A feasibility study of the total quality management in hospitality industry with a case study in Esfahan Hotels

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management approach that originated in the 1950's and has steadily become more popular since the early 1980's. TQM is a method by which management and employees can involve in the continuous improvement of the production of goods and services. It is combination of quality and management tools aimed at increasing business and reducing losses due to wasteful practices. It is a management philosophy that seeks to integrate all organizational functions to focus on meeting customer needs and organizational objectives. It is clear that organizations need to adopt a TQM process and the critical success factors if they are to achieve business excellence (Zairi 2002). Over the last decade, a significant number of hospitality companies have embraced the concepts of TQM (Cannon 2002). As service expectations of customers and potential customers have escalated, hospitality businesses have found the implementation of quality processes to be a vital competitive component (Cannon 2002). Total quality management (TQM) has been evolving in the hotel sector since quality assurance was introduced in the 1980s (Breiter et al 1995). However, many hotels are still struggling to reach a real understanding of what is meant by total quality management (Breiter et al 1995). Hotels with successful quality assurance systems report improvement in employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, profit margins and operational costs savings, relative to their counterparts with less successful quality assurance (Yasin and Zimmerer 1995). This study involves a research on the critical success factors (CSFs) associated with managing a successful TQM implementation in hospitality industry specific in hotels with a case study in Isfahan 3, 4, 5 star hotels. The extent to which those CSFs to TQM , currently cited in the quality literatures, are perceived as real CFSs by quality managers will be examined, however, this study extents previous works by examining the relationship between these CSFs and the perceived success of TQM. The aim is to better understand the relative role of various CSFs on effective TQM implementation in hotel industry. This should not only be useful to those hotel organizations trying to implement TQM, but also to those which are implementing quality management. This research leads to better recognition of critical success factors of TQM implementation in hotels which have some advantages to provide better service to customers. The benefits of offer higher service quality have influence on both hotel sector and customers. Some of these advantages are, competitive advantages, management leadership, continues improvement, work development, reduce costs and economic profits, employees satisfaction and increase their working value, staff empowerment and involvement, communication and teamwork, commitment on the different parts of management, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and sustainability of organizations.Validerat; 20101217 (root