Total Quality Management (TQM) operation in public organizations: Empirical assessment of critical success factors

As a means of improving an organization\u27s performance, the principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) have been widely utilized by the public sector since the end of 1980s. Through this management approach, most organizations in the public sector have sought two major purposes: first, to reconfigure administrative systems in ways that might improve public services; and second, to establish a streamlined operation in order to increase efficiency and effectiveness of their performance. After a decade, however, the impact of TQM operation in terms of performance improvement and related benefits are still elusive. This ambiguity comes largely from the absence of empirically-based performance assessment and measurement of public organizations\u27 TQM operation. In addition, lack of a common performance measurement system and indicators also contribute to the controversy. This study investigates possible factors affecting successful TQM operation as a means of organizational performance improvement in three different government organization types--federal, state, and military. The primary objectives of this study are: (1) to broaden the knowledge of TQM by assessing the perspectives of current management philosophy; (2) to provide a measurement instrument for investigating successful TQM operation in the public sector; (3) to suggest critical success and failure factors of TQM for further improvement; and (4) to identify any operational differences based on the type of public organization. A cross-sectional field survey was used as research methodology. Multiple research methods were utilized to provide a broad basis for interpreting and validating the data. From the results of statistical analysis, several important generalizations were suggested. First, all success elements revealed in the literature and interviews with TQM professionals were statistically significant in relation to successful TQM operation. Therefore, there is no significant difference in terms of the utilization of managerial activities between the private and pubic sector. Second, different success factors were identified for each type of public organization. Thus, any public organization which wishes to employ TQM related principles should carefully examine the different factors and implement them according to the organization\u27s characteristics. Third, institutional constraints were regarded as the most critical barrier to TQM operation. A number of respondents indicated that most managerial problems in their organization were caused by these barriers. Therefore, the institutional barriers must be eliminated to improve public organizations\u27 performance and to achieve a streamlined TQM operation