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Identifying and prioritizing the barriers to TQM implementation in food industries using group best-worst method (a real-world case study)
Abstract
Purpose
In today’s age of globalization, every industry puts well-determined efforts toward surviving in the market. Industries are well aware of the fact that offering quality products and improving customer satisfaction is the strategic decision toward successful outcomes. During the recent years, food companies have undergone remarkable growth and development worldwide. In the Middle East, with a wide variety of demand and range of cultures, Iran is leading the food industries and possessed a top position of paramount importance. The present research aims to identify and prioritize barriers to implementing total quality management (TQM) in the Solico Food and Beverage Production Group (SFBPG) as a case study.
Design/methodology/approach
Firstly, an initial list of barriers is prepared based on a literature review. The identified barriers are then classified into four groups namely behavioral, technical-structural, human and cultural and strategic barriers based on the viewpoint of an expert team at a well-known food company. Secondly, the barriers are prioritized by adopting a special approach to multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) called the Group Best-Worst Method (GBWM).
Findings
The obtained results reveal that the most substantial barriers prohibiting the successful implementation of TQM are lack of top management commitment and participation (0.334), high organizational burnout rate (0.128), instability and frequent changes of senior managers (0.123).
Originality/value
In general, this research has ranked the barriers from the most important one to the least significant instance. Additionally, this can enable managers and practitioners in the food industry to make worthy decisions and suggest multiple solutions to cope with obstacles to the successful implementation of TQM.
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The emerging institutional concerns regarding the environmental crisis over the past decades have promoted theimplementation of green initiatives within the supply chain, aiming to reduce environmental harm whilemaintaining efficiency. This study employed the BWM from a double perspective, aiming to identify and rankinstitutional pressures for GSCM practice implementation and the importance of these practices for sustainableperformance in the Moroccan manufacturing industry. The study used purposive sampling to identify respondentswith supply chain management expertise. A survey was distributed to 124 potential respondents, resulting in 55responses. Data collection occurred between April and August 2022, with an effective response rate ofapproximately 38%. The results indicate that institutional pressure increases the likelihood of firms improvingtheir GSCM activities. Normative pressures are found to be the main influencing factor for businesses to implementGSCM practices, while mimetic pressures are the least important. However, certain GSCM practices, such as GP,ECO-D, and IEM, remain among the top three most affected by isomorphic pressures. The study also highlightsthe importance of certain GSCM practices, such as IEM, GP, and ECO-D, for firms' sustainable performance.Economic outcomes are perceived as the experts' priority, followed by environmental and social performance. Thisresearch provides a theoretical and practical foundation for decision-makers seeking to identify the pressuresaffecting the implementation of GSCM practices along with the activities that most likely contribute to improvingvarious aspects of sustainable performance.
The explosion of the digitisation of traditional industrial processes and procedures is consolidating a positive impact on modern society by offering a critical contribution to its economic development. In particular, the dairy sector consists of various processes, which are very demanding and thorough. Therefore, it is crucial to leverage modern automation tools and through-engineering solutions to increase efficiency and continuously meet challenging standards. Towards this end, an intelligent algorithm based on machine vision and artificial intelligence, which identifies dairy products within production lines, is presented in this work. Furthermore, to train and validate the model, the novel YogDATA dataset was created that includes yoghurt cups captured within a production line. Specifically, we evaluate two deep learning models (Mask R-CNN and YOLO v5.0) to recognise and detect each yoghurt cup in a production line to automate product packaging processes. According to our results, the performance precision of the two models is quite similar, fulfilling the identification requirement of Dairy 4.0 production systems.
As a conflict between two major agricultural powers, the Russia–Ukraine war has various negative socioeconomic impacts that are now being felt internationally and might worsen, notably, for global food security. If the war deepens, the food crisis will worsen, posing a challenge to many countries, especially those that rely on food imports, such as those in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Simultaneously, the war came at a bad time for global food markets because food prices were already high due to disruptions in the supply chain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, strong global demand, and poor harvests in some countries. Understanding how conflict-related disruptions in global food and fertilizer markets might affect price and availability is critical for understanding the overall impact on global food security. Further, four months into the war, its implications for food security suggest that this review is timely, urgent, and highly needed. Accordingly, this paper aims to investigate the Russia–Ukraine war’s direct and indirect impact on global food security. The paper highlights that the war resulted in immediate and far-reaching cascading consequences on global food security: Ukrainian exports have stopped, conscription and population displacement have caused labor shortages, access to fertilizers is restricted, and future harvests are uncertain. First, Ukraine’s export capacity has been hampered. Secondly, conscription and population displacement caused labor shortages. Thirdly, access to vital agricultural products such as fertilizers is also constrained. The war may delay spring planting and winter crop harvesting. Further, the war has indirect and cascading effects. Indeed, rising fertilizer costs may reduce their use and crop yields. Moreover, as seen during the 2007–2008 food crisis, export restrictions and speculation are driving up international prices and worsening the situation. Furthermore, the war triggered a panic buying movement at country and individual levels. Finally, the war may jeopardize the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), notably SDG 1 (No poverty), SDG 2 (Zero hunger), and DG 12 (Responsible consumption and production). However, the consequences of the war on food security are being exacerbated by a variety of underlying rigidities, vulnerabilities, and inefficiencies in global food systems. Accordingly, the transition toward healthy, equitable, and ecologically sustainable food systems must be strengthened by adopting urgent and long-term reforms and policies.
The best-worst method is a recent and promising highly-developed multi-criteria decision-making technique. However, the algorithm proposes a range of possible weights. To help decision-makers, we incorporate three different types of behaviour (i.e. balanced, risk-taking, and risk-averse) to select the best point for each weight. To this end, we develop three mathematical algorithms modelling the different behaviours. An example is presented to illustrate the behaviour of each algorithm. The different behaviours may lead to different results.
This study focuses on investigating the role of innovation speed in mediating the relationship between total quality management and small and medium-sized enterprise performance. Cross-sectional data from 484 Nigerian small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises were collected using judgmental sampling, which was targeted at the owners and managers of small-scale manufacturing enterprises within Nigeria. The obtained data were evaluated using both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. Hence, the heuristic model for the relationship was subjected to a string of tests using the partial least squares structural equation modeling technique. The results show that total quality management is positively related to operational performance as well as innovation speed, which has a substantial influence on the nexus between total quality management (TQM) and small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SME) performance. The study expands the understanding of innovation, regarding speed and its measures within total quality management, where the five basic dimensions of total quality management are top management quality practices, employee quality management, customer orientation, process management, and employee knowledge and training. Furthermore, the model contributes to the scarce literature on the mediating factors needed to boost the operational performance of small-scale manufacturing firms.
Total quality management (TQM) is widely regarded as one of the most important approaches toward improving the quality of an organization’s output in the construction industry. The industrialized building system (IBS) or prefabrication process has been described as a valid alternative for replacing traditional construction methods in terms of quality, cost-effectiveness, protection and health, waste mitigation, and productivity. This study aims to identify and rank the critical success factors that affect TQM in Malaysian IBS construction projects. The collected questionnaire data was subjected to statistical analysis. The analysis showed that the most important grouped factor is leadership. Regardless of the identified critical factor, all contributing factors established a significant influence on the successful performance. The study developed a conceptual framework based on the top critical factors that will help stakeholders to enter before applying TQM in IBS construction projects.
Purpose
Recent years have seen an increased demand for healthcare services, presenting a need to improve service quality through the deployment of sustainable Lean Six Sigma (LSS). This study aims to identify critical success factors (CSFs) of sustainable LSS and prioritize them based on their intensity of importance for the effective implementation of sustainable LSS in the healthcare environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study identified 33 leading CSFs through a comprehensive literature review and expert experience and classified them into six major categories based on organizational functions. The primacy of these CSFs is established using the best-worst-method (BWM) approach. The significant advantage of this approach is that the decision-maker identifies both the best and worst criteria among alternatives prior to pairwise comparisons, leading to fewer pairwise comparisons and saving time, energy and resources. It also provides more reliable and consistent rankings.
Findings
The findings of the present study highlight the economic and managerial (E&M) CSFs as the most significant CSFs among the major category criteria of sustainable LSS-CSFs, followed by organizational (O), knowledge and learning (K&L), technological (T), social and environmental (S&E), and external factors (EF). Similarly, management involvement and leadership to implement sustainable LSS (E&M1), structured LSS deployment training and education (K&L2), and availability of required resources and their efficient utilization (O2) are ranked as the topmost CSFs among sub-category criteria of sustainable LSS-CSFs.
Practical implications
The prioritization of sustainable LSS-CSFs determined in this study can provide healthcare managers, researchers and decision-makers with a better understanding of the influence on effective deployment of sustainable LSS, resulting in improved service quality in hospitals.
Originality/value
This paper is an original contribution to the analysis of CSFs in an Indian healthcare institute, utilizing the BMW method for ranking the sustainable LSS-CSFs. The advantage of utilizing and distinguishing the performance of this approach compared to other MCDA approaches in terms of (1) least pairwise comparison and violation, (2) consistency (3) slightest deviation and (4) conformity.
Purpose
The study aims to examine the connection between practices of total quality management (TQM) and sustainability in Malaysia food and beverages companies (FBC). Continuous process improvement, benchmarking, management leadership, human resources management, quality assurance, service design and information and analysis as TQM practices are considered and their relationship, respectively, with sustainable performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey questionnaire is administered to gather responses from 303 FBC, while 98 responses are useable and subsequently analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling.
Findings
The results reveal that effective implementation of continuous process improvement, benchmarking, quality assurance, service design and information and analysis have positive and significant effect on sustainability.
Research limitations/implications
The scope of the present study was limited to FBC in Malaysia, and a cross-sectional design was employed to examine the hypothesized relationships at a single point in time.
Practical implications
The proposed and developed model of this study can be employed by policy and decision makers in the industry. This model can be considered by practitioners in the industry to implement critical policies in the future.
Originality/value
The premises of the institutional and contingency theory are supported by re-affirming the importance of contingencies and institutions for any successful strategic practices to enhance sustainable performance by implementing TQM.
Purpose
Lack of strict compliance to the principles of total quality management (TQM) by construction organizations has brought about poor quality of the finished building projects. This has been blamed for the incessant structural failure reported in Nigeria. This study appraised TQM implementation in the Nigerian construction industry, with a view to mitigating structural failure rate of construction projects. To achieve this aim, the study aims to assess the practice level of TQM and the factors hindering TQM implementation on construction projects.
Design/methodology/approach
The study utilized a well-structured questionnaire and convenient sampling method in the gathering and sampling of data among construction professionals in Imo state, Nigeria. Data analyses were done using, frequency, percentage, mean analytics and Pareto analysis.
Findings
The study revealed that major practice of TQM principles with respect to structural failure rate are purchasing: ensuring the procurement of materials of the specified quality standard, ensuring the use of a quality improvement construction process of the organization, site management responsibility: this entails ensuring quality supervision by the project management leadership and monitoring and control of quality during the construction to guarantee firm observance quality standards. Also, the major factors hindering TQM implementation on construction projects are: inadequacy of the necessary machineries, equipment, tools and facilities for the effective execution of work on construction site; breakdown in communication and information exchange between the management and supervisory teams on site; poor attitudes and strategies toward maintenance of equipment, tools and machines; and absence of prompt salary and incentive payment. It was recommended that construction firms must require the suppliers of construction materials to strictly comply with quality specification evidence in quality certification of delivered materials to mitigate structural failure.
Research limitations/implications
This study appraised TQM implementation in the construction industry of Nigeria, with emphasis on Imo state. The study underscores the practice level of TQM and the key factors hindering TQM implementation on construction projects. Following the localized geographical limitation of the study area, a similar research in other part/states of Nigeria or even in other developing countries of African is necessary.
Practical implications
The practices level of TQM and the factors hindering TQM implementation were identified. This will be useful in guiding construction firms, other industry's key stakeholders and regulatory agencies in bringing about a sustainable quality management system for improve profit and value maximization and avoiding incessant structural failure.
Originality/value
This is one of the few studies that have assessed the practice level of TQM and the factors hindering TQM implementation on construction projects in Nigeria. This study took place in Imo state with records of periodic structural failure and building collapse.
In Industry 4.0, the concept of total quality management (TQM) has gained more importance. Because the survival of the organisation depends on better quality management. The objective of this study is to identify total quality management critical success factors (CSFs). To achieve this purpose the empirical articles from 1987 to 2019 were studied. The descriptive results are presented such as publication years, journal and sector-wise distribution, and analysis of methods. A quality tool Pareto analysis was applied to identify the critical success factors of total quality management practices. The thematic analysis of 91 empirical studies identified the 8 vital and 20 useful many critical success factors. Based on findings two research contexts need further attention; Industry 4.0 and sustainability. The outcomes of this study contribute to the total quality management existing body of knowledge that helps the researchers and practitioners to better understand total quality management practices from different perspectives.
By raising performance, Total Quality Management (TQM) transforms any industry that is in a state of substantial structural change and facing increased competition. However, Iraq as one of the main global oil suppliers is still lagging on the TQM journey due to decreasing quality levels, particularly in management systems. Thus, this study aims to facilitate TQM in Iraqi Oil Companies by reviewing the TQM practices and the significance of Top Management Commitment (TMC) towards eliminating the barriers for implementation. To achieve this aim, the study utilises a mixed research approach and a single holistic case study strategy by triangulating literature and data collected from one of the leading Iraqi oil companies. The research identified TMC as the most influential factor for effective TQM implementation and six barriers. Furthermore, the research reveals the relationship between the top management commitment required for successful TQM implementation and barriers in that journey. This study will be the first of its kind in the Iraqi oil industry which will lead to a better understanding of TQM practices in Iraq and will encourage other researchers to extend this study through further work.
Purpose
The principal purpose of this paper is to present a methodical review of application of Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method in material selection.
Methodology
The study reviewed a total of 55 papers, published from the year 1994 to 2019. The papers reviewed were majorly from high ranking journals and were extracted from different databases such as Web of Science (WoS), Scopus and Google scholar. In order to have understanding of the various MCDM methods applicable for material selection, some of the MCDM tools were briefly discussed. Next, a detailed reviewed of the MCDM tools are performed and summaries in a tabular form with respect MCDM decision criteria, method utilised and application areas, year of publication and country of application. Furthermore, papers are analysed based on decision criteria, MCDM methods and application areas, year of publication, journal type and country of application.
Findings
The results of the analysis indicated the following: the hybrid method which is the combination of two or more MCDM methods is the most applied technique for material selection in all application areas identified; the most commonly applied decision criteria for selecting optimum alternative is cost; the highest number of articles on material selection was published in 2013; the most significant journal is materials and design and finally, the country with the highest application of MCDM method is India. It can be concluded that MCDM technique is a very useful tool in making decision with respect to material selection.
This paper provided a novel definition of customer knowledge management (CKM) as the logical intersection of customer relationship management (CRM) and knowledge management (KM). The main aim was to investigate the digital technologies supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in creative industries in their customer knowledge management strategies. To achieve this aim, a survey involving 73 handicraft and/or retail SMEs operating in luxury jewelry industry was conducted. The survey results pointed out that in a few years the scenario has changed and that surveyed SMEs make more intensive use of traditional technologies supporting customer knowledge management processes rather than more innovative digital technologies, which are also cheap and easy to use. This finding showed the difficulties of SMEs operating in creative industries to be responsive to the rapid technological changes that are affecting CKM, as well as the lack of support from information technology vendors in the decision-making process for choosing adequate digital systems.
Even though much research has been carried out regarding various sustainability issues, the research into cultural aspects of sustainability and quality is very limited. The purpose of this study is to explore the culture of an award-winning company that is successfully working with sustainability and quality. The ambition is to contribute to the development of sustainable quality management. In order to identify and describe their ways of working, a case study was carried out at Sky Factory, an award-winning innovative manufacturing company which utilises Lean principles. In-depth interviews were performed with the CEO and a number of employees focusing on exploring their way of working as well as their value base, attitudes and practices regarding quality and sustainability. The data collection also included document studies and observation. The research was inductive, based on the Grounded Theory methodology and the data was analysed with the constant comparative technique. The analysis revealed a set of categories in the form of dimensions which, combined with theory, resulted in a tentative framework. One limitation is that the study only included a single company, which may limit the possibilities for generalisation. Nonetheless, the dimensions that were identified and the framework that integrates them should be useful as a vantage point for further research.
While cognition is the knowledge structure used by people to make an assessment or decision, metacognition is the higher-order process controlling that existing knowledge structure. Thus, the functional role of metacognition in process improvement practices (PIP) is quite different from the role of cognition. Metacognition has been studied in several disciplines, including education, psychology, and neuroscience; however, research has yet to address the role of metacognition in an operations management context. Thus, the present study explored how a process improvement leader's metacognitive awareness influences PIP effectiveness. A survey was conducted with process improvement leaders from U.S.-based firms. Results revealed that managerial metacognition was positively related to adaptive PIP performance within the organization. There was also a positive synergistic relationship between managerial metacognition and PIP implementation on a firm's competitive advantage. We discussed practical and theoretical implications as well as future research agendas for how managerial metacognitive skills can be utilized for advantageous operational activities. This study not only contributes to the operations literature by providing new insights into the relationship between psychological and methodological mechanisms in PIP implementation but also provides the first step toward theory-building in terms of metacognition concepts in operations management.
[Keywords]
Managerial metacognition; Process improvement practices; Cognitive psychology; Behavioral operations; Structural equation modeling
Purpose
Literature refers to the key factors of total quality management (TQM) based on studies carried out in individual countries. However, few studies focus on studying the TQM factors in service companies based on multinational data. The purpose of this paper is to empirically identify the key TQM factors and their impact on internal and external customer performance measures across different countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The research questions regarding the TQM factors and their effects were examined using a sample of service organisations from three countries (131 from Greece, 70 from Mexico and 151 from Spain). TQM factors and their impact on employee and customer satisfaction were analysed separately for each country. Exploratory factor analyses, coupled with multiple linear regression analyses, were conducted.
Findings
The key TQM factors identified are common among the three participating countries and can be summarised as follows: quality practices of top management, process management, employee quality management, customer focus, and employee knowledge and education. The adoption level of these five key factors of TQM varies across service organisations in different countries. The results also confirmed that some of the TQM elements are antecedents of customer- and employee-focused performance.
Practical implications
Multinational service organisations may use such an instrument to evaluate TQM implementation among worldwide operations and then benchmark their performance. In addition, an understanding of similarities and differences among countries would help managers around the world to address difficulties of TQM implementation related to the country culture.
Originality/value
Previous studies have compared key TQM factors across different countries in manufacturing, but overall, there has been a little attempt in the literature to analyse the adoption of TQM factors among service firms, as well the relationships between quality improvement and performance across different geographical regions.
This paper presents the results of a systematic literature review showing how the literature on quality management (QM) in higher education (HE) has evolved. As a first contribution, this work presents a systematic breakdown of research in the field of HE quality management. Its second and most innovative contribution is its coverage of the process of introducing quality management into institutions’ global
management systems. Theoretically, we believe this second point to be a general trend in the evolution of the quality management literature, and empirically it represents a trend for quality management principles and practices in governance and management systems of higher education institutions (HEIs). The literature was analysed by distinguishing three main levels in HEIs: a process level, an organisational level, and, since our focus is specifically on the field of quality management, a quality management principles level. Overall, this paper concludes that integration at the three levels of analysis is strong. Moreover, we were able to
identify a trend towards the development of holistic and comprehensive quality management approaches both in conceptual and empirical research studies.
Purpose - Despite the potential benefits of total quality management (TQM) articulated by quality experts and practitioners, these benefits are not easy to achieve in practice. Many service industries have found difficult to implement TQM successfully. The present study investigates and categorizes the barriers to a successful implementation of TQM program in the service industry. The aim is to understand TQM barriers and prioritize their relative importance by ranking them in the service industry.
Design/methodology/approach - Based on previously published literature on TQM barriers in service industry and after discussions with quality experts, this study utilizes a set of twelve barriers to TQM as identified by the authors of TQM barriers to accomplish the objectives of the present study. The twelve barriers were divided into three categories. These barriers were prioritized and ranked using an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach, a multi criteria decision-making (MCDM) process.
Findings - In this research, the category ‘Managerial Issues’ was found to be the most important, followed by ‘People-Oriented Issues’ and ‘Organizational Issues’ based on their priority weights. The results have also highlighted that the barrier ‘Lack of Communication’ was the most significant among all the other barriers. It was followed by ‘Lack of Top-management Commitment’, ‘Employee’s Resistance to Change’, and ‘Lack of Coordination between Departments’. The least significant barrier was ‘High Turnover at Management Level’.
Practical implications - The study ranks the barriers, from the most important to the least important, which will allow managers and practitioners in the service industry to decide which barriers they need to pay attention to and work on for a successful implementation of TQM.
Originality/value - The strength of this study is the development of a comprehensive model for the investigation and prioritization of barriers that the service industry experiences when implementing a TQM program. Presenting TQM barriers in the form of AHP-based model and categorizing barriers is a new effort in the area of TQM.
The aim of the paper is to study soft TQM practices and their impacts on firm performance. In the research the systematic literature review was used. After identifying a research gap, a theoretical framework was developed and research hypotheses were formulated. We have further checked the validity and reliability of measurement items using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The research framework was tested using multiple linear regressions under the effect of controllable variable (i.e. size of employees, supply uncertainty and demand uncertainty) of firm performance. The research hypotheses are well supported, which is consistent with previous extant literature.
Here we introduce the Analytic Hierarchy Process as a method of measurement with ratio scales and illustrate it with two examples. We then give the axioms and some of the central theoretical underpinnings of the theory. Finally, we discuss some of the ideas relating to this process and its ramifications. In this paper we give special emphasis to departure from consistency and its measurement and to the use of absolute and relative measurement, providing examples and justification for rank preservation and reversal in relative measurement.
Sustainable collaboration between manufacturer and supplier has emerged as a crucial supply chain decision for increasing business efficiency. In this study, a theoretical framework is proposed that uses practice‐based view to analyze key performance indicators (KPIs) for developing sustainable collaboration. Further, the current study proposes a novel three‐phase supplier evaluation–selection model to assess the incumbent suppliers on basis of KPIs for showcasing the applicability of theoretical framework. The model uses best–worst method (BWM) in the first phase for generating weights of KPI, adopts the TODIM approach in the second phase for evaluation of suppliers, and develops a supplier classification grid in the third phase for analyzing the impact of each selection strategy to be adopted. The novelty of the study is in evaluation of suppliers based on the KPIs with consideration of desirability as well as the potentiality metric and in consideration of the selection strategies, namely, supplier retention, supplier development, and supplier switching. A case study of India's leading home appliances company is taken to demonstrate the application of the current study. The result of BWM reveals that in terms of supplier's potentiality, “quality” emerges as a strong KPI while KPI “information disclosure” gains more importance while considering supplier's desirability towards strengthening the sustainable relationship. The TODIM grid analysis result suggests that suppliers with high performance in both metrics clearly qualify as the best suppliers and must be retained, while the suppliers performing low in both areas must be switched. For suppliers with metric values in conflict with each other, a trade‐off analysis is needed. Important research and managerial implications are drawn from the validation of the proposed framework, which can be useful for researchers and practitioners.
A primary concern in most decision-making problems using pairwise comparisons is the consistency issue of individual preference information. The existence of inconsistencies may lead to unrealistic and unreasonable results. This paper focuses on the consistency improvements for the best-worst method (BWM), which seeks to retain original preference information as much as possible. To do this, some optimization models are designed as a preference-modification advice tool to interact with a decision maker (DM). Firstly, several systems of constraints are designed to explicitly control the ordinal consistency for the BWM. A mixed-integer linear programming model is proposed to provide optimal suggestions of preference-modification for ensuring the ordinal consistency. Furthermore, an optimization model is constructed to offer optimal suggestions of preference-modification for simultaneously meeting an acceptable cardinal consistency level and the ordinal consistency. Then, a framework for preference rationality analysis based on the two optimization-based advice tools is designed for the BWM. Finally, a real case study about the quality assessment of airline baggage handling systems is used to validate the proposed approach.
Purpose
Hospital activities restore health and save lives; yet they produce infectious waste that might harm people and the environment if not handled carefully. The sudden increase in bio-medical waste (BMW) generation was caused due to the outbreak of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the beginning of year 2020. There is a huge potential of businesses from BMW generated in the developing economies. The document destruction process would prove to be beneficial in determining the strategies and policies for the business from BMW. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify and evaluate the factors that influence the business prospects from BMW in developing economies.
Design/methodology/approach
The study focuses on identifying 18 factors based on an extensive literature review, questionnaire, theoretical foundations and interviews with experts in the context of developing economies. These factors are categorized into four groups namely “Culture, education and microeconomics”, “Infrastructure, social provision, and technology”, “Policy and institution” and “Integrated waste management system”. Consequently, these factors are prioritized to assist the decision-maker in comprehending the most critical aspects of accomplishing the best business practices. A framework based on the Best–Worst Method (BWM) is applied to evaluate and determine the significance of each identified factor.
Findings
The major contribution of this paper is to identify key factors that are responsible for successful implementation of the business practices from the generated BMW. The study also explains their nature, significance and inter-relationship among them using BWM. Current study applied a distinctive modeling approach to examine the contextual relationship among the key factors and to rank them as per their importance. The findings of the study suggest that “Setup for collection and segregation is the best alternative for business from BMW produced”.
Originality/value
The paper also presents strategies, which can be adopted as a guiding step by the decision-makers to formulate policies for the effective business practice from BMW. This research is expected to stimulate future applications of the BWM to facilitate long-term decision-making.
Despite the increasing academic interest in Industry 4.0, only a minority of studies has examined the antecedents and outcomes of sustainability-oriented Industry 4.0 initiatives. In this paper, the authors investigate how sustainability drivers might be taken into account in Industry 4.0 technologies' implementation. Industry 4.0 sustainability drivers and externalities are identified based on a comprehensive review of the literature and categorized based on experts’ surveys. The authors employ the Best-Worst Method to prioritize the sustainability drivers and externalities. The results highlight the role of management support and commitment in sustainability-oriented Industry 4.0 initiatives and underline their economic and socio-environmental externalities. Based on the findings, the authors develop a self-assessment framework of Industry 4.0 sustainability drivers and externalities with a readiness index for organizations willing to adopt such initiatives. The authors suggest approaching sustainability-oriented Industry 4.0 implementation through three main stages: approach, deployment, and results (externalities). In doing so, this study contributes to knowledge in the Industry 4.0 and sustainability fields by defining the factors influencing both disciplines and by proposing an integrative readiness model.
The world is reeling in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic with fear of rising toll due to the deadly virus. Decision making during a pandemic outbreak has numerous challenges. Covid19 has become a challenging problem for organizations, countries and the world at large. It is even more complicated when governments and medical care communities are changing their priorities based on the growing challenges and level of effectiveness of measures taken in other countries. In this study, a potential application of a well-known MCDM method called the Group Best Worst Method is presented to overcome such challenges and draw the strategies to handle COVID19 outbreak. The methodology is applied to rank the 10 identified strategies based on their relative importance provided by multiple groups of stakeholder. These strategies focus on social distancing, medical care, essential commodities, financial support to poor people, public awareness, overall impact of COVID19, digital surveillance of infected or doubtful people, maintaining the economy of the country, and an effect on industries. Furthermore, the local and global weights along with ranking order of strategies are obtained. A sensitivity analysis also done to show the change in global weights and order of strategies.
The purpose of paper is to develop a performance evaluation framework for manufacturing industry to evaluate overall manufacturing performance The Best Worst Method (BWM) is used to aid in developing a performance evaluation framework for manufacturing industry to evaluate their overall performance.
The proposed BWM-based manufacturing performance evaluation framework is implemented in an Indian steel manufacturing company to evaluate their overall manufacturing performance. Operational performance of the organization is very consistent and range between 60% to 70% throughout the year. Management performance can be seen high in the first two quarter of the financial year ranging from 70% to 80% whereas a slight decrease in the management performance is observed in the 3rd and 4th quarter ranging from 60% to 70%. The social stakeholder performance has a peak in first quarter ranging from 80% to 100% as at start of financial year. This paper utilized BWM, a MCDM method in developing a performance evaluation index that integrates several categories of manufacturing and evaluates overall manufacturing performance. This is a novel contribution to BWM decision-making application.
As manufacturing organizations are in need to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies, analysis of challenges is essential. Industry 4.0 is relatively new to the developing nations particularly India and requires in-depth knowledge about its implementation challenges and business practices. Industry 4.0 adoption can aid manufacturing industries to digitalize the manufacturing process which in turn helps in increasing the production output. However, adoption of Industry 4.0 is not so easy due to presence of various challenges. This study aims to identify key challenges pertaining to Industry 4.0 adoption in automotive sector and analyse the identified challenges to derive rank for systematic implementation in Indian automotive industries. In this regard, thirty-six challenges are identified related to Industry 4.0 adoption and categorized into four dimensions and are analysed using Indian automotive component manufacturing firms based on Best Worst Method (BWM). The priority order of challenges is derived, and the prioritized challenges are found to be ‘Real-time link of physical production and digital factory (MT1)’ and ‘Context-adaptive and autonomous systems (MT2)’. The challenges are being analysed with regard to Indian automotive component firms in manufacturing domain. Practical and managerial along with theoretical and academic implications are highlighted. Moreover, the conclusions, limitations and future research directions are presented.
Owing to the rapidly deteriorating environment in developing countries caused by practices of manufacturing organizations and lack of adequate studies that can help manufacturing organizations to counter this issue, this paper aims to investigate the underlying relationship between total quality management (TQM) and the level of green manufacturing (GM) practices implementation in Palestinian food manufacturing companies (PFMC). The paper also investigates how GM practices mediate the relationship between TQM and Organizational Performance (OP) of PFMC. A quantitative research method using a survey instrument collected data from senior, quality, and human resources (HR) managers from 250 PFMC. The statistical data analysis indicated a significant positive correlation between TQM practices and overall OP (r=0.605; p≤0.01). This indicates that TQM practices significantly supports achieving overall OP objectives. Also, results found a significant positive correlation between the TQM practices and the implementation level of GM practices (r=0.650; p≤0.01), suggesting the significant role of TQM in enhancing organizational capabilities in implementing GM practices. Moreover, the results indicated that GM practices are equally important to TQM practices in enhancing overall OP; as GM practices were found to have a positive correlation with improving overall OP of PFMC (r=0.827; p≤0.01). Finally, TQM practices are found to have a significant indirect effect on OP mediated by GM practices (β = 0.55, p≤0.05), whereas a significant total effect of TQM practices on OP were found (β = 0.64, p≤0.05), reflecting that the GM practices’ mediating effect partially accounts for roughly 86% of total effect of TQM practices on overall OP. This empirical study is considered as the first study investigating the impact of TQM practices on implementation of GM practices and their complementary impact on OP in Palestine, adding great value to literature via responding to calls to counter environmental issues in developing countries’ context.
Micro-Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) play a prominent role in economic growth because of their significant contribution in terms of manufacturing, sales, and development in any country. Improvements in product quality, waste reduction, environmental measures, green product development, and cost optimization have enforced MSMEs to adopt sustainable development approaches. Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is one of the robust methods that reduce waste, variation, emission, and energy in any system. It is indispensable to relook the enablers of environmental LSS to assess sustainability through the successful implementation of this eco-friendly approach. In this context, the present study aims to investigate and prioritize the enablers which facilitate the effective implementation of environmental LSS in MSMEs. Extensive literature and expert’s opinions are used to investigate the environmental LSS enablers and grouped them as per their appropriate traits using Exploratory Factor Analysis. The final screening of grouped enablers is done through Importance-index analysis and corrected item minus total correlation method. For prioritization of finalized enablers, a robust decision-making technique, Best Worst Method, is employed with a practical case of Indian MSMEs. The research outcomes reveal that strategic-based enablers are leading in nature, followed by environmental-based enablers. Moreover, current results are validated through the Analytical Hierarchy Process and Analytical Network Process. The present research outcomes are also in good agreement with case organization officials. This study expedites the managers of case organization with prominent enablers, which will help in planning and successful execution of environmental LSS.
In this paper, a solar site selection problem motivated by a real-world case study to determine sustainable locations for establishing solar sites in the east of Iran is addressed. For this purpose, a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach is proposed that adopts best-worst method (BWM) to weight criteria and sub-criteria extracted from literature and applies grey relational analysis (GRA) and VIKOR to rank potential locations. Moreover, an innovative Monte Carlo simulation-based (MCSB) approach is applied to analyze sensitivity of GRA and VIKOR. In this approach, two functional measures of robustness are introduced in order to compare performance of the methods. Based on the obtained results, some criteria, including construction cost (0.125), initial investment (0.166), ecosystem destruction (0.103), solar radiation intensity (0.085), and distance to catchment basins (0.084) have considerable importance because their weight is more than the average amount of global weights (0.0625). Furthermore, Birjand, Sarbisheh, and Khezri are the best locations for establishment of solar sites. Based on the proposed MCSB approach, VIKOR has higher robustness than GRA in the both functional measures. From the perspective of renewable energy development in Iran, the proposed approach can be recommended to be applied in other provinces of Iran for finding the best locations for solar sites.
Purpose
The study aims at finding out major barriers for synergistic adoption of TQM-SCM in the medium- and large-scale manufacturing organizations in India. All these barriers create hurdles for the organizations as well as supply chain partners in improving their business performance. The study is a blend of theoretical and practical frameworks, which will focus on key barriers leading to interrupt the successful synergistic implementation of TQM-SCM in manufacturing organization.
Design/methodology/approach
Firstly, survey of 116 Indian organizations has been carried out to identify barriers that hinder successful implementation of TQM-SCM. Afterward, VIKOR approach was proposed to rank the major barriers of TQM-SCM implementation in Indian manufacturing organizations.
Findings
Identification of barriers to synergistic implementation of TQM-SCM in the manufacturing industry of India, ranking of these barriers in terms of their severity.
Originality/value
The adoption of TQM-SCM on synergistic basis is still in its early stages in India. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that is designed to prioritize barriers responsible for hindering successful synergistic implementation of (TQM-SCM) in Indian manufacturing industry. Further, the results of the study will be helpful for managers in order to prepare action plans to overcome the hurdles to TQM-SCM implementation.
Purpose
The paper aims to identify key human and operational focused barriers to the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM). It develops a comprehensive structural relationship between various barriers to successfully implement TQM for sustainability in Indian organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
With the help of expert opinions and extant literature review, we identified the case of TQM failure companies and barriers to implement TQM effectively. Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) and fuzzy MICMAC techniques are employed to develop a structural model and the identified barriers are categorized based on their dependence and driving power in the various categories.
Findings
From the intensive case analysis, we identify fourteen barriers that constrain the successful implementation of TQM. The findings also provide a hierarchy of barriers in which the absence of top management involvement and ineffective leadership are the human barriers having the highest dependence.
Research limitations/implications
The critical inputs show the implementation of TQM in the firms being more proactive and well prepared in the selected five companies. The study's emphasis on barriers will help organizations in implementing TQM for better sustainability in an organizational context.
Originality/value
In the successful implementation of TQM, barriers need to be identified because failure has often eliminated the organizations from the market. Thus, TQM is the source of strength to achieve higher productivity, profitability, and sustainable business performance. The barriers must be identified to improve organizational performance to contribute to sustainable development.
Purpose – Recent years have witnessed a significant rise in Indian healthcare establishments (HCEs) which indicate that there is a constant need to improve the healthcare quality services through the adoption and implementation of TQM enablers. The purpose of this paper is to identify such enablers and then propose a ranking model for TQM implementation in Indian HCEs for improved performance.
Design/methodology/approach – The study identifies 20 TQM enablers through comprehensive literature survey and expert’s opinion, and classifies them into five main categories. The prominence of these enablers is established using a recently developed novel multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method, i.e. best-worst method (BWM). The importance of the various main category and sub-category enablers is decided on the
basis of their weights which are determined by the BWM. In comparison to other MCDM methods, such as analytical hierarchy process, BWM requires relatively lesser comparison data and also provides consistent comparisons which results in both optimal and reliable weights of the enablers considered in this paper. Further, a sensitivity analysis is also carried out to ensure that the ranking (based on the optimal weights) of the various enablers is reliable and robust.
Findings – The results of this study reveal that out of five main category enablers, the “leadership-based enablers (E1)” and the “continuous improvement based enablers (E5)” are the most and the least important enablers, respectively. Similarly, among the 20 sub-category enablers, “quality leadership and role of physicians (E14)” and “performing regular survey of customer satisfaction and quality audit (E52)” are the most and the least dominating sub-category enablers, respectively.
Research limitations/implications – This study does not explore the interrelationship between the various TQMenablers and also does not evaluate performance of the various HCEs based on the weights of the enablers.
Practical implications – The priority of the TQM enablers determined in this paper enables decision makers to understand their influence on successful implementation of the TQM principles and policies in HCEs leading to an overall improvement in the system’s performance.
Originality/value – This study identifies the various TQM enablers in HCEs and categorizes them into five main categories and ranks them using the BWM. The findings of this research are quite useful for management of the HCEs to properly understand the relative importance of these enablers so that managers can formulate an effective
and efficient strategy for their easy and smooth implementation which is necessary for continuous improvement.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to classify the total quality management (TQM) practices and position them based on their importance in the implementation of TQM in steel industries for obtaining improved business performance and customer satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
The study undergoes a deep literature review to recognise the TQM practices necessary for the implementation of TQM in the steel industry. The identified 17 practices were grouped under three activities such as “breakthrough activities”, “improvement activities” and “routine operational and maintenance activities” with experts’ suggestion. The positioning of 17 TQM practices and 3 activities of TQM was done using an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique as per their relevance in TQM implementation.
Findings
The findings of the research show that though all the 17 practices and 3 activities of TQM play a vital role in the successful implementation of TQM in steel industries, breakthrough activities have gained more weightage as compared to the other two activities. Top management commitment, quality system and continuous improvement are relatively more important than the other practices.
Research limitations/implications
The research has limitation analogous to the AHP technique. The technique considers all the sub-sets of each nod to be independent from each other, whereas in real world this does not stand true.
Practical implications
The study positions the TQM practices and activities on the basis of their relevance in TQM implementation in the steel industry, thus helping the managers in understanding which practice has to give how much importance for TQM implementation in steel industries. By following the practices according to the weights, the managers can achieve the results desired from TQM implementation.
Originality/value
The study gives the implementation priorities of TQM practices in the steel industry. To the best knowledge of researcher, it is the first study in the steel sector for TQM implementation. The lacuna was reported by the literature, and the researcher has made an attempt to fill that gap.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relative importance of different total quality management (TQM) implementation barriers in the context of Readymade Garment (RMG) industries in Bangladesh. Present study has developed a hierarchical framework of several TQM barriers to assess their importance. Expert opinions from RMG industries have been taken to evaluate the importance of one barrier over another.
Design/methodology/approach
Methodology adopted in this study to find out the rank of different TQM barriers is fuzzy analytic hierarchy process.
Findings
The study shows that, according to order, inappropriate planning of TQM implementation program, lack of financial support, lack of employee training, lack of empowerment of employees, lack of sufficient physical resources, etc. are critical barriers and hampering the successful implementation of TQM program in this sector.
Research limitations/implications
This study has both theoretical and practical implications. It has found out strong and weak contribution of different barriers during TQM implementation. Therefore, this finding will strengthen the knowledge of successful implementation of TQM and will further enrich the existing literature in the context of manufacturing industries in developing countries. Moreover, this finding will also help the decision makers in preparing an effective plan for successful implementation of TQM by utilizing limited resources.
Practical implications
Moreover, our results will aid the managers of RMG sector to find the weight of importance of different barriers. Accordingly, they will make a plan to overcome the major TQM barriers which will increase the success rate of TQM implementation. Every Successful program will bring business excellence. These findings could be a guideline for TQM implementation program in developing countries.
Originality/value
Present study possesses some significant values. First, so far our knowledge go, no other study has developed a hierarchical structure of TQM barrier on the basis of overall change needed within the organization for TQM implementation. Second, this study could be a good guideline for TQM implementation program in RMG sector in developing countries.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that affect TQM implementation in construction companies and it suggests solutions for TQM implementation in a difficult environment.
Design/methodology/approach
Studies were carried out at six large construction companies who ply their trade in Southern Africa and in-depth investigations were conducted to assess TQM implementation practices and associated TQM barriers. Interviews were conducted on directors and key personnel that play important roles in TQM implementation in their respective organisations. The empirical study also utilised a number of organisational documents which added rigour to the findings.
Findings
This study identified three core categories and ten main barriers affecting TQM implementation in Southern Africa construction companies. The core categories are motivation, infrastructure and penchants and tendencies while the factors are lack of quality support, poor TQM knowledge and TQM awareness, poor information sharing, temporary workers, overdependence on contract document, poor data collection measurement, undefined TQM roles and responsibilities, award to lowest bidder tendency, poor business environment and corruption.
Research limitations/implications
The study was conducted based on companies plying their trade in Southern Africa and mostly around Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique. It does not study companies in Namibia, Zimbabwe, Angola, South Africa and Botswana.
Practical implications
TQM cannot be exported wholly from another region to a new setting without taking into consideration the local factors associated with that setting. For successful TQM implementation in construction in Southern Africa, characteristics of this region have to be known. This study illuminates a number of TQM implementation barriers associated with construction especially applied to this difficult environment. Application of this knowledge would enhance TQM and heighten competitive advantage initiatives. The proportions highlighted in this study therefore help build up the TQM implementation awareness.
Social implications
At society level, the findings of this study indicate societal problems such as corruption and business environment which require wide level approaches to deal with these barriers. In addition, if TQM applied in road construction projects, the quality of the roads will be improved, this in turn will have direct impact on quality of life in the society, better roads means easier access to hospitals, schools and public places, better transport and movements of goods and services, etc. It can also save money for the country in long run and economic benefits to the society.
Originality/value
The factors identified in this study are based on current TQM implementation practices at established construction companies in Southern Africa. They provide a practical basis for guiding TQM in construction companies operating in difficult environments.
Purpose
This paper aims to empirically investigate how structural barriers affect the relationship between total quality management (TQM) practices implementation and organizational performance in service industries.
Design/methodology/approach
This research hypothesized the moderation effect of structural barriers on the relationship between TQM practices implementation and organizational performance. A questionnaire was adopted to collect data form 153 Egyptian service companies. Moderated regression analysis was used to test the study hypothesis.
Findings
The empirical analysis suggests that structural barriers partially moderate the relationship between TQM practices implementation and organizational performance. The analysis reveals that the effect of Quality Improvement, Process Improvement, External and Internal Relations and Employee Development – being as TQM dimensions – on performance is moderated by structural barriers. While the results provided insufficient evidence on the moderating effect of structural barriers on the relationship between both Performance Management – being as a TQM dimension – and performance.
Research limitations/implications
This research presents a new perspective for researches to understand the TQM–Performance relationship in the light of the contingency theory. However, the adopted sampling technique and the small sample size might limit the generalizability of the research findings.
Practical implications
This study provides useful insights for service organizations about the necessity of developing suitable structural platform for supporting their TQM efforts to boost their performance which, in turn, improves their competitiveness.
Originality/value
This research proposed and empirically validated how structural barriers play a significant role as moderators to the relationship between TQM implementation and organizational performance within service organizations context.
In recent years, the daily increase in the application of the group decision-making approaches can be seen in the various areas such as facility location, supplier selection, energy schemes, project management, and performance evaluation. The group decision-making methods aggregate the individual preferences and present the best agreement using the mathematical models. On the other hand, best-worst method (BWM) is a novel multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) method which can solve the decision problems by a new perspective on the pairwise comparisons. So, in this paper, we extend a novel group decision-making method based on BWM (GBWM), which includes new attributes, under the three steps. Also, for the first time, we formulate two various mathematical models (M1 and M2) to calculate the optimal weights of the criteria. Then, we present some numerical instances to evaluate the proposed method and clarify how we can use it. In addition, we perform a comprehensive sensitivity analysis on the main parameters of the proposed method. Finally, we use GBWM to solve a real case study. The results show the acceptable performance of GBWM, besides the simple usage and the customization ability of the presented model.
Purpose – The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of hard total quality
management (TQM) practices on operational performance dimensions of manufacturing
organizations.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore and describe how research on quality management (QM) has evolved historically. The study includes the complete digital archive of three academic journals in the field of QM. Thereby, a unique depiction of how the general outlines of the field as well as trends in research topics have evolved through the years is presented.
Design/methodology/approach
The study applies cluster and probabilistic topic modeling to unstructured data from The International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, The TQM Journal and Total Quality Management & Business Excellence. In addition, trend analysis using support vector machine is performed.
Findings
The study identifies six central, perpetual themes of QM research: control, costs, reliability and failure; service quality; TQM – implementation and performance; ISO – certification, standards and systems; Innovation, practices and learning and customers – research and product design. Additionally, historical surges and shifts in research focus are recognized in the study. From these trends, a decrease in interest in TQM and control of quality, costs and processes in favor of service quality, customer satisfaction, Six Sigma, Lean and innovation can be noted during the past decade. The results validate previous findings.
Originality/value
Of the identified central themes, innovation, practices and learning appears not to have been documented as a fundamental part of QM research in previous studies. Thus, this theme can be regarded as a new perspective on QM research and thereby on QM.
In the recent era of globalisation and competitive scenario, quality plays a vital role in ensuring customer satisfaction. Total quality management (TQM) involves the implementation of appropriate tools/techniques to provide products and services to customers with best quality. In order to ensure the success of TQM practices in a modern automotive component manufacturing scenario, barriers and their mutual interactions need to be systematically analysed to enable practicing managers for effective deployment. In this context, this study depicts an interpretive structural modelling (ISM)-based approach to understand the mutual influence of TQM barriers. A total of 21 barriers have been identified for TQM practices and ISM model has been developed. The barriers are grouped under four categories (dependent, independent, autonomous and linkage) based on MICMAC analysis. The conduct of the study enabled the decision-makers to systematically analyse the influential barriers for effective deployment of TQM concepts in modern automotive component manufacturing, which is one of the rapidly growing sectors in the Indian scenario.
The aim of this paper is to explore the role of Quality Management (QM) theory and practice using a contingency theory perspective. The study is grounded in the role of QM in improving strategic alignment within Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) using Contingency Theory rather than adopting best practice approaches. An inductive theory building research methodology was used involving multiple case analyses of five SMEs, involving repeat interviews (n=45), focus groups (n=5) and document analysis. From the findings, it was found that Contingency Variables (strategy, culture, lifecycle and customer focus) and their respective typologies were found to interact with QM practices in helping to shape strategic alignment between the SMEs and their environments. This shaping process based on contingency approaches occurred in a manner unique to each SME and their respective environments rather than in an overarching best practice manner.
Purpose
– The purpose of the paper is to explore the impact of total quality management (TQM) factors on performance dimensions of service companies.
Design/methodology/approach
– A research project was designed in the Spanish services sector. Companies that had already participated in activities with regard to business excellence were randomly selected and approached through a structured questionnaire, yielding a sample of 151 responding companies. By analyzing TQM implementation and company performance through the exploratory factor analysis, specific TQM factors and performance dimensions are extracted. The TQM factors that significantly influence the performance dimensions are determined through multiple linear regression analyses.
Findings
– According to the findings, the factors describing TQM implementation in service companies concern quality practices of top management, employee quality management, process management, employee knowledge and education and customer focus. Similarly, the performance dimensions revealed concern financial performance, operational performance, customer satisfaction and product/service quality performance. The TQM factors concerning customers, employees and top management significantly affect the performance dimensions.
Research limitations/implications
– The subjective data were collected from quality managers of a small-sized sample of companies operating in a European Union country and belonging to different services sub-sectors. Based on these limitations, future research studies are recommended.
Practical implications
– By focussing on specific TQM factors, a service company can improve its performance dimensions. In doing so, it can lay the foundations not only to survive but to be competitive in the current global scenario that is characterized by an economic downturn.
Originality/value
– This paper describes a reliable TQM model that can be implemented in the services sector and a means by which a service company can improve its performance.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges that face leaders when implementing business excellence programmes in the Jordanian public sector.
Design/methodology/approach
– The study adopted a content analysis approach to analyse the excellence assessment reports that have been produced by the King Abdullah II Centre for Excellence. The sample comprises ten public organisations which have participated in the King Abdullah Award for Excellence more than once and acknowledge in their reports that they have failed to achieve satisfactory results.
Findings
– The key challenges to effect the implementation of leadership criteria in the public sector in Jordan were found to be poor strategic planning, lack of employee empowerment, weaknesses in benchmarking performance, and a lack of financial resources, poor integration and coordination, and poor measurement system.
Practical implications
– This study proposes a conceptual model for the assessment of challenges that face managers when seeking to implement excellence in leadership in the Jordanian public sector.
Originality/value
– Leadership challenges in the public sector are generally widely studied, but it is important to gain a better understanding of how these challenges can be overcome. In comparison to many existing studies, this research has provided specific and detailed insights these organisational excellence challenges in the public sector and provides a conceptual model for use by other researchers into the future.
This study was undertaken to identify factors needed for a successful implementation of a total quality management (TQM) programme in Mauritian food manufacturing companies (MFMC) and to evaluate their impact on operational performance (OP), quality performance (QP) and business performance (BP). Carrying out reliability test and validity tests like exploratory factor analysis with the data collected, valid and reliable constructs were determined. Using these constructs, a proposed model that consisted of the three performance measures; OP, QP and BP, and the identified success factors aggregated as TQM index was tested using structural equation modelling. Results showed that the constructs were valid and reliable, and all the bivariate combinations in the proposed model were significant (p < 0.05) and positive except between TQM index and BP, and between QP and BP (p > 0.05). Removing these two pathways made the model fit. Hence, TQM index did not have a direct and significant effect on BP in this study.
In this paper, a new method, called Best-Worst Method (BWM) is proposed to solve multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems. In an MCDM problem, a number of alternatives are evaluated with respect to a number of criteria in order to select the best alternative(s). According to BWM, the best (e.g. most desirable, most important) and the worst (e.g. least desirable, least important) criteria are identified first by the decision-maker. Pairwise comparisons are then conducted between each of these two criteria (best and worst) and the other criteria. A minimax problem is then formulated and solved to determine the weights of different criteria. The weights of the alternatives with respect to different criteria are obtained using the same process. The final scores of the alternatives are derived by aggregating the weights from different sets of criteria and alternatives, based on which the best alternative is selected. A consistency ratio is proposed for the BWM to check the reliability of the comparisons. To illustrate the proposed method and evaluate its performance, we used some numerical examples and a real-word decision-making problem (mobile phone selection). For the purpose of comparison, we chose AHP (analytic hierarchy process), which is also a pairwise comparison-based method. Statistical results show that BWM performs significantly better than AHP with respect to the consistency ratio, and the other evaluation criteria: minimum violation, total deviation, and conformity. The salient features of the proposed method, compared to the existing MCDM methods, are: (1) it requires less comparison data; (2) it leads to more consistent comparisons, which means that it produces more reliable results.