Achieving the Organizational Change Necessary for Successful TQM

Abstract

Introduction Anyone who attempts to implement a TQM system in an organization is faced with one of the most complex tasks which they might ever encounter. As a form of organizational culture change, TQM requires a variety of skills and methods which have not been the traditional educational and experiential fare of the typical leader. Understanding the concept of culture in organizations is the first step. Organizational culture is based on mindsets, or paradigms. Paradigms explain why we perceive reality according to culturally-determined meanings and guidelines. Armed with paradigms, we approach the world around us and interpret what we see and experience according to our shared understandings. If we apply to understanding how societies work and operate, we include technology, politics, economics and social organization among our culturallydetermined variables. Culture operates within the same contexts when applied to understanding organizations. Although organizations often draw members from diverse ethnic groups and nationalities, cultures unique to each corporation or not-for-profit entity evolve. Generally speaking organizations developed within the Western model have similar cultures and related paradigms about how to get things done. Traditional Western paradigms are the guidelines for such activities as how and who makes decisions, production processes, hierarchy and organizational structure and quality. When organizations, particularly those operating with Western paradigms, begin the process of change necessary to adapt to the conditions, environments, and markets of this decade, it will be necessary to adopt a new paradigm more suitable for the global community. TQM has been heralded by many leaders as the paradigm necessary for this organizational transformation. A comparison of the traditional Western and the relatively new TQM paradigms illustrates the rather significant differences between the two management approaches. A successful transformation to TQM or any other paradigm, therefore, requires organizational culture change. Table I illustrates many of the critical cultural features which are involved in these changes.

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