Title: The mutual influence among quality awards and quality initiatives: preliminary investigation among Indian quality award winners

Authors: Gururaj Upadhyaya; K. Subrahmanya Bhat

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, NMAM Institute of Technology, Nitte – 574110, Karkala Taluk, Udupi District, Karnataka, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, NMAM Institute of Technology, Nitte – 574110, Karkala Taluk, Udupi District, Karnataka, India

Abstract: Quality initiatives (QIs) refer to a wide variety of tools and techniques adopted by organisations across the world in order to improve quality. Organisations are being awarded with prestigious quality awards (QAs) recognising the ongoing efforts they make in improving quality. This paper attempts to explore the influential nature among QI adopted and QA won with respect to winners of Indian QA in terms of perceived understanding, success in implementation and effect on results/performance. This empirical study shows that managers accept the existence of such a mutual influence across different contexts like size, type and sector of the industry, before the company has won a specific QA. The study however is inconclusive about the mutual influence among QA and QI, after an organisation has won a specific QA.

Keywords: quality initiatives; quality awards; business excellence awards; mutual influence; contextual factors; India.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2016.073373

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2016 Vol.9 No.1, pp.1 - 17

Received: 20 Dec 2013
Accepted: 01 May 2014

Published online: 01 Dec 2015 *

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