Total quality management in UK service organisations: some key findings from a survey

Total quality management (TQM) is an integrative management philosophy aimed at continuously improving the performance of products, processes and services to achieve and surpass customer expectations. In this paper, the TQM practices in the UK service industry are analysed, based on a survey of 25 service companies. The results presented here are focused on 11 critical factors of quality management: customer focus, continuous improvement, teamwork and involvement, top management commitment and recognition, training and development, quality systems and policies, supervisory leadership, communication within the company, supplier partnership or supplier management, measurement and feedback and cultural change. It was found that customer focus is the most successful driven factor for TQM programs in UK service organisations. Moreover, supplier partnership or supplier management is the least important factor.