The research register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this

is journal is available at
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregisters http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0265-671X.htm

Critical success factors of Critical success

factors of TQM
TQM implementation in implementation

Hong Kong industries

Jiju Antony, Kevin Leung and Graeme Knowles 551
Warwick Manufacturing Group, School of Engineering,
University of Warwick, Coventry, UK, and
Sid Gosh
Centre for Organisational Effectiveness, The Business School,
Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, UK
Keywords TQM, Questionnaires, Factor analysis, Reliability
Abstract Total quality management (TQM) is an integrative management philosophy aimed
at continuously improving the performance of products, processes and services to achieve and
exceed customer expectations. This paper provides an empirical study on the identification of
the critical success factors (CSFs) of TQM implementation in Hong Kong industries. Through
a thorough and detailed analysis of the literature, 11 success factors with 72 elements were
identified to develop a questionnaire. These items were empirically tested by data collected
from 32 companies in Hong Kong. A factor analysis was carried out that identified seven
CSFs with 38 elements of the implementation of TQM. These factors were shown to be reliable
and valid and offer new insights into the understanding of TQM success factors in Hong Kong
industries.

Introduction
In contemporary management, total quality management (TQM) has become
the major business strategy in the 1990s (Witcher, 1994; Lee and Leung, 1999).
The evolution of TQM into an all pervasive philosophy of management took
shape through the works of Crosby (1979), Deming (1982, 1986), Feigenbaum
(1983), Ishikawa (1972), Juran (1988) and Taguchi (1982). The primary focus of
TQM philosophy is on the hands and minds that employ the tools and
techniques rather than the tools and techniques themselves. Recent research
has shown that many TQM-based organisations failed to indicate a significant
competitive improvement in business performance (Witcher, 1994). In Hong
Kong industries, implementation of TQM is rather new. Lee and Leung (1999)
observed that the implementation of TQM in Hong Kong is quite common, even
with the critical problems of lack of long term planning, inadequate
commitment and misunderstanding of quality at the management level. Many
managers do not fully understood what TQM is all about and the most
important factors that drive the successful implementation of TQM in Hong
Kong organisations. Therefore, an investigation of critical success factors
(CSFs) for TQM implementation in Hong Kong organisations was worthwhile International Journal of Quality &
Reliability Management,
to carry out. This paper presents the results of the study of CSFs for TQM in Vol. 19 No. 5, 2002, pp. 551-566.
# MCB UP Limited, 0265-671X
Hong Kong industries. DOI 10.1108/02656710210427520
IJQRM Potential benefits of TQM
19,5 As long as TQM is adopted fully and practised effectively in an organisation,
many advantages will be delivered. It will strengthen the organisational
business performance and competitive advantage. The successful
implementation of TQM will result in:
. Improved employee involvement. TQM ensures everyone within the
552 organisation should have a clear understanding of what is required and
how their processes relate to the business as a whole. Through the
practice of TQM, teamwork is employed and the employees are
motivated and encouraged to control, manage and improve the
processes, which are within their responsibility (Dale, 1994).
. Improved communication. A better communication can be accomplished
through the effective implementation of TQM principles in any
organisation. More open and frequent communication among people will
be found, and they will view and treat one another as customers and
suppliers (Anjard, 1998).
. Increased productivity. TQM changes the organisational culture and
creates a happy working environment. Due to the effective delegation,
empowerment and total staff involvement, problems are identified and
solved at lower levels. The working process will become more efficient.
Consequently, productivity can be increased by reducing the cycle
time.
. Improved quality and less rework. In TQM implementation, work
processes and improvements are focused. Employees will place more
emphasis on the elimination of the root causes rather than correction of
problems. Also, more up-front effort is applied to clarify requirements
and prevent proactively the occurrence of defects and errors. Problems
will be identified and tackled at lower levels, by the people closest to the
work who are empowered to deal with the problems. As a result, the
quality of the products/services will be improved and product rework
will be reduced.
. Improved customer satisfaction. Through open communication among
employees, customers and suppliers, the true voice of the customers can
be more readily understood. Since the quality operations also focus more
on the work process and improvement, the company will provide a
better quality product/service to the market. Therefore enhanced
customer satisfaction is achieved.
. Reduced costs of poor quality. Effective implementation of TQM will lead
to significant reduction in costs of poor quality such as scrap, rework,
late deliveries, warranty, replacement, etc.
. Improved competitive advantage. To sum up, the final benefit is to
strengthen the competitive advantage of an organisation to survive in
the market. If TQM is successfully implemented, this will result in better
 customer satisfaction and quality products/services provided with lower Critical success
prices. This can lead to increased sales to achieve the profit objectives factors of TQM
and business growth. implementation
Critical success factors (CSFs) of TQM: an overview
In the late 1980s, Saraph et al. (1989) pioneered an empirical approach to
examine the critical factors for TQM implementation in the USA. Later, some 553
authors have developed a similar approach to identify and investigate the
factors of success. Tables I and II review and compare those CSFs developed by
researchers such as Saraph et al. (1989), Black and Porter (1996) and Joseph et
al. (1999) and Tamimi (1998).

Research methodology and data collection

Research methodology is very important as it can guide researchers on what
steps need to be taken in order to meet the objectives of the research. In this
study, the purpose was to use the perceptions and experiences of TQM-based
companies in Hong Kong and use this information as the basis of data
collection. The analysis has enabled the identification of TQM success factors
in Hong Kong companies.
A total of 400 questionnaires were sent to a variety of industries which
included electronics and telecommunication, textiles, metal and machinery,
plastics, building and construction and so on. The method used for gathering
data was postal survey. The method was chosen due to the advantage that the
designed questionnaire could be sent to a large number of organisations in a
limited time. The companies were chosen from the Hong Kong Quality

Author Purpose Source of factors Results

Saraph et al. (1989) To develop an instrument
for studying critical
success factors of quality
management in
Minneapolis, USA
Black and Proter To identify critical success
(1996) factors of TQM in the
membership organisations
of European Foundation
for Quality Management
(EFQM)
Tamimi (1998) To analyse the critical
TQM success factors
using second-order factor
analysis in Pennsylvania,
USA
Joseph et al. (1999) To identify TQM success
factors in Indian
organisations
From concepts and Eight factors with
prescriptions of quality 66 elements
gurus
Malcolm Baldrige Ten factors with
National Award 32 elements
Quality model
(MBNAQ)
Deming's 14 points Eight factors with
32 elements
Saraph et al.'s research Ten factors with Table I.
106 elements Comparison of CSFs
from literature review
IJQRM Author Critical success factors for TQM implementation
19,5
Saraph et al. (1989) 1. Top management leadership
2. Role of the quality department
3. Training
4. Product design
5. Supplier quality management
554 6. Process management
7. Quality data reporting
8. Employee relations
Black and Porter (1996) 1. People and customer management
2. Supplier partnerships
3. Communication of improvement information
4. Customer satisfaction orientation
5. External interface management
6. Strategic quality management
7. Teamwork structures for improvement
8. Operational quality planning
9. Quality improvement measurement systems
10. Corporate quality culture
Tamimi (1998) 1. Top management commitment
2. Supervisory leadership
3. Education
4. Cross functional communications to improve quality
5. Supplier management
6. Quality training
7. Product/service innovation
8. Providing assurance to employees
Joseph et al. (1999) 1. Organisational commitment
2. Human resources management
3. Supplier integration
4. Quality policy
5. Role of quality department
Table II. 6. Quality information systems
Analysis of common 7. Technology utilisation
CSFs extracted from 8. Operating procedures
researchers 9. Training

Assurance Agency (HKQAA). A total of 68 questionnaires were returned, of

which 66 were valid. The response rate was 16.5 per cent, which was normal
and reasonable. However, in this research, companies that have more than 250
employees (i.e. large organisations) needed to be investigated, as it was believed
that better quality policies and perceptions of quality have been developed and
established within these organisations. This has provided a sample size of 32.
Figure 1 shows the distribution of the types of industries used for this study.
The questionnaire was targeted to those organisations which have already
registered to ISO 9000 quality management system standard. It was believed
that ISO 9000 implementation is a stepping-stone towards the TQM journey.
The questionnaires were sent to the managing directors/general managers/
quality managers of these companies.
 The questionnaire designed in this study consisted of two main parts: the Critical success
background of the company and the CSFs. The first part was designed to factors of TQM
determine fundamental issues, including size of the company, type of industry, implementation
location of the company, etc. The second part of the questionnaire consisted of
72 statements (also called variables) about the success factors for TQM
implementation, derived mainly from Saraph et al.'s (1989) eight-factor model.
Each item of Saraph et al.'s (1989) model was carefully examined. Their study 555
was limited as it lacked items in relation to customer satisfaction and
continuous improvement (Black and Porter, 1996). Only product/service design
factors involved were customer-driven variables. Therefore three new factors
of customer satisfaction orientation, communication to improve quality and
continuous improvement were added to the questionnaire. Therefore, 11 critical
factors from literature were examined in this study.
The data collected was then analysed by using a statistical software system
called SPSS Version 7.5 (SPSS, 1996). Based on the responses from the
industries, both factor analysis (FA) and reliability test were carried out to
identify the critical factors for the successful implementation of TQM and data
validity respectively using SPSS.

Identification of critical success factors using factor analysis

Factor analysis (FA) is a data reduction technique that uses correlations
between data variables. The underlying assumption of FA is that a number of
factors exist to explain the correlations or inter-relationships among observed
variables (Chatfield and Collins, 1992). For the present study, a FA was first
performed on all 72 variables using principal components extraction
(Tabachnick and Fidell, 1989). The goal of this method is to extract maximum
variance from the data set within each factor. It is basically used to reduce a
large number of variables down to a smaller number of components. For the
simplicity of analytical purpose, each statement on the questionnaire was
coded as Var1, Var2, Var3 and so on (see Appendix 1). A scree plot of
eigenvalues against the number of factors is used for the extraction of factors
(Kachigan, 1991). The number selection was judged where the discontinuity in
eigenvalues occurs, but with an eigenvalue greater than 1 (Tabachnick and
Fidell, 1989). The scree plot initially provided by SPSS does not show the
nature of the curve for eigenvalues close to 1. Therefore, a different scale of the

Figure 1.
Distribution of the types
of industry
IJQRM curve was replotted to overcome this (i.e. to examine the curve from factor
19,5 solution 2 to factor solution 22). Figure 2 illustrates the resultant scree plot.
From Figure 2, it was found that the eigenvalues greater than unity included
factors 1 to 17. The resultant scree plot shows four discontinuities in the plot
after factors 3, 4, 8 and 11. Therefore, the first 11 factors extracted by the
procedure were appropriate in the first run, as the eigenvalue of a discontinuity
556 is greater than 1 (Tabachnick and Fidell, 1989).
In this study, the cut-off margin for analysing the factor loadings was 0.55
(30 per cent variance explained) based on Comrey's guidelines (Tabachnick and
Fidell, 1989). Moreover, Kline notes that factor loadings are usually considered
high if the load is above 0.6, and moderately high if they are greater than or
equal to 0.3 (Kline, 1997). Other loadings are considered as meaningless, and
therefore can be safely ignored. The high factor loading implies the factors and
the variables are critical. In the rotated factor matrix, the elements of a factor
were arranged according to the strength of their factor loadings. Through the
examination of the factor loadings, 26 items (Var 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 19, 20, 24, 28,
34, 35, 36, 37, 41, 44, 45, 47, 50, 54, 55, 57, 58, 67, 68, 69 and 72) were removed
after the first run of FA. This supports Comrey's guidelines shown above. It
was because these items' loadings were less than 0.55 (30 per cent variance
explained), which did not fit to this study. It was decided that the remaining 46
items should be re-analysed by the above process.

Factor analysis on the remaining 46 items

The remaining 46 items were analysed by principle components extraction
procedure with varimax rotation to determine the critical variables and factors.
Varimax rotation is a type of orthogonal rotation which is used to simplify

Figure 2.
Re-scaled scree plot for
72 variables factor
analysis
factors by maximising the variance of the loadings of a factor (Kline, 1997). A Critical success
scree plot was constructed for the remaining 46 items. The plot shows factors of TQM
discontinuities after factors 3, 7, 8 and 9 (see Figure 3). Therefore, the first nine implementation
factors extracted by the procedure were appropriate for the second run of FA,
as the eigenvalue of the discontinuity is greater than 1.
After the examination of the rotated factor matrix of this run, two items (Var
7 and Var 30) were removed. Therefore, the third run of FA was conducted for 557
the remaining 44 items.

Factor analysis on the remaining 44 items

This is the third run of FA using the remaining 44 items. Having constructed the
scree plot, eight factors were extracted by examining the curve discontinuities
and eigenvalues. In this analysis, five items were further removed (Var 32, 48,
56, 60 and 70) because low factor loadings appeared (i.e. factor loadings < 0.55).
As a result, the fourth run of FA was carried out. The fourth run of FA was
carried out to analyse the remaining 39 items. Having examined the scree plot
from this analysis, it was decided to extract eight factors. In this analysis, it was
found that one more item (Var 49) was necessary to be removed. The fifth run of
FA was carried out with the remaining 38 items. In this analysis, it was found
that the best number of factors to be extracted was seven in accordance with the
scree plot. It was found that no more additional items were necessary to be
removed from this analysis. The highest loading for this analysis was 0.872 (76
per cent variance explained) and the lowest was 0.552 (30 per cent variance
explained). These loadings were high enough to indicate the very important
variables to form several critical success factors of TQM. The list of factors and
the variables obtained from the FA are shown in Appendix 2.

Figure 3.
Re-scaled scree plot for
remaining 46 variables
factor analysis
IJQRM Reliability and validity test
19,5 According to Black (1999) ``reliability is an indication of consistency between
two measures of the same thing''. To understand the relationship between the
two groups of data, it is necessary to quantify the reliability of the data. The
reliability of the factors needs to be determined in order to support any
measures of validity that may be employed (Nunnally, 1978). A commonly used
558 technique, internal consistency analysis, was employed in this research to
measure the reliability of each derived factor from the factor analysis. The
estimation used a reliability coefficient called Cronbach's alpha (). With
regard to the validity test; content, construct and criterion-related validity were
conducted to ensure the data collected was valid.

Internal consistency analysis

From the results of the FA, 72 variables were reduced to 38 variables and were
clustered into seven factors. Using the SPSS reliability analysis program, an
internal consistency analysis was performed separately for the items of each
critical factor. Table III illustrates the values of alpha (i.e. reliability coefficient)
computed for each factor. Generally, an alpha of 0.6 or higher will be considered
adequate in exploratory research (Black and Porter, 1996).
Of the original 11 items for the critical factor ``management commitment'', the
elimination of five items have increased the alpha value from 0.8140 to 0.8653.
The alpha values were improved for other factors such as customer satisfaction
orientation, role of the quality department and continuous improvement. As can
be seen in Table III, the alpha values range from 0.6224 to 0.9479, thus providing
strong evidence that the scales developed are judged to be reliable.

Content validity
Content validity depends on how well the researchers create meaurement items
to cover the content domain of the variable being measured (Badri et al., 1995).
It is always subjectively evaluated by the researcher (Yusof and Aspinwall,
2000). The content validity of the questionnaire is based on the previous studies
of Saraph et al.'s (1989), Black and Porter's (1996), and Joseph et al. (1999).
According to Nunnally (1978), an instrument has content validity if it contains
a representative collection of items and if sensible methods of test construction

Original no. Original Items Final number Final

Factors of items alpha deleted of items alpha

1. Training and education 13 0.9461 ± 13 0.9461

2. Quality data and reporting 9 0.9479 ± 9 0.9479
3. Management commitment 11 0.8140 5 6 0.8653
Table III. 4. Customer satisfaction orientation 5 0.7808 2 3 0.7915
Internal consistency 5. Role of the quality department 7 0.7633 4 3 0.7919
analysis for seven 6. Communication to improve quality 2 0.6411 ± 2 0.6411
critical factors 7. Continuous improvement 5 0.6014 3 2 0.6224
were used. So it is strongly believed that the critical success factors that the Critical success
factor analysis constructed have a content validity. factors of TQM
Construct validity implementation
To be consistent with other studies, the construct validity of each critical factor
measure was evaluated by factor analysing the measurement items of each of
the critical seven factors. For construct validity, one may generally check for 559
unifactoriality. Unifactoriality means that a single factor is extracted for each
test. In order to determine the construct validity, each factor was subjected to
an individual principal components factor analysis to check for unifactoriality.
The analysis shows that all seven factors were unifactorial. The unifactorial
nature of each factor is a measure of construct validity (Black and Porter, 1996).
Table IV presents the variance explained by each factor in the unifactorial test.
From Table IV it is obvious that the factors accounted for more than 60 per cent
of the variance of the respective variable tests. This suggests that only a
relatively small amount of the total variance for each group of variables is
associated with causes other than the factor itself.
Criterion-related validity
Criterion-related validity is ``concerned with the extent to which a measuring
instrument is related to an independent measure of the relevant criterion'' (Badri
et al., 1995). However, no criterion was designed in this survey. The effect for this
study may result in a better understanding of TQM in Hong Kong organisations,
to identify the opportunities for improvement of the implementation process.

Discussion
With regard to the key findings of this research, the following section compares
the key findings with other related studies. It also discusses the strengths and
weaknesses of the implementation of TQM in Hong Kong organisations, and
hence, recommendations and areas for improvements will be highlighted.
Strengths
In accordance with the results of the analysis, three strengths have been
identified:
(1) Human resources. The results show that Factor 1 (training and education)
is the most important factor for the successful implementation of TQM in

Factor Variance explained (%)

Training and education 61.71

Quality data and reporting 64.397
Management commitment 60.885
Customer satisfaction orientation 70.911 Table IV.
Role of the quality department 70.345 Variance explained of
Communication to improve quality 74.384 factor in unifactorial
Continuous improvement 70.00 test
IJQRM Hong Kong industries. It indicates that those companies which have spent
19,5 a huge effort and investment on the development of employees and
teamwork, as they understood the staff is an important asset of a firm.
Those executives also believed that trained employees would contribute
to the success of the business.
(2) Open culture. Open culture is important to improve the communication
560 among top-to-bottom, bottom-to-top and across the departments, in
which the information will be shared by each staff. In this study, Factor
2 (quality data and reporting) appears as the second most critical
success factor, which reflects those organisations have a relatively open
culture to improve the availability of the information and quality data to
each level (i.e. manager, supervisor and employees). This results in a
better understanding of the improvement areas for the employees.
(3) Acceptance and participation by management. In TQM, management
involvement and their total participation is necessary to lead and facilitate
the implementation. For this study, the analytical results show that the
management, i.e. departmental heads, have understood the importance of
quality and quality improvement within the long-term business plan.
They accept their quality responsibilities to participate in the quality
functions, and are able to support the quality policies of the organisation.

Weaknesses
From the results of the analysis of survey, two main weaknesses have been
observed, which include:
(1) Lack of awareness of quality at the management level. The results of the
analysis show that the amount of training is mainly focused on the
personal development of the employees. Management in many cases
does not know how to support the quality management practices.
Therefore the personal development of managers is equally important
as the employees. The managers in HK organisations indeed need to be
trained and educated to be effective leaders in the TQM journey. For the
successful introduction and development of TQM initiatives, the lack of
awareness of quality at the management level needs to be tackled.
(2) Lack of employee involvement. Recognition, teamwork and delegation are
required to encourage the participation in the quality practices such as
problem solving, decision making and quality improvement. In this
study, it was found that employee involvement is not critical in Hong
Kong organisations. In Chinese culture, senior management does not
push decision making to the lowest practical level. Managers sometimes
feel threatened by the idea of delegating authority and empowering
employees as the Chinese managers are relatively slow in organisational
trust (Chu, 1999). Another possible reason that leads to the failure of
employee involvement is the negative and passive attitude of employees
towards management in the Chinese culture.
Comparison of critical success factors (CSFs) for TQM Critical success
The result of this study was compared with two previous studies. Top factors of TQM
management commitment was the most important success factor for the US implementation
and Indian industries, whereas training and education is the most critical in
Hong Kong industries. To compare the results of these studies, four common
factors are found: top management commitment, role of quality department,
training and education and quality data and reporting (see Table V). 561

Conclusions and directions for further research

This paper presents the results of a study on CSFs for TQM implementation
in Hong Kong organisations. A total of 11 success factors with 72 variables
were considered in the questionnaire. A factor analysis was carried out on the
collected data, which identified seven CSFs with 38 key variables of TQM.
The reliability and validity analysis on the results were also conducted. It
was concluded that they were reliable factors and the study was valid. Under
the internal consistency test, it showed that the reliability coefficients () of
the study ranged from 0.6224 to 0.9479. Systematic literature review and the
comprehensive pre-testing was done by Saraph et al. (1989) to ensure the
content validity. The unifactorial factor analysis was also carried out to
support the construct validity (Black and Porter, 1996). The strengths and
weaknesses of the study are also reported in the paper. The results of the
study clearly indicate that training and education is the most critical factor
for the successful implementation of TQM in HK organisations followed by
quality data reporting, management commitment and so on. One of the major
limitations of the study was the fact that the scope of this study was limited
to large organisations (i.e. number of employees > 250), and therefore the
sample size was limited to 32. This would lead to further investigation by
conducting similar studies with a large sample size to verify and extend the
results of this research. Another issue is to compare and contrast the extent of
TQM practice in different industry sectors in Hong Kong.

CSFs of TQM in the USA CSFs of TQM in India CSFs of TQM in Hong Kong
(Saraph et al., 1989) (Joseph et al., 1999) (based on this research)

1. Top management leadership 1. Organisational commitment 1. Training and education

2. Role of the quality 2. Human resources
department management
3. Training 3. Supplier integration
4. Product design 4. Quality policy
5. Supplier quality 5. Product design
management 6. Role of quality department
6. Process management 7. Quality data reporting
7. Quality data reporting 8. Technology utilisation
8. Employee relations 9. Operating procedures
10. Training
2. Quality data and reporting
3. Management commitment
4. Customer satisfaction
orientation
5. Role of the quality
department
6. Communication to improve Table V.
quality Comparison of critical
7. Continuous improvement success factors (CSFs)
of TQM
IJQRM References
19,5 Anjard, R.P. (1998), ``Total quality management: key concepts'', Work Study, Vol. 47 No. 7,
pp. 238-47.
Badri, M., Davis, D. and Davis, D. (1995), ``A study of measuring the critical factors of quality
management'', International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 12 No. 2,
pp. 36-53.
562 Black, S.A. and Porter, L.J. (1996), ``Identification of the critical factors of TQM'', Decision
Sciences, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 1-21.
Black, T.R. (1999), Doing Quantitative Research in the Social Sciences ± An Integrated Approach
to the Research Design: Measurement and Statistics, Sage Publications, London.
Chatfield, C. and Collins, A.J. (1992), Introduction to Multi-variate Analysis, Chapman & Hall, London.
Chu, R.K. (1999), ``Employee involvement in total quality management programme: problems in
Chinese firms in Hong Kong'', Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 14 No. 1, pp. 8-11.
Crosby, P.B. (1979), Quality is Free, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
Dale, B. (1994), Managing Quality, Prentice-Hall, Hemel Hempstead.
Deming, W.E. (1982), Quality, Productivity and Competitive Position, MIT Centre for Advanced
Engineering Study, Cambridge, MA.
Deming, W.E. (1986), Out of Crisis, MIT Centre for Advanced Engineering Study, Cambridge, MA.
Feigenbaum, A.V.(1983), Total Quality Control, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
Ishikawa, K. (1972), Guide to Quality Control, Asian Productivity Organisation, Tokyo.
Joseph, I.N., Rajendran, C. and Kamalanabhan, T.J. (1999), ``An instrument for measuring total
quality management implementation in manufacturing-based business units in India'',
International Journals of Production Research, Vol. 37 No. 10, pp. 2201-15.
Juran, J.M. (1988), Quality Control Handbook, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
Kachigan (1991), Multivariate Statistical Analysis, Radius Press, London.
Kline, P. (1997), An Easy Guide to Factor Analysis, Routledge, London.
Lee, S.F. and Leung, R. (1999), ``Survey on total quality management implementation in Hong
Kong'', Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 71-4.
Nunnally, J.C. (1978), Psychometric Theory, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
Saraph, J.V., Benson, G. and Schroeder, R.G. (1989), ``An instrument for measuring the critical
factors of quality management'', Decision Sciences, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 810-29.
SPSS (1996), User Help, SPSS Statistical Software Package, SPSS, Chicago, IL.
Tabachnick, B.G. and Fidell, L.S. (1989), Using Multivariate Statistics, HarperCollins, London.
Taguchi, G. (1982), Introduction to Quality Engineering, APO, Tokyo.
Tamimi, N. (1998), ``A second-order factor analysis of critical TQM factors'', International Journal
of Quality Science, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 71-9.
Witcher, B. (1994), ``The adoption of total quality management in Scotland'', The TQM Magazine,
Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 48-53.
Yusof, S.M. and Aspinwall, E.M. (2000), ``Critical success factors in small and medium
enterprises: survey results'', Total Quality Management, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. S448-S462.

Appendix 1. List of the 72 questionnaire items

Management commitment
Var1 Top management assumes responsibilities for quality performance.
Var2 Acceptance of responsibilities for quality by department heads.
 Var3 Top management supports long-term quality improvement process. Critical success
Var4 Degree of participation by major department heads in the quality improvement process. factors of TQM
Var5 Importance attached to quality by the top management in relation to cost and schedule implementation
objectives.
Var6 Clear, consistent communication of mission statement and objectives.
Var7 Specificity of quality goals within the company.
563
Var8 Quality goals and policy are understood within the company.
Var9 Degree to which the top management considers quality improvement as a way to
increase profits.
Var10 Degree of comprehensiveness of the quality plan within the company.
Var11 Commitment of the top management to employee training.

Role of the quality department

Var12 Visibility of the quality department.
Var13 Quality department accesses to top management.
Var14 Autonomy of the quality department.
Var15 Utilisation of quality staff professionals as a consulting resource.
Var16 Effectiveness of the quality department in improving quality.
Var17 Effectiveness of quality awareness measures among employees.

Training and education

Var18 Specific work-skills training (technical and vocational) given to employees throughout
the company.
Var19 Programs to develop team work between employees.
Var20 Quality-related training given to managers, supervisors and employees.
Var21 Training in the ``total quality concept''.
Var22 Training of employees to implement quality circle type program.
Var23 Employees are trained in statistical improvement techniques (e.g. histograms, control
chart etc.)
Var24 Training in advanced statistical techniques (such as design of experiments and
regression analysis) in the company.
Var25 Availability of resources for employee training in the company.
Var26 Training in interactive skills (such as communication skills, effective meeting skills,
empowerment and leadership skills).
Var27 Training in problem identification and solving skills, quality improvement skills.
Var28 Quality awareness building among employees is ongoing.

Employee involvement
Var29 Quality circle or employee involvement type programs are implemented.
Var30 Degree of participation in quality decisions by non-supervisory employees.
Var31 Employees are recognised for superior quality performance.
Var32 Top management pushes decision making to the lowest practical level.
IJQRM Continuous improvement
19,5 Var33 Review of quality issues in top management meetings.
Var34 Feedback provided to employees on their quality performance.
Var35 Unit heads and managers assume active roles as facilitators of continuous improvement,
coaches of new methods, mentors and leader of empowered employees.
564 Var36 Assessment and improvement of processes, practices and products/services.
Var37 Extent to which quality data are used to evaluate supervisor and managerial
performance.

Supplier partnership
Var38 Suppliers are selected based on quality instead of price or schedule.
Var39 Use of supplier rating system.
Var40 Technical assistance to improve the quality and responsiveness of suppliers.
Var41 Involvement of the supplier in the product development process.
Var42 Clarity of specifications provided to suppliers.
Var43 Responsibility assumed by purchasing department for the quality by incoming product/
service.
Var44 Extent to which suppliers have programs to assure quality of their product/service.

Product/service design
Var45 Thoroughness of new product/service design reviews before the product/service is
produced and marketed.
Var46 Co-ordination among affected departments in the product/service development process.
Var47 Quality of new product/service development process.
Var48 Extent of analysis of customer requirements in product/service development process.
Var49 Clarity of product/service specifications and procedures.
Var50 Extent to which sales and marketing people consider quality a saleable attribute.

Quality policies
Var51 Implementation of strategies focused on quality.
Var52 Use of acceptance sampling to accept/reject lots of batches of work.
Var53 Use of statistical control charts to control processes.
Var54 Policy of preventive equipment maintenance.
Var55 Importance of inspection, review, or checking.
Var56 Amount of incoming, in-process and final inspection, review, or checking.
Var57 Amount of final inspection, review, or checking.
Var58 Self-inspection of work by workers.
Var59 Clarity of work or process instructions given to employees.
Var60 Zero defects as the quality performance standard.
Quality data and reporting Critical success
Var61 Extent to which quality data (cost of quality, defects, errors, scrap, etc.) are used as tools factors of TQM
to manage quality.
implementation
Var62 Extent to which quality data are available to employees.
Var63 Extent to which quality data available to managers and supervisors.
Var64 Extent to which quality data, control charts etc., are displayed at employee work
stations. 565

Communication to improve quality

Var65 Use of quality techniques/tools to solve problems.
Var66 Good communications between different departments.
Var67 Work standards are based on quality and quantity rather than quantity alone.
Var68 Effective top-down and bottom-up communication.

Customer satisfaction orientation

Var69 Commitments to customers through strengthening of policies, etc.
Var70 Comparisons of customer satisfaction with competitors and internal indicators.
Var71 Benchmarking of direct competitors' products and processes.
Var72 Determination of improvements in customer satisfaction.

Appendix 2. Results of factor analysis

Factor 1. Training and education
Var27 Training in problem identification and solving skills, quality improvement skills.
Var22 Training of employees to implement quality circle type program.
Var42 Clarity of specifications provided to suppliers.
Var31 Employees are recognised for superior quality performance.
Var23 Employees are trained in statistical improvement techniques (e.g. histograms, control
chart etc.).
Var29 Quality circle or employee involvement type programs are implemented.
Var66 Good communications between different departments.
Var15 Utilisation of quality staff professionals as a consulting resource.
Var26 Training in interactive skills (such as communication skills, effective meeting skills,
empowerment and leadership skills).
Var11 Commitment of the top management to employee training.
Var25 Availability of resources for employee training in the company.
Var65 Use of quality techniques/tools to solve problems.
Var18 Specific work-skills training (technical and vocational) given to employees throughout
the company.

Factor 2. Quality data and reporting

Var63 Extent to which quality data are available to managers and supervisors.
Var40 Technical assistance to improve the quality and responsiveness of suppliers.
IJQRM Var46 Co-ordination among affected departments in the product/service development process.
19,5 Var39 Use of supplier rating system.
Var61 Extent to which quality data (cost of quality, defects, errors, scrap, etc.) are used as tools
to manage quality.
Var62 Extent to which quality data are available to employees.
Var21 Training in the ``total quality concept''.
566
Var64 Extent to which quality data, control charts, etc. are displayed at employee work
stations.
Var43 Responsibility assumed by purchasing department for the quality of incoming product/
services.

Factor 3. Management commitment

Var2 Acceptance of responsibilities for quality by department heads.
Var4 Degree of participation by major department heads in the quality improvement process.
Var1 Top management assumes responsibilities for quality performance.
Var3 Top management supports long-term quality improvement process.
Var5 Importance attached to quality by the top management in relation to cost and schedule
objectives.
Var13 Quality department accesses to top management.

Factor 4. Customer satisfaction orientation

Var71 Benchmarking of direct competitors' products and processes.
Var52 Use of acceptance sampling to accept/reject lots of batches of work.
Var53 Use of statistical control charts to control processes.

Factor 5. Role of the quality department

Var16 Effectiveness of the quality department in improving quality.
Var9 Degree to which the top management considers quality improvement as a way to
increase profits.
Var38 Suppliers are selected based on quality instead of price or schedule.

Factor 6. Communication to improve quality

Var59 Clarity of work or process instructions given to employees.
Var17 Effectiveness of quality awareness measures among employees.

Factor 7. Continuous improvement

Var33 Review of quality issues in top management meetings.
Var51 Implementation of strategies focused on quality.