`Are there no Limits to Authority?': TQM and Organizational Power

Abstract

In this paper we examine some of the problematic assumptions and concepts underlying Total Quality Management (TQM) through a case study of a major UK retail bank. We question traditional approaches towards power which assume it to be the property of individuals or groups. For us, power should be understood to be a condition of social relations. Thus, it is erroneous to ask who has power. Instead, it is necessary to explore how power is exercised. Notwithstanding this, it is essential to recognize that power is not simply an external agency, but that it penetrates the very essence of our being. We explore the structural and inter-personal tensions which emerge between the bank's mortgage division and its branches over mortgage applications. We examine how TQM, through the medium of `quality partnerships' is used to address these tensions. The article reveals that TQM is both a condition and a consequence of organizational power relations. Not only is TQM constituted by these power relations, but it is itself a vehicle for struggle between competing groups and individuals. This suggests that the problems confronting TQM are far more embedded than is often assumed to be the case. Critically, through opening up the notion of power as `relational' rather than `propertied', it is our aim to illuminate the continuing exercise of, and potential for, resistance during the operation of TQM regimes.

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