Cognitive mapping the topic of Total Quality Management (TQM)

Cognitive mapping the topic of Total Quality Management (TQM)

Joseph Kim-keung Ho

Independent Trainer

Hong Kong, China

Abstract: The topic of Total Quality Management (TQM) in the subject of business management is complex. By making use of the cognitive mapping technique to conduct a brief literature review on the Total Quality Management topic, the writer renders a systemic image on the topic of Total Quality Management. The result of the study, in the form of a cognitive map on Total Quality Management, should be useful to those who are interested in the topics of cognitive mapping, literature review and Total Quality Management.

Key words: Total Quality Management (TQM), cognitive mapping, literature review

Introduction

As a topic in business management, Total Quality Management (TQM) is complex. It is thus useful to employ some learning tool to conduct its study, notably for literature review purpose. For a teacher in research methods, systems thinking and management, the writer is specifically interested in finding out how the cognitive mapping technique can be employed to go through a literature review on  Total Quality Management. This literature review exercise is taken up and reported in this article.

On the cognitive mapping exercise for literature review

Literature review is an important intellectual learning exercise, and not just for doing final year dissertation projects for tertiary education students. On these two topics of intellectual learning and literature review, the writer has compiled some e-learning resources. They are the Managerial intellectual learning Facebook page and the Literature on literature review Facebook page. Conducting literature review with the cognitive mapping technique is not novel in the cognitive mapping literature, see Eden and Simpson (1989), Eden, Jones and Sims (1983), Open University (n.d) and the Literature on cognitive mapping Facebook page. In this article, the specific steps involved in the cognitive mapping exercise are as follows:

Step 1: gather some main points from a number of academic journal articles on Total Quality Management. This result in the production of a table (Table 1) with the main points and associated references.

Step 2: consolidate  the main points from Table 1 to come up with a table listing the cognitive map variables (re: Table 2).

Step 3: link up the cognitive  map variables in a plausible way to produce a cognitive map (re: Figure 1) on the topic under review.

The next section applies these three steps to produce a cognitive map on Total Quality Management.

Descriptions of cognitive map variables on the Total Quality Management (TQM) topic

From the reading of some academic articles on Total Quality Management, a number of main points (e.g., viewpoints, concepts and empirical findings) were gathered by the  writer. They are shown in Table 1 with explicit referencing on the points.

Table 1: Main points from the Total Quality Management literature and referencing

Main points from the Total Quality Management literature	Referencing
Point 1: "The quality idea has been around for hundreds of years. The discerning customer in shops and market-places centuries ago applied 'quality techniques', prodding and turning fruits and vegetables testing for firmness, freshness and fitness for the purpose of consumption".	Flood, R.L. 1993. Beyond TQM, Wiley, Chichester.
Point 2: "TQM wants to change the traditional management style. Handing down responsibility, allowing for autonomy, and promoting local decision making are all part of the new approach that TQM calls for. Greater motivation and creativity are expected".	Flood, R.L. 1993. Beyond TQM, Wiley, Chichester.
Point 3: "Total Quality Management is "continuous improvement, involve all operations at all levels, undertake performance measurement, focus on leadership, teamwork and employee participation and motivation, take a whole system perspective".	Flood, R.L. 1993. Beyond TQM, Wiley, Chichester.
Point 4: "Each quality guru has their own knowledge base and interests. Each has worked in different situations, and several have contributed in contrasting eras".	Flood, R.L. 1993. Beyond TQM, Wiley, Chichester.
Point 5: "The [TQM] gurus have provided well for our technical mechanistic needs. One area they say little about in respect to technical interests, however, is organisational design".	Flood, R.L. 1993. Beyond TQM, Wiley, Chichester.
Point 6: "Improved quality should shrink costs and thus yield a positive outcome for financial performance. Moreover, superior-quality products or services should enhance the retention rate of existing customers and attract new ones, thus strengthening market share and revenue".	Chaudary, S., S. Zafar and M. Salman. 2015. "Does total quality management still shine? Re-examining the total quality management effect on financial performance" Total Quality Management & Business Excellence 26(7), Routledge: 811-824.
Point 7: "TQM results in process improvements both in the manufacturing and service sectors, which lead to higher profits through product reliability and costs cut through process efficiency".	Chaudary, S., S. Zafar and M. Salman. 2015. "Does total quality management still shine? Re-examining the total quality management effect on financial performance" Total Quality Management & Business Excellence 26(7), Routledge: 811-824.
Point 8: TQM can be defined as "a set of instruments employed by the firm's management that aim to provide better value to customers by recognising their observable and hidden needs (which are sensitive to changing markets) and improving the efficiency of the procedures that generate the product or service".	Chaudary, S., S. Zafar and M. Salman. 2015. "Does total quality management still shine? Re-examining the total quality management effect on financial performance" Total Quality Management & Business Excellence 26(7), Routledge: 811-824.
Point 9: "Lascelles and Dale... identify six TQM adoption levels: (1) uncommitted, (ii) drifters, (iii) tool purchasers, (iv) improvers, (v) award winners, and (vi) world class. These levels are not stages of TQM as much as they reflect how a firm  responds to TQM".	Chaudary, S., S. Zafar and M. Salman. 2015. "Does total quality management still shine? Re-examining the total quality management effect on financial performance" Total Quality Management & Business Excellence 26(7), Routledge: 811-824.
Point 10: "TQM is the mutual cooperation of everyone in  an organization and associated business processes to produce products and services which meet the needs and expectations  of customers".	Gunasekaran. 1999. "Enablers of total quality management implementation in manufacturing: a case study" Total Quality Management 10(7): 987-996.
Point 11: Teamwork and employee involvement are "the key enablers of TQM". "Cultural change, focus, employee ownership of the processes, and strategic partnership with customers and suppliers are critical to the implementation of TQM".	Gunasekaran. 1999. "Enablers of total quality management implementation in manufacturing: a case study" Total Quality Management 10(7): 987-996.
Point 12: "....managers can implement TQM in any organization - manufacturing, service, nonprofit, or government - and that it generates improved products and services, reduced costs, more satisfied customers and employees, and improved bottom line financial performance".	Powell, T.C. 1995. "Total Quality Management as Competitive Advantage: A Review and Empirical Study" Strategic Management Journal 16(1) January: 15-37.
Point 13: "In Japan, TQM produced such managerial innovations as quality circles, equity circles, supplier partnerships, cellular manufacturing, just-in-time production, and hoshin planning".	Powell, T.C. 1995. "Total Quality Management as Competitive Advantage: A Review and Empirical Study" Strategic Management Journal 16(1) January: 15-37.
Point 14: "American firms began to take serious notice of TQM around 1980, when some U.S. policy observers argued that Japanese manufacturing quality  had equated  or exceeded U.S. standards, and warned that Japanese productivity would soon surpass that of American firms".	Powell, T.C. 1995. "Total Quality Management as Competitive Advantage: A Review and Empirical Study" Strategic Management Journal 16(1) January: 15-37.
Point 15: "... some employees resist or  even subvert  TQM, finding it ideological or faddish. Furthermore, TQM entails substantial time investments from managers, it is expensive (especially for training and meetings), it rarely produces short-term results, it demands intense CEO commitment, and it makes unrealistic assumption about most organizations' capacities to transform their cultures".	Powell, T.C. 1995. "Total Quality Management as Competitive Advantage: A Review and Empirical Study" Strategic Management Journal 16(1) January: 15-37.
Point 16: "Despite the increase in academic studies into total quality management (TQM) during the past decade, there still seem to  be relatively few empirical studies that either  confirm or contradict any of the widely accepted theories".	Black, S. and L.J. Porter. 1995. "An empirical model for total quality management" Total Quality Management 6(2): 149-164.
Point 17: "The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the US is a generally accepted TQM framework. However, the Malcolm Baldrige Award are not based  on empirical evidence".	Black, S. and L.J. Porter. 1995. "An empirical model for total quality management" Total Quality Management 6(2): 149-164.
Point 18: "As is inevitable for any idea that enjoys wide popularity in managerial and scholarly circles, total quality management has come to mean different things to different people".	Hackman, J.R. 1995. "Total Quality Management: Empirical, Conceptual, and Practical Issues" Administrative  Science Quarterly 40: 309-342.
Point 19: "Deming, Ishikawa, and Juran share the view that an organization's primary purpose is to stay in business, so that it can promote the stability  of the community, generate products and services that are useful to customers, and provide a setting for the satisfaction and growth of organization members".	Hackman, J.R. 1995. "Total Quality Management: Empirical, Conceptual, and Practical Issues" Administrative  Science Quarterly 40: 309-342.
Point 20: "A fundamental premise of TQM is that the cost of poor quality (such as inspection, rework, lost customers, and so on) are far greater than the costs of developing processes that produce high-quality products and services".	Hackman, J.R. 1995. "Total Quality Management: Empirical, Conceptual, and Practical Issues" Administrative  Science Quarterly 40: 309-342.
Point 21: "Employees naturally care about the quality of work they do and will take initiatives to improve it - so long as they are provided  with the tools and training that are needed for quality improvement, and management pays attention to their ideas".	Hackman, J.R. 1995. "Total Quality Management: Empirical, Conceptual, and Practical Issues" Administrative  Science Quarterly 40: 309-342.
Point 22: "..organizations are systems of highly  interdependent parts, and the central problems they face invariably cross traditional functional lines".	Hackman, J.R. 1995. "Total Quality Management: Empirical, Conceptual, and Practical Issues" Administrative  Science Quarterly 40: 309-342.
Point 23: "When looking at the development and scope of IE [Industrial Engineering], most of its techniques seem to "fit" well with the modern quality concept of integrating people and physical operating systems, through effective system modification and/or redesign".	Lo, V.H.Y. and D. Sculli. 1995. "Industrial engineering and TQM" Training for Quality 3(3), MCB University Press: 4-7.
Point 24: "IE [Industrial Engineering] techniques  have evolved with the direct objective of achieving particular goals in designing, implementing and effectively  maintaining operating systems, TQM, on the other hand, is essentially a system whereby the qualities  of a product, or service are maintained and enhanced through economic considerations".	Lo, V.H.Y. and D. Sculli. 1995. "Industrial engineering and TQM" Training for Quality 3(3), MCB University Press: 4-7.
Point 25: "Although there is evidence that supports the effectiveness of TQM initiatives in organisations, a large number of studies have shown that between 60% and  80% of TQM initiatives  fail, or fail to have shown significant impact on business performance".	Antony, J., C. Fergusson, S. Warwood and J.H.Y. Tsang. 2004. "Comparing total quality management success factors in UK manufacturing and service industries: some key findings from a survey" Journal of Advances in Management Research 1(2): 32-45.
Point 26: "Total quality management (TQM) is abstract, and perhaps subjective, and hence defining it in comprehensive terms and a unique universally acceptable language is almost impossible".	Mani, T.P., N. Murugan and C. Rajendran. 2003. "Classical approach to contemporary TQM: an integrated  conceptual TQM model as perceived in Tamil classical literature" Total Quality Management 14(3), Routledge: 605-636.
Point 27: "The paradigm of TQM applies to both the manufacturing and the service sectors. Of late, with the integration of Organizational Development (OD) into the Quality System, the TQM philosophy and approaches have started establishing roots in Human Resources Development".	Mani, T.P., N. Murugan and C. Rajendran. 2003. "Classical approach to contemporary TQM: an integrated  conceptual TQM model as perceived in Tamil classical literature" Total Quality Management 14(3), Routledge: 605-636.
Point 28: "Dedication to the customers, internal as well as external, should be the critical theme of the service industry. Six general targets for serving the customer are high quality, flexibility, service, low cost, quick response and minimal variability".	Mani, T.P., N. Murugan and C. Rajendran. 2003. "Classical approach to contemporary TQM: an integrated  conceptual TQM model as perceived in Tamil classical literature" Total Quality Management 14(3), Routledge: 605-636.

With a set of main points collected, the writer produces a set of cognitive map variables. These variables are informed by the set of main points from Table 1. These variables are presented in Table 2.

Table 2: Cognitive map variables based on Table 1

Cognitive map variables	Literature review points
Variable 1: Factors that promote interest in Total Quality Management	Point 1: "The quality idea has been around for hundreds of years. The discerning customer in shops and market-places centuries ago applied 'quality techniques', prodding and turning fruits and vegetables testing for firmness, freshness and fitness for the purpose of consumption". Point 13: "In Japan, TQM produced such managerial innovations as quality circles, equity circles, supplier partnerships, cellular manufacturing, just-in-time production, and hoshin planning". Point 14: "American firms began to take serious notice of TQM around 1980, when some U.S. policy observers argued that Japanese manufacturing quality  had equated  or exceeded U.S. standards, and warned that Japanese productivity would soon surpass that of American firms". Point 15: "... some employees resist or  even subvert  TQM, finding it ideological or faddish. Furthermore, TQM entails substantial time investments from managers, it is expensive (especially for training and meetings), it rarely produces short-term results, it demands intense CEO commitment, and it makes unrealistic assumption about most organizations' capacities to transform their cultures". Point 18: "As is inevitable for any idea that enjoys wide popularity in managerial and scholarly circles, total quality management has come to mean different things to different people".
Variable 2: More intellectual knowledge on Total Quality Management	Point 3: "Total Quality Management is "continuous improvement, involve all operations at all levels, undertake performance measurement, focus on leadership, teamwork and employee participation and motivation, take a whole system perspective". Point 5: "The [TQM] gurus have provided well for our technical mechanistic needs. One area they say little about in respect to technical interests, however, is organisational design". Point 8: TQM can be defined as "a set of instruments employed by the firm's management that aim to provide better value to customers by recognising their observable and hidden needs (which are sensitive to changing markets) and improving the efficiency of the procedures that generate the product or service". Point 9: "Lascelles and Dale... identify six TQM adoption levels: (1) uncommitted, (ii) drifters, (iii) too purchasers, (iv) improvers, (v) award winners, and (vi) world class. These levels are not stages of TQM as much as they reflect how a firm  responds to TQM". Point 10: "TQM is the mutual cooperation of everyone in  an organization and associated business processes to produce products and services which meet the needs and expectations  of customers". Point 19: "Deming, Ishikawa, and Juran share the view that an organization's primary purpose is to stay in business, so that it can promote the stability  of the community, generate products and services that are useful to customers, and provide a setting for the satisfaction and growth of organization members". Point 20: "A fundamental premise of TQM is that the cost of poor quality (such as inspection, rework, lost customers, and so on) are far greater than the costs of developing processes that produce high-quality products and services". Point 21: "Employees naturally care about the quality of work they do and will take initiatives to improve it - so long as they are provided  with the tools and training that are needed for quality improvement, and management pays attention to their ideas". Point 22: "..organizations are systems of highly  interdependent parts, and the central problems they face invariably cross traditional functional lines". Point 23: "When looking at the development and scope of IE [Industrial Engineering], most of its techniques seem to "fit" well with the modern quality concept of integrating people and physical operating systems, through effective system modification and/or redesign". Point 24: "IE [Industrial Engineering] techniques  have evolved with the direct objective of achieving particular goals in designing, implementing and effectively  maintaining operating systems, TQM, on the other hand, is essentially a system whereby the qualities  of a product, or service are maintained and enhanced through economic considerations". Point 26: "Total quality management (TQM) is abstract, and perhaps subjective, and hence defining it in comprehensive terms and a unique universally acceptable language is almost impossible". Point 27: "The paradigm of TQM applies to both the manufacturing and the service sectors. Of late, with the integration of Organizational Development (OD) into the Quality System, the TQM philosophy and approaches have started establishing roots in Human Resources Development".
Variable 3: Effective Total Quality Management practices	Point 2: "TQM wants to change the traditional management style. Handing down responsibility, allowing for autonomy, and promoting local decision making are all part of the new approach that TQM calls for. Greater motivation and creativity are expected". Point 4: "Each quality guru has their own knowledge base and interests. Each has worked in different situations, and several have contributed in contrasting eras". Point 11: Teamwork and employee involvement are "the key enablers of TQM". "Cultural change, focus, employee ownership of the processes, and strategic partnership with customers and suppliers are critical to the implementation of TQM". Point 28: "Dedication to the customers, internal as well as external, should be the critical theme of the service industry. Six general targets for serving the customer are high quality, flexibility, service, low cost, quick response and minimal variability".
Variable 4: Positive outcomes of Total Quality Management practices	Point 6: "Improved quality should shrink costs and thus yield a positive outcome for financial performance. Moreover, superior-quality products or services should enhance the retention rate of existing customers and attract new ones, thus strengthening market share and revenue". Point 7: "TQM results in process improvements both in the manufacturing and service sectors, which lead to higher profits through product reliability and costs cut through process efficiency". Point 12: "....managers can implement TQM in any organization - manufacturing, service, nonprofit, or government - and that it generates improved products and services, reduced costs, more satisfied customers and employees, and improved bottom line financial performance". Point 15: "... some employees resist or  even subvert  TQM, finding it ideological or faddish. Furthermore, TQM entails substantial time investments from managers, it is expensive (especially for training and meetings), it rarely produces short-term results, it demands intense CEO commitment, and it makes unrealistic assumption about most organizations' capacities to transform their cultures".
Variable 5: Learn from Total Quality Management practices	Point 16: "Despite the increase in academic studies into total quality management (TQM) during the past decade, there still seem to  be relatively few empirical studies that either  confirm or contradict any of the widely accepted theories". Point 17: "The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the US is a generally accepted TQM framework. However, the Malcolm Baldrige Award are not based  on empirical evidence". Point 25: "Although there is evidence that supports the effectiveness of TQM initiatives in organisations, a large number of studies have shown that between 60% and  80% of TQM initiatives  fail, or fail to have shown significant impact on business performance".

The next step is to relate the cognitive map variables to make up a cognitive map on Total Quality Management. The cognitive map and its explanation are presented in the next section.

A cognitive map on Total Quality Management and its interpretation

By relating the five variables identified in Table 2, the writer comes up with a cognitive map on Total Quality Management (TQM), as shown in Figure 1.

These cognitive  map variables, five of them altogether, are related to constitute a systemic image of Total Quality Management. The links in the cognitive map (re: Figure 1) indicate direction of influences between variables. The + sign shows that an increase in one variable leads to an increase in another variable while a -ve sign tells us that in increase in one variable leads to a decrease in another variable.  If there no signs shown on the arrows, that means the influences can be positive or negative. Readers are referred to the Literature on quality and excellence Facebook page for more  information on the topic.

Concluding remarks

The cognitive mapping exercise captures in one diagram some of the main variables involved in Total Quality Management. The resultant cognitive map promotes an exploratory way to study Total Quality Management in a holistic tone. The experience of the cognitive mapping exercise is that it can be a quick, efficient and entertaining way to explore a complex topic such as Total Quality Management in business management. Finally, readers who are interested in cognitive mapping should also find the article informative on this mapping topic.

Bibliography

1.      Antony, J., C. Fergusson, S. Warwood and J.H.Y. Tsang. 2004. "Comparing total quality management success factors in UK manufacturing and service industries: some key findings from a survey" Journal of Advances in Management Research 1(2): 32-45.

2.      Black, S. and L.J. Porter. 1995. "An empirical model for total quality management" Total Quality Management 6(2): 149-164.

3.      Chaudary, S., S. Zafar and M. Salman. 2015. "Does total quality management still shine? Re-examining the total quality management effect on financial performance" Total Quality Management & Business Excellence 26(7), Routledge: 811-824.

4.      Eden, C. and P. Simpson. 1989. "SODA and cognitive mapping in practice", pp. 43-70, in Rosenhead, J. (editor) Rational Analysis for a Problematic World, Wiley, Chichester.

5.      Eden, C., C. Jones and D. Sims. 1983. Messing about in Problems: An informal structured approach to their identification and management, Pergamon Press, Oxford.

6.      Flood, R.L. 1993. Beyond TQM, Wiley, Chichester.

7.      Gunasekaran. 1999. "Enablers of total quality management implementation in manufacturing: a case study" Total Quality Management 10(7): 987-996.

8.      Hackman, J.R. 1995. "Total Quality Management: Empirical, Conceptual, and Practical Issues" Administrative  Science Quarterly 40: 309-342.

9.      Literature on cognitive mapping Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/Literature-on-cognitive-mapping-800894476751355/).

10. Literature on literature review Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/literature.literaturereview/).

11. Literature on quality and excellence  Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/literature.quality.excellence/).

12. Lo, V.H.Y. and D. Sculli. 1995. "Industrial engineering and TQM" Training for Quality 3(3), MCB University Press: 4-7.

13. Managerial intellectual learning Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/managerial.intellectual.learning/).

14. Mani, T.P., N. Murugan and C. Rajendran. 2003. "Classical approach to contemporary TQM: an integrated  conceptual TQM model as perceived in Tamil classical literature" Total Quality Management 14(3), Routledge: 605-636.

15. Open University. n.d. "Sign graph" Systems Thinking and Practice (T552): Diagramming, Open University, U.K. (url address: http://systems.open.ac.uk/materials/T552/) [visited at April 10, 2017].

16. Powell, T.C. 1995. "Total Quality Management as Competitive Advantage: A Review and Empirical Study" Strategic Management Journal 16(1) January: 15-37.