Examining The Benefits And Challenges Of Implementing Total Quality Management Practices In Manufacturing Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises In Ghana

Micro, Small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are important to national development as they produce a huge percentage of the national output and provide an even greater proportion of employment. They play a significant role in economic growth, innovation, poverty alleviation and raise standard of living. Research has shown that most manufacturing SMEs that adopt and implement TQM practices exhibited a significant positive relationship and confirmed that TQM practices are indicators of firm performance. The study examines the benefits of TQM implementation, and the challenges these manufacturing SMEs face in their attempt to implement TQM practices. The study which was exploratory in nature used descriptive survey and a structured interview to collect data from the SMEs who were purposively selected for the interview. The study purposively selected fifty (50) owner-managers for the interview, but due to the COVID-19 health pandemic, only five (5) participated in the interview. A sample size of 5 respondents were selected for exploratory study in Accra metropolitan area of the Greater Accra region to respond to the interview instrument. The tool for qualitative data analysis was NVivo version 11. The study discovered that manufacturing SMEs adopted and implemented TQM practices in their organisations. The TQM practices which were analysed were: organisational leadership; strategic planning and development; customer focus; human resource focus; continuous improvement and process management. The study established that effective implementation of TQM practices led to financial performance of these manufacturing SMEs as there was a significant positive relationship between the TQM practices and firm performance. The study although confirmed a direct positive relationship between quality management practices and firm performance, there were numerous challenges that serves as barriers to TQM implementation in the organisations. The challenge of downsizing was the most reported among the SMEs. It is recommended that manufacturers in the SME sector must be aware of the prospects of quality management practices since the success of its implementation depends largely on its awareness. It is also recommended that SMEs identifies challenges that face its implementation of TQM, so as to eliminate any barrier to its implementation.

The Effect of Quality Management Practice on Business Performance of SMEs in Merhabete/ Alem Ketema/, North Shoa, Ethiopia

The study investigated the quality management practices and business performances of SMEs in Merhabete/Alem Ketema, Ethiopia. Four key dimensions of quality management practices including customer focus, human resource focus, supplier quality management, and continuous improvements were used as independent variables accompanied by different measurement instruments under each variable, while a non-financial performance variable was used to measure the business performance. Primary data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire from a sample of 245 employees. Data were analyzed using descriptive and econometrics analysis. The findings indicate that the four key independent variables had a positive and significant effect on the performance of SMEs. The study recommended that SMEs should ensure that the objectives of the organization are linked to customer needs and expectations to improve performance, and they should allow participative consultation and engagement of employees in making decisions on quality issues and provide freedom to act with responsibility and accountability.

The Impact of Quality Management Practices on Manufacturing Performance: An Empirical Study Based on System Theory

As one important part of core competitiveness of manufacturing enterprises, quality management practices have gradually received more attention. In many existing researches, quality management practices are regarded as a whole or categorized into two or four types of practice elements for discussions. There are less researches on the relationships among specific quality management practice elements and their impacts on manufacturing performance. This study analyzes quality management practices with the philosophical thinking of system theory, and deconstructs the mechanism of the mutual influences and synergies among various quality management practice elements and also their impacts on manufacturing performance, from an overall perspective through an empirical research. At last, a model of quality management practice synergies is built, as a theoretical support for manufacturing enterprises implementation of quality management practices.

The Relationship Between Total Quality Management Practices and Secondary School Performance with Mediating Effect of Organizational Culture in Abu Dhabi: Structural Equation Modeling Approach

This study aims to investigate the structural equation modeling to determine the relationship between total quality management practices and secondary school performance with mediating effect of organizational Culture in Abu Dhabi. Quantitative research design was adopted to obtained information from respondents. A total of 320 employees of school were selected as a sample through the stratified and quota random sampling technique. Data analysis using structural equation modelling was used. The results of the study indicated that significant relationship was found between total quality management practices and secondary school performance with value of -.01. The findings showed that significant relationship exist between total quality management practices and organizational culture with value of .86; significant relationship was also found between organizational culture and secondary school performance .87. Further, the findings reported that organizational culture showed complete mediation between total quality management practices and secondary school performance. This study believed that total quality management would yield good results if secondary school in Abu Dhabi make use of it to improve school performance.

Total Quality Management Practices and Corporate Green Performance: Does Organizational Culture Matter?

Bearing in mind the environmental corrosion primarily triggered by the service sector, as well as the lack of studies detecting the factors that enable an organization to deal with this concern, the aim of this study is to analyze the impact of total quality management (TQM) practices on corporate green performance (CGP) and to investigate the causal relationship between total quality management practices and corporate green performance. This research also explores the mediating role of organizational culture (OC) within the relationship between TQM practices and CGP. In particular, this study is based on the MBNQA model, institutional theory, and green theory. The researchers collected data from 369 participants across 123 large and medium-sized private firms in the health sector in Pakistan. The structural analyses revealed the significant and positive impact of TQM practices on CGP. This demonstrates that TQM practices substantially augment organizational competencies to achieve green performance objectives. TQM practices have also had a positive and significant impression on organizational culture; furthermore, a parallel impact is seen between OC and CGP. Finally, OC is shown to have positively and significantly mediated the relationship between TQM and CGP. This study’s contextual analysis suggests that TQM is an equally important factor in accomplishing CGP objectives for both large and medium-sized firms.

Assessment of quality performance in the Egyptian manufacturing industry

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to examine the quality performance of the Egyptian manufacturing industry based on Flynn's quality management practices framework.Design/methodology/approachA literature-based questionnaire was developed to collect the research data. The sample studied included 193 professionals from different manufacturing firms in Egypt. The research model utilized seven first-order constructs to measure infrastructure and core quality practices and the model was analyzed by structural equation modeling.FindingsThe results of the study showed that infrastructure practices had a positive effect on core quality practices, which in turn, significantly influenced quality performance. The findings confirmed that Egyptian manufacturing firms have a good foundation of quality management practices enabling them to improve quality performance.Practical implicationsThis study provides a foundation for Egyptian manufacturing firms to develop a practical plan for implementing total quality management (TQM). In addition, the results of this study will help managers and policy makers develop a thorough understanding of the current status of TQM initiatives, enablers and barriers in Egypt.Originality/valueThe study represents one of the few attempts to examine quality practices and quality performance in the manufacturing sector in Egypt. To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first study to examine these parameters in this context in Egypt.

Integrating manufacturing and R&D functions for better quality and product development performance

PurposeThe present study aims to explore the relationship between manufacturing–research and development (R&D) integration and organizational culture in enhancing quality and product development performance (PDP).Design/methodology/approachBased on data collected from 931 manufacturing firms around world, the authors examine the proposed hypothesis by using regression analyses. In addition, PROCESS (SPSS macro) is used to test both the mediation and moderated mediation models in this study.FindingsThe findings reveal that quality management practices (QMPs) partially mediate the relationship between R&D-manufacturing integration and PDP. Further, it is found that the direct and indirect effects of R&D-manufacturing integration on PDP are stronger when the organization is characterized as participative rather than hierarchical.Originality/valueThis study, by investigating the combined effect of R&D-manufacturing integration and organizational culture on QMPs and PDP, provides practical insights into the ways that manufacturing firms effectively utilize the integration between R&D and manufacturing functions to improve QMPs and enhance PDP.