TQM APPLICATIONS

Total Quality Applications and their impact on employees' satisfaction and service quality: an empirical study in public transport sector in Jordan

TQM Applications

Introduction

Before attempting to define TQM, it is in order to review the meaning of the word "quality." Quality is a profoundly fashionable term that has become an integral part of the popular lingo. The term has many meanings and interpretations. However, quality is not a singular activity or characteristic nor is it a system or department. Quality is often considered the sum total of all characteristics of a product or service that contributes to its superiority and excellence. One popular definition developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 8402-1986 Quality-Vocabulary):

Benchmarking is a systematic process of comparing the activities and processes of an organization or departments in order to identify ways to improve performance. The process of benchmarking must have a framework and use a standard of attributes that are measurable to multiple organizations objectivity. The customer is the driving force behind the quality of design. Therefore, employees' satisfaction is based on the subjective comparison between the expected and the actual quality of product or service received by a customer (Hodgson, 1987, pp. 40-44).

Conclusions from the literature analysis and the application of TQM on the refinery expansion project indicate that an implementation model is needed to achieve the full benefits of TQM in a capital project environment. The model must integrate the principles and concepts of TQM with the unique features of projects, including the project life-cycle concept associated with a project-management approach. Through its application, project participants can consistently meet the TQM goals of continuous improvement and customer satisfaction and the project-management goals of cost, time, and quality. In addition the model must be flexible and allow for the integration of both the owner's and the contractor's approaches to TQM and project management. The proposed TQM model is presented in Figure 3.

Discussion &Analyses

Confidentiality is an important component that requires focused attention within the research process. The researcher will carefully consider confidentiality in the proposed study for both the qualitative and the quantitative phase. The qualitative sample will include a purposeful selection of samples based on their knowledge of the central phenomenon. The selection will ensure the confidentiality and privacy of the participants. Only the researcher will approach potential participants.

Deming s Plan Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle symbolizes a problem analysis for narrowing the gap between customer s need and the present performance. It is a systematic procedure for incrementally improving methods and procedures by focusing on the prevention of defects. This is accomplished by removing the root causes of problems and continuously establishing and improving standards. The PDCA cycle consist of four processes occurring over time which are continuously rotated. Though this cycle can be applied to all processes and PDCA system of individual organizations and functions, it can be integrated and rotated together. The specific steps that are taken within each are outline as shown below (Fink, 2005, ...