According to W. Edwards Deming, American companies require nothing less than a transformation of management style and of governmental relations with industry. In Out of the Crisis, originally published in 1982, Deming offers a theory of management based on his famous 14 Points for Management. Management's failure to plan for the future, he claims, brings about loss of market, which brings about loss of jobs. Management must be judged not only by the quarterly dividend, but by innovative plans to stay in business, protect investment, ensure future dividends, and provide more jobs through improved product and service. In simple, direct language, he explains the principles of management transformation and how to apply them.

Out of the Crisis

The relationship between total quality management practices and their effects on firm performance

The authors thank Rakesh Khurana, Mark Shanley, and Edward Zajac for valuable comments on earlier versions of this paper. The paper has also benefited from the helpful comments of Christine Oliver and three anonymous reviewers for ASQ, as well as the editorial assistance of Linda Johanson. The following groups provided data used in this study: The AHA Hospital Research and Educational Trust, the AHA Data Survey Group, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations, and the Health Care Investment Analysts. We also thank the Baxter Foundation and the Graduate Program in Health Services Management at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management for generously funding this research. Additional support was provided by the A.C. Buehler Chair in Health Services Management at the Kellogg School. An earlier version of the paper received the 1996 West Press Best Paper Award in the Organization and Management Theory Division of the Academy of Management. This study develops a theoretical framework that integrates institutional and network perspectives on the form and consequences of administrative innovations. Hypotheses are tested with survey and archival data on the implementation of total quality management (TQM) programs and the consequences for organizational efficiency and legitimacy in a sample of over 2,700 U.S. hospitals. The results show that early adopters customize TQM practices for efficiency gains, while later adopters gain legitimacy from adopting the normative form of TQM programs. The findings suggest that institutional factors moderate the role of network membership in affecting the form of administrative innovations adopted and provide strong evidence for the importance of institutional factors in determining how innovations are defined and implemented. We discuss implications for theory and research on institutional processes and network effects and for the literatures on innovation adoption and total quality management.*

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Customization or Conformity? An Institutional and Network Perspective on the Content and Consequences of TQM Adoption

http://www.feg.porto.ucp.pt/docentes/rsousa/Files/Sousa&Voss%20JOM%20-%20In%20Press.pdf

Contingency research in operations management practices

http://firooz.persiangig.com/document/golamreza/12.pdf

Examining the effects of contextual factors on TQM and performance through the lens of organizational theories: An empirical study

Authors of the literature on total quality management (TQM) have been much more concerned with process than content. This article considers TQM in relation to firm orientation and identifies market advantage, product design efficiency, process efficiency, and product reliability as the key feature of its content. Performance expectations for TQM. In the form of Increased revenues, reduced costs, and their time lags, are addressed in the context of environmental uncertainty.

Beyond Process: TQM Content and Firm Performance

Previous research has shown the value of good team interaction skills to group performance, yet little progress has been made on in terms of how such skills can be measured. In this study rating scales developed previously (Montgomery, et al., 1990) were extensively revised and cast into a Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) and a Behavioral Frequency format. Rating data were collected using 13 training instructors at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant, who rated three videotapes of simulator scenario performance during a day-long training session and later evaluated control room crews during requalification training. High levels of interrater agreement on both rating scales were found. However, the factor structure of the ratings was generally inconsistent with that hypothesized. Analysis of training ratings using Cronbach`s components of accuracy (Cronbach, 1955) indicated that BARS ratings generally exhibited less error than did the Behavioral Frequency ratings. The results are discussed in terms of both field and research implications.

/pdf/team-interaction-skills-evaluation-criteria-for-nuclear-l7ugv65lh0.pdf

Joseph C. Montgomery

Papers

Beyond Process: TQM Content and Firm Performance

Team Interaction Skills Evaluation Criteria for Nuclear Power Plant Control Room Operators