schneider and
(1994); Ahire et al. (1996a, b); Joseph Bowen (1992, 1993, 1995);
et al. (1999); Samson and Terziovski Schneider et al. (1994)
(1999)
3. Technical system Mizuno (1988); Taguchi (1979); Juran Neslin (1983); Gummesson (1987);
(1981a, b); Ishikawa (1985); Hauser Chapman and Jackson (1987);
and Clausing (1988); Saraph et al. Hauser and Clausing (1988);
(1989); Akao (1990); Ziemke and Zeithaml et al. (1990); Sasser and
Spann (1991); Feigenbaum (1993); Fulmer (1990); Zemke and Schaaf
Flynn et al. (1994); Smith (1995); (1990); Edvardsson et al. (1994);
Ahire et al. (1996); Joseph et al. Schneider and Bowen (1995);
(1999); Samson and Terziovski (1999) Milakovich (1995)
4. Information and Pfau (1989); Shepetuk (1991); Flynn Spenley (1994); Berkley and Gupta
analysis system et al. (1994); Black and Porter (1996); (1994, 1995); Schneider and Bowen
Ahire et al. (1996); Malcolm Baldrige (1995); Flynn et al. (1995); Malcolm
National Quality Award Guidelines Baldrige National Quality Award
(1998); Joseph et al. (1999); Samson Guidelines (1998)
and Terziovski (1999)
5. Benchmarking Zairi and Leonard (1994); Hutton and Edvardsson et al. (1994); Smith
Zairi (1995); Smith (1995); Ahire (1995); Milakovich (1995)
et al. (1996a)
6. Continuous Crosby (1979); Deming (1986); Kanji Deming (1986); Jeanes (1990);
improvement and Asher (1993, 1999); Spenley Zemke and Schaaf (1990);
(1994); Smith (1995) Milakovich (1995); Schneider et al.
(1996b)
7. Customer focus Takeuchi and Quelch (1983); Deming Deming (1986); Zemke and Schaaf
(1986); Stalk et al. (1992); Kanji and (1990); Norman (1991); Zeithaml
Asher (1993, 1999); Anderson et al. et al. (1990); Stebbing (1993);
(1994); Flynn et al. (1994); Smith Milakovich (1995); Schneider and
(1995); Black and Porter (1996); Bowen (1995); Shemwell et al.
Ahire et al. (1996a); Samson and (1998)
Terziovski (1999)
8. Employee McGregor (1960); Crosby (1979); Folger and Greenberg (1985);
satisfaction Deming (1986); Cranny et al. (1992); Deming (1986); Schneider and
Smith (1995); Rao et al. (1996) Bowen (1992, 1995); Schneider et al.
(1994)
9. Union intervention Wilkinson et al. (1991, 1992); Geary
(1993); Wilkinson (1994); Rao et al.
(1996); Godfrey et al. (1997)
10. Social responsibility Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Zemke and Schaaf (1990); Malcolm
Award Guidelines (1998) Baldrige National Quality Award
Guidelines (1998)
356 G. S. SURESHCHANDAR ET AL.
Table 2. Continued
Sl.
No. Critical dimensions Manufacturing Services
11. Servicescapes Shostack (1977); Rapoport (1982);
Darley and Gilbert (1985); Bitner
(1986, 1992); Berry and Clark (1986);
Russell and Snodgrass (1987); Baker
(1987); Baker et al. (1988); Schneider
and Bowen (1995)
12. Culture Wheelwright (1981); Saraph et al. Schneider and Bowen (1985, 1995);
(1989); Harber et al. (1993 a, b); Parasuraman et al. (1988); Zemke and
Spenley (1994); Flynn et al. (1995); Schaaf (1990); Bitner et al. (1990);
Black and Porter (1996) Schneider et al. (1994, 1996b)
Figure 1. An integrative framework for total quality service.
HRM and other `soft issuesf play a dominant role, unlike in manufacturing where the
emphasis is on hard issues like superiority in product, process, technology, etc. and, therefore,
R rms trying to imitate successful organizations by adopting cosmetic transformations without
grasping the cultural underpinnings of TQS will face disastrous et ects.
Implications and directions for future research
The TQS dimensions that have been identiR ed and the proposed model (see Fig. 1) provide
a holistic framework for TQS (from the perspective of the management), addressing all the
facets of TQM in service organizations. The model portrays the relationships between the
various TQS dimensions in order to help researches and practitioners better understand the
intricacies of TQM in the service ambience. Based on the identiR ed dimensions and with the
help of an extensive review of the literature on quality management, a measurement
instrument (spanning the 12 dimensions) can be developed in order to measure the level of
A CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR TQM 357
Table 3. SigniR cance of the quality management dimensions in manufacturing and service settings
Function/dimension Manufacturing Service
Impetus Top management commitment Top management commitment
and visionary leadership and visionary leadership
Organizational system
HRM
Recruitment and selection Task-oriented skills, teamwork, Interpersonal relations, teamwork
technical skills and quality values and quality values
Training and education Hard topics: Accounting, Soft topics: communication skills,
engineering, statistics, etc. interpersonal relations, teamwork,
employee behaviour and customer
service
Employee empowerment Supporting infrastructure such as Providing power, information,
required resource and technical rewards and knowledge;
assistance, increasing autonomy protection of employees in times
and responsibility; emphasis on of their inadvertent and
shop-P oor workers unforeseen behaviour during
customer srevice; emphasis on
customer contact personnel
Employment involvement Quality control circles, problem Quality control circles, problem
hit squads, quality improvement hit squads, quality improvement
teams, suggestion schemes, teams, sugesstion schemes,
brainstorming, Gordon technique, brainstorming, Gordon technique,
etc. etc.; greater emphasis on
employee involvement in service
organizations as they run the
service operation, market the
services and are equated with the
service by the customers
Technical system
Design quality management Quality function deployment, Error prevention and zero fault
house of quality,Taguchifs design strategy; gap analysis; critical
of experiments, error prevention incident technique
and zero fault strategy, failuremode
et ect analysis, poke-yoke, etc.
Process management Statistical process control, Systematization, standardization,
statistical quality control, just-in- simpliR cation and streamlining of
time production, cellular the service delivery processes;
manufacturing, six sigma quality, Computerization; networking of
5S approach, seven old and new operations; etc.
tools of quality, etc.
Information system Data related to cost and R nancial Data related to customer
accounting, sales, marketing, satisfaction, service quality and
purchasing, etc. employee satisfaction
Culture Though the importance of culture Seamlessness in service delivery,
is acknowledged even in the moments of truth, critical incident
manufacturing literature, the and recovery
emphasis has been more on
techonology
Tangibles Not applicable Ambient conditions such as
temperature, ventilation, noise,
odour, etc.; signs, symbols,
advertisment boards, pamphlets,
employee appearance and other
artifacts in the organization;
physical layout of premises and
other furnishings
358 G. S. SURESHCHANDAR ET AL.
Table 3. Continued
Function/dimension Manufacturing Service
Social responsibility Environmental management, ISO Corporate citizenshipD to lead as
14000, etc. a corporate citizen by promoting
ethical conduct in everything the
organization does
Industrial relations Role played by the Union in Role played by the Union in
establishing the policies strategies establishing the policies, strategies
and procedures of the and procedures of the
organization; Unionf s inP uence in organization; Unionfs inP uence in
recruitment, selection and career recruitment, selection and career
development programmes, and development programmes, and
the extent of automation the extent of automation; Unionfs
support and co-operation in the
drive for customer focus, quality
conscious culture and continuous
improvement
Benchmarking Product characteristics, processes, Behavioural features such as
cost, strategy, etc. customer satisfaction, employee
satisfaction and service quality
apart from the service product
and processes through which they
are delivered
Goals
Customer focus Though customer satisfaction and Customer delight and loyalty,
employee satisfaction are favourable purchase intentions,
acknowledged as vital elements of repeat business, etc.; customers
TQM, they are not seen as goals are treated as productive human
of a TQM process. The focus is resources, substitutes for
on product quality, elimination of leadership and as organizational
defects, conformance to consultants
speciR cations, requirements,
reliability, durability, R tness for
use, etc.
Employee satisfaction Employee satisfaction and
commitmentD recognition for
small as well as big quality
contributions and achievements,
better behaviour, work values,
ethics, etc.
Ambience Continuous improvement Continuous improvement
TQS implementation in the various service organizations. The instrument can be empirically
validated by collecting data from dit erent practitioners of TQS. The standardization of the
instrument can be carried out by tests of unidimensionality, reliability and construct validity
(including content, convergent, discriminant and criterion-related validities) using a conR rmatory
factor analysis (CFA) approach. As TQS is at an advanced stage of research and in
view of the increasing acceptance of the CFA approach over the exploratory factor analysis
(EFA) approach in both marketing and organizational behaviour literature, it would be more
appropriate to use the CFA approach instead of the EFA approach in validating the TQS
dimensions. The developed instrument can be used et ectively by researchers and practitioners
to measure the level of TQM implementation in various service organizations (e.g. banking
A CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR TQM 359
and non-banking R nancial institutions, insurance, construction, travel, health care, education,
hotels and the local government).
Summary
As R rms aspire to spread their wings in the global market, TQM promises to provide a
potential solution to many of their business-related problems. Though many corporations
throughout the globe have already set out on this never-ending odyssey and many others
have started exploring what is required in order to embark on a TQM journey, the question
of how to start a TQM programme is still shrouded in uncertainty. As decision-makers
become more involved in implementing TQM, questions are raised about which management
practices should be accentuated. This scenario gains even more signiR cance, especially in a
service business where the very concept of quality itself is diy cult to deR ne. In order to
provide answers to all these questions, the present work ot ers a comprehensive model
encompassing the dit erent facets of TQS. The key dimensions of TQM in service organizations
have been identiR ed and their criticality has been emphasized in the light of both the
manufacturing and service quality themes. The roles that each of these dimensions play in
manufacturing and service organizations have also been discussed. Those corporations who
go in search of management mantras for improving the quality of the services delivered by
them can use this approach to project their entry in the competitive business world. The
proposed model can be used as a basis by other researchers for a further realization of TQS
and its quintessential components.
Acknowledgement
The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions in
improving the earlier version of this paper.
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