4 Online J Soc Sci Res
to describe the approach. This paradigm change involves transformation of thinking from that in the traditional management which has its basis on Fredrick Taylor’s Scientific Management and Max Weber’s theory of bureaucracy to one in which the key components are customer value strategy, organizational systems and continuous improvement. This means changing from a management paradigm in which the job of the manager involves setting goals, defining roles, providing technology, and motivating employees through inducements to one in which the managerial role itself is redefined and theory and actions in the practice of management changed. In this scenario, Total Quality Management (TQM) is a convenient label and a buzzword to signify the beginning of the change, which is expected to disappear leaving only the word “Management” once the shift to the new paradigm is complete. A position by Ratnayake [20] that progress only happens through successive and abrupt shifts of paradigm supports this view.
One interpretation of the diminishing publications with the “TQM” label could be that the global managerial paradigm shift has reached a replacement stage and a consensus on the new fundamentals of organizational management has been achieved. Reliance on keywords that largely represent a label in the study by Miller et al. [15] essentially results in a situation in which this becomes a credible alternative interpretation. This interpretation is supported by findings in der Wiele and Brown [21] suggesting that use of specific quality management labels diminish after the concepts have been integrated into the management of an organization. A focus on the concepts and the foundational principles, and stripping Quality Management practices of the “faddish connotations” is suggested as critical to minimizing causes of the hypes that has led to some dismissing Quality Management as a fad. The faddish connotations are seen as emanating from the labels and decline of their use in no way suggests the foundational concepts have been abandoned or invalidated. Neither can widespread use be an indicator of validity. It would only be an indicator of existence of drivers for propagation. A successful marketing campaign to convince consumers that ISO 9001 certification is the sole mark of reliability as a supplier results in growth of conformance assessment industry. The herd mentality does the rest as firms, not wishing to be left out, rush to seek conformance assessment by management systems assessors in the industry. In many Business-to-Business (B2B) markets, the certification becomes an order qualifier.
Validity of Quality Management as an Approach to Management
Definitional issues relating to quality management are handled by many of the mainstream literature mainly at
philosophical and principles level. A philosophical concept, by itself, cannot be documented in form of a standard nor implemented in a start – stop approach. The consensus among extant literature is that the principles are applied to the value chain through actions within the organizational infrastructure described as management practices [22]. A “practice” is defined in Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary as “a way of doing something that is common, habitual or expected”. Other definitions are “a thing done regularly, a habit, or custom”. In the context of an organization, practices are described as “the activities that occur within the organization's infrastructure so as to achieve the organization’s goals” [6]. Stamm et al. [23] refer to practices as methodologies and describe a practice as an embodiment of the philosophical assumptions of a specific paradigm. Like the paradigm itself, a methodology may be applied using a set of techniques.
Literature reporting on investigation of the distinguishing constructs used in emerging management approaches against those used in traditional management during the bigger part of twentieth century use “practices” as the level of investigation [24,25]. Principles have been considered too general for empirical research while techniques are seen as too detailed to provide accurate data for investigation [18]. Terminologies used in reference to practices include “steps” [26], “factors”, “implementation constructs” and “elements” [5]. By evaluating these constructs, whether referred to as practices, steps, factors, implementation constructs, or methodologies, researchers in management theory are able to identify the discriminating constructs used in the management approach that has been labeled “Quality Management”. These studies have sought to identify the constructs in this emerging approach to management which affect problems not addressed in the traditional management theories in much of the twentieth century. In reviewing the theories of management under the umbrella of what is described as rational management, which includes leadership theories, classical theories and the human relations theories,