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Setting Business Excellence as a primary goal, public sector organisations have been increasingly looking for new ways of measuring performance that are intended to promote stakeholders' satisfaction, people involvement and continuous improvement. In this paper, we present an approach referred as KBEM (Kanji's Business Excellence Measurement System), which was applied to measure the performance of 85 municipalities in Portugal. Data were collected by means of specifically designed questionnaires and analysed using structural equation modelling. Results broadly confirm the validity of the models that form KBEMS and stress the importance of founding performance measurement upon Total Quality Management principles and concepts.

The healthcare sector is one of the fastest growing areas of the economy of most developed countries. Governments (and taxpayers) invest in it increasingly larger amounts of money, either directly or indirectly, and expect in return high quality services. The reality, however, is often different: long waiting times, inefficiency, low productivity, stressed medical staff and less than satisfied patients. Over the last decade, total quality management (TQM) has emerged as one potential solution to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare provision and, ultimately, to lead to healthy communities. Despite the enthusiasm raised by the potential benefits of TQM implementation, the fact is that many initiatives have not delivered the promised results. Reasons for failure are to be essentially found in the insufficient support of health professionals, the lack of leadership commitment and the tendency to look at TQM in isolation rather than putting it at the core of the institution's strategy. The s...

There is a large consensus in the literature that leadership is the most critical aspect for successful implementation of TQM (Dale et al. , 1997; Deming, 1986; Oakland, 1999; Senge, 1990; Zairi, 1995, 1999) and, ultimately, to achieve organizational excellence. Therefore, leadership is the prime aspect of Kanji's Business Excellence Model (KBEM) (Kanji, 1998). Given the criticality of leadership, a new model for measuring leadership excellence was developed (Kanji & Sa, 2001), based on an extensive literature review. This model, which expands the concept of leadership embedded in KBEM, was empirically tested and validated in the Portuguese municipalities. A brief analysis of key leadership responsibilities in implementing TQM initiatives (Dale et al. , 1997; Darling, 1999; Dering, 1998; Prabhu & Robson, 2000a, 2000b; Senge, 1990; Zairi, 1999) points to the need to develop new leadership profiles in the public sector (Hartley & Allison, 2000; Korac-Kakabadse & Korac-Kakabadse, 1998; Morgan & Murgatroyd, 1...

Forces of Excellence is transforming the way we work with low cost opportunities to quickly expand markets globally and deliver better, more personalized customer service. The challenge for Business Excellence today is to turn the organization's vision into reality. The task is to build a highly and well integrated Total Quality Management base in order to utilize the critical success factors of the organization. Organizations that have achieved a higher level of Business Excellence have demonstrated very high growth in their customer base, thus improving overall profitability and stakeholders values. Whatever the size of the organization, the time has come for them to make real sense of Business Excellence. Here, the Business Excellence approach will depend on its competitive landscape, strategy, objectives and resources. The Forces of Excellence will guide them in the right direction to achieve excellence. In this paper, the author discusses Kanji's Business Excellence Model as an index and provides the...

Supply chain management (SCM) has been increasingly adopted by companies worldwide so as to utilize better their supply chain activities for competitive advantages. This paper reviews the relationships between total quality management (TQM) and SCM and concludes that existing SCM models have inadequacies which can be enriched by TQM principles and concepts. The authors selected Kanji's Business Excellence model, which uses TQM principles and concepts to help companies achieve business excellence, to fulfil the inadequacies of the existing SCM models and to create a new structured model for SCM. The model was tested with the data using the supply chain activities of 139 companies in Hong Kong. The results support that the structured model provides a good fit for the supply chain activities. Business excellence indices, which can be obtained for companies' SCM, can be further developed based on this new model.

Total quality management (TQM) is a management process that has made its way into higher education institutions (HEIs) in many developed countries. For example, in the US, HEIs have been influenced due to the success of many large corporations. They were influenced by the critical state of education in the 1980s in terms of student grades, funding, and complaints from employers and parents. Many institutions began to implement it in the early 1990s and have been successful. In UK higher education, the progress of TQM is rather slow, with examples represented by only a few new universities. However, these institutions have benefited from a TQM process similar to their counterparts in the US, such as improved student performance, better services, reduced costs and customer satisfaction. The paper reports on the results of a recent survey on TQM in UK HEIs. The authors examine how TQM principles and core concepts can be measured to provide a means of assessing the quality of institutions on various aspects o...

(1998). Providing customer satisfaction. Total Quality Management: Vol. 9, No. 4-5, pp. 100-103.

(1998). Quality culture in the construction industry. Total Quality Management: Vol. 9, No. 4-5, pp. 133-140.

This paper suggests that the high failure rate of total quality management (TQM), particularly in the public sector, has resulted from the lack of a context-specific model for its implementation. The 'gurus' have only left a legacy of prescriptions which fall miserably short of providing the practising manager with the essential requirements of an action plan. While their legacy can be construed to represent the what-to-do of TQM, the how-to-do of TQM is left to the interpretation of quality managers. Hence, it is not surprising that our industrial landscape is littered with many failed or mediocre attempts at TQM. The paper shows two empirical cases of failure in the implementation of TQM in the NHS. It delineates the reasons for failure, and suggests the first empirically discerned implementation model to effect and facilitate an effective and efficient TQM process.

This paper discusses how to implement total quality management in the competitive business world where the customer no longer accepts the traditional approach to quality. In general, it has been accepted that the basic pitfalls which prevent both manufacturing and service industries from being quality organizations are the same. This paper suggests that the pitfalls are directly attributable to the organization and failure to lead the drive for continuous improvement will affect the business excellence or profitability.

In the modern complex business world, innovation has become the basis for creating and sustaining competitiveness. When planning business strategy, it is necessary to have a proper understanding of innovation and the total quality management (TQM) process. In this paper, various types of innovation and its linkage with the TQM process will be looked at with suitable examples.

In this paper the five cornerstones (key principles) of total quality management (TQM) are introduced by using a new management pyramid called the TQM pyramid. These principles are leadership, focus on the customer and the employee, continuous improvements, everybody's participation and focus on facts. These key principles are discussed in relation to quality in education, so the reader gets a good understanding why the papers in this special issue of TQM have been classified into parts following the same categorization. The paper also includes an overall plan-do-check-act cycle called the PDCA leadership model which may be useful when trying to practise quality leadership in relation to education. At the end of the paper the common learning cycle is compared to the continuous improvement cycle (PDCA).

A European and Sheffield Hallam University Masters programme in Total Quality Management (TQM) is suggested on the basis of various principles and practices of TQM and flexible opportunities to the students for the development of their own expertise in the area of quality management. However, a basic seed of knowledge is needed and a European profile shall be required through the participation of courses in two European countries and with at least one semester of study at universities in countries other than that of the home university. Studies corresponding to at least two years academic studies are required where at least one semester has to be spent in a foreign European country for the European MSc.

A European Masters programme in Total Quality Management (EMTQM) is proposed. It is based upon TQM principles providing flexibility to students to develop their own profile in TQM. However, a basic kernel of knowledge with a European profile is needed. As a minimum, at least one semester has to be spent in another European country. At least two years study in TQM and related areas is required for successful completion of the TQM programme.

The quality cost in total quality management is one of the most important aspects of the development of a quality management system. In this article a model of a quality management system has been developed incorporating the quality cost of the organization. Finally to evaluate the quality management system of some printing industries a new indirect method of measuring total quality cost has been introduced to estimate the total cost.

In the article the concept of quality culture is introduced. Its relation to total quality management is discussed and a procedure for working with quality culture in practice is proposed.

This article describes the concept and basic approach to total quality management. Quality is examined and explained in the context of continuous customer's satisfaction and total quality management by involving everyone's commitment to achieving quality at a low cost. Different stages of total quality management in practice are suggested and various techniques to implement these are also discussed. It has been implied that the present quality revolution through the process of ‘Total Quality Management’ has created the ‘Second Industrial Revolution’ for the survival of the fittest.

Japan and the United States started their development of Total Quality Management (TQM) in the 1950s and 1980s respectively and have established their TQM way of life from two different routes. The United Kingdom, way behind along with most of Europe, is now trying to catch up and establish their own brand of Total Quality Management in order to compete with the rest of the world. Future emergence of the large single European market in 1992 has given the Europeans impetus to embark on the quality improvement process for achievement and sustained growth in the future. This paper first of all highlights the routes taken by both Japan and the United States for the achievement of their quality goals and then discusses the United Kingdom's TQM approach for survival in the European and world markets.

This article discusses a practical approach to the implementation of total quality management (TQM) and provides a case study to show how a company has benefited through a TQM programme.

(1998). Total quality management and higher education in Malaysia. Total Quality Management: Vol. 9, No. 4-5, pp. 130-132.

Part One: TQM principles and practice. Part Two: Community and education. Part Three: The role of self assessment. Part Four: International comparisons. Part Five: Enterprise and industry. Part Six: Quality methods. Part Seven: Continuous Improvement Process. Part Eight: Quality measurement.

We have accepted on faith many of our improvement tools without really understanding their impact on the performance of the organization. This paper challenges some of the basic principles that TQM was founded upon. The data presented in this paper was obtained from the International Quality Study (IQS) performed over a three-year period by Ernst & Young and the American Quality Foundation. With over two million pieces of information in its database, it is the largest, most complete management practice benchmark resource in the world today. This report highlights similarities and differences between countries. It also defines best practices based on the statistical analysis of the business results achieved internationally.

It is a well known fact that TQM performance varies widely throughout the world. This is partly due to the fact that the time period in which TQM has been used is different and partly that definitions of TQM vary from country to country. In Europe we usually apply the following definition: “TQM is the culture of an organization committed to customer satisfaction through continuous improvement.” 1

The quality improvement process is about performance improvement of individuals, groups and organisations. To improve performance people need to know what to do, how to do it, to have the right tools to do it, to be able to measure performance and to receive feedback on current levels of achievement. The Total Quality Management process provides this by adhering to a set of general principles [3] based on statistical understanding and can be used to drive improvement processes.