ISSN 1753-9439 Paper 11 Vol 1 No 1 Pages 276 – 302
TQM and Organisation Learning: A Conceptual and Field Study of European Companies
This paper provides a conceptual link between total quality management (TQM) and organisation learning. A study of ten notable authors in the TQM field is conducted to identify and map out eighteen elements relevant to TQM. Where TQM is recognised as the baseline (first wave of the quality movement), a further literature review suggests that many organisational learning elements are not addressed in the classical TQM literature. A conceptual framework comprising twenty eight elements is developed to map out a progressive relationship between key TQM and organisation learning drivers. We have further identified five financial and fourteen non-financial factors to measure output performance. We have employed well known systems engineering dimensions, namely, technology, organisation and people to further catagorised these key drivers and output measures. Based on conceptual model, a questionnaire survey is designed and implemented in order to capture a snapshot of European Companies' efforts to become a learning organisation. Data collected from twenty six companies reveal that the main differentiating factors between TQM and learning companies are the type of learning tools in use and the information system in place. Also learning companies significantly outperform the first wave TQM companies against the non-financial performance measures. Our analyses reveal that many European companies had a misconception that they were well set to become a learning organisation. In fact only four companies could be recognised as a learning organisation. Twelve companies were found to be in the intermediate stage between TQM and learning organisation. Nine of the surveyed companies were still in the first wave of quality and had not yet embarked on a journey to become a learning organisation. We argue that the framework presented is based on sound academic underpinning and could guide TQM companies to benchmark their efforts on a journey to become a learning organisation.
Keywords: TQM, organisational learning, competence development, learning loops, systems engineering