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Publication date: 4 July 2024

Welington Norberto Carneiro, Octavio Ribeiro de Mendonça Neto, Paulo Afonso, Jose Carlos Tiomatsu Oyadomari and Ronaldo Gomes Dultra-de-Lima

This article aims to understand the challenges and key takeaways of implementing total quality management (TQM) in a virtual organisation.

156

Abstract

Purpose

This article aims to understand the challenges and key takeaways of implementing total quality management (TQM) in a virtual organisation.

Design/methodology/approach

An interventionist research (IVR) methodology combined with a qualitative critical event analysis was used to evaluate the challenges and concerns faced during the company’s adoption of TQM and understand the roles of the key players involved.

Findings

Standard process tools such as desktop procedures (DTP), focused teams, and service-level agreements (SLAs) were fundamental to implementing TQM in the company. These processes require the right leaders, but external agents may also be influential, acting as accelerators of change in adopting and using management practices in small companies. Indeed, the researcher acted as a problem solver, bringing innovative solutions to the firm using a hands-on iterative approach.

Practical implications

This research underscores the importance of critical success factors (CSF), such as employee engagement, training, and project management tools. These factors are not just important but crucial for the success of TQM in organisations seeking to adopt the industry’s best practices.

Originality/value

This study, conducted as a virtual IVR for TQM implementation, provides novel insights for practitioners and academics. It elucidates the pivotal role of some quality management tools in the journey towards TQM and the role of both internal and external critical players in the process, particularly in small virtual organisations based on innovative business models.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 30 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 4 May 2023

Welington Norberto Carneiro, Jose Carlos Tiomatsu Oyadomari, Paulo Afonso, Ronaldo Gomes Dultra-de-Lima and Octavio Ribeiro de Mendonça Neto

This paper seeks to understand kaizen in practice as it travels through time and space in the organisational setting.

371

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to understand kaizen in practice as it travels through time and space in the organisational setting.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative case study was carried out at a multinational company using mainly interviews for the data collection that were analysed from an actor-network theory (ANT) perspective.

Findings

This paper finds that the company deals with a series of paradoxes while managing the kaizen process. Efficiency and quality paradoxes are the basis for starting kaizen projects. Furthermore, intrinsic, and extrinsic motivation, emerge in these processes, and paradoxes relate to how spontaneous ideas emerge in a deliberated context of cost-saving objectives. The supply chain finance team coordinates kaizen projects with the collaboration of plant managers, promoting the paradox of autonomy and control. In addition, as kaizen mobilises and enrols the actors, some trials of strength emerge, showing actors who oppose the kaizen network and create competing networks that mutually exist in the firm.

Practical implications

This study presents valuable insights for professionals to successfully implement kaizen methodologies that take advantage of developing a network for problem-solving in organizations.

Originality/value

This study highlights the supply chain finance team's role in enrolling the actors within a network built by practitioners engaged in kaizen projects. Usually, engineers, quality, or manufacturing teams lead kaizen projects, and only occasionally, accounting and financial teams participate, including multidisciplinary teams.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. 31 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

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