آنالیز سطح شرکت در مدیریت کیفیت جامع (TQM)، استراتژی و عملکرد

ABSTRACT TQM, strategy, and performance: a firm‐level analysis

As we are embarking on an era based on globalization and digitization, the concern for achieving high organizational performance amidst existing and emerging challenges is also increasing. There have been various studies on the relationship between total quality management (TQM) and organizational performance, with most pointing to positive relationships (Forker et al., 1997; Brah et al., 2002; Joiner, 2007) though some finding negative relationships (Yeung and Chan, 1998). In the fields of operations management and strategic management, the need to consider the relationship between strategy and TQM – while examining the impact of each on organizational performance – is well established (Schonberger, 1992; Prajogo and Sohal, 2006; Leonard and McAdam, 2001, 2004; Salaheldin, 2009; Jung et al., 2009).

Research streams have examined the role of TQM and found support for the proposition that TQM could be viewed as a strategic resource that generates economic value and provides the firm with sustainable competitive advantage (Powell, 1995). This is achieved more through its tacit and imperfectly imitable features than with its process improvement and measurement methods. TQM has also been studied in terms of its relationship with strategy. Prajogo and Sohal (2006) have examined the fit of TQM practices in mediating the relationship between organization strategy and organization performance.

The literature suggests differentiation and cost leadership as two types of competitive business strategy (Porter and Millar, 1985). There are conflicting arguments concerning the strategic orientation that drives quality performance; one group of scholars argue that quality fits the differentiation strategy, whilst another group hold that quality is positively related to cost reduction, and thus supports the cost-leadership strategy (Prajogo, 2007). It has been argued that TQM can be usefully viewed as two components; hard (representing its tools, instruments, and techniques) and soft (leadership and HR management) (Boyne and Walker, 2002; Rahman and Bullock, 2005).

Studies examining the relationship among TQM, strategy, and performance typically depicted TQM as a mediator in the strategy – performance relationship (Ho et al., 2001; Prajogo and Sohal, 2006). An alternative view of this relationship is one of strategy having a mediating role between TQM and performance. Previous studies in management, human resource management, and entrepreneurship examined the mediating role of strategy in organizational contexts. Edelman et al. (2001) examined the mediating role of strategy and its impact on small firm performance. Their findings indicated that well-articulated strategies serve as the catalyst with which firm resources influence performance (Edelman et al., 2001). Other studies also investigated the mediating role of strategy in the relationship between human resource management and operational performance (Bayo-Moriones and Merino-Diaz de Cerio, 2002); in the effect of environment on organizational performance (Schul et al., 1995); and in the relationship between top management entrepreneurial development and firm performance (Wood and Michalisin, 2010). In the field of quality management, there has been a lack of studies that examined TQM as a driver of strategic choices. An exception is a recent study conducted by Escrig-Tena et al. (2011), who found that TQM is an antecedent of strategic flexibility. We propose to examine these alternate views of the relationship by examining the relationship between the hard and soft components of TQM on one hand and the two types of competitive strategy – differentiation and cost leadership – on the other. With this goal, this paper will address the following questions:

• Does TQM mediate the strategy-performance relationship or does strategy mediate the TQM-performance relationship?
• Do these relationships vary between hard TQM and soft TQM?
• What is the relative impact of soft TQM and hard TQM on operational performance?

Our research explores these research questions by drawing on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, strategic choice, TQM dimensions, and contingency theory literatures for insights into the constructs and the relationships amongst them as stated in the research questions. Addressing the first research question will provide insights into whether TQM can be considered a driver of strategic choice. Examining the two roles that TQM may have in an organization is similar to Spencer’s (1994) approach followed by Prajogo and Sohal (2004). The authors examined TQM within a mechanistic model (emphasizing quality by conformance) as well as within an organic model (supporting innovation). The authors argued that organizations implementing TQM may not strictly hold to any specific one of these configurations. The same argument holds for our approach. One may expect different TQM roles for the choice and deployment of different competitive strategies and for the pursuit of different organizational performance objectives. As for the second and third research questions, they take into consideration the multidimensionality of the TQM concept, which is viewed as embracing both social and technical dimensions (Bou-Llusar et al., 2009) or, more commonly used, soft and hard components (Prajogo and Sohal, 2004). Previous studies investigating the relationship between these two TQM dimensions and organizational performance reported mixed results (Rahman and Bullock, 2005). However, while some studies examined the relationship between TQM and strategy (Prajogo and Sohal, 2006), very few studies examined the relationship between TQM dimensions and competitive strategies (Jung et al., 2009).

This research seeks to fill the two gaps mentioned above. First, based on RBV, it takes into consideration the TQM dimensions (soft and hard) and investigates their relationship with the two types of competitive strategies (differentiation and cost leadership) as well as their relationship with performance. It then explores, based on the contingency view, the mediating effect of strategy and TQM in the TQM-strategy-performance relationship. The remaining of the paper will proceed as follows. The following section presents the theoretical framework and the literature upon which the study is based. The logic embodied in these literatures will then be used to develop an integrative model of the relationships between TQM dimensions, strategy choice, and the operational performance of the firm, based on which testable hypotheses will be posited. Second, the methodology deployed to test the hypothesized relationships will be discussed. This will be followed by a presentation and discussion of results. Finally, the contribution of the research will be discussed within the context of broader literature, and the study limitations as well as possible avenues of future research will be presented.