Title: A hybrid MCDM approach to analyse the impact of multi-agent technology on total quality management in organisations

Authors: Shubham Sharma; Vikram Singh; Somesh Kumar Sharma

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Hamirpur, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Hamirpur, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Hamirpur, India

Abstract: This research aims to analyse the role of multi-agent technology (MAT) in ensuring total quality management (TQM) by implementing a hybrid approach. A framework has been developed for five factors of TQM and 25 variables of MAT. AHP-entropy and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) are used to quantify the relative importance and interrelationship among the factors and variables. The ordinal priority approach (OPA) performed a comparison of the global ranking of variables evaluated through AHP-entropy. The research findings reveal that 'employee involvement' is the most essential factor, while 'education and training' is a highly impactful one. On the other hand, communication, feedback, and coordination agents are the top globally evolved variables followed by others. This ranking order may increase the performance of the system which may assist organisations in ensuring overall quality and motivate the decision-makers, professionals, and Researchers to implement this framework in a customised way to improve TQM, reduce human error, and save time and assets.

Keywords: total quality management; TQM; multi-agent technology; MAT; analytical hierarchy process; AHP; Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory; DEMATEL; ordinal priority approach; OPA.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2026.155589

International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2026 Vol.48 No.3, pp.349 - 382

Received: 01 May 2024
Accepted: 17 May 2024
Published online: 06 Aug 2026 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article