TQM's Challenge to Management Theory and Practice
Total Quality Management (TQM) is more than a fad or a buzzword, argue the authors. It is even more than a technique for controlling and motivating employees. TQM is a challenge to conventional management techniques and to the theories that underlie them. Therefore it cannot simply be grafted onto existing management structures and systems. If its benefits are to be fully realized, then companies need to prepare themselves for organization-wide change -- including top management's relinquishing of power. Furthermore, TQM practices cannot be combined with strategic initiatives, such as corporate restructuring, that are based on conventional management theories. The failure of one or both programs is inevitable.