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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of total quality management (TQM) implementation on different dimensions of company performance. Design/methodology/approach The study investigates Canadian finalists (winners and certificates of merit) in the Total Quality category of the Canada Awards for Business Excellence. The data were collected either through in‐depth personal interviews or by mail/telephone using the questionnaire and then analyzed. Findings The data analysis confirmed the hypothesized positive impact of TQM on all investigated dimensions of company performance, i.e. employee relations (improved employee participation and morale), operating procedures (improved products and services quality, process and productivity, and reduced errors/defects), customer satisfaction (reduced number of customer complaints), and financial results (increased profitability). Research limitations/implications Small sample size limited the scope of statistical analysis. Also, the results of this study are only valid for TQM adopters and give an indication of what performance can be achieved by companies that undertake a successful TQM program. Practical implications The study provides useful insights into the performance improvement that can be achieved through TQM. Originality/value The study provides evidence on how different dimensions of performance are affected by TQM and gives insights into how long does it take to obtain these benefits.
Kumar et al. (Fri,) studied this question.