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Analysis of Knowledge Management and Total Quality Management

Analysis
Analysis of Knowledge
of Knowledge
Application Management
into Tunisian and
Smalland
Management Total
andTotal Quality
Medium Management
Enterprises
Quality Management
Application into
Application into Tunisian
Tunisian Small
Small and
and Medium
Medium Enterprises
Enterprises
F. Lehyani*, M.A. Keskes** A. Zouari ***
F. Lehyani*, M.A.
M.A. Keskes** A.
A. Zouari ***
* University of Sfax, HigherF. Lehyani*,
Institute Keskes**
of Industrial Management,Zouari
OLID***Laboratory, El-Ons city, 3021
** University Sfax, Tunisia, (Tel: +216.53.986.995; e-mail: fatma.lehyani@isgis.usf.tn).
University of Sfax, Higher Institute of Industrial Management, OLID Laboratory,
of Sfax, Higher Institute of Industrial Management, OLID Laboratory, El-Ons
El-Ons city,
city, 3021
3021
Sfax,
**Sfax, Tunisia,
Tunisia,
Icube, (Tel: +216.53.986.995;
(Tel: of
University +216.53.986.995;
Strasbourg, INSA,e-mail:
e-mail: fatma.lehyani@isgis.usf.tn).
fatma.lehyani@isgis.usf.tn).
24 Boulevard de la Victoire, 67000
Strasbourg,
** Icube,
Icube, France,
University (e-mail: mohamed-amir.keskes@icube.unistra.fr)
of Strasbourg,
Strasbourg, INSA, 2424 Boulevard
Boulevard dede la
la Victoire,
Victoire, 67000
67000
** University of INSA,
Strasbourg,
*** University ofStrasbourg,
Sfax, Higher France,
France, (e-mail:
(e-mail:
Institute mohamed-amir.keskes@icube.unistra.fr)
mohamed-amir.keskes@icube.unistra.fr)
of Industrial Management, OLID Laboratory, El-Ons city, 3021
*** University
University ofof Sfax, Sfax,
Sfax, Higher Tunisia,
Higher Institute
Institute of (e-mail:
of Industrialala.zouari@isgis.usf.tn)}
Industrial Management,
Management, OLIDOLID Laboratory, El-Ons city,
Laboratory, El-Ons city, 3021
3021
***
Sfax, Tunisia,
Sfax, Tunisia, (e-mail:
(e-mail: ala.zouari@isgis.usf.tn)}
ala.zouari@isgis.usf.tn)}
Abstract: The present study investigated Knowledge Management (KM) and Total Quality Management
(TQM)
Abstract:application
The presentin Tunisian
present Small andKnowledge
study investigated
investigated Medium Enterprises
Management (SMEs).
(KM) and It allows
and identifying
Total Quality
Quality the most
Management
Abstract: The study Knowledge Management (KM) Total Management
applied KM Elements
(TQM) application
application in and TQM
in Tunisian
Tunisian SmallPractices
Small and in
and Mediumdifferent industrial
Medium Enterprises sectors.
Enterprises (SMEs).
(SMEs). It This article
It allows is
allows identifyingbased
identifying the onmost
the 206
(TQM) most
responses
applied KMthatElements
were collected
and and analyzed
TQM Practices byinSPSS software.
different Factorsectors.
industrial analysisThis
andarticle
independence
is basedtest
on were
206
applied KM Elements and TQM Practices in different industrial sectors. This article is based on 206
employed
responses to recognize
that were the and
collected study’s results.
analyzed by The software.
SPSS results revealed
Factor that theandmost
analysis applied KME
independence test are
were
responses that were collected and analyzed by SPSS software. Factor analysis and independence test were
“Knowledge
employed to Application”
recognize andstudy’s
the “Knowledge
results. Acquisition”
The results and the most
revealed thatapplied
the TQMP
most is “Continuous
applied KME are
employed to recognize the study’s results. The results revealed that the most applied KME are
improvement”.
“Knowledge This workand
Application” is one of the first
“Knowledge studies to
Acquisition” anddeal
the specifically
most applied and
TQMP in detail
is with the
“Continuous
“Knowledge Application” and “Knowledge Acquisition” and the most applied TQMP is “Continuous
implementation
improvement”. of ThisKMwork
and TQM.
is one
one ofof the
the first
first studies
studies toto deal
deal specifically
specifically and
and in in detail
detail with
with the
the
improvement”. This work is
implementation
© 2022, IFAC of KM and
implementation of KM and TQM. TQM.
(International Federation of Automatic Control) Hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights
reserved.
Copyright
©
© 2022, © 2022(International
2022, IFAC
IFAC (International This
The Authors. Federation
Federation of access
is an open
of Automatic
Automatic Control) CC BY-NC-ND
under theHosting
articleControl) Hosting licenseLtd.
by Elsevier
by Elsevier Ltd. All
All rights
rights
(https://creativecommons.org
reserved.
Keywords:
reserved. Total Quality /licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Management, Knowledge Management, TQM practices, KM elements, Tunisian
Small and Medium
Keywords: Enterprises
Keywords: Total
Total Quality
Quality Management,
Management, Knowledge
Knowledge Management,
Management, TQM TQM practices,
practices, KM
KM elements,
elements, Tunisian
Tunisian
Small and Medium Enterprises
Small and Medium Enterprises

implementation on the organization’s customer satisfaction

1. INTRODUCTION
and performance,on
implementation in the
Four- and five-star hotels.
organization’s customer satisfaction
satisfaction
1. INTRODUCTION implementation on the organization’s customer
In the last decade, a 1.
lotINTRODUCTION
of efforts have been made to integrate and performance, in Four- and five-star
five-star hotels.
hotels.
and performance, in Four- and
This work is structured as follows: in section 2, background
KM theand
In the TQM notions
last decade,
decade, in Tunisian SMEs. madeThe lack of
In last aa lot
lot of
of efforts
efforts have been
have been made to integrate
to integrate
of
ThisTQM
worknotion and practices,
is structured
structured KM concept
as follows:
follows: and2,elements
in section
section background are
managers’
KM and awareness,
TQM notions the inlack of training,
Tunisian SMEs. the The
lack lack
of new of This work is as in 2, background
KM and TQM notions in Tunisian SMEs. The lack of presented.
of TQM In section
notion and 3, our research
practices, KM methodology
concept and is clarified.
elements are
technologies
managers’ use, etc.thewere
awareness, lack among
of the major
training, the lackobstacles
of new of TQM notion and practices, KM concept and elements are
managers’ awareness, the lack of training, the lack of new In section In
presented. 4, section
surveyed3, companies’
our research profiles and data
methodology is results
clarified.
encountered
technologies use, by etc.
use, thesewere companies.
among the the majorDespiteobstacles
major these presented. In section 3, our research methodology is clarified.
technologies etc. were among obstacles are provided.
In section
section 4, After results
surveyed discussion,
companies’ a conclusion
profiles and data
datais offered
results
circumstances,
encountered Tunisian
by SMEscompanies.
these have sought toDespite be competitive
these In 4, surveyed companies’ profiles and results
encountered by these companies. Despite these in
arethe last section.
provided. After results discussion, a conclusion is offered
on the international
circumstances, market
Tunisian SMEsby setting
have up quality
sought to be management
competitive are provided. After results discussion, a conclusion is offered
circumstances, Tunisian SMEs have sought to be competitive in the
the last
last section.
section.
systems
on the and callingmarket
the international
international on experts to manage
by setting
setting up quality
qualitytheirmanagement
knowledge in 2. BACKGROUND
on market by up management
effectively.
systems and In this
and calling way,
calling on some
on experts TQM
experts to and
to manage KM
manage their principles
their knowledgewere
knowledge
systems 2. BACKGROUND
2.
2.1 Total Quality ManagementBACKGROUND
known and acquired
effectively. In this in some
way, some companies.
TQM and KM principles were
effectively. In this way, some TQM and KM principles were
known
known and acquired in some companies. 2.1 Total
2.1 Total Quality
According Quality Management
to YuManagement
et al. (2020), TQM is the application of
Severaland acquired inhave
researchers someshown
companies.that KM has a strong
relationship with TQM which can produce quantitative
According
important methods
to Yu and(2020),
et al.
al. human TQM resources thethat
is the improve all
application of
Several researchers have
Several researchers have shown that shown that KM KM has aa results
has strong
According to Yu et
strong (2020), TQM is application of
(Marchiori and Mendes, 2020).can According toimportantprocesses
quantitative
Ibrahim (2019), within
methodsan organization
and human and exceed that
resources both improve
current and all
relationship with TQM which produce
relationship with TQM which can produce important results results
quantitative methods and human resources that improve all
KM is a systematic management process of future customer
processes within an needs.
an For Marchiori
organization and both
and exceed
exceed Mendes (2020),
current and
(Marchiori
(Marchiori and Mendes,
and Mendes, 2020). According
2020). According to vital
to Ibrahim
Ibrahim
knowledge
(2019),
processes
(2019), within organization and both current and
that is associated with the processes of creation, TQM
future is a holistic
customer
collection, needs. management
For Marchiori approach,
and Mendesincreasingly
(2020),
KM a systematic management process
KM is a systematic management process of vital knowledge of vital knowledge
future customer needs. For Marchiori and Mendes (2020),
dissemination, etc.withTherefore, the knowledge applied
TQM is is toaa holistic
continuous
holistic improvement
management of organizational
approach, increasingly
that is
that is associated
associated with thethe processes
processes of creation, offered
of creation, by
collection,
TQM
collection, management approach, increasingly
employees helps organizational decision makers processes
applied
to planand
to focused
continuous on attending
improvement to clients’
of needs, a long-
organizational
dissemination, etc.
dissemination, etc. Therefore,
Therefore, the the knowledge
knowledge offered offered by by
applied to continuous improvement of organizational
term
processesperspective,focusedemployee
and focused attendinginvolvement,
on attending to clients’
clients’ needs,
needs,teamwork,
necessary
employees strategies
employees helps
and effectivedecision
helps organizational
organizational policiesmakers
decision makers
to achieve
to plan
processes
to
an
planand on to aa long-
long-
acceptable level of TQM implementation. redesigning
term processes employee
perspective, and relationships with suppliers.
involvement, Thus,
teamwork,
necessary strategies and effective policies
necessary strategies and effective policies to achieve an to achieve an
term perspective, employee involvement, teamwork,
TQM ensures
redesigning that managers
processes adopts quality
and relationships
relationships withstrategies,
suppliers.focuses
Thus,
acceptable
acceptable level of TQM
levelHonarpour implementation.
of TQM implementation. redesigning processes and with suppliers. Thus,
In this regard, et al. (2018) have developed the on
TQM prevention
ensures andmanagers
that has an adopts
important
qualityengine to improve
strategies, focuses
TQM ensures that managers adopts quality strategies, focuses
effect
In this of KM and
regard, TQM implementation
Honarpour et al.
al. (2018)
(2018) havehaveon developed
innovation the
performance in
on prevention
prevention (TokeandandhasKalpande, 2020). engine to improve
an important
important
In this regard, Honarpour et developed the
on and has an engine to improve
R&D
effect unit
of managers
KM and in Malaysia.
TQM In the sameoncountry,
implementation exactly
innovation
performance in (Toke and Kalpande, 2020).
effect of KM and TQM implementation on innovation in performance
If organizations (Tokedo and
not Kalpande,
trust the TQM,2020). resources invested in
in
R&Dsmall,
unit medium
managers andin large enterprises
Malaysia. In the in thecountry,
same manufacturing
exactly
R&D unit managers in Malaysia. In the same country, exactly its implementation
If organizations
organizations do will
not be lost
trust the(Durairatnam
TQM, resources et al. invested
resources 2020). So, in
and service
in small,
small, sectors,and
medium Ooilarge
(2014) has proved
enterprises thatmanufacturing
in the
the the TQM is a
If do not trust the TQM, invested in
in medium and large enterprises in manufacturing
companies
its are
implementation led to
willimplement
be lost TQM
(Durairatnampractices
et al. in the true
2020). So,
facilitator
and service for improving
service sectors,
sectors, Ooi KM.
Ooi (2014) In
(2014) has Bali,
has proved Fatchur
proved thatthat theandTQM
the Solimun
is aa
its implementation will be lost (Durairatnam et al. 2020). So,
and TQM is
spirit (Niaziareet led
companies al. to
2019). As a result,
implement to implement
TQM practices
practices theTQM
in the true
(2014)
facilitator have
for tested the
improving KM. effect
In Bali, ofFatchur
TQM-based and KM
Solimun
companies are led to implement TQM in true
facilitator for improving KM. In Bali, Fatchur and Solimun spirit (Niazi et al. 2019). As a result, to implement TQM
(2014) have have tested
tested the the effect
effect of of TQM-based
TQM-based KM KM
spirit (Niazi et al. 2019). As a result, to implement TQM
2405-8963 Copyright © 2022 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.
(2014)
Peer review under responsibility of International Federation of Automatic Control.
10.1016/j.ifacol.2022.10.009
 F. Lehyani et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 55-10 (2022) 2048–2053 2049

approach, management commitment, training and continuing was carried out by academic and non-academic experts who
education, use of empowerment and teamwork and adequate checked questions nature, questionnaire complexity, response
attention to internal and external customers are necessary time required, etc. The instrument has a Cronbach’s Alpha of
(Chen et al. 2020). 0.986 which is considered reliable by comparing it with
similar studies (Garcia, 2011; Azizi et al. 2016). Indeed,
For years, TQM Practices (TQMP) have attracted the survey questions were coded to be processed by “SPSS”
attention of several companies and researchers from various software version 24. Then, factor analysis method and
industrial fields. These practices have been implemented by independence test are employed.
companies interested in promoting their survival prospects by
integrating quality and continuous improvement into their 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
strategic priorities. Indeed, these practices are used to follow
4.1 Descriptive analysis
a set of management concepts and tools aimed at involving
managers and employees in the achievement of continuous It is noticed that main participated cities in our research are
performance improvement (Kahreh et al. 2014). According to "Sfax" with 37.4% and "Tunis" with 17%. Afterwards, we
Lehyani et al. (2018), the most important practices among 62 found "Nabeul" with 7.3%, "Ben Arous" and "Sousse" with
identified are: leadership, customer focus, human resource 4.9%, "Ariana" and "Mahdia" with 4.4%, etc. The sample
management, process management, information analysis and seems realistic; knowing that Big Tunis (Tunis, Ariana, Ben
continuous improvement. Arous and Manouba) and Sfax are the most populated and
industrialized cities in Tunisia.
2.2 Knowledge Management
Unfortunately, there are towns that did not participate in our
Knowledge Management (KM) is the capability of an
survey. However, companies located in “Beja”, “Jendouba”,
organization to create, capture, apply and develop
“Gafsa”, “Kairouan”, “Sidi Bouzid” and “Tataouine” have
organizational and people knowledge and to disseminate it
participated with 2 or less response. All of these cities are
throughout the organization (Al Shraah et al. 2021).
known for their agricultural activities and are located in
According to Abbas and Sağsan (2019), KM is a process by
mountainous or desert areas. Moreover, their infrastructure is
which organizations ensure that their employees have the
weak and they are often considered as grey or marginalized
right information in the right format at the right time.
areas in the Tunisian geopolitics (north-west and south-west
Soliman et al. (2019) consider that KM is a summative and
of Tunisia). The remaining cities are coastal cities and adopt
systematic procedures to coordinate and improve an
several modes of transport. Moreover, they are whether close
organization’s capacity to create, store, retrieve, use and
to big towns (Big Tunis, Sfax and Sousse) or they have their
share knowledge, practical information and expertise of
own airport and seaport. In order to facilitate Industrial fields'
individuals, teams and units within the organization in order
distribution, we have opted to group together the companies
to achieve organizational objectives.
that provide the same product / service in the same domain.
However, Masa’deh et al. (2019) believe that KM is a vital For example: banks; hotels; trade; inspection, etc. are
strategic asset in organizations, particularly in a highly assembled in the “Service” area, Figure 1.
competitive environment, as it can help organizations use
new methods of knowledge acquisition and management. In
this context, Nassoura (2020) stated that the objective of KM
is to showcase the best knowledge at the right time and allow
the individual to choose the best options available.
Several researchers have dealt with the theme of the key
factors of KM. These researchers used different nominations
for these factors such as knowledge production (Roijen et al.
2017), knowledge capture (Kuznetsov et al. 2017),
knowledge dissemination (Prinsloo et al. 2017), accumulation
of knowledge (Trusson et al. 2017), etc. According to
Lehyani and Zouari (2016), the five most frequently cited
KM Elements (KME), in the scientific literature, are:
knowledge acquisition, knowledge application, knowledge
creation, knowledge sharing/transfer and knowledge
capitalization.
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Figure 1: Industrial fields' distribution

This work is based on a survey designed to study KM and
TQM application in Tunisian SMEs. This survey can be
replicable for all SMEs in the world. It was distributed by
direct contact and by sending emails. It consists of 33
questions with different types (closed and semi-closed) where
the likert scale from 1 to 5 was used. Questionnaire validation
In summary, we have three major business fields that exceed
10% rate, which are: “Service”, “Agri-Food” and
“Manufacturing”. The results seem reasonable as the
Tunisian industrial fabric is mainly based on those fields. In
the second range, the industrial fields which have a rate
between 4 and 8% are “Construction”, “Electric &
2050 F. Lehyani et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 55-10 (2022) 2048–2053

Electronic”, “Petrochemical”, “Transportation & “Textile” sectors apply TQM. While only SMEs in the
Distribution”, “Textile”, etc. Furthermore, in the sample “Construction” field apply TQM with a rate between 80 and
studied, four sizes of companies were identified based on 90%. Otherwise, for TQM application, between 70 and 80%
employees’ number. However, respondents’ functions are of SMEs in “Electric & Electronic”, “Telecommunication”,
diversified and the majority was managers. “Automotive” and “Service” domains have responded “Yes”.
Nevertheless, SMEs in the “Transportation & Distribution”
4.2 KM and TQM application in Tunisians SMEs and “Materials” fields have responded equally with 66.7%.
According to the survey results, most of the surveyed Besides that, those in “Training” and “Healthcare” areas have
companies generally adopted the KM and TQM principles, also an equal rate with 50%. As noted in KM application,
with ratios of 83% and 82% respectively. This shows that those four fields need more attention and awareness.
managers are really aware of the importance of these two
concepts that can improve the performance of their
companies. However, almost 75% of Tunisian SMEs, which
have more than 250 employees, implement KM and TQM
simultaneously. This reflects that their managers have
transmitted their awareness of KM and TQM utility to their
employees through leadership, sensitization and training.
Besides, some companies have applied only one concept,
either the KM with a rate of 8.3% or the TQM with a rate of
7.3%. Nevertheless, almost 10% of surveyed companies
don’t apply nor KM or TQM in their management policies.
This may be due to a limited number of employees or a lack
of financial and/or non-financial resources such as
organizational culture, staff behavior, non-awareness of
Figure 3: TQM application according to industrial activity field
managers, etc.
4.2.1 KM application according to industrial activity fields 4.2.3 KM and TQM simultaneous application in accordance
with industrial activities
Regarding KM application, companies’ responses were
different from field to another. Based on Figure 2, it is Figure 4 insights that almost all Tunisian SMEs in various
noticed that more than 90% of companies in industrial activities have similar rates of KM and TQM
“Telecommunication”, “Textile”, “Agri-food” and practices commonly application. It is found that the major
“Construction” sectors have answered “Yes”. However, part of SMC’s in the different areas apply KM and TQM
“Manufacturing”, “Automotive”, “Transport & Distribution” commonly with similar rates (plus or minus 10%) in their
and “Petrochemical” domains apply KM with a rate between management strategies.
80 and 90%. Therefore, we conclude that more than 70% of
Tunisian SMEs applies KM in their management practice.
Unfortunately, almost 50% of SMEs in "Healthcare" and
"Materials" sectors and only 33% in "Training" field use KM
in their activities. Hence, it is needed more awareness and
responsiveness for managers of those companies concerning
the positive impact of KM application.

Figure 4: KM and TQM application according to industrial

activities

These areas are: Textile (100-92%), Manufacturing (89-

Figure 2: KM application according to industrial activity field
4.2.2 TQM application depending on industrial activity fields
As shown in figure 3, more than 90% of SMEs in
“Petrochemical”, “Manufacturing”, “Agri-food” and
96%), Agri-food (94%), Construction (94-88%), Automotive
(82-73%), Electric & Electronic (79%), Service (74-72%)
and Healthcare (50%). It is noted that the greater number of
them have a manufacturing character in their activities.
However, areas where the similarity error exceeds 10% are:
Petrochemical (83-100%), Telecommunication (100-75%),
Transport & Distribution (83-67%), Materials (56-67%) and
Training (33-50%). It is notable that the better part of these
domains has service-based activities. In fact, the
 F. Lehyani et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 55-10 (2022) 2048–2053 2051

implementation of KM and TQM and their practices facilitate Based on the 206 responses obtained, it is remarkable that the
migration to industry 4.0 within SMEs. less commonly applied elements are “Knowledge
Capitalization” with a rate of 52% and “Knowledge
4.3 Dispersion of industrial activities based on KM and TQM Creation” with a rate of 56%. However, the most KME often
application applied are “Knowledge Sharing/transfer” with 60%, then
According to khi-two independence test, the null hypothesis “Knowledge Application” and “Knowledge Acquisition”
of independence is rejected (p=0.02<5%). There is a with the same rate of 58%, see figure 6.
dependency relationship between activity field and KM-TQM
application. To study the nature of this dependence,
Confirmatory Factorial Analysis (CFA) will be applied.
Figure 5 shows the dispersion of activity fields according to
KM and TQM application. Thus, the key to variables is as
follows: YY (KM and TQM are applied); YN (KM is applied
and TQM is not applied); NY (KM is not applied and TQM is
applied); NN (KM and TQM are not applied).

Figure 6: KM elements application in Tunisian SMEs

4.5 TQM practices application in Tunisian SMEs

Figure 5: Dispersion of activity field according to KM and TQM
application
The results show that the most commonly TQM practices
applied in Tunisian SMEs are “Continuous improvement”
with a rate of 72%, then, “Leadership”, “Customer focus”,
“Process management” and “HRM” with respective rates of
69, 68, 66 and 65%. However, the less TQM practice often
applied is “Information analysis” with a rate of 24%, but it is
moderately applied with a rate of 41%, see figure 7. This is
due to the lack of new technologies use like information
system and disruption of decisions at strategic levels
(Marchiori and Mendes, 2020).

All modalities are well represented with the exception of the

"Petrochemical" modality industry. As a result of AFC
application, Figure 3, it can be noted that “Agri-food”,
“Construction”, “Electric & Electronic” and “Manufacturing”
domains are closest to “YY” modality, indicating that
companies belonging to these areas applied TQM and KM
simultaneously. The fields closest to the «YN» modality are:
“Transport & Distribution” and “Telecommunication”
indicating that companies belonging to these sectors tend to
apply KM and not TQM. On the other hand, it can be seen
that most domains are positioned away from the “NY”
modality indicating that companies applying TQM without
Figure 7: TQM practices application in Tunisian SMEs
KM are rare.
However, companies in the “Training” field tend to not apply 4.6 KM elements application regarding industrial fields
both KM and TQM. The schema is not clear for the “Health” To analyze the correlation between KME application
modality since the “Health” point is positioned far from the frequency and industrial domains, we have classified
four KM/TQM modalities. This ambiguity indicates that responses considering their activity sectors. In addition, to
institutions in the “Health” area behave differently from each emerge the application importance of KME, we have
other i.e., some organizations are aware of the importance of considered only those who use them commonly. For KME
KM and/or TQM while others are not applying them. application rates, the results show that industrial domains can
be divided into 3 broad categories. In the first category, it
4.4 KM elements application in Tunisian SMEs
exists a few sectors that have used often some KME with a
In the questionnaire, we have asked Tunisian SMEs managers rate above 70%. Indeed, for the SMEs of the «Materials»
to classify how they apply KME and TQMP in their sector, all KME are often applied to more than 70%, except
management approach, either often or moderately, or rarely. «Application» element which has a rate of 66.67%.
2052 F. Lehyani et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 55-10 (2022) 2048–2053
Besides, in “Textile” field only “knowledge creation” and
“knowledge acquisition” have rates under 70% and equal to
66.67% for both. In the same trend, only “knowledge
acquisition” and “knowledge application” have a rate of
application equal to 66.67% in “Training” sector. However,
SMEs in the above-cited domains can be considered as the
most satisfying against KME application. Hence, they just
need to plan a continuous improvement process to overcome
their lack and upgrade KME application rates.
However, in the second category, SMEs in the
“Telecommunication” sector apply two elements of KM
commonly with a rate of more than 70% which are
“knowledge application” and “knowledge transfer/sharing”.
They also apply the “knowledge acquisition” element with a
rate of 62.5% but unfortunately, the “knowledge creation”
and “knowledge capitalization” elements rate doesn’t exceed
50%. Also, in the “Construction” field only the “knowledge
application” element has a rate of more than 70%, unlike
other elements that have rates between 50 and 62.5%.
Likewise, the “Industrial” sector applying KME with a rate
under 70% but they have no more than two elements that
having a rate of less than 50% which can be added to this
category; such as “Agri-food”, “Manufacturing”, “Electric &
Electronic” and “Service”. As a result, SMEs managers in
those 6 fields must plan some sensitizations and training
actions for their employees and should make more effort to
ensure continuous improvement in the application of all
KME.
4.7 TQM practices application considering industrial fields
To study the application variation of TQMP, the same
approach used to KM is applied. So, results demonstrate that
“Information analysis” is commonly applied less than 50%.
Consequently, managers should make more attention to this
practice and investigate its main barriers. On the other hand,
in the first category, all TQMP often applied are more than
70% in the “Materials” and “Agri-food” sector except
“Information analysis”. As well, in the “Training” field only
“Leadership” has 66.67%. In the same trend, only “Customer
focus” and “HRM” have a rate of 66.67% in SMEs of the
“Textile” sector. In addition, “Telecommunication” applies
three TQMP commonly with a rate of more than 70% and
two practices such as “Customer focus” and “Process
management” with a rate of 62.5%. Companies belonging to
the “Telecommunication” sector can be considered as the
most satisfying for TQMP application.
5. CONCLUSIONS
Our paper serves to give the academic and the top
management of the SME an overview of the situation of KM
and TQM application in Tunisian companies in order to
understand the reality and to strengthen these approaches to
support the migration to Industry 4.0. Unfortunately, some
Tunisian SMEs apply KM and TQM without knowing their
added values or their contributions to improving the working
environment of their employees. In this context, our work
was introduced by a literature review on KM and TQM
concepts and their effects on companies’ performance. In this
part, we have identified the six TQMP, namely: leadership,
customer focus, HRM, process management, information
analysis and continuous improvement. In addition, the five
KME were mentioned which are knowledge creation,
knowledge application, knowledge acquisition, knowledge
capitalization and knowledge sharing/ transfer.
The main results of our work proved that "Sfax", "Tunis" and
"Nabeul" are the most aware cities of KM and TQM
application. While, "Agri-food", "Service" and
"Manufacturing" are the most aware industrial field of KM
and TQM application. The results also revealed that the most
applied KME in the interviewed companies are “Knowledge
Application” and “Knowledge Acquisition” and the most
applied TQM practice is “Continuous improvement”. In
addition, we over the line that managers of “Healthcare” field
need to work hard to improve KM and TQM application.
Nevertheless, many suggestions are given to SMEs managers
in studying domains according to the "often" application rate
of TQMP and KME. Finally, the results found identify areas
of activity that require more attention and awareness of the
importance of KM and TQM application by managers.
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