The impact of design management and process management on quality: an empirical investigation

Abstract Design management and process management are two important elements of total quality management (TQM) implementation. They are drastically different in their targets of improvement, visibility, and techniques. In this paper, we establish a framework for identifying the synergistic linkages of design and process management to the operational quality outcomes during the manufacturing process (internal quality) and upon the field usage of the products (external quality). Through a study of quality practices in 418 manufacturing plants from multiple industries, we empirically demonstrate that both design and process management efforts have an equal positive impact on internal quality outcomes such as scrap, rework, defects, performance, and external quality outcomes such as complaints, warranty, litigation, market share. A detailed contingency analysis shows that the proposed model of synergies between design and process management holds true for large and small firms; for firms with different levels of TQM experience; and in different industries with varying levels of competition, logistical complexity of production, or production process characteristics. Finally, the results also suggest that organizational learning enables mature TQM firms to implement both design and process efforts more rigorously and their synergy helps these firms to attain better quality outcomes. These findings indicate that, to attain superior quality outcomes, firms need to balance their design and process management efforts and persevere with long‐term implementation of these efforts. Because the study spans all of the manufacturing sectors (SIC 20 through 39), these conclusions should help firms in any industry revisit their priorities in terms of the relative efforts in design management and process management.