DOES TQM LEAD TO IMPROVEMENT IN QUALITY PERFORMANCE IN MANUFACTURING FIRMS? -SOME EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

Total Quality Management is a philosophy that involves everyone in an organization in a continual effort to improve quality and achieve customer satisfaction. There are two key philosophies in TQM. One is a never-ending push to improve and the other is a goal of customer satisfaction which involves meeting or exceeding customer expectations. This study makes an attempt to know the CSFs of TQM and its effect on quality performance, taking manufacturing facilities working in Gujarat. Primary data of the study are collected from 57 ISO 9001 certified facilities belonging to medium and large scale limited Indian companies in manufacturing sector. In this study CSFs of TQM are defined as independent variable and quality performance is defined as dependent variables. Findings show that process monitoring and control, factbased management, employee involvement and customer focus play role in improving quality performance of the organization.