Total quality management (TQM) is seen as the total development of all operations of a company in order to achieve customer satisfaction and profitable business. The long-term goal is to maintain and improve competitiveness.
Steel besides metal is referred to as the backbone of human civilization, as it has been serving the mankind for its social, cultural, political and economic needs. In modern times, it is considered to be crucial for the development of any economy. Steel is shining up to the extent that any country’s socio-economic development and standard of living is also determined by its per-capita consumption. According to the World Steel Association, the global steel demand is estimated to realize 3000 million tons in 2025.
Pakistan is surviving at risk of giving low outputs to steel production as an economic contribution to the country. Pakistan’s steel market is known as one of the biggest steel markets in continent Asia. Implementing Total Quality Management into the steel industry is worth giving to the country for exporting its output products to various countries.
After all, the issue in Pakistan’s steel industry is not the shortage of resources, rich scientific and technical manpower but quenching the thirst for assistance and nourishment of firms through understanding and implementing TQM and allowing them to gain the sustainable competitive advantage as that of the developed economies. The following needs of Pakistan’s Steel Industry are as follows:
1. Upgrade the total quality aspect of iron and steel firms in terms of organizational effectiveness so as to improve the economy by meeting the growing demands of domestic and global markets, domestic consumption and exports.
2. Contribute to the knowledge of TQM effectiveness.
The scope of the study encompassed the working steel industry, iron and steel firms, Organizational Effectiveness, Total Quality Management and its implementation. Going further the causal relationship between TQM implementation and customer-oriented performance was measured by using established models and theories apart from scaling techniques. The study mainly focuses on two generics: To perceive the TQM perspective of Pakistan’s Iron and steel industry, and to examine the TQM impact on customer-oriented performance at working iron and steel firms.
The study found out that TQM implementation has positive effects on overall business performance and not necessarily all TQM elements to be present to ensure the success of the TQM programs and overall business performance.
Total quality management is also known as Quality Improvement (QI), Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), Quality Management (QM) and Total Quality Control (TQC).
It is defined as “management philosophy concerned with people and work processes that focuses on customer satisfaction and improves organizational performance.”
Quality is defined in various ways. In some instances, it is considered as the superiority of excellence. The American Society Quality (ASQ) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) define quality as “the totality of features of care or service that bears on its ability to satisfy given needs”
TQM is based on principles mainly continues quality improvement, customer focus, committed leadership, effective employee support, and teamwork.
Zhihai Zhang investigated the effects of TQM implementation on overall business performance in Chinese manufacturing firms and obtained a TQM implementation model for Chinese manufacturing firms. The study was carried out by following: Developing TQM implementation constructs and TQM practices, developing overall business performance constructs, and designing evaluation models, to measure the extent of TQM implementation.
TQM practices and impact of TQM implementation on overall business performance. The study found out that TQM implementation has positive effects on overall business performance and not necessarily all TQM elements to be present to ensure the success of the TQM programs and overall business performance.(Zhang, 1993).
ShivrajKumar tried to determine the extent to which TQM and organizational effectiveness are correlated to each other and expounded how TQM impacts various phases of business planning. The study considered very general constructs of TQM implementation and organizational effectiveness in its way. TQM constructs encompass commitment, culture, continuous improvement, cooperation, customer focus and control. As per their nature, some do not confirm the characteristics of the construct.(Kumar, 2014).
Saraph et al. conducted a study on “An Instrument for Measuring the Critical Factors of Quality Management”. They explored, examined and developed eight CSFs of quality management referring to twenty-two manufacturing and service organizations in the USA.(Saraph, 1989).
Bayazit (2003) conducted a study on “Total quality management practices in Turkish manufacturing organizations”. He expounded that upper management support, employee involvement and commitment, customer focus, quality education and training, teamwork and use of statistical techniques are the most critical factors for successful TQM implementation in Turkish manufacturing organizations.(Bayazit, 2003).
TQM prescribes a series of ways for organizations to accomplish this, with the pathway to successful continuous improvement centered on the use of strategy, data and effective communication to instill a discipline of quality into the organization’s culture and processes.
More specifically, TQM puts a spotlight on the processes that organizations use to produce their products, and it calls for organizations to define those processes, continuously monitor and measure their performance, and use that performance data to drive improvements. Furthermore, it calls for all employees, as well as all organizational departments, to be part of this process.
TQM’s objectives are to eliminate waste of the steel industry and increase efficiencies by ensuring that the production process of the organization’s finished products.
TQM is not confined to the production process and production & quality departments only; instead it is beyond all these. The employees of Pakistan’s iron and steel industry are aware of the holistic and strategic nature of TQM and most of the firms in the industry follow quality management practices, but with different natures. Among the contemporary TQM practices, Top management commitment and Employee empowerment are popular ones in the industry; but the firms have no idea of the impact of practices supplier partnership in quality management. Among the contemporary TQM tools and techniques, the firms still are fond of traditional tools such as to cause and effect diagram, quality circles; but the modern and advanced techniques such as quality function deployment, failure mode effect analysis are remote in their knowledge base. Impact of TQM Implementation on Customer-Oriented Performance helps to improvise organizational an effectiveness in terms of customer-oriented performance by increased customer satisfaction thereby increased customer base and ultimately enhances brand image and repeated purchase.