Title: The role of participative management in the implementation of total quality management programs

Authors: C.Ruth Harris, R.Lyn Purdy

Addresses: School of Business and Economics, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3C5, Canada. Centre for Administrative and Information Studies, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5C2, Canada

Abstract: Proponents of Total Quality Management (TQM) programmes are in agreement about the importance of participative management techniques for successful implementation of TQM. In this paper, a framework for analysing participative management is presented and used to examine twenty case studies of TQM, drawn from the academic literature. The analysis indicated that participative management techniques have a very limited role in TQM implementation. In most of the organisations studied, employees only participate in the ongoing maintenance of a TQM programme, usually through team membership. Even this restricted use of participative management results in improved productivity as measured by objective standards in these firms.

Keywords: implementation; quality; human resource/OM interface; TQM; total quality management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.1998.002674

International Journal of Technology Management, 1998 Vol.16 No.4/5/6, pp.466-478

Published online: 04 Jul 2003 *

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