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Analysis of Interaction Among The Barriers To Total Quality Management Implementation Using Interpretive Structural Modeling Approach
Analysis of Interaction Among The Barriers To Total Quality Management Implementation Using Interpretive Structural Modeling Approach
www.emeraldinsight.com/1463-5771.htm
Using ISM
Analysis of interaction among approach
the barriers to total quality
management implementation
563
using interpretive structural
modeling approach
Faisal Talib
Mechanical Engineering Section, Faculty of Engineering and Technology,
University Polytechnic, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India
Zillur Rahman
Department of Management Studies,
Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India, and
M.N. Qureshi
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology,
M S University of Baroda, Vadodara, India
Abstract
Purpose – Previous research showed that there are some barriers which hinder the implementation
of total quality management (TQM) in organizations. But no study has been undertaken to understand
the interaction among these barriers and to develop a hierarchy of TQM barriers model. There is an
urgent need to analyze the behavior of these barriers so that TQM may be successfully implemented.
This paper therefore, aims to understand the mutual interaction of these barriers and identify the
“driving barriers” (i.e. which influence the other barriers) and the “dependent barriers” (i.e. which are
influenced by others).
Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) based
approach has been utilized to understand the mutual influences among the barriers of TQM.
Findings – In the present research work, 12 TQM barriers are identified through the literature review
and expert opinion. The research shows that there exist two groups of barriers, one having high
driving power and low dependency requiring maximum attention and of strategic importance
(such as lack of top-management commitment, lack of coordination between departments) and the
other having high dependence and low driving power and are resultant effects (such as high turnover
at management level, lack of continuous improvement culture, employees’ resistance to change).
Practical implications – The adoption of such an ISM-based model on TQM barriers in service
organizations would help managers, decision makers, and practitioners of TQM in better
understanding of these barriers and to focus on major barriers while implementing TQM in their
organizations.
Originality/value – Presentation of TQM barriers in the form of an ISM-based model and the
categorization into driver and dependent clusters is a new effort in the area of TQM.
Keywords Total quality management, Interpretive structural modeling, Barriers, Service organization, Benchmarking: An International
Managers, Modeling Journal
Vol. 18 No. 4, 2011
Paper type Research paper pp. 563-587
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1463-5771
DOI 10.1108/14635771111147641
BIJ Introduction
18,4 In the era of economic liberalization and increased competition with the emergence of
new products and improved services as well as fast growth in customer needs and
expectations for quality service, the service organization face tremendous competition
and are under immense pressure to become more responsive to customer needs and gain
an upper edge. There are demands for improvement in the quality of products and
564 services, transparency in policies and procedures, increased emphasis on pre and post
product and service delivery procedures, and cost of quality. Service organizations must
improve the quality of their services, achieve competitive advantage, and move on a path
of growth and excellence. A customer centric philosophy of management needs to be all
encompassing throughout the organization with an ultimate objective being customer
satisfaction.
In order to achieve and accomplish the above aspects of customer, service
organizations are making use of well-known quality approaches like ISO 9000, total
quality management (TQM), Six Sigma, 5S, quality function deployment, and continuous
quality improvement (CQI) programs which have helped them in achieving their goals.
One of the important quality improvement techniques, which many organizations are
using to achieve excellence in business, is TQM. TQM has been widely accepted as a
disciplined management process in different sector in order to cope with the changes in
marketplace and focus on quality in both their products as well as services (Venkatraman,
2007). Though TQM was considered and used mainly by manufacturing industry, there
has been a strong push for adopting TQM in service organizations (Kureshi et al., 2010;
Kaluarachchi, 2010; Eraqi, 2006; Telford and Masson, 2005; Srikanthan and Dalrymple,
2004). Implementation of TQM has given them positive results, particularly towards
achieving enhanced organization performance and customer satisfaction. It is understood
that the goals of TQM are to satisfy customers, prevent poor quality rather than
correcting problems, develop an attitude of continuous improvement, understand the
value of measuring performance to identify opportunities and maintain improvements,
and to eliminate chronic sources of inefficiencies and costs (Evans and Lindsay, 1996;
Burr, 1993; Mosadegh Rad, 2005). These goals could be achieved if there is a total
commitment by entire organization (including top-management and employees) as well
as principles of TQM are fully understood by them.
Moreover, TQM is the culture of an organization committed to total customer
satisfaction through continuous improvement (Mosadegh Rad, 2005; Gunasekaran
and McGaughey, 2003). TQM demands change in organization culture for improved
performance (Kaluarachchi, 2010). TQM also demands constancy of purpose throughout
the organization, and persistence in accordance with a clear and widely understood
vision. It is an environment that requires and nurtures total commitment at all levels of
the organization by providing potential benefits such as customer satisfaction, increased
productivity and profit, enhanced business competitiveness, and increased market share
(Gunasekaran, 1999; Mosadegh Rad, 2004). TQM has enjoyed great popularity in all
sectors since its evaluation and is adopted into their regular management activities
(Hansson and Eriksson, 2002; Gunasekaran, 1999). Recently, Ho (2010) has proposed an
“integrated lean TQM model for global sustainability and competitiveness” to help
organizations to reduce global resource wasting and improve the damages caused by the
financial tsunami. Study by Leonard (2010) suggested that quality management
systems and quality award criteria are also making an impact in homebuilding industry.
Further, the application of world class manufacturing techniques like TQM, JIT, lean Using ISM
manufacturing in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) enhance the productivity and
quality of these industries (Gunasekaran, 2000).
approach
Further, studies showed that TQM was positively associated with performance
outcome such as financial performance, business performance, and profitability
(Brah et al., 2000; Yusuf et al., 2007; Hendricks and Singhal, 1997; Salaheldin, 2009;
Reed et al., 1996; Rust et al., 1999; Prajogo and McDermott, 2005; Hafeez et al., 2006; 565
Bou-Llusar and Beltran-Martin, 2005) as well as with human outcome, such as employee
satisfaction, supplier relationship, and customer satisfaction (Mehra and Ranganathan,
2008; Yang, 2006; Sila and Ebrahimpour, 2005; Gunasekaran and McGaughey, 2003;
Arumugam et al., 2008; Salaheldin, 2009). However, in practice, these TQM benefits
are not easy to achieve. There are quite a number of evidences that suggests TQM
implementation is often unsuccessful due to different focus of organizations in its
implementation (Venkatraman, 2007; Kendrick, 1993; Eskildson, 1995; Griffin, 1988; Koch
and Fisher, 1998; Fuchsberg, 1993). Organizations found some barriers which hinder the
implementation of TQM. Owing to these barriers, they have not achieved the desired
benefits, which they have expected after implementation of TQM. As a result, many of the
TQM initiatives have been abandoned or are in the process of being abandoned. Some
studies even have asserted that approximately two-third of organizations have failed to
their attempt to implement TQM (Hubiak and O’Donnell, 1996; Guangming et al., 2000).
Furthermore, the literature review suggest that no study has been taken that
investigate explicitly the interactions among the barriers of TQM and proposes an
interpretive structural modeling (ISM) based model for the TQM barriers. Hence, this is
perhaps the first study in this direction. To help address this gap, the present study
attempts to identify the barriers of TQM through extent literature review and expert
opinions and further develops the contextual relationships among these identified
barriers using ISM approach. It also proposes a hierarchy of TQM barriers model that
would help the managers and practitioners of service organizations to understand and
pay attention to the identified barriers for successful implementation of TQM program.
For this purpose the following objectives have been designed:
.
to identify and rank the barriers of TQM in service organizations;
.
to find out the interaction among identified barriers of TQM using ISM
approach; and
.
to discuss the managerial implications of this research study and suggest
directions for future research.
The remainder of this paper has been organized as follows. The next section provides a
review of the literature and discusses the identification of TQM barriers. This is
followed by discussion of ISM methodology and development of the relationships
model using ISM. Matrice d’Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement
(MICMAC) analysis of developed ISM model is carried out subsequently. Finally, the
discussion and conclusion of this research study are presented, which is followed by
managerial implications and scope for future work.
Literature review
Despite the fact that practices related to successful implementation of TQM have
helped in achieving the desired outcomes namely increased organization performance,
BIJ profitability, and improved customer satisfaction, practicing and implementing TQM
18,4 practices is still not free from barriers. This literature review aims to identify the
barriers that need to be addressed during the implementation of TQM in service
organizations, which influence organizational performance and customer satisfaction.
Based on the extent literature review and discussion with the experts in the service
organizations, keeping the service sector in focus, 12 barriers were identified, which
566 can serve as invaluable lesson to those organizations that are planning to implement
TQM or are in the process of its implementation, and are presented in Table I.
The above listed barriers are often cited in the TQM literature and are found to be
frequently used by different researchers in their studies which suggest that these
barriers hinder the successful implementation of TQM. Beside this, some barriers
like inadequate understanding of customer needs, lack of customer focus, lack of
measurement, lack of awareness of quality at management level, lack of vision, lack of
accounting systems, lack of access to data and result, lack of suppliers/contractors
participation and other similar barriers are found to be insignificant in the present era of
digital technology and mass customization. Utmost importance to such barriers are
nowadays given due consideration by management by closely monitoring them through
company-wide information network. Therefore, such barriers are closely controlled and
monitored by management and hence, considered to be controllable with varying efforts.
Moreover, the barriers like incompatible organization structure, isolated individuals
and departments, inability to change organizational culture, insufficient resources,
short-term focus, and inappropriate rewards and recognition system which are often
cited with different names and headings are covered in this study under a common
barrier name like lack of coordination between departments, lack of continuous
improvement culture, human resource barriers, no benchmarking, poor planning and
inadequate use of empowerment and teamwork. Hence, these12 barriers are assumed
to be the major TQM barriers that hinder the successful implementation of TQM.
1 Lack of top-management Tamimi and Sebastianelli (1998), Bhat and Rajashekhar (2009), Jun et al. (2004), Whalen and Rahim
commitment (1994), Venkatraman (2007), Ljungström and Klefsjö (2002), Soltani et al. (2005), Mosadegh Rad (2005),
Salegna and Fazel (2000), Brigham (1993), Kanji (1996), Newall and Dale (1990)
2 High turnover at management level Amar and Zain (2002), Jun et al. (2004), Tamimi and Sebastianelli (1998), Soltani et al. (2005), Mosadegh
Rad (2005), Teagarden et al. (1992), Dowlatshahi (1998), McDermott (1994), Jun et al. (2006), Knotts and
Tomlin (1994), Lawrence and Yeh (1994), Wentling and Palma-Rivas (1998), Lawrence and Lewis (1993)
3 Attitude of employees towards Amar and Zain (2002), Helms and Mayo (2008), Mosadegh Rad (2005), Salegna and Fazel (2000), Tamimi
quality and Sebastianelli (1998)
4 Lack of proper training and Tamimi and Sebastianelli (1998), Bhat and Rajashekhar (2009), Jun et al. (2004), Rajashekhar (1999),
education Whalen and Rahim (1994), Huq (2005), Ljungström and Klefsjö (2002), Soltani et al. (2005), Mosadegh
Rad (2005), Tatikonda and Tatikonda (1996), Adebanjo and Kehoe (1998), Newall and Dale (1990)
5 Lack of coordination between Amar and Zain (2002), Gunasekaran (1999), Salegna and Fazel (2000), Tamimi and Sebastianelli (1998),
department Al-Zamany et al. (2002)
6 Human resource barrier Tamimi and Sebastianelli (1998), Bhat and Rajashekhar (2009), Amar and Zain (2002), Jun et al. (2004),
Whalen and Rahim (1994), Venkatraman (2007), Ljungström and Klefsjö (2002), Mosadegh Rad (2005),
Newall and Dale (1990)
7 No benchmarking Al-Zamany et al. (2002), Rajashekhar (1999), Tamimi and Sebastianelli (1998), Bhat and Rajashekhar
(2009), Jun et al. (2004)
8 Poor planning Tamimi and Sebastianelli (1998), Bhat and Rajashekhar (2009), Jun et al. (2004), Whalen and Rahim
(1994), Mosadegh Rad (2005), Salegna and Fazel (2000), Newall and Dale (1990)
9 Employee’s resistance to change Tamimi and Sebastianelli (1998), Bhat and Rajashekhar (2009), Jun et al. (2004), Whalen and Rahim
(1994), Venkatraman (2007), Soltani et al. (2005), Newall and Dale (1990)
10 Inadequate use of empowerment and Tamimi and Sebastianelli (1998), Bhat and Rajashekhar (2009), Jun et al. (2004), Gunasekaran (1999),
teamwork Whalen and Rahim (1994), Ljungström and Klefsjö (2002), Mosadegh Rad (2005), Salegna and Fazel
(2000),Adebanjo and Kehoe (1998), Newall and Dale (1990)
11 Lack of continuous improvement Al-Zamany et al. (2002), Amar and Zain (2002), Whalen and Rahim (1994), Huq (2005), Mosadegh Rad
culture (2005)
12 Lack of communication Al-Zamany et al. (2002), Helms and Mayo (2008), Huq (2005), Mosadegh Rad (2005), Salegna and Fazel
(2000), Tamimi and Sebastianelli (1998)
references as reported in
the TQM literature
Using ISM
approach
Table I.
567
BIJ to work as scheduled and for absenteeism (Mosadegh Rad, 2005; Jun et al., 2004). High
18,4 turnover and absenteeism may also stem from ineffective employee selection practice
( Jun et al., 2004). Other explanations such as cultural differences (Lawrence and Yeh,
1994), employees family issues (Teagarden et al., 1992), and switching the jobs for a
minimal increase in salary (Lawrence and Lewis, 1993), have been offered to explain
the high turnover at management level. Ineffective employee compensation ( Jun et al.,
568 2006) and promotion (Wentling and Palma-Rivas, 1998) are also significant factors that
influence turnover and absenteeism in the organization. Appraisal schemes such as
family finances, basic healthcare facilities, quality and punctuality bonuses, and
on-site healthcare clinic for employees and their families could dramatically reduce
turnover and absenteeism (Teagarden et al., 1992; Jun et al., 2004).
Attitude of employee towards quality. Employee’s attitude towards quality is another
important hindrance in effective implementation of any quality program. Difficulty in
changing the mindset of employee with regard to quality and urgency among them are
reasons which generally obstructs the movement of quality program. Studies showed
that it is important for top-management to take a leadership role and show a strong
commitment at the time of implementing TQM to encourage employee towards quality
(Rivers and Bae, 1999; Lee and Asllani, 1997). Change of employee attitude towards
quality requires training and education as well as sense of CQI culture, which can be
built through committed leadership efforts. Employees have to be made to feel that
quality adds improvement in productivity, services, and reduce costs and they are
directly or indirectly responsible for customer satisfaction (Mosadegh Rad, 2004).
Lack of proper training and education. There are evidences that lack of proper training
and education exists at all levels of an organization, and that it is a large contributor to
worker resistance (Whalen and Rahim, 1994). A successful TQM environment requires a
committed, well-trained, and educated work force that participates fully in quality
improvement activities. Insufficient training on quality as well as training in problem
identification and problem solving techniques leads to failure in TQM implementation
program. However, it should be noted that training programs that are effectively
designed can be incorrectly implemented. For example, Tatikonda and Tatikonda
(1996) analyzed such a failure where employees learned statistical process control
(SPC) technique, but were not informed as to where to use it. Newall and Dale (1990) and
Ljungström and Klefsjö (2002) have also reported in their studies that poor education
and training acts as a major barrier in the development and implementation of quality
program.
Lack of coordination between departments. Poor coordination between departments
is one of the critical barriers that an organization inhibits. Employee relations and
coordination between departments influence the performance of the organizational
system and consequently determine the nature and extent of TQM implementation
(Sureshchandar et al., 2001). Amar and Zain (2002) found that the culture and
interdepartmental relations are critical to TQM initiatives. Additionally, lack of
coordination between departments is seen to be detrimental to successful TQM
implementation. For example, it was observed that there are very wide differences of
opinion between the quality and production departments on many organization-related
matters (Amar and Zain, 2002). Weak internal communication within the departments
can also cause lack of coordination between departments and thus, leads to major
barrier to TQM implementation.
Human resource barrier. Human resource problem is an important barrier to Using ISM
successful TQM implementation. Newall and Dale (1990) found that many quality approach
departments were overworked and understaffed leading to TQM failure. Juran (1986)
reported that although the return on investment for a quality improvement project is
very high, many organizations fail to provide the adequate human resource necessary
to achieve significant results. Some studies have predicted human resource barriers
such as non-participation of employees, low knowledge and experience about TQM, 569
lack of culture and geographic homogeneity, lack of non-monetary motivation
mechanisms, the tedious aspect of writing procedures, and low wages and salaries, as
major obstacles to successful TQM implementation (Francois et al., 2003; Mosadegh
Rad, 2004; Huang et al., 1999).
No benchmarking. Benchmarking is a continuous systematic process of measuring
the products, services, and practices against those of competitive organization leaders
(Saravanan and Rao, 2006). Absence of benchmarking in the organization leads to lack of
CQI culture and competitiveness. Organization cannot achieve global standards without
benchmarking the critical business processes. Al-Zamany et al. (2002) examined that
regular meetings to review and improve the strategic plans will help in achieving the
well defined goals and targets, and results to removal of no-benchmarking barrier in
the organization. A recent study showed that despite the benefits of benchmarking,
it is seldom applied within the organization due to lack of feasible tools organizations
develop internally which are often unstructured, to compare their business practice with
the practice of others (Björklund, 2010). Further, Presley and Meade (2010) present a
framework for performance measurement and benchmarking as two tools which can
assist organizations to realize the benefits and sustainability in construction industry.
Overall, the organization can be transformed to world class status when benchmarking
is directed at the key business processes.
Poor planning. The absence of a sound strategic planning by the top-management
has often contributed to ineffective quality improvement (Whalen and Rahim, 1994).
Juran (1986) reported that some managers even gave quality planning a low priority.
Though, the pre-planning stage of developing the right attitude and level of awareness is
considered crucial in achieving success in a quality improvement program (Oakland,
1989). Newall and Dale (1990) observed that a large number of organizations are either
unable or not willing to plan effectively for quality improvement. Therefore, careful and
detailed planning is needed prior to the implementation of any quality program and
organizations should identify beforehand the stages that their processes undergo.
Employees’ resistance to change. Employees’ resistance to adopt the change is a
common barrier that every organization experiences while implementing any quality
improvement program. Employees may perceive TQM as controlling rather than
empowering. They feel that TQM ask them to work harder for fewer rewards
(Mosadegh Rad, 2005). Newall and Dale (1990) found that aging workers as well as
workers, who suffer from illiteracy or language barrier, may resist the implementation of
new ideas and new concepts. On the other hand, Blankstein (1996) reported that
professionals and educated employees also resist to change as they expect autonomy
and academic freedom, as in case of higher education. To resolve these problems,
management should clarify organization’s quality strategies and polices, motivate
employees in order to participate actively in quality planning, decision making,
BIJ processes improvement, and use of employee ideas and suggestions in quality
18,4 management (Mosadegh Rad, 2005).
Inadequate use of empowerment and teamwork. Employee empowerment and
teamwork are critical factors in TQM. Most TQM programs place substantial emphasis
on teamwork and problem-solving groups. Newall and Dale (1990) found that teams are
seldom-fully used and their individual members are often contended. They suggested
570 that these problems are caused by lack of feedback. Likewise, Adebanjo and Kehoe
(1998), studied TQM implementation in UK manufacturing organizations, investigated
the reason for inadequate use of empowerment and teamwork among the organization.
They found insufficient teamwork facilitators and absence of team building techniques
in the organization. Oakland (1989) pointed out that it is important for the teams to focus
on issues and use time as efficiently as possible.
Lack of continuous improvement culture. Continuous improvement is increasingly
becoming the life-line for a TQM organization. Absence of continuous improvement
culture in the organization leads to total failure of TQM program. Deming (1986) and
Schneider et al. (1996) emphasized the importance of continuous improvement culture
with the goal of zero defects. Al-Zamany et al. (2002) reported that lack of continuous
improvement culture in the organization may be due to the following reasons:
.
unhealthy habits of the managers and executives;
.
weak sense of responsibility of the managers;
.
absence of assessment activities in the organizations;
.
appointment of unqualified managers; and
. lack of effective action to force improvement.
Lack of communication. Poor communication is one of the major barriers found to hinder
TQM efforts in an organization. Gunasekaran (1999) identified the enablers of TQM
implementation in one of the British manufacturing company through interview of
employees from different departments of the organization. He reported that among
people oriented factors, communication between managers, supervisor, and staff, was
the major enabler of TQM implementation, and poor communication between
departments was a real barrier to implementation of TQM. Lack of communication
across the organization often results to unsatisfied customers, unfulfilled customer
requirements, and environment of distrust. Al-Zamany et al. (2002) argued that in most
of the cases the management resists in sharing important information with the
employees for several reasons. This would create the environment of distrust and
conflict among management and employees.
3 5 9
1
10
6
11
7
Figure 1.
Digraph depicting the
8
2 relationship among
12 the TQM barriers
BIJ The ISM technique follows a systematic methodology. The various steps involved in
18,4 ISM technique when applied to the 12 identified barriers (or variables) as explained in
the previous section are as follows:
(1) The 12 barriers are listed and numbered as barriers 1-12 (Table I). These
barriers are identified through literature review and discussion with the experts
of the relevant area.
572 (2) Barriers identified in the first step are arranged in rows and columns, a matrix
is developed for the barriers, by relating each of the barriers with the other
barrier, one by one, pair-wise, through rows and columns. A contextual
relationship is thus, established among barriers in terms of “V”, “A”, “X”, and
“O” which are explained in the next section.
(3) On the basis of pair-wise relationship between barriers of the system as
obtained from step-2, a structural self-interaction matrix (SSIM) is developed for
barriers (Table II).
(4) A reachability matrix is then developed from the SSIM by converting the
information in each cell entry of the SSIM obtained from step-3 into binary numbers
“1” and “0” and thus, an initial reachability matrix is constructed (Table III).
(5) The initial matrix, obtained from step-4, is checked for transitivity and
modifications (if any) are made. The transitivity of the contextual relation
is a basic assumption made in ISM. It states that if a barrier (or variable) “i” is
related to “j” and “j” is related to “k”, then “i” is necessarily related to “k”. Thus,
a final reachability matrix is obtained (Table IV).
(6) The final reachability matrix obtained in step-5 is partitioned into different
levels on the basis of the reachability and antecedents sets for each of the
barriers and through a series of iterations (Tables V-XII).
(7) On the basis of the levels partitions obtained from step-6 and a final
reachability matrix (step-5), a conical matrix (lower triangular matrix) is
constructed (Table XIII). A directed graph or digraph is drawn and transitive links
are removed.
Barrier Driving
no. Barriers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 power Rank
1 Lack of top-
management
commitment 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 I
2 High turnover at
management level 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 VIII
3 Attitude of employees
towards quality 0 1 1 1 0 1 1† 1 1 1 1 1 10 III
4 Lack of proper training
and education 0 1 1 1 0 1† 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 III
5 Lack of coordination
between department 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 II
6 Human resource barrier 0 1† 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 4 VI
7 No benchmarking 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1† 0 1 0 4 VI
8 Poor planning 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 7 IV
9 Employee’s resistance to
change 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 VIII
10 Inadequate use of V
empowerment and
teamwork 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 6
11 Lack of continuous
improvement culture 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 3 VII
12 Lack of communication 0 1 1† 1 0 1† 1 1 1† 1 1 1 10 III
Dependence Power 1 11 5 5 2 8 8 6 11 7 10 5
Rank VIII I VI VI VII III III V I IV II VI
Table IV.
Note: 1† entries are included to incorporate transitivity Final reachability matrix
(8) The resultant digraph obtained from step-7 is converted into an ISM, by
replacing barriers nodes with statements (Figure 2).
(9) Finally, the ISM model developed in step-8 is reviewed to check for conceptual
inconsistency and necessary modifications are incorporated through expert
opinions.
BIJ
Barriers (Bi) Reachability set R(Bi) Antecedent set A (Bi) Intersection set R(Bi) > A(Bi) Level
18,4
1 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 1 1
2 2 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10,11,12 2 I
3 2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 1,3,4,5,12 3,4,12
4 2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 1,3,4,5,12 3,4,12
574 5 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 1,5 5
6 2,6,9,11 1,3,4,5,6,8,10,12 6
7 2,7,9,11 1,3,4,5,7,8,10,12 7
8 2,6,7,8,9,10,11 1,3,4,5,8,12 8
9 9 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 9 I
10 2,6,7,9,10,11 1,3,4,5,8,10,12 10
Table V. 11 2,9,11 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,10,11,12 11
Barrier level iteration i 12 2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 1,3,4,5,12 3,4,12
Barriers (Bi) Reachability set R(Bi) Antecedent set A (Bi) Intersection set R(Bi) > A(Bi) Level
1 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,10,11,12 1 1
3 3,4,6,7,8,10,11,12 1,3,4,5,12 3,4,12
4 3,4,6,7,8,10,11,12 1,3,4,5,12 3,4,12
5 3,4,5,6,7,8,10,11,12 1,5 5
6 6,11 1,3,4,5,6,8,10,12 6
7 7,11 1,3,4,5,7,8,10,12 7
8 6,7,8,10,11 1,3,4,5,8,12 8
10 6,7,10,11 1,3,4,5,8,10,12 10
Table VI. 11 11 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,10,11,12 11 II
Barrier level iteration ii 12 3,4,6,7,8,10,11,12 1,3,4,5,12 3,4,12
Barriers (Bi) Reachability set R(Bi) Antecedent set A (Bi) Intersection set R(Bi) > A(Bi) Level
1 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,10,12 1 1
3 3,4,6,7,8,10,12 1,3,4,5,12 3,4,12
4 3,4,6,7,8,10,12 1,3,4,5,12 3,4,12
5 3,4,5,6,7,8,10,12 1,5 5
6 6 1,3,4,5,6,8,10,12 6 III
7 7 1,3,4,5,7,8,10,12 7 III
8 6,7,8,10 1,3,4,5,8,12 8
Table VII. 10 6,7,10 1,3,4,5,8,10,12 10
Barrier level iteration iii 12 3,4,6,7,8,10,12 1,3,4,5,12 3,4,12
Barriers (Bi) Reachability set R(Bi) Antecedent set A (Bi) Intersection set R(Bi) > A(Bi) Level
1 1,3,4,5,8,10,12 1 1
3 3,4,8,10,12 1,3,4,5,12 3,4,12
4 3,4,8,10,12 1,3,4,5,12 3,4,12
5 3,4,5,8,10,12 1,5 5
8 8,10, 1,3,4,5,8,12 8
10 10 1,3,4,5,8,10,12 10 IV Table VIII.
12 3,4,8,10,12 1,3,4,5,12 3,4,12 Barrier level iteration iv
Barriers (Bi) Reachability set R(Bi) Antecedent set A (Bi) Intersection set R(Bi) > A(Bi) Level
1 1,3,4,5,8,12 1 1
3 3,4,8,12 1,3,4,5,12 3,4,12
4 3,4,8,12 1,3,4,5,12 3,4,12
5 3,4,5,8,12 1,5 5
8 8 1,3,4,5,8,12 8 V Table IX.
12 3,4,8,12 1,3,4,5,12 3,4,12 Barrier level iteration v
Barriers (Bi) Reachability set R(Bi) Antecedent set A (Bi) Intersection set R(Bi) > A(Bi) Level
1 1,3,4,5,12 1 1
3 3,4,12 1,3,4,5,12 3,4,12 VI
4 3,4,12 1,3,4,5,12 3,4,12 VI
5 3,4,5,12 1,5 5 Table X.
12 3,4,12 1,3,4,5,12 3,4,12 VI Barrier level iteration vi
Barriers (Bi) Reachability set R(Bi) Antecedent set A (Bi) Intersection set R(Bi) > A(Bi) Level
Barriers (Bi) Reachability set R(Bi) Antecedent set A (Bi) Intersection set R(Bi) > A(Bi) Level
Table XII.
1 1 1 1 VIII Barrier level iteration viii
BIJ
Barrier no. Barriers 2 9 11 6 7 10 8 3 4 12 5 1
18,4
2 High turnover at management level 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
9 Employee’s resistance to change 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
11 Lack of continuous improvement culture 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 Human resource barrier 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
576 7 No benchmarking 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
10 Inadequate use of empowerment and teamwork 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 Poor planning 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
3 Attitude of employees towards quality 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0
4 Lack of proper training and education 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0
12 Lack of communication 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0
Table XIII. 5 Lack of coordination between department 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0
Conical matrix 1 Lack of top-management commitment 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Lack of continuous
improvement culture (11)
Based on the contextual relationship between barriers, the SSIM has been developed.
The SSIM is discussed with the experts. Based on their responses, SSIM has been
finalized and is presented in Table II. The following statements explain the use of
symbols in SSIM:
.
Symbol “V” is assigned to cell (1,5) because barrier “1” (i.e. lack of
top-management commitment) influences or leads to barrier “5” (i.e. lack of
coordination between department).
.
Symbol “A” is assigned to cell (2,11) because removal of barrier 11 (i.e. “lack of
continuous improvement culture”) would help alleviate Barrier 2 (i.e. high
turnover at management level).
.
Symbol “X” is assigned to cell (3,4) because barriers 3 (i.e. “attitude of employee
towards quality”) and 4 (i.e. “lack of proper training and education”) influences
each other.
.
Symbol “O” is assigned to cell (6,7) because barriers 6 (i.e. “human resource
barrier”) and 7 (i.e. “no benchmarking”) are not related.
Level partitions
Based on the suggestions of Warfield (1974) and Farris and Sage (1975), the reachability
and antecedent set for each barrier is found out from final reachability matrix. The
reachability set for a particular barrier consists of the barrier itself and the other barriers,
which it may help achieve. Similarly, the antecedent set consists of the barrier itself and
the other barriers which may help in achieving them. After finding the reachability set
and antecedent set for each barrier, the intersection for these sets is derived for all the
barriers. The barriers for which the reachability and the intersection sets are the same is
given the top-level barrier in the ISM hierarchy, which would not help achieve any other
barrier above their own level. After the identification of the top-level barrier, it is removed
from the other remaining barriers. From Table V, it is seen that “high turnover at
management level” (Barrier 2) and “employee’s resistance to change” (Barrier 9) are found
at level I. Thus, it would be positioned at the top of the ISM model. This iteration is
continued till the levels of each barrier are determined. The levels so determined help in
building the digraph and the final model of ISM. The barriers along with their reachability
set, antecedent set, intersection set, and the different levels, are shown in Tables V-XII.
Further, level identification process of these barriers is completed in eight iterations.
MICMAC analysis
The MICMAC principle, also called as cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to
classification, is based on multiplication properties of matrices (Sharma et al., 1995).
The purpose of MICMAC analysis is to analyze the driver power and dependence power
BIJ of variables (Mandal and Deshmukh, 1994). The barriers (or variables) are categorized
18,4 into four clusters (Figure 3). The first cluster (I) contains “autonomous barriers” that
have weak driver power and weak dependence. These barriers are relatively
disconnected from the system, with which they have only few links, which may
be strong. Second cluster (II) contains “dependent barriers” that have weak driver power
but strong dependence. Third cluster (III) has the linkage barriers that have strong
580 driving power and also strong dependence. These barriers are unstable in the fact that
any action on these barriers will have an effect on others and also a feedback on
themselves. Fourth cluster (IV) includes the independent barriers having strong driving
power but weak dependence. Driving power and dependence is the summation of binary
digit “1s” in their respective row and column for each barrier, respectively, in the final
reachability matrix shown in Table IV. Subsequently, the driver power-dependence
diagram is constructed which is shown in Figure 3. As an illustration, it is observed from
Table IV that Barrier 1 is having a driver power of “12” and a dependence of “1”.
Therefore, in this figure, it is positioned at a place corresponding to a driver power of
“12” and a dependence of “1”.
Strong 12 1
11 5
10 3,4,12
4
IV III
9
8
Driving power
7 8
6 10
5
4 6,7
3 11
I II
2
Weak
1 9
2,9
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Weak Dependence Strong
Figure 3.
Driving power and Notes: I autonomous barrier; II dependent barrier; III linkage barrier;
dependence diagram
IV independent (driver) barrier
research emphasize that there is need to overcome these barriers for the success of TQM Using ISM
in the service organizations in order to improve organization performance and gain approach
customer satisfaction. This study can serve an eye opener for those service organizations
that lacks top-management commitment and coordination among departments which
are found to be major barriers of TQM implementation program in an organization.
The driver power-dependence matrix diagram (Figure 3) gives some valuable
insights about the relative importance and the interdependencies among the TQM 581
barriers. This can give better insights to the top-management so that they can
proactively deal with these barriers. Some of the observations from the ISM model,
which give important managerial implications, are discussed below:
.
Figure 3 shows that there are no autonomous barriers seen in the
driver-dependence diagram. The absence of these barriers in the present study
indicates that all the considered barriers play a significant role in hindering the
implementation of TQM program. The management therefore, should pay
attention to all the considered barriers for a successful implementation of TQM
program.
.
Barriers such as “high turn over at management level”, “employee’s resistance to
change”, “lack of continuous improvement culture”, “no benchmarking”, “human
resource barrier”, and “inadequate use of empowerment and teamwork” are
possessing weak driving powers but strong dependency on other barriers. They
are seen at the top of the ISM hierarchy (Figure 2). These barriers represent the
unfavorable outcome to the managers and practitioners of service organizations.
Hence, managers should take special care to handle these barriers.
.
No barriers are seen as a linkage barrier that has a strong driving power as well
as strong dependence. Thus, it can be deduced that all the barriers of TQM
identified are stable.
.
Finally, the driver power-dependence diagram indicates that independent
barriers such as “lack of top-management commitment”, “lack of coordination
between departments”, “lack of communication”, “lack of proper training and
education”, “attitude of employees towards quality”, and “poor planning” are at
the bottom of ISM hierarchy, having strong driving power and weak dependence.
Thus, management should place a high priority in tackling these barriers which
have capability of influencing other barriers. They may be treated as the “major
barrier” to TQM implementation.
Finally, it would be useful to suggest the direction of future research in this area. The
present model has not been statistically tested and validated. Thus, the model is required
to be statistically tested and validated using different approaches one of them is the
“Structural Equation Modeling” (SEM) approach, also referred to as linear structural
relationship approach. Statistical software like Amos 16.0, Lisrel 8.8 can be used in
future to build correlation matrix, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and diagramming
to validate the relationships. Comparing ISM and SEM, SEM has the capability of
statistically testing an already developed theoretical model whereas ISM on the other
hand has the capability to develop an initial model through managerial techniques such
as brainstorming, nominal group techniques and idea engineering. In this way, ISM is a
supportive analytic tool for this situation. However, it may be suggested that due to
complimentary nature of both of these techniques, the future research may be directed in
first developing an initial model using ISM and then testing it using SEM. ISM also helps
in classifying variable into dependent, independent, autonomous, and link categories.
Management may use their resources over identified factors thus, optimization of the
resources may be accomplished. Further, the systemic framework proposed in this study
has wide application and can be used to improve performance, administrative abilities,
and effectiveness of the organization.
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Further reading
Mosadegh Rad, A.M. (2003), The Principles of Health Care Administration, Dibagran Tehran,
Tehran.