ogbaekirigwe charles odu pg/ph.d/05/45216 charle… · prof. unyimadu, c.o. chukwu, dr.e.k....
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OGBAEKIRIGWE CHARLES ODU
PG/Ph.D/05/45216
TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN DONOR AGENCY –
ASSISTED PROJECTS IN NIGERIA: CHALLENGES AND
PROSPECTS
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT
UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, ENUGU CAMPUS
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT, FACULTY OF
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION,, UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, ENUGU CAMPUS
Webmaster
Digitally Signed by Webmaster‟s Name
DN : CN = Webmaster‟s name O= University of Nigeria, Nsukka
OU = Innovation Centre
OCTOBER 2011
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TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN DONOR
AGENCY – ASSISTED PROJECTS IN NIGERIA:
CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS
OGBAEKIRIGWE CHARLES ODU
PG/Ph.D/05/45216
THE DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT
FACULTY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA
ENUGU CAMPUS, ENUGU.
OCTOBER, 2011
TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN DONOR AGENCY- ASSISTED
PROJECTS IN NIGERIA: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS
iii
OGBAEKIRIGWE CHARLES ODU
PG/Ph.D/05/45216
BEING A Ph.D THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQURIEMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF DEGREE OF DOCTOR
OF PHILOSOPHY (Ph.D) IN MANAGEMENT TO
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT
FACULTY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA
ENUGU CAMPUS
SUPERVISOR: PROFESSOR U.J.F. EWURUM
OCTOBER, 2011
CERTIFICATION
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This is to certify that I, OGBAEKIRIGWE CHARLES ODU, a Doctor of Philosophy
(Ph.D) candidate of the Department of Management, Faculty of Business
Administration with Registration Number ( PG/Ph.D/ 05 /45216) hereby certify that
the work embodied in this thesis is original and has not been submitted in part or in
full for any other Diploma or Degree of this or any other University.
Sign………………………………….. ………………………….
Ogbaekirigwe Charles Odu Date
(Student)
PG/Ph.D/05/45216
APPROVAL PAGE
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This thesis by OGBAEKIRIGWE, Charles Odu, PG/Ph.D/05/45, presented to the
Department of Management, Faculty of Business Administration, University of
Nigeria, Enugu Campus. We, the undersigned, certify that this thesis is adequate in
scope and quality for the award of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Management.
…………………………….. …………………… ……………………….
Professor U.J.F Ewurum Signature Date
Supervisor
…………………………….. …………………… …………………….
Dr. C.A Ezigbo Signature Date
Head of Department
Professor U.J.F Ewurum Signature Date
(Dean of the Faculty)
DEDICATION
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I humbly and most respectively wish to dedicate this work to God Almighty through
our Lord and savior JESUS CHRIST, who in spite of my numerous short comes, has
never failed me.
I also dedicate this “Journey to the Promised Land” to my lovely and only Biological
Daughter- Miss Praise Chidinma (Comfort) Ogba, then to Charles Ikem Ogba
(Junior), Sir Sinclair Chimezie Ogba(Omeze), Israel Emeka Ogba and the Great
Gideon Chibueze Ogbaekirigwe. I also dedicate the work to my special son Emeka
Eze of Eke IZHIA international Market.
Lastly, to my wife and companion of many years, whose role in my early life still
remains clouded in mystery.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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There are many individuals too numerous to mention in this page, who have in many
ways impacted positively on my life. Since my undergraduate days, Professor U.J.F.
Ewurum has remained a role model, my idol and a man who contributed in no mean
ways to see me come to this level of academic pursuit. I am most grateful, especially
for motivating me to work hard for success. I also thank all the other lecturers in
University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, for imparting in me a great wealth of
knowledge in management science during the M.Sc/Ph.D course work. I cannot forget
Prof. Unyimadu, C.O. Chukwu, Dr.E.K. Agbaeze, Dr.C.A. Ezigbo, Professor Eze,
Professor Ike Nwosu and our internal and external examiners Prof. Ogbuefi and Prof.
Awujor, from whose wealth of experiences I learnt so much during the seminar/ Ph.D
presentations and other programmes of the department. I equally thank those members
of staff of donor agency - assisted projects, who cooperated with me during the
questionnaire/ data collection stages. All members of Gideons International are dully
acknowledged for constant spiritual support and prayers. Special thanks also go to my
Executive Secretary/ Project Manager- Chief Augustin Aliugbala Nwazunku for
deliberate coperation and support to this course. May God richly bless you all.
My profound gratitude goes to the management of Administrative Staff College of
Nigeria (ASCON) library, Badagry Lagos for providing me unlimited access to the
many materials we consulted on TQM. I cannot forget the constant corrections,
reviews and redirections provided by my supervisor-Prof. U.J.F. Ewurum through
whose directions, I have gained an inestimable knowledge of research methodology.
Also worthy of note are the following- my esteemed brother Prince Sunday Benjamin
Akpu Ogba (mentor and sponsor), my inlaw- Hon.,Barrister & Mrs Emmanuel I.
Onwe, My colleagues in this Ph.D race-Ngige Chigbo and Chief Maxwell Amobi
Ubabuike and Prince Emeka Eze for invaluable contributions in ensuring that I
complete this work.. All the Christian brothers and Sisters are equally highly
appreciated.
Many thanks to Miss Ngozi Orogwu, Miss Joy Uche, Chioma Ogba, Anthonia Okpara
(Whitem) and Nzebunanwa Chinedu for typing and helping to put the entire work in a
proper perspective. Finally I most affectionately acknowledge my wife Mrs. Alice
Chinwe Ogbaekirigwe and my children – Charles Jnr, Sir Sinclair, Daughter Praise
Chidinma, Israel and the last born Gideon Chibueze Ogbaekirigwe for their indebt
understanding in the course of this study, especially in bearing with me in the
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numerous trips and running around involved in this research work. I THANK YOU
ALL.
ABSTRACT
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Total Quality Management in donor agency- assisted project: challenges and
prospects was the study. The objectives of the study were : to ascertain the
major challenge of Total Quality Management to improve the performance of
donor agency - assisted projects in South East and Federal Capital Territory of
Nigeria; to determine the impact of TQM on the performance of the donor –
agency assisted projects in the area of study; to ascertain the major solution to the
weak application of TQM to the donor agency- assisted projects in the area under
study; to ascertain the dominant approach of the application of TQM on the
performance of the donor agency- assisted projects; to ascertain the prospects
from full implementation of TQM to improve the performance of donor agency-
assisted projects in Nigeria. The research design adopted was the descriptive
survey research. Appropriate statistical tools like tables, percentages, pie chart,
bar charts were used to analyze the data generated. Hypotheses 1, 3, and 5 were
tested using Z-test, while Hypothesis 2 was tested using linear regression with the
aid of SPSS Computer programme. Hypothesis 4 was tested using Z- test of
population prorpotion.In all data collected from both primary and secondary
sources were utilized. Stratified and purposive sampling techniques were
employed to obtain the sample size of the study. The sample size of 375 was
obtained from an accessible population of 6000, by applying the Taro Yamane
formular. The findings indicate that bureaucratic inertia constituted the greatest
challenge to the application of TQM in the donor agency-assisted projects in the
area under study. This was closely followed by the lack of team work among the
various ranks. TQM had a significant positive impact in improving the
performance of the donor agency-assisted projects in the area studied. It also
shows that of the various approaches to TQM implementation in the projects, the
company wide approach is the modal approach. The Guru approach and the
Japanese based approach also rank high. The findings also indicate that the
various challenges if duly coped with, the prospects of Total Quality Management
in the donor agency-assisted projects in Nigeria are very good. The study
recommends that certified management consultants should be engaged to assist
donor agency - assisted projects in Nigeria to implement TQM just as the
Japanese extensively used consultants like Juran, Taguchi, Imai and others.
Competitive Analysis Model (CAM) project be lunched in Nigeria in order to
have a database of the performance of the different donor agency-assisted projects
across the country. Monitoring and evaluation of these long term investments that
are often funded with borrowed funds appear to be too poor in Nigeria. In
conclusion, since the objective of TQM is to build organizations that provide
products and services that are considered first – in class by customers, the results
of the study reveal that donor agency- assisted projects in Nigeria stand to attain
their highest prospects by applying it.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Title Page i
Approval ii
Certification iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgements v
Abstract vi
Table of Contents viii
List of Tables xi
List of Figures xii
Abbreviations xiii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem 12
1.3 Objectives of the Study 14
1.4 Research Questions 14
1.5 Research Hypotheses 15
1.6 Significance of the Study 15
1.7 Scope of the Study 15
1.8 Limitations of the Study 16
1.9 Definition of Key Terms 16
1.10 Profile of Selected donor agency-assisted Project 17
References 20
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2:1 Historical Development of TQM 23
2.2 Conceptual Framework 42
2.3 The meaning of Quality 51
2.4 Challenges of TQM in donor 60
2.5 Impact of TQM on performance 66
2.6 Approaches to Implementation 94
2.7 The prospects of full implementation of TQM 96
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2.8 Modification and adaptation of Transform 99
2.9 Performance Mgt. in donor agency 101
2.10 Scope of Project Management 105
2.11 Summary of Review of Related Literatures 111
References 114
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design 121
3.3 Ares of the study 121
3.4 Population of the study 122
3.5 Sources of data collection 122
3.6 Population and Sampling technique 126
3.7 Description of research Instrument 126
3.8 Validation of the Instrument 127
3.9 Method of Data Analysis 128
References 129
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND
INTERPRETATION
4.1 Data Presentation 130
4.2 Testing of the Hypotheses 137
4.3 Model Solution 146
4.4 Discussion of the Findings on the Major Challenge 148
4.5 Discussion of findings on objective two 150
1.6 Discussion of findings on objective three 151
1.7 Discussion of findings on objective four 153
1.8 Discussion of findings on objective five 154
1.9 Discussion of findings from the systems cybernetic model 155
1.10 Management implications of the findings 157
References 160
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGS,
RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
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5.1 Summary of Major Findings 162
5.2 Conclusion 165
5.3 Recommendations 167
5.4 Suggestion for further studies 168
5.5 Contribution to Knowledge 168
References 170
Bibliography 172
Appendix A 182
Appendix B 183
Appendix C 190
Validity Test Result 191
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 Strengths and Weaknesses of the Approaches TQM 40
Table 2.2 Factors that frontline manager 61
Table 2.3 Problems of Managers 62
Table 3.1 Categorization of donor agency-assisted projects
And their sample sizes 122
Table 3.2 Categorization of the Sample Sizes 124
Table 4.1 Distribution of the Respondents by Sex 130
Table 4.2 Length of Service of Respondents 130
Table 4.3 Educational Qualification 131
Table 4.4 Data on position 132
Table 4.5 Data on the Response Rate 133
Table 4.6 Data on Challenge of TQM 133
Table 4,7 Impact of TQM in donor agency-assisted projects 134
Table 4.8 Solutions to the weak application 135
Table 4.9 Various Approaches 135
Table 4.10 Full Implementation 136
Table 4.11 Modification of TQM Transform 137
Table 4.12 Summary of the Computation 146
Table 4.13: The Analysis of the Dichotomous 147
Table 4.14: Computation Details of the Six Hypotheses 148
Table 4.15: Summary of the Computation 149
Table 4.16: Analysis of the Dichotomous Responses 150
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1 Typical life cycle of a project 7
Figure 2.1 TQM business structure 51
Figure 2.2 Main elements of TQM 69
Figure 2.3 Nokia‟s corporate fitness rating 80
Figure 2.4 Gap Measurement on Benchmarking 80
Figure 2.5 Bench marking process 84
Figure 2.6 Seven Modes of Benchmarking 84
Figure 2.7 Systems cybernetic model 100
Figure 2.8 Representation of WBS 106
Figure 2.9 Diagrammatic Representation 110
Figure 4.1 Data on sex of respondents 139
Figure 4.2 Length of service 140
Figure 4.3 Ages of respondents 143
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ABBREVIATIONS
TQM Total Quality Management
HIV/Aids Human Immunodeficiency Virus/ Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome.
IEG Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank.
IBRD International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
IDA International Development Association.
NACA National Action Committee on Aids.
SPTs State Project Teams
EOQ Economic Order Quantity
ADP Agricultural Development Project
QC Quality Control
UN United Nations
CID Centre For Industrial Development
WBS Work Breakdown Structure.
OD Organizational Development
QC Quality Control
SQI Standards For Quality Improvements
PDCA Plan, DO, Check and Act.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
All over the World, International donor agencies and other leading organizations
are getting aware that it is important to develop a process of continuous
improvement in order to deal with the worldwide problems of fighting poverty,
hunger, HIV/AIDS, and general infrastructure. Writing on meeting the challenges
of Africa‟s development, Eliud (2010) recounts that in 2002, international donors
at Monterry, Mexico, pledged to increase aids level to Africa significantly.
According to him also, the 2005 G-8 summit at Gleneagles renewed the
commitment of the world‟s richest nations to support Africa‟s development and
signaled the intention to move beyond the Monterrey pledges to the additional
development assistance and debt relief. He concludes that the World Bank has a
major role to play in facilitating the international response to call for expanded
assistance to Africa by working in partnership with other development partners to
help every African country, including Nigeria to reach as many of the millennium
development goals as possible by 2015. Most of these international interventions
are packaged in the form of donor – assisted projects that are implemented by
project teams selected from the country or states in which they are domiciled.
This is where the challenge of better leadership, improvement in policies and
overall institutional improvement in the management of these donor agency-
assisted projects become very crucial in Nigeria. Under such conditions, top
managers of such projects must look for ways to break up old structures and to
take future community needs into consideration. It is very obvious that one
particular approach to improve effectiveness of such projects is the Japanese
inspired total quality management. Barrie and Heather (1999:1) opine that in
today‟s competitive marketplace the demands of customers are forever increasing
as they require improved quality of products and services but are prepared to pay
less for their requirements. They further assert that continuous improvement in
total business activities with a focus on excellence and the customer throughout
the entire organization is one of the main means by which organizations meet
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those demands. This is a most appropriate statement for the donor agency assisted
projects in Nigeria, whose projects and services are often perceived to be free of
charge.
There is a need to explore in detail the different definitions given by many
researchers world over in literature available for both scholastic and general
education. In so doing, it forms the foundation for the implementation of total
quality management by donor agencies assisted projects. The thesis as a whole,
presents the TQM concept as a feasible framework to support implementation of
donor agency assisted projects in Nigeria. While this work is specifically for
Donor agency - assisted projects, it may also be adapted to other sectors. Juran
(1991:81) maintains that the banner of total quality management is essential to
ensure competitiveness in global market.
International donor agency - assisted projects in Nigeria like world bank assisted
projects, just as their counterparts in other countries of the world, are packaged to
meet various needs of their country in core issues, be it in the health sector,
agriculture, education, poverty reduction, rebuilding of decayed or non existent
infrastructure like roads, water etc, etc. Today, we find that donor agency -
assisted projects are deficient and poorly managed in many developing countries,
inclusive of Nigeria. For instance, World Bank (2006) annual review of
development effectiveness states:
The Bank has found it challenging to help countries formulate and Implement
strategies that effectively reduce poverty. Half of the Country assistance strategy
reviews completed by IEG over the past Four fiscal years concluded that Bank’s
assistance in rural (African Areas had either not led to satisfactory outcomes or
that rural poverty Reduction required increased attention…
In developing countries like Nigeria, the World Bank, the United States of
America and other donor - agencies play vital roles in the provision of large
amounts of funding in foreign currencies for efficient and effective management
of such developmental projects. For example, according to the publication of the
World Bank, “ since its inception in 1944 (IBRD) and 1960 (IDA) the World bank
group has provided more than $200 billion in financing for some 5000 projects
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that cover a wide variety of sectors. In addition to traditional infrastructure
projects to construct ports, roads, water systems, power plants, irrigation dams and
so forth, the Bank is lending for projects in other sectors such as education,
population, health and nutrition, urban and rural development, industry. The
mission of the World Bank is as follows;- to fight poverty with passion and
professionalism for lasting results. to help people help themselves and their
environment, to provide resources, to share knowledge, to build capacity and to
forge partnerships in the public and private sectors.
However according to Imaga (2000) the setting of the 21st century is significantly
different from what was obtainable in the last century. This is as a result of the
peculiarities of this century, which manifested in different challenges, ranging
from globalization, privatization, deregulation, constant changes in technologies,
multi-skilling and organizational effectiveness, innovative management, to
international management exchange concept. He further stressed that both the
concepts of TQM and EOQ (Economic Order Quantity) in corporate strategy
focus on quality management as a tool of corporate strategy. They directly or
indirectly aim at target setting, Gap analysis, strategic environmental appraisal,
strategy formulation and strategic implementation. In these techniques, it is
expected of top management to decide the needs of the particular organization
(project) and to formulate a tailor-made plan to suit the specific needs of the
organization based on information got from the analysis of the internal and
external environment of the organization. The absence of these well outlined
strategies in the management of these donor agency-assisted projects may have
accounted for the poor performance as stated by the World Bank.
Therefore, new and innovative approaches to managing donor agency- assisted
projects are needed to achieve the millennium development goals. The public
sectors in industrialized countries have recognized this need and have successfully
applied modern management tools such as total quality management to
continuously improve quality of their services. Their success may be attributed to
the fact that most of those countries have a culture of quality, unlike in Nigeria.
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Therefore, donor agency assisted - projects in Nigeria must transform and make
quality as measured by customer satisfaction their priority.
Total quality management, as described in this thesis, calls for better management
of available resources, and service wide, comprehensive quality improvement. It
also appeals to donor agencies and policy makers to address the long – time
unattended needs of projects and services in less developed countries, starting with
pilot work on total quality management.
Fortuna (1990:1) asserts that TQM is based on a number of ideas. It means
thinking about quality in terms of all functions of the enterprise (Project) and is a
start – to – finish process that integrates interrelated functions at all levels. He
states further that it is a systems approach that considers every interaction between
the various elements of the organization. Thus, the overall effectiveness of the
system is higher than the sum of the individual outputs from the subsystems. Total
quality management in donor- agency assisted projects to improve their
performance is a very important concept. This is because there is the need for
continuous improvement in all the operations and activities of the agencies so that
they will be in a position to achieve their organizational objectives. All their staff
from the highest executive to the least staff needs to be trained on the techniques
of total quality management.
Thus, it spans all the tiers of management and staff, top, middle and lower levels.
It is not just a fad. It is either the entire organization accepts it or not. It is also
customer focused. It is also very embarrassing when donor agencies assisted
projects fail to meet the expectations of the Federal and various State
governments, local governments and other stakeholders because their products and
services are poor. If so the clients come back to complain and return the goods that
are not of high quality. As a result, the image of the donor- agency assisted project
becomes at stake. Both the workers and clients are not happy when such scenario
is created and in some cases, the project fails to meet the purpose intended.
It is important that we make Total quality management to work for Nigeria.
Jamshid (2010) states that corporate America is losing its competitive edge,
adding that the problem is serious enough for some to suggest that the present state
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of the U.S economy indicates not a recession but a regression to a level more
compatible with the country‟s present state of competitiveness. He states that the
world challenge is urging everyone to imitate Japan and the TQM magic. He goes
on to assert that the sleeping giant (America) is now waking up, impressed by the
phenomenal success of Japan and searching for an answer. Accordingly, corporate
America has singled Total Quality Management (TQM) as the panacea: the
vehicle for regaining its competitive position.
This goes to prove that if donor agency-assisted projects in Nigeria must be
competitive in their operations, they must imbibe the total quality management
philosophy. Obioha (1995:126-127) states that the introduction of TQM technique
has brought about improvement in quality of services rendered which has in turn,
contributed to an impressive profit margin by some private clinics.
However, it is expected that every donor agency - assisted project must
contribute to development objectives of their host communities, and be
economically, technically (Including management) and financially Sound. Here
lies the crux of this study on what role TQM can play in achieving sound
management of donor agency- assisted projects in Nigeria. Unfortunately, these
projects are often perceived as being poorly managed, ineffective and their
performance fall bellow expectation in terms of matching their output with the
grants or credits received. This view is corroborated by the World Bank (2006)
Project performance assessment report which states that: Analysis of the
institutional governance perception indicators illustrated that in vast majority of
countries (Africa) assessed by the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) of the
World Bank, that governance (Management) indicators have remained unchanged
since the mid –1990s. The report went further to state that with 90% level of
confidence, the results are similar when the confidence interval is relaxed to 75%.
It concludes by stating that almost all the countries that showed improvement
under the relaxed confidence criteria are in Eastern Europe, U.S.A and Central
Asia Region.
The failure of such donor agency – assisted projects in not only Nigeria, but
Africa as a continent, could then be seen to be as a result of mismanagement and a
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gross lack of culture of quality. According to Mc Kinsey, (1989), while discussing
the challenges faced by even European organizations stated that diseases of any
business or enterprise, whether private or public, include: Lack of consistency of
purpose, emphasis on short – term profits, rigidity of management, running project
or company on visible figures alone, and excessive medical costs for employees‟
health care.
According to Ewurum (2006), now that the technologies of transportation and
communication have replaced national economic systems with a global economy,
nations and businesses that do not practice TQM can become globally non-
competitive rather rapidly. Also writing on understanding the new management
reality, Imaga and Ojo (2006) are of the view that by the new management
realities, we refer to the critical skills, which have emerged in the modern
societies since the end of the second World War in the advanced and
industrialized countries of the world, and which have been recognized and
accepted as the main catalyst and prime mover of organizational and institutional
growth for social change in the developing countries since the era of globalization.
They further stressed that with Nigeria entering the global comity of nations in
1995, these forces of change, which have brought about the demand for modern
principles of management such as TQM, Re-engineering, and pro-active strategies
in organizing and directing business affairs are the issues raised by the concepts of
the Best practice model.
Hammer & Champy (1993:32) regard TQM mainly as the process of continuous
and incremental improvement of existing institutional processes, while business
reengineering involves radical redesign and changes to institutional processes,
organizational structures, management systems and values, in order to achieve
substantial breakthroughs with regard to the performance of the institution. The
two authors define a process as: “….a collection of activities that takes one or
more kinds of input and creates an output that is of value to the customer”. Dale
(2003:26) and Johnson (1993:8) emphasize the relationship between process
approach and TQM by regarding the nature of TQM as a philosophy that
combines all processes into an integrated system in an institution and that
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centralizes all the integrated subsystems as a global institutional entity and links it
to the employees, suppliers and customers with the purpose of working together as
an operational team (teamwork) for common performance, improvement and to
obtain results.
Change is a very constant phenomenon in project management. Such projects in
Nigeria must be willing and able to understand the changes that affect their
performance. A typical project cycle begins with identification of the area of need.
According to the World Bank publication (2001:1-3), the borrower and the bank
are supposed to jointly identify areas of need. Unfortunately in Nigeria, this is not
always exactly so. When people without requisite know-how in an issue are
drafted to negotiate projects they do not have detailed information on, it creates
problem at the actual implementation of the project.
It can thus be seen that ultimately, donor agency - assisted projects in Nigeria,
when compared to their counterparts in other parts of the world are believed to be
performing below expectation. For instance, it is common knowledge to observe
that the millions of dollars spent on the Agricultural Development Projects (ADP)
in Nigeria have not translated to as much food as expected in Nigeria, while
Poverty is still very high, despite the Poverty Alleviation Projects in all States of
the Country. Therefore, donor agency - assisted projects in Nigeria need to adopt
strategies and tools that can revolutionize their system of operation that would
give the desired result. This is where total quality management of donor agency -
assisted projects in Nigeria becomes inevitable.
Pearce and Robinson (2003:326) said that the initials TQM have become the most
popular abbreviation in business management literature since MBO (management
by objectives). Furthermore, their view is that TQM stands for total quality
management, an umbrella term for the programs that have been implemented in
many businesses worldwide in the last two decades. According to Omachonu and
Ross (1995:3) total quality management (TQM) is the integration of all functions
and processes within an organization in order to achieve success.
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Deming (1994:04) refers to it as the global nature of the conception, meaning all
aspects of the system or organization must be continually working together to
improve the ability of the system to meet and exceed customer requirement and
expectation. The “Quality Glossary” (1992:20-24) defines TQM as a
management approach to long-term success through customer satisfaction, based
on the participation of all members of an organization in improving processes,
products, services and the culture in which they work.
Following on this, Gbobadian (1998:3) opines that the „Total „in TQM is
applicable to (1) each process, (2) each task and (3) each person. Therefore, it is
applicable to all processes and not only manufacturing and production. They
further assert that TQM must be applied to all operational areas such as design,
conception, research and development, accounting. Marketing, maintenance and
all other functions must be involved in quality improvement. Supporting functions
such as sales, marketing, finances and logistics must also be more involved in the
TQM concept. As stated earlier, TQM is applicable to each task, not only those
that are concerned with the manufacturing of the product. Therefore, in our
projects, secretaries are expected not to make typing errors, accountants are not to
make wrong entries and the Project Managers are not to make strategic errors.
TQM also requires from each person to accept responsibility for the quality of his
or her work. For a donor agency - assisted Project to achieve these desired
objectives, the continuous improvement and innovations provided by total quality
management must be imbibed. Here, TQM is not just one more management fad
or another tool for quick fix. It is a solid overall approach to improving product
and especially service quality, the way of doing things, and the quality of business
and operational systems.
According to Milan (2002:464) total quality management was not invented by
anybody in particular, though the idea came from the United States. It has been
gradually developed, thanks to contributions from many specialists, consultants
and companies, and has passed through both success and failures. It has also
grown gradually over a period of more than 40 years, starting from the quality
control (QC) and quality circles movement in Japan. Stressing further on the
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history, Kubr (2002:464) also states that around 1946, American experts
introduced statistical quality control (SQC) to Japanese telecommunications
Industries. Visits by Deming to Japan between 1950 and 1952 established the
foundation for further development. In the process of practicing quality control, it
became obvious that the use of statistical techniques was not enough to improve
quality; there had to be total participation from management to workers.
Oakland (2000:13), views total quality management as the management that
revolutionizes all aspects of an enterprise: marketing, personnel, administration,
finance/accounting, and more so, production/engineering. He observes that it sets
to achieve this by overhauling all processes as change that focuses on how an
organization is to be manned, can produce requisite goods, recruit and maintain
the right personnel. It looks at marketing as a way of improving customer service,
articulating their needs and informing production to produce to meet them. In the
services sector, total quality management (TQM) looks at both type and quality
provided. Since service sector uses mostly human material, TQM functions by
recruiting the right personnel, providing the right resources to work with as well
as making sure the environment is conducive enough to carry out operations by
team building.
Cole (1990:10) also asserts that TQM is also a system that requires each top
manager to apply leadership and other management skills in each individual
leadership or management position. Cole‟s point of view regard TQM as that part
of the total management function and strategic planning that has to direct the
institution to total quality. He further opines that quality must be directed on
establishing cultural values with integrity, unlocking the potentials of personnel,
establishing improved structures, systems and procedures, and improving all
processes in order to develop the ability to fully satisfy all current and future
customer needs.
However, the Nigerian perspective of Management of donor agency - assisted
projects falls short of this, thereby resulting in project failures. A situation where
participation is not total, but hijacked by a few in the team makes for so much
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mismanagement. Here, the objective of TQM in project management would be to
build an organization that produces products and services that are considered to be
very satisfactory. Since the World Bank group and the other donors are global
entities, such donor agency- funded projects in Nigeria need to constantly and
continuously reassess in detail how they operate in the face of global competition.
The need for them to focus on achieving improvement in all the sub projects they
are supposed to attend to entails great deals of total quality management.
According to Okolie (1992) continuous improvement depends on both innovative
and incremental change. It must also be known that one outcome of global
economy is change, in the competitive structure within industries. Donor agency-
assisted projects in Nigeria operate within a global service industry. Therefore, to
be globally competitive, such projects must be aware of competitive project
objectives, allocate time and attention to quality services, and maintain
organizational environment that is conducive to change. Ivancevich et al,
(1997:5) state that in the United States, Japan, Germany and elsewhere,
competition is maintained through sound management with an emphasis on
quality. One of the surest benefits of TQM for Nigerian projects is sound
management. So, if total quality management must succeed in our projects, there
must be fundamental changes in the culture; by building teams of empowered
employees who are willing to adapt revolutionary approaches in their
management. Everyone gets involved.
In the views of Barrie and Heather (1999:180), teams have a number of roles to
play as a component in a process of continuous improvement. That means that to
get everyone involved, you must provide the tools and techniques to analyze and
drive out problems. According to them, teams can aid the commitment of people
to the principles of TQM, among other factors. These have to be taught at all
levels in all functions if everyone is to participate. There is need to develop the
attitude and influence the culture of the organization by learning to put people
first, caring for employees, creating goal congruence between leaders and those
being led. It therefore means that in every donor agency - assisted project team in
Nigeria, every one should be responsible for quality.
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One most fundamental element of TQM which such projects cannot do without is
team Work. Also, Carlzon (1987:21) asserts that the truth of the moment was that
some quality problems cross organizational boundaries because service delivery
processes do the same things. People work in teams either naturally within the
same department or cross departments and functions in recognition of their
specialization. The solution to effective work process is through team work.
Unfortunately this is most lacking in Nigeria Projects. Team work ensures that
everyone understands each other‟s needs. Team alignment is one of the specific
exercises which donor agency- assisted Projects can follow to streamline work
processes.
Carlzon (1987: 44) further states that there is no single right way to approach
TQM. Organizations have different priorities and problems. Culture and
management style also affects approaches to implementation of Total Quality
Management. He therefore concludes that what is most important is the degree of
management commitment.
Here in Nigeria, Projects often fail to attain desired levels largely because of lack
of commitment and process failure. According to Heather (2000:64) nobody goes
to work to make mistakes unless the system makes it possible, yet 20-30% of the
people‟s activity at work is devoted to fixing mistakes. He further asserts that
majority of mistakes occur at work because the process has failed. The objective
of total quality management in this area is to design a robust process that makes it
difficult to make such mistakes that result in failures. Using flow charts for
example, areas of possible failure can be highlighted and possibility of failure
reviewed.
However, in donor agency - assisted projects, top management must lead the
process, institute leadership and take action to accomplish the transformation.
TQM now challenges management‟s traditional role of planning, organizing,
directing and control and now demands that management should now empower,
coach develop and encourage organization wide participation in running the
project. This demands commitment and leadership from management at all levels.
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Middle management must also support the transformation. According to Smith,
(1993) traditionally, middle management role is that of supervision, maintenance
of quality, setting priorities and staff development. In a TQM focused project, all
the above remain in addition to the responsibility for continuous improvement of
every aspect of the processes under his control. It therefore becomes obvious that
adopting total quality management in donor agencies assisted project in Nigeria
will re-focus them for effectiveness and improve the process of delivering services
or products that are of high standard comparable to other projects anywhere world
over. The attainment of project objectives would become very easy by employing
the tools of TQM in Nigeria, since most of the States in Nigeria are having the
benefit of functional donor agency - assisted projects.
Garvin (1987) regards TQM as a strategy to improve organizational performance
by firstly the commitment of all employees to satisfy the needs of customers as
agreed upon at the lowest cost possible. They stressed further that it is possible
through the continuous improvement of products and services, organizational
processes and employee involvement.
It therefore means that the concept of TQM focuses firstly on customer
satisfaction through the employees and the integration of quality technologies in
all facets of the institution. Also, the concept of TQM is extended to include the
economic and cost aspects of product and service rendering in a win-win situation
according to which all internal and external customers‟ prosperity is increased.
For donor agency - assisted projects in Nigeria, TQM, which also refers to a
customer – driven management strategy according to which institutions design,
develop, produce and provide products and services that are economical and
environment friendly and that will always satisfy the customer in order to obtain
the competitive advantage, there is no better alternative than to imbibe these
virtues that it offers.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Some of the donor agency - assisted projects in South East and Federal Capital
Territory of Nigeria have continued to have limitations that tend to militate against
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their performance. Due to these limitations, they have a lot of challenges, some of
which are very difficult situations and milestones for them to achieve the desired
objectives of both the communities they serve and their various governing
parental bodies. Unless these challenges are properly handled, their prospects will
continue to fall bellow expectation as is often the case today in Nigeria.
Total Quality Management has continued to be an overall tool for ensuring
continuous improvement in the operations, services and production and all
activities that would ensure the achievement of overall organizational objectives.
The application of Total Quality Management as a management tool in these
projects has been abysmal let alone the execution and implementation of the
millennium techniques. This weak application of total quality management has
had copious problems, especially because the solution techniques are not in hand.
Some of the solution techniques like use of frequency distribution, and statistical
solutions to problems are freely used when TQM is in place.
Even where some of the donor - agency assisted projects have accepted Total
Quality Management, there is the problem of the proper approach to adopt. There
is also in such cases, the problem of the policy makers who in most cases see such
innovative steps as a waste of fund. There is also the problem of getting both the
top and middle level management to accept the transition at all levels of the
projects. Training and retraining of staff is often not accorded the required level of
attention that can lead to expected manpower development and capacity building.
In some states, the donor - agency assisted projects are coordinated from the
project implementation units which are often not located in the communities
where the projects are being implemented. This in most cases leads to policy
formulation/ implementation problems.
Due to these numerous abnormalities, it becomes difficult to know the prospects.
If the challenges are not properly handled, it would be cumbersome to have good
prospects. So who takes the responsibility? In most cases, managers, due to lack
of team work or the quest to enrich themselves, have the tendency to hijack the
projects and execute it in their own satisfactory level. Given the potentials of total
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quality management and in view of the high level mismanagement of such donor
agency projects across the country as stated in World Bank (2006) Independent
Examiners Group Rreport, it is pertinent to determine the prospects of TQM in the
management of such projects.
1.3 THE OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are as follows:
1. To ascertain the major challenge of Total Quality Management to improve
the performance in donor agency - assisted projects in South East and
Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria.
2. To determine the impact of TQM on the performance of the donor –
Agency assisted projects in the area of study.
3. To ascertain the major solution to the weak application of TQM to the
donor agency- assisted projects in the area under study in order to move it
to a higher level.
4. To ascertain the dominant approach of the application of TQM on the
performance of the donor agency- assisted projects with a view to
identifying the dominant model.
5. To ascertain the prospects from full implementation of TQM to improve
the performance of donor agency- assisted projects in Nigeria.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following research questions are formulated for the study:
1. What is the major challenge of TQM to improve the performance of donor
agency- assisted projects in the area under study?
2. What is the impact of TQM on the performance of donor agency- assisted
projects in the areas under study?
3. What is the major solution to the weak application of TQM in the donor?
agency-assisted projects?
4. What is the dominant approached to the application of TQM in the donor
agency-assisted projects and which is the dominant model?
5. What are the prospects from the full implementation of TQM to improve?
the performance of donor agency - assisted projects in Nigeria?
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1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
The following research hypotheses were formulated to guide the researcher in
achieving the objectives of the study:-
1: Bureaucratic inertia constitutes the major challenge of TQM in the donor
agency-assisted projects under study. .
2: TQM has a positive impact on the performance of the donor agency – assisted
projects under study.
3: Management development is the major solution to the weak application of
TQM in the donor agency - assisted projects under study.
4: The company-wide model is the dominant approach in the application of TQM
in the donor agency - assisted projects under the area of study.
5: Full implementation of TQM holds very high prospects to improve the
performance of donor agency-assisted projects in the area under study.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
It is expected that the following shall benefit and use the results of the study:
1. Managers of donor agency - assisted projects in Nigeria, in adopting best
practices which TQM offers.
2. Administrators of the supervisory organs of these agencies.
3. The stakeholders of the projects – communities, schools, and the public at
large.
4. Local government workers in the host communities
5. Researchers and students of Management, Performance management,
business administrators.
6. The Federal and state governments of Nigeria.
7. Project implementation units across the country.
1.7 THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study was carried out in these donor agencies - assisted projects located in the
South East and the Federal Capital. They include;.
a. Hiv/Aids Program Development Project/NACA. (World Bank).
b. United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UN).
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c. United States Agency for International Development. (United States)
In addition, the study made general references to all other donor agency - assisted
projects in Nigeria, as the need arose.
1.8 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY.
A study of this nature being carried in this period of global economic melt-down,
political tension building up, social uncertainties (kidnapping in Eastern Nigeria),
is faced with a number of limitations.
Financial constraints: The researcher faced serious financial constraints, since
there was no research grant provided.
Time: Time constraints were also a major problem, coupled by the serious
insecurity of life and properties occasioned by the aforementioned kidnaps at the
time.
Attitude of the respondents: Most staff of the donor agency assisted projects;
especially the lower level staff did not fully understand the essence of the
exercise. It took extra time and energy to disabuse their minds of the bias.
As a result of the above factors, it was not possible for the researcher to cover the
whole of Nigeria, but was constrained to limit the study to the South East
Geopolitical zone and the Federal Capital Territory.
1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS
The following definitions of terms were contextually assumed in this work:-
Total Quality Management (TQM): This is a management approach, a structured
system for meeting and exceeding customer needs and expectations by creating
organization-wide participation in the planning and implementation of
breakthrough and continuous improvement processes.
Quality: The word quality is defined as the totality of features and characteristics
of a product or service that bear on the ability to satisfy needs.
Donor- Agency: These are usually organizations that receive funding either as
credit or grant to execute articulated and timed activities which are usually
packaged in the form of projects.
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Projects. A project is an organized program of investigation and activity carried
out to reach a defined goal, often of a non-recurring nature, with a specified
terminal point.
Challenges: This refers to a difficult task that requires the effort of the managers
and staff of an organization.
Prospects: Expected outcome of certain actions taken, usually in the positive
direction.
Benchmarking: This is the continuous process of measuring a firm‟s good
practices, and services against those of its toughest competitors and leading firms
in other industries. It is also seen as the practice of establishing internal standard
of performance by observing how world-class companies run their business.
Continuous Improvement: Continuous improvement occurs as an organization
responds to the constant changes that are taking place within the organization that
leads to small incremental improvement towards excellence.
Team Work: Is one of the key features of involvement that brings about the
commitment and participation of people throughout the organization
Innovative Management: It is managers that make things happen. As consumers‟
preferences and tastes change, they expect new and improved methods of
production and products. Managers therefore need to bring new ideas, new
techniques, new products and new organizational leadership in their organizations.
Global Market: All of a sudden, local projects / manufacturers are competing
with multinationals and conglomerates that have the capacity to sell worldwide.
This calls for world standards in product and service delivery.
1.10 PROFILE OF SELECTED INTERNATIONAL DONOR AGENCIES
1.10.1 HIV/ AIDS/ NACA (The World Bank Group)
According to the World Bank Website
htpp://www.worldbank.org./wbsite/external external country/Africa, the World
Bank came into being as a result of the need to rebuild Europe and save it from
the ruins of the 2nd world war in 1944. Tremendous achievements recorded in
those European countries led to the meeting in 1946, where the board of directors
decided to extend such projects to especially the poorest nations of the world.
World Bank Group: Comprises International Bank for reconstruction and
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Development, International Development Association, international finance
Corporation, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency and International centre
for settlement of investment Disputes.
1.10.2 United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO-UNDP)
From the Home page of UNIDO at http://www.unido.org, it is stated that from its
inception, the United Nations recognized that equitable economic development
throughout the world was the keystone to lasting peace and prosperity. However,
its own efforts to promote industrial development took concrete shape in 1961,
when the UN committee for Industrial Development established the UN Centre
for industrial Development (CID). During the sixties, CID organized a series of
regional industrialization symposia. It is also recorded that at each symposia, a
detailed review of the industrialization efforts of the countries of the region was
made. Their recommendations laid down comprehensive guidelines for action at
the national, sub regional or regional and international levels.
UNIDO‟s assistance is delivered through two core functions: a normative function
as a Global Forum, and an operational function, providing technical cooperation
Agency. As a global forum, UNIDO generates and disseminates knowledge
relating to industrial matters and provides a platform for the various actors in the
public and private sectors, civil society organizations and the policy – making
community in general to enhance cooperation, establish dialogue and develop
partnerships. As a technical cooperation agency, UNIDO designs and implements
programmes to support the industrial development efforts of its clients. It also
offers tailor-made specialized support for programme development. The two core
functions are both complementary and mutually supportive. On the one hand,
experience gained in the technical cooperation work of UNIDO can be shared
with policy makers; on the other, the organization‟s analytical work shows where
technical cooperation will have the greatest impact by helping to define priorities.
According to the Website, on the 17th of November 1996, the United Nations
General Assembly passed resolution 2152 (XXI) establishing the United Nations
Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as an autonomous body within the
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United Nations.. The resolution is considered the founding document and thus
provides UNIDO‟s anniversary date. UNIDO‟s mandate was to act as the central
coordinating body for industrial activities within the UN system and to promote
industrial development and cooperation at global, regional, national and sect oral
levels. Its mission is to promote and accelerate the industrialization of the
developing countries. Unido‟s assistance is delivered through two core functions:
a normative function.
1.10.3 United States Agency for International Development
USAID is the first U.S. foreign assistance organization whose primary emphasis is
long – range economic and social development efforts. Quoting from
www.usaid.org. On September 4, 1961, the congress passed the foreign
Assistance Act which recognized the U.S. foreign assistance programs including
separating military and non military aid. The act mandated the creation of an
agency to administer economic assistance programs, and on November 3, 1961,
President John F. Kennedy established the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID).
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CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF TQM
According to Milan (2002:464), Total Quality Management was not invented by
anybody in particular, though the idea came from the United States of America. It
has been gradually developed, thanks to contributions from many specialists,
consultants and companies, and has passed through both successes and failures.
Juran and Gyrna (1993:30) states that at the dawn of the twentieth century, the
pace quickened with a long list of “new” activities and ideas launched under
bewildering array of names , namely quality control, quality planning, continuous
quality improvement, defect prevention, statistical process control, reliability
engineering, quality cost analysis, zero defects, total quality control, supplier
certification, quality circles, quality audit, quality assurance quality function
deployment, Taguchi methods, competitive bench marking.
So, following the World War 11, two principal forces emerged that have had a
profound impact on quality. The first impact was the Japanese revolution in
quality. Expatiating further on this, McGrath (2004:83) states that in international
markets, the quality of products coming out of Japan in the 1950s and 1960s was
very poor, owing to the destruction of Japanese industries by allied bombing
during World War 11. Following the war, Japan had to rebuild its industrial base
completely. To enable their products sell in international markets, the Japanese
took some revolutionary steps to improve quality as follows:
a. The top managers personally took charge of leading the revolution
b. All levels and functions received training in quality discipline; and
c. Quality improvement projects were undertaken on a continuous basis at
revolutionary pace.
Juran and Gyrna (1993:56), the second major success was the prominence of
product quality in the public mind. Several trends converged to highlight this
prominence as follows: product liability cases, concern about the environment,
some major disasters and near disasters, pressure by consumer organizations and
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the role of quality in trade, weapons and other areas of international competition.
These two major forces coupled with others resulted in a changing set of business
conditions that are enmeshed with the quality parameter.
So starting in the 1970‟s Japanese manufacturers, with the help of American
consultants such as W. Edwards Deming and Joseph M. Juran, began making
quality a competitive priority. Imaga (2000:183) asserts that Demings, who is
generally known as the father of quality management, helped to transform
Japanese business in the 1950s, in a way that put Japan‟s companies on the fast
track. However, from management literature, there is no clear-cut description of
the origin of Total Quality Management. Lewis (1996:12-19) traces its culture to
its origin in organizational development (OD) model through the emerging
interest in quality management. So, while Total Quality Management is believed
to have its origin from both the culture movement of an organization, it has over
the years converged with the quality movement to be what we know today as
Total quality Management.
Many of these recognized quality gurus did not actually use the term TQM,
although their work has subsequently been recognized as being relevant and
sometimes quoted as referring to TQM. While the above view holds sway, Griffin
(1993:15) agues that the quality perspective dates back much more to the early
1930s. Accordingly, the quality control (QC) concept developed a more
systematic approach to not only detecting, but also treating quality problems.
Therefore quality assurance (QA) widened the responsibility for quality to include
functions other than direct operations of an institution. It also made increasing use
of more sophisticated statistical quality techniques. He further states that of the
four leading American quality gurus- Edward Deming, Joseph M. Juran, Philip B.
Crosby, and Armand V. Feigenbaum, it was Edward Deming who met Shewart in
1938 and applied his statistical methods to train census bureau clerks in the 1930s.
He also trained engineers and technicians making military materials during World
War 11, as they relied mostly on statistics and control charts. So after the World
war 11, Deming was invited to give series of lectures to Japanese business leaders
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on the new concepts he was advocating at that time. Records have it that the effect
of his lectures on the Japanese businesses was so profound that to this day, the
highest award for quality in Japan is the Deming Prize.
Then came the era of top management commitment. According to Kano
(1993:12), a former student and protégé of Ishikawa, argues that the airing by
their national Radio in 1980 of a television programme titled “if Japan can, why
can‟t we?” symbolized the historical “shift” of the American quality movement.
Therefore, while quality circle activities started booming in US around 1980, the
quality movement had by the middle of 1980s come to emphasize the necessity of
top management commitment. As a result, in the United States, many companies
then began to promote company-wide quality activities by motivating managers
and executives to adopt it. Over time, this resulted to a shift from the past
American practice of assigning the primary role in quality activities to
professionals.
Contributing further on this, Easton (1993:3) states that quality began to emerge
as a key management focus in the United States of America around 1980.
According to him, the trend was primarily evident among manufacturing
companies who were suffering from severe foreign competition especially the
Japanese. From that era in the US, quality Management became a major issue,
metamorphosing into a strong management movement across the nation and in all
major industrial sectors. Easton was himself a senior examiner for the Malcom
Bridge Award. However, Macdonald (1996:14) opines that Crosby was the
“Leading influence” in stimulating US and European captains of industry and
executives into action concerning quality improvement programmes. He goes
further to state that the emphasis on quality continued in the auto industry in
1990s when Saturn automobile ranked third in the customer satisfaction behind
the two most expensive Japanese automobiles
Pearce and Robinson (2003:326), while contributing to the evolution state that
TQM was first implemented in several large U.S manufacturing firms, in the face
of the overwhelming success of Japanese and German competitors. Japanese
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manufacturers embraced the quality messages of Americans W. Edwards Deming
and J. M. Juran following World War 11, and by the 1970s Japanese products had
acquired unquestioned reputations for superior high quality. He concludes on this
by stating that growing numbers of U.S. manufacturers have attempted to change
this imbalance with their own quality programs, and the practice has spread to
large retail and service companies as well. So, increasingly, smaller companies
that supply big TQM companies have adopted quality programs, often because big
companies have required small suppliers to adopt quality programs of their own.
The quest begins by looking into the lives of two men, Edwards Deming and Peter
Drucker. Deming (now deceased) and Drucker (also now deceased) are enshrined
as internationally renowned experts in business management and gurus of
business methodology. They further states that these two individuals were among
the primary players in a select group of Americans( though Drucker is a U.S.
citizen, he is actually Austrian) who are lauded as part of the almost super-human
effort that developed systems-based management philosophies that first gained
public recognition in post-World war 11 Japan. He concludes that the popular
story is told of the Americans who developed a cutting edge business
methodology that was rejected by the western business but eagerly embraced by
the Japanese. However, as can be seen from available literature, the reality is that
Deming approach is primarily based on “Process” and “continual process
improvement”, and Drucker‟s Management by Objectives is purely outcome-
based. Dominick (2010) further asserts that although the approach of these
methodologies originates from a different source point, Drucker‟s outcome –
based philosophies could still be traced back into the process principles
incorporated by Deming.
In reality then, it means that Drucker‟s theme of building community with
knowledge workers equates precisely to Deming‟s quest to implement a team
spirit (TQM) in order to cultivate corporate loyalty and a shared identity. So we
can deduce from these that even Drucker‟s management by objectives was not an
original idea, but rather emanated from within the ranks of 19th century esoteric
Germanic philosophy. As stated above, although the origins of TQM go back to
the 1940s and 1950s (McGrath), Feigenbaun first used the term formerly in 1957.
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More recently, TQM has been developed through a number of widely recognized
approaches put forward by several ‟quality gurus” such as Crosby, Deming,
Feigenbaum, Juran and Ishikawa. The emphasis placed on various aspects of
TQM varies among the authorities, but the general thrusts of their arguments are
similar. Therefore, for us to understand the origins of TQM, we need to go
through the contributions of some of these pioneers of quality whose works had
earlier been referenced in this chapter of the thesis.
2.1.1 Edward Deming
Edward Deming was a prominent consultant, teacher and author on the subject of
quality. He is one of the best – known early pioneers, who is credited with
popularizing quality control in Japan in the early 1950s. His philosophy
emphasizes the systematic nature of institutions, the importance of leadership, and
the need to reduce variation in institutional processes. According to Anderson,
Rungtusanathan & Schroeder (1994:472) Deming maintains that an institution
must adapt the fourteen points of his system at all levels. He also believes that
quality is to be built into the product at all stages in order to achieve a high level
of excellence and included the managerial functions of planning, organizing /
controlling, stressed the responsibility of management to achieve quality. He did
not leave out need for goal setting
Boaden (1997: 157) states that Deming developed what is known as the Deming
chain reaction; showing that as quality improves, costs will decrease and
productivity will increase, resulting in more jobs, greater market share and long
term survival. According to Dale (2003:53) Deming maintains that his 14 points
apply anywhere, to small institutions as well as large ones, to the service industry
as well as to manufacturing. He also stressed that it is the system of work that
determines how work is performed and it is only managers that can create the
system. Deming summarized his foundation work in quality by identifying his 14
points for institutions to follow as below:,
i. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service
with the aim to become competitive and to provide jobs.
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ii. Adopt the new philosophy of quality and do not tolerate commonly
accepted levels of errors and defects.
iii. Stop depending on mass inspection to improve quality. Eliminate the
need for inspection on mass basis by building into the product in the first
place.
iv. End the practice of awarding business and choosing suppliers based on
prize. Minimize total cost by working with a single supplier.
v. Constantly improve the system of production and service by continually
improving test methods and identification of problems, from the very first
planning stages right up to distribution to customers, and thus constantly
decrease costs.
vi. Adopt modern methods of training-on-the-job by teaching employees the
best methods of achieving quality in their jobs and the use of tools such
as statistical quality control.
vii. Adopt and institute leadership. The aim of supervision should be to help
people and machines to do a better job.
viii. Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the institution.
No one can perform unless he or she feels secure.
ix. Break down barriers between departments and staff areas. Create teams
of members coming from all areas and sectors of the institution to
prevent and solve problems.
x. Eliminate slogans and exhortations for the workforce asking for zero
defects and new levels of productivity.
xi. Eliminate work standards (quotas) for the workforce and substitute it
with leadership. Eliminate management by objectives; eliminate
management by numbers, numerical goals. Substitute leadership.
xii. Remove barriers that rob people of the pride of workmanship. Eliminate
the annual rating or merit system.
xiii. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement for
everyone.
xiv. Put everybody in the institution (project) to work to accomplish the
transformation. The transformation is everybody‟s job.
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From these we see that the cornerstone of Deming‟s philosophy is based on
statistical process control, which must be implemented where corrective action
can be successfully instituted. Top management involvement is a key requirement
with proper delegation of quality responsibilities at all levels in an institution. The
recognition of training and leadership skills is vital in adopting Deming‟s
philosophy with continuous improvements.
In line with Deming‟s stance on quality, Betz (1999:68) notes that associating a
process that identifies the critical elements affecting customer satisfaction requires
individuals or teams to use the following seven quality control tools of daily
management:
a. Cause and effect Diagram: A graphic representation of the relationship
between cause and effect. This is an investigative tool, since it organizes
randomly connected causes.
b. Flow Chart: A visual representation of all the steps in a process under study.
This tool develops a clear and common group vision of all the elements in a
process.
c. Pareto Chart: A graph showing in descending order the major contributors
to a problem. It separates out the vital few from the trivial many. This tool
directs the team to those factors, which are the major contributors to the
issue under analysis.
d. Run Chart: A graph of how a parameter of a process is behaving over time.
This tool is useful in highlighting trends, shifts, and possible cycles.
e. Histogram: A bar graph showing the frequency of occurrence of measured
characteristic of a process.
f. Control Chart: A graph of a process characteristic that is used to determine
how much process variability is due to random variation and how much is
due to unique events. The chart has control limits that point out events
requiring investigation and correction to aid in achieving and maintaining
statistical control.
g. Scatter Diagram: A graphical analysis of the relationship between one
variable and another. This tool can be used to screen for possible cause and
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effect relationships or unit level is viewed as acceptable, the accumulation of
such breakdown at every step ends up in global failure.
2.1.2 Armand Feigenbaum
According to Dale (2003:55), Feigenbaum was the first known quality guru to use
the term “total quality control”. Since then the idea has come to mean an approach
to quality that is institution – wide, involving all aspects of the control or
management of quality. He Feigenbaum (1986:64) grouped quality control into
four categories of new design control, incoming material control, product control
and special process studies. He stressed that to be successful; these activities
require the cooperation of all the institutional departments with responsibilities
clearly defined using elaborate matrices.
Feigenbaum (1986:12) developed the approach that the responsibility for quality
extended well beyond the manufacturing department. He also developed the
concept that quality could not be achieved if products were poorly designed,
inefficiently distributed, incorrectly marked and improperly serviced and
supported. According to Kathawala (1989:11) Feigenbaum‟s approach to quality
is a whole approach and was largely credited with the concept of Total Quality
Control. According to Dale (1993: 56), Feigenbaum‟s philosophy can be reduced
into four simple steps, namely:
a. Setting a quality standard.
b. Appraising conformance to these standards
c. Acting when standards are expected.
d. Planning for improvements in the standards.
Feigenbaum (1996:59) also established nine fundamental factors affecting quality
as follows: - markets, money, management, men, motivation, materials, machines,
modern information methods and mounting product requirements. Lindsay &
Petrick (1998:76) however reduces these factors to two distinct categories, namely
(1) technological factors (including processes) and (2) human factors. Of these
two groupings, the human is of greater importance by far. Feigenbaum‟s total
approach to quality is a major strength in eliminating uncoordinated quality
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activities. The emphasis on management and human participation is seen as
strengths in generating motivation and creativity, which are absent from Deming
and Juran‟s approaches.
2.1.3 Joseph M. Juran
He specialized in managing for quality. According to Capezio & Morehouse
(1993:90) Joseph Juran identifies three areas for quality conversion within an
institution, namely:
i. Financial planning becomes quality planning (developing the products and
processes required to meet customer needs).
ii. Financial control becomes quality control (meeting product and process
goals).
iii. Financial improvement becomes quality improvement (achieving
unprecedented levels of performance)
The above is what is referred to as Juran‟s Trilogy.
According to Dale (2003:57), Swift, Ross & Omachonu (1998:9), Juran developed
a ten-step approach to quality improvement. They are stated as:
i. Build awareness for the need and opportunity for improvement.
ii. Set goals for improvement.
iii. Organize people to reach the goals.
iv. Provide training throughout the institution.
v. Carry out projects to solve problems.
vi. Report progress.
vii. Give recognition.
viii. Communicate results.
ix. Keep score and assess overall progress.
x. Maintain momentums by making annual improvement part of the regular
systems and process of the institution.
Thus Juran extends his principles to consider business processes, and has recently
developed a concept entitled managing business process quality, which is a
technique for executing cross- functional quality improvement. Juran also
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believed that the customer decides quality. Juran (1990:61-65) states the following
points:
i. That service or product quality must be defined from the perspective of the
customer and not by your organization‟s own internal standards. Whilst
you.
ii. Measure actual service failures. Percentages can be misleading. A 99%
performance level for a one million customer market implies that 10,000
people are not being satisfied.
iii. Each type of service failure has a different level of irritation to the
customer; therefore each carries a different weighing to reflect the impact
on customer satisfaction.
iv. Continually track and measure performance against a 100% served
performance goal.
v. Relate the measured performance to your own annual service quality goals
– at all levels.
vi. Provide accurate, immediate and visible feedback so that employees are
informed and the additional effort required known.
vii. Create SQIs along a service delivery chain for each type of transaction at
each identified critical point.
viii. Establish as part of these indicators – frequency, accuracy, timing and
timeliness.
ix. Set SQIs goals for each branch, unit, department, activity etc each to
identify own critical service points.
x. Assign weighing and agree criteria.
xi. Record and track actual service performance; eliminate foot cause of
service failures.
xii. Present for approval or review.
xiii. Once approved, record indicators religiously.
xiv. Asses performance at all levels based the SQI results.
xv. Present results as part of monthly performance appraisal process.
xvi. Display results for all to see using the information management tools – run
charts, SPC charts, Histograms etc.
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2.1.4 Philip B. Crosby
According to Capezio and Morehouse (1993:103), Crosby‟s philosophy focused
on reducing cost through quality improvement. He also stressed that both high and
low – end products can have quality. His philosophy is based on five fundamental
principles he call “absolutes”. These absolutes are:
i. Quality has to be defined as conformance to requirements, not as goodness.
ii. The system for causing quality is prevention, not appraisal.
iii. The performance standards for quality must be zero defects.
iv. The measurement of quality is the process of non-conformance, not
indexes.
v. There is no such thing as quality problem.
Dean and Bowen (1994:394) state that Crosby stresses motivation and planning
and does not dwell on statistical process control and the problem – solving
techniques of Deming and Juran. Crosby‟s 14 points are action steps for
institutions to help them implement TQM. Crosby takes a very pragmatic
approach in making each of these points value producing for the institutions that
practice them. Crosby‟s 14 points (Dale 2003:52; Swift, Ross and Omachonu
1998:11) are:
i. Management commitment – Top management must be convinced of the
need for quality and must clearly communicate this to the entire institution
by written policy.
ii. Quality improvement teams- Form a team composed of department heads
to oversee improvements in their departments and in the institution
(project) as a whole.
iii. Quality measurement – Establish measurements appropriate to every
activity in order to identify areas in need of improvement.
iv. Cost of quality – Estimate the cost of quality in order to identify areas
where improvements would be profitable.
v. Quality awareness – Raise quality awareness among employees.
vi. Corrective action- Take corrective action because of steps 3 and 4.
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vii. Zero defect planning and zero defects day (error-free work days) - from a
committee to plan a program appropriate to the institution and its culture.
viii. Supervision training – All levels of management must be trained in how to
implement their part of the quality improvement plan.
ix. Employee education- Define the type of training all employees need in
order to carry out their role in the quality improvement process. All levels
of management must be trained in how to implement their part of the
quality improvement program.
x. Goal setting – Establish improvement goals for individuals and their
groups.
xi. Error cause removal – Employees should be encouraged to inform
management of any problems that prevent them from performing error-
free work.
xii. Recognition – Give public, non- financial appreciation to those who meet
their quality goals or perform outstandingly.
xiii. Quality councils- Composed of quality professionals and team
chairpersons. Quality councils should meet regularly to share experiences,
problems and ideas.
xiv. Do it all over again- Repeat steps 1 to 13 in order to emphasize the never-
ending process of quality improvement.
From the above, we deduce the fact that Crosby‟s approach is easier to understand
than those of Deming, Juran and Feigenbaum because he treats quality problems
as tangible issues to be solved and rejects the idea that problems are persistent and
unsolvable. However, his strong management and goal orientation of his zero
defect approach can lead workers to become disenchanted as most problems are
systemic rather than worker created. But from my observation, his own 14 point
approach to management of quality does not have the same amount of emphasis
on principles of breakthrough and control / handling variation with statistical
process control as that of Deming and Juran.
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2.1.5 Karou Ishikawa
Dale (2003:59) opines that Ishikawa has been credited with originating the
concept of quality circles and cause- and-effect diagrams. It has also been reported
that as a pioneer in quality, Ishikawa based his work on the works of Deming,
Juran and Feigenbaum. He also published many works, including “What is total
Quality Control? The Japanese Way, Quality Control Circles at work and Guide
to Quality Control”
He also claimed that there had been a period of over emphasis on statistical
quality control in Japan at that time, as a result of which people disliked quality
control. He also agued that at that time in Japan, people saw quality control as
something unpleasant because they were given complex and difficult tools rather
than simple ones. Ishikawa also stressed the fact that the resultant standardization
of products and processes and the creation of rigid specification of standards
became a burden that not only made change difficult, but made people feel bound
by regulations. Ishikawa also saw worker participation as the key to the successful
implementation of TQM. Rao et al (1996:49) opines that Ishikawa took the
concepts proposed by people like Deming and Juran and brought them to the level
of the common worker.
2.1.6 Shingo
Barrie (1999:52) is best known for his work on single minute exchange of Die
(SMED), mistake proofing (poka-yoke) defect prevention system and in
conjunction with the development of the Toyota product system. He likes to be
known as „Dr Improvement‟ and is renowned for his work on improving
manufacturing processes.
Shingo advocates the use of the poka-yoke system to reduce and eliminate defects.
Shingo classifies poka-yoke systems into two types- regulatory functions and
setting functions. Two main functions are performed by the regulatory devices: (i)
control methods which when abnormalities are detected shut down the machine,
thus preventing the occurrence of further non-conformities and; (ii) warning
methods which signal, by means of noise and / or light devices, the occurrence of
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an abnormality. There are three main types of poka-yoke setting functions: (i)
contact methods in which sensing devices detect abnormalities; (ii) fixed-value
methods in which abnormalities are detected by counting devices and; (iii)
motion-step methods where abnormalities are detected by failure to follow a pre-
determined motion or routine. He refers to the term SMED as the theory and
technique for performing set-up operations in fewer than 10 minutes. It is a
fundamental approach to continuous improvement, bringing benefits in terms of
stock reduction, productivity improvements, flexibility, and reduction in set-up
errors and defects and improved tool management. The concept of SMED and
quick change-over advanced by Shingo challenges traditional wisdom.
Shingo identifies three main stages of improvement through SMED:
i. Differentiate and separate internal set-up
ii. Shift internal set-up elements to external set-up.
iii. Improve the methods involved in both internal and external set-ups.
The contribution Shingo made to the development of the Toyota production
system is legendary and his written work outlines a number of methods (e.g.) JIT,
scheduling, workplace layout, stock control SMED, mistake proofing) for
improving quality and productivity.
2.1.7 Imai
Imai (1986) is the person accredited with bringing together the various
management philosophies, theories, techniques and tools which have assisted
Japanese companies over the last four or so decades to improve their efficiency.
The published evidence indicates that the impact of Kaizen in Japanese companies
has been considerable. In simple terms Kaizen is the process of incremental,
systematic and continuous improvement that uses the best of all techniques, tools,
systems and concepts (e.g. TPM, JIT, SMED, quality circles and the PDCA
cycle). From this it is clear that kaizen is generic in its application. The
improvements taking place in steady planned steps are contrasted with the usual
methods of Western organizations of large step innovation of efforts. A good idea
of what is encompassed in Kaizen is given by the Glossary of Kaizen terminology
and concepts at the front end of Imai‟s book (1986).
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The aim of Kaizen is to ensure that everyone in an organization is of the frame of
mind to pursue naturally continuous improvement in whatever they do. It also
encourages people to accept continuing change. Running through the concept are
a number of basic principles such as:
i. Continuous focus on improvement.
ii. Everyone in the company should be involved.
iii. Delighting the customer.
iv. Everything should be considered from a total system standpoint.
The key elements of Kaizen are:
i. Adaptability of both people and equipment.
ii. Use of existing technology to optimize capacity.
iii. Creative involvement of all employees.
iv. Make it a little better each day attitude.
2.1.8 Taguchi
Genichi Taguchi is a statistician and electrical engineer who was involved in
rebuilding the Japanese telephone system. He was contracted to provide statistical
assistance and design of experiment support. Taguchi rejected the classical
approach to design of experiments as being too impractical for industrial
situations and revised these methods to develop his own approach to design of
experiments. He has been applying Taguchi design of experiments in the Japanese
electronics industry for over 30 years. His ideas fall into two principal and related
areas known as „the loss function‟ and „off – line quality control‟.
In his ideas about the loss function, Taguchi (1986) defines quality as „The quality
of a product is the loss imparted to society from the time the product is shipped‟.
Among the losses he includes consumers‟ dissatisfaction, warranty costs, loss of
reputation and, ultimately, loss of market share. Taguchi maintains that a product
does not start causing losses just when it is out of specification, but also when
there is any deviation from the target value. Further, in most cases the loss to
society can be represented by a quadratic function, i.e. the loss increases as the
square of the deviation from the target value. This leads to the important
liii
conclusion that quality (as defined by Taguchi) is most economically achieved by
minimizing variance, rather than by strict conformance to specialization.
This conclusion provides the basis for Taguchi‟s idea for off-line quality control.
Off- line quality control means optimizing production process and product
parameters in such a way as to minimize item to item variations in the product and
its performance. Clearly this focuses attention on the design process. Taguchi
promotes three distinct stages of designing –in- quality:
1. System Design: The basic configuration of the system is developed. This
involves the selection of parts and materials and the use of feasibility studies
and prototyping. In system design, technical knowledge and scientific skills
are paramount.
2. Parameter Design: The numerical values for the system variables (product
and process parameters which are called factors) are chosen so that the
system performs well, no matter what disturbances or noises (i.e.
uncontrollable variables) are encountered by the system (i.e. robustness).
The objective is to identify optimum levels for these control factors so that
the product and or process is least sensitive to the effect in changes of noise
factors and the changes that they make. The experimentation pinpoints this
combination of product / process parameter levels. The emphasis in
parameter design is on using low-cost materials and processes in the
production of the system. It is the key stage of designing – in quality.
3. Tolerance Design: If the system is not satisfactory, tolerance design is then
used to improve performance by tightening the tolerances. He states that
when seeking to optimize production process and product or service
parameters it is frequently necessary to determine experimentally the effects
of varying the parameter values. This can be a very expensive and time
consuming process which may produce a lot of redundant information. By
using fractional factorial experiments, which Taguchi calls orthogonal
arrays, the number of experiments required can be reduced drastically. The
attention given to what are commonly termed “Taguchi methods” bas been
largely responsible for organizations examining the usefulness of
experimental design in making improvements. Quite apart from the
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successes derived from using his methods, the level of awareness he has
promoted in design of experiments is an achievement in itself. However, it
should not be overlooked that a number of other people have made
significant improvements with other approaches to experimental design.
2.2. Similarities of the Major TQM Gurus
a. All of them believe that the management and the system, rather than the
workers, are the cause of poor quality
b. Most of the recent works on quality have largely absorbed and synthesized
their ideas, although they largely belong to two schools of thought. The
two schools of thought are those who focus on technical processes and
tools, and those who focus on the managerial dimensions. For example:
Deming provides manufacturers with the methods to measure the variation
in a production process in order to determine the causes of poor quality,
while Juran emphasizes setting specific annual goals and establishing
teams to work on them. On his part, Feigebaum teaches total quality
control aimed at managing by applying statistical and engineering methods
throughout the institution, while Crosby stresses a program of zero defects
and Ishikawa stresses the use of quality circles.
Therefore, the relative strengths and weaknesses of Deming, Crosby, Feignbaum,
Juran and Ishikawa approaches as adapted by Walden (1994:511) are listed below
in a tabulated form:
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Table 2.1: Strengths and weaknesses of the Demings et-al approaches.
Name Strengths of Approach Weakness of Approach
Deming 1. Emphasizes on the removal of
barriers to employee participation.
2. Provides systematic and functional
logic which identifies stages in
quality improvement.
3. Stresses that management comes
before technology
4. Leaders and motivation are
recognized as important.
5. Emphasizes role of statistical
and quantitative methods.
6. Recognizes the different
contexts of Japan and North
America.
1. Action plan and
methodology principles
sometimes vague.
2. The approach to leadership
and motivation is seen by
some as idiosyncratic.
3. Does not treat situations
that are political or coercive.
Juran 1. Emphasis to orientate quality
managers towards both suppliers and
customers.
2. Emphasizes the need to move away
from quality hype and slogans
3. Stresses the role of the customer,
both internal and external.
4. Management involvement and
commitments are stressed.
1. Does not relate to other
work leadership and
motivation.
2. Seen by some as
undervaluing the contribution
of the worker by rejecting
bottom-up initiatives.
3.Seen as being stronger on
control system than the human
dimension in institutions.
Feigenbaum 1. A clear customer-
oriented quality
management process
required.
2. Provides a total system approach
quality control.
1. Does not discriminate
between different kinds of
quality context.
2. Does not bring together the
different theories into one
coherent whole.
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3. Places the emphasis on the
importance of management.
4. Includes socio-technical systems
thinking.
Crosby 1. Strong focus on institutional factors
such as cultural change, training,
leadership and ongoing calculation of
quality costs.
2. Strong emphasis on institutional-
wide motivation.
3.Provide clear methods, which are
easy to follow.
4.Worker participation is recognized
as important.
5.Strong on explaining the realities
quality and motivating people to start
the quality process
1.Seen by some as implying
that workers are to blame for
quality problems.
2.Zero defects sometimes seen
risk avoidance.
3.Insufficient attention given
to statistical methods.
Ishikawa 1. Strong emphasis on the importance
of people and participation in the
problem-solving process.
2.A blend of statistical and people-
oriented techniques.
3.Introduces the idea of quality control
circles.
1.Some of his problem solving
methods seen as simplistic.
2.Does not deal adequately
with moving quality circles
from ideas to action.
Source: Adapted by Waldman (1994:511) and Yong Wilkinson (2001:248).
Although these quality gurus have these differences as listed above, there are still
some common grounds upon which to rest their views. Some of them are:
i. That involvement of and leadership by top management are essential to the
necessary culture of commitment to quality.
ii. That a program for quality requires institution-wide efforts and long-term
commitments, accompanied by the necessary investment in training.
lvii
iii. That quality is first and schedules are secondary.
iv. That quality is a system of continuous ongoing improvement.
v. That the benefits of quality far outweigh the costs of quality.
vi. That quality improvement programs must represent permanent, on-going
activities.
2.2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF TQM AS A MANAGEMENT
TOOL
In this study, the concept of total quality management as a tool for the
management of International donor agencies assisted projects in Nigeria is used.
To Erinle (1996:20) giving a name to a broad set of principles, methods and tools
can be inherently misleading and limiting. In using the term TQM in connection
with the activities and mission of an organization, a practical compromise is
intended in order to establish a recognizable term that can be used for discussion.
TQM is adopted because it is the most commonly used term. What the term will
mean to your organization will depend on individual perceptions and experiences.
As Dr. Deming has said: “Our words take their meaning from our action.”
Total quality management according to Deming (1994:04) refers to the global
nature of the conception meaning all aspects of the system or organization must be
continually wording together to improve the ability of the system to meet and
exceed customer requirement and expectations. It therefore stresses the fact that
no department, section, or arm of the Project or organization is left out. This
agrees with Bank in Ewurum (2006) who states that Total quality management is
the way of managing for the future, and is far wider in its application than just
assuring product or service quality- it is a way of managing people and business
processes to ensure complete customer satisfaction at every stage, internally and
externally.
In expatiating further on the nature of TQM, Oakland (2000:13) refers to it as the
management that revolutionizes all aspects of the enterprise: marketing,
personnel, administration, finance, accounting, and more so production/
engineering. It sets to achieve this by overhauling all production processes as well
lviii
as effective management of personnel. He states further that TQM is a philosophy,
a way of thinking and working that is concerned with meeting the needs and
expectations of customers. To him, TQM applies to all parts, departments and
sections of the institution and further, it is the responsibility of all people in an
institution, or Project.
According to Mc Canes (2006:331) total quality management is a production
process change that focuses on how an organization is to be manned, can produce
requisite goods, recruit and maintain the right personnel. It looks at marketing as a
way of improving customer service, articulating their needs and informing
production to produce to meet those needs. This therefore shows that TQM is a
combination of people and system working harmoniously together for the ultimate
benefits of the customer. Baarie (2000:06) also contributed to this by stating that
TQM is a structured system for meeting and exceeding customer needs and
expectations by creating organization wide participation in the planning and
implementation of breakthrough and continuous improvement processes.
Therefore, the totality of all it takes to have a donor agency assisted project in
Nigeria is involved. Grath (2004:250) concludes the issue by stating succinctly
that the challenge of quality Management is to instill an awareness of the
importance of quality in all employees and to motivate them to improve product
quality. Thus, with TQM, everyone is expected to contribute to the overall
improvement of quality- from the Administrator (The Project Manager) who finds
cost-saving measures to the sales person who learns of a new customer. In other
words, total quality management involves all the functions that relate to a product
or service.
According to Betz (1999:63) ultimately, quality is defined by the customer or user
of the system‟s output. Customer requirements and expectations can be influenced
by competition, or by changing standards in the marketplace. Here in Nigeria,
core customers to World Bank assisted projects are the communities and rural
areas where most of those projects are sited. Substandard buildings, bridges and
other works, if built and handed over to such beneficiaries, would not in any way
go for quality and value for money. Thus in managing donor agencies assisted
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World Bank assisted projects, it should be realized that quality must be a way of
organizational and everyday life. Every team member must imbibe quality as a
way of doing business, living and conducting both official and personal
transactions. Macdonald and Pigott (1990) are of the opinion that quality is driven
by a persons own internal mechanisms.
Therefore, donor - agency assisted projects in Nigeria must become cognizant of
the three levels of quality:- those that meet requirements, quality that meets
expectation, and quality that exceeds expectations or exciting quality. From the
above perspective, quality therefore means meeting the customer‟s requirements.
However, meeting the customer requirements definition of quality is not
restrictive to the functional characteristics of products and services, since such
requirements could also be to satisfy some prestige. Milan (2002:463) makes it
clearer when he stated that the term quality has suffered over the years by being
used to describe attributes such as beauty, goodness, expensiveness, freshness and
even luxury. So a car may be described as a quality car when in reality, it is an
expensive or luxury car.
Still, Deming (1986) argues that quality should aim at the needs of the consumers
present or future. His approach to quality has been described as physiological and
far- reaching. Although he does not think that it is possible to make perfect
product every time, he believes in continuously working to improve and like the
other quality experts, he focuses on changes in the work process rather than in the
product. Quality is also seen as a way of thinking. In producing quality products,
they must first think quality into the product, and they build quality into the
product.
Quality then is a management philosophy. McGrath (2004:82) fully x-rayed this
fact with a narrative of the Japanese experience. According to him, anyone born in
1970 or later, probably takes for granted consumer demand for high quality
products and services and the need for firms to improve their operations to make
quality a competitive priority. However, quality was not always a top priority, he
said. In his own view, Juran believed that continuous improvements, hands-on-
management and training are fundamental to achieving excellence in quality. Dale
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and Bunney (1999:31) contributing to this, defines Total Quality Management as
the mutual co-operation of everyone in an organization and associated business
processes to processes to produce products and services which meet the needs
and expectations of customers. It is the application of qualitative methods and
human resources to improve all the process within an organization and exceed
customer needs now and in the future.
Furthermore, Griffin (1993:57) defines total quality management as a strategic
commitment by top management to change its whole approach to business and to
make quality a guiding factor in everything. It is not by mere inspection that
quality products or services are made. Stressing on the impact of TQM on
management of such projects, Kubr (2002:488) further states that the long road
towards Total Quality Management takes companies (projects) into a new
landscape where authority, decisions and innovation are much more widely
shared. The belief is that this is why the first priority in implementing Project
wide TQM should be to recognize its revolutionary character and permit it to
drive system wide changes. Also total quality management demands that top level
management becomes agent of change, redefining management roles and
structures, and accepting loss of their own power in the process.
Therefore, there will be serious conflict if top level management would seek to
foster quality improvement at the lower levels, while ignoring the higher or while
seeking to hold on to top – down management. So, total quality management
upsets traditional power structures and ways of doing business. Therefore with
total quality management, change within an organization is inevitable. Doing the
right thing the first time requires investing resources in understanding systems and
enabling people to improve process. Besterfield et al (1995:3) stated that TQM
does not occur overnight and that there are no quick remedies because it takes a
long time to build the appropriate emphasis and techniques into the culture of an
organization.
Still reviewing Total Quality Management and Management, we see that it
integrates fundamental management techniques, technical tools, wider existing
lxi
improvement efforts and technical tools under a disciplined approach. According
to Onanusi (1997), what it means is that in a TQM company, or Project, the
principles and values are highly coordinated towards customer satisfaction always,
unlike a non- TQM organization whose efforts are less coordinated in that
direction. So, the essence of total quality management as Besterfield et al (1995:5)
put it, is to provide a quality product to customers, which will in turn increase
productivity and lower cost. He opines that with a higher quality product and
lower price, competitive position in the market place will be enhanced. Such
events will make organizations to achieve the business objectives of profit and
growth with ease, while the work force will have security which will create
satisfaction.
The British standard and international standards organization (ISO) 8402 (1995)
also defines total quality management as a management approach of an
organization, central on quality, based on participation of all its members and
aiming at long-term success through customer satisfaction and benefits to all
members of the organization. Thus Total Quality Management stresses continuous
improvement and sustenance of high quality throughout the entire process. This
then agrees with Dastur‟s (1995:83) assertion that the concept of Total Quality
Management includes achieving quality in everything like people, processes,
products or services.
Because business process cross functional boundaries, management must now
break those boundaries and abandon “turf “ protection in managing donor
agencies assisted projects in Nigeria. In advanced countries for instance,
performance evaluation systems are now geared to rewarding processes and not
function. Projects in Nigeria must learn to build team spirit, as protecting
functional areas will no longer work in this new dispensation. By doing this, total
quality management provides the ground for the synergy needed to attain and even
exceed the realization of project objectives.
lxii
2.2.1 The TQM principles as Guide to Donor Agency-Assisted Projects
Kubr (2005:470) asserts that there are common basic principles upon which total
quality management thrives:
2.2.1.1 Principle 1: Focus on customer satisfaction and delight
This principle drives the entire TQM process. Every department and work unit has
customers, whether internal or external. Managers and employees of donor
agency-assisted projects have to be customer-focused to meet or exceed customer
expectations, creating not only customer satisfaction and loyalty, but delighting
them. Emphasis should be placed on improving the practices of frontline
personnel, delivery mechanisms and logistics, customer focus and processing of
customer requests. Measurement of customer satisfaction through surveys, focus
groups, benchmarking and market analysis provides the best evaluation of TQM
results.
Principle 2: Quality improvement requires the strong commitment of top
management.
Here, the leadership of the donor agency-assisted project must be committed to
TQM and be the driving force behind it. It must create a vision that will take the
organization from its current position to where it wants to be. Top management
must clearly specify which actions will improve quality; they cannot delegate this
responsibility. To demonstrate commitment, involvement and leadership,
management must establish and communicate clear corporate values, principles
and objectives relevant to quality; channel resources towards these objectives;
invest time in learning about quality issues; and monitor the progress of any
initiatives.
Principle 3: Quality is a strategic issue
Quality should be a part of the company‟s goals and strategies and integrated in
the way the organization conducts business, including product and process design,
planning and budgeting. Quality must be also a part of the corporate mission.
Therefore, TQM requires integrated planning systems that coordinate strategic
quality planning with other strategies for products and services, logistics,
distribution, customer service, manufacturing and sourcing. It also entails
lxiii
streamlining design processes, integrating quality design techniques into process
design.
Principle 4: Employees are key to constant quality
Employees are natural sources of ideas for ways to improve quality and customer
service. The best companies incorporate quality and customer service into
performance appraisal and reward systems. They encourage full participation and
involvement, employee empowerment, recognition, reward and motivation to
instill a dedication to quality at every level. TQM also requires a highly skilled,
knowledgeable workforce, well trained in its tools and methods. The process
usually begins with awareness training for top managers. Continuing education
and training are integral components of any TQM process.
Principle 5: Quality standards and measurements must be customer-
driven.
Explicit quality standards for performance are essential. The company‟s definition
of product and service quality should include the criteria that customers use when
they perceive value. A customer‟s product preference is determined by the
perceived quality/ price ratio of one product in relation to other competing
products. Cost of quality is also a useful measure of performance. Measurement is
essential to ensure that planned improvements are implemented.
Principle 6: Many programmes and techniques can be used to
improve quality.
Quality control and improvement must occur continuously in day –to-day
operations. Process simplification is a low-cost, low-technology way to increase
quality and effectiveness, through focused operations, smooth and continuous
material and paperwork, management-by-eye, synchronization with customers and
suppliers, and other techniques. More sophisticated techniques could also be used,
such as statistical quality control, quality circles, suggestion systems, and quality-
of-work-life projects, as well as automation, computer-based design and
manufacturing, product design improvement and benchmarking.
lxiv
Principle 7: All company activities have potential for improving produce
quality; therefore, teamwork is vital.
Quality improvement requires close cooperation between managers and
employees and among departments. TQM involves preventing errors at the point
where the work is performed. Under this system, every employee and department
is responsible for quality and should try to provide defect- free products or
services. Successful companies remove barriers between specialists and create a
climate for teamwork.
2.2.1 Building Blocks of TQM
According to Kubr (2005:472), the TQM system is composed of three major
business structures or components:-
a. Strategic policy management- which is the process that enables an
organization to implement a result-oriented approach. It provides a focus
on strategic and operational priorities and promotes resource alignment
independent of organizational boundaries. Through strategic policy
management, the organization‟s vision is formulated and then broken down
into key components.
b. Process Management- is instrumental in involving all employees in TQM.
Here, every employee is linked to a superior‟s accountability and is a part
of the process to fulfill that accountability.
c. Employee involvement and empowerment.
However, despite these components listed above, which also doubles as the TQM
business structure, the policies and objectives defining the organization‟s
aspirations must be put in place. This is because these provide a context and a
focus for the quality improvement actions taken by all employees and include the
business mission, operating principles and business objectives.
Kubr (2005: 478) goes further to assert that other building blocks of TQM
include:
lxv
1. Organization
The TQM organization involves the business organization structure, quality
support organization, quality managers in major business functions, quality
facilitators, quality trainers and quality function organization, like quality office,
company quality managers and assistants and technical staff.
2. Training
A total quality training strategy should involve all members of a workgroup and
train them together. Training should be based on work actually performed in a
format such as concept case study-application to own job. Managers should lead
the training of their workgroup and be responsible for its effectiveness. He states
further that training should be cascaded down from the top of the company,
thereby enabling senior managers to provide role model leadership and example to
lower levels in the application of vital quality concepts, processes and techniques.
3. Motivation
A system of rewards and motivation is a very important building block of the
TQM system. All employees must be motivated to commit to the concepts, apply
the processes, and become involved in achieving total customer satisfaction at
lower cost and reduced lead-time. To motivate employees to participate in TQM it
is important to provide systematic feedback on performance and to recognize
achievements.
4. Quality management team.
The quality management team is the primary agent for TQM in an organization. It
must plan, implement and advocate for change, and it must become the role model
for change in the organization. Members of the team are responsible for
implementing the plan in their own areas of business. The team must include the
key people who lead the business units. The team should meet monthly to review
progress, with problem-solving done between meetings. Each member of the team
should also lead change in his or her part of the organization.
lxvi
Figure 2.1 TQM Business Structure
Figure 2 further simplifies the TQM principles into a very strong business
structure such that there should be no ambiguity for the donor agency-assisted
projects to understand its message. As seen from the above, it is anchored on
strategic policy, employee involvement and empowerment and process
management. From there, we see that the whole business structure which TQM
seeks to achieve revolves around identifying the right things, doing it right the
first time and then keeping things right at all times.
2.3 THE MEANING OF QUALITY
The need for quality as a fundamental component in the formulation of strategies
for donor agency assisted projects to implement TQM is clearly outlined by
Oakland (2003:5) who states that quality, as a macro function of institutions, must
be present in the day –to-day running of such projects, in aspects such as
establishment of policies, the decision process, selection of personnel, allocation
of resources, definition of priorities and service delivery to satisfy the needs for
which they were set up. The two authors continue and state that the quality
approach, as a strategy element, has brought to institutions a new manner of
TQM business
structures
Strategic
policy
managemen
t
Identify the
Right things
Do things
right the first
time Employee
involvement
and
empowerment
Keep things
right
Process
management
Source: R. Seener: National Productivity Review (New York) Spring 1993, p.144 in Management
Consulting, international labor office, Geneva.
lxvii
conceiving quality, as it engages the top decision- makers of the institution in the
effort for better performance in service delivery.
In the view of Oakland, for any organization, there are several aspects of
reputation which are important. These, in the view of Oakland (2003:3), include,
1. It is built upon the competitive elements of quality, reliability, delivery
and price, of which quality has become strategically the most important.
2. Once an organization acquires a poor reputation for quality, it takes a very
long time to change it.
3. Reputations, good or bad, can quickly become national reputations.
4. The management of the competitive weapons such as quality together with
committed resources and efforts are needed to turn round a poor reputation
in time.
So, quality is no longer an optional extra; it is an essential strategy to survive.
TQM is therefore a solution for improving the quality of products and services.
For Dale (2003:12), Evans and Dean (2003:11), quality, reliability, delivery and
price build the reputation enjoyed by an institution. Quality is the most important
of these competitive weapons and is an extremely difficult concept to define in a
few words in order to agree on a consensus definition; a trait it shares with many
phenomena in business and social sciences. Quality does not only refer to goods
and services but includes quality of time, place, equipment and tools, processes,
people, the environment and safety, information and measurement. Dale (2003:5;)
goes on to state that quality is an ongoing process that has to be so pervasive
throughout the institution, that it becomes the philosophy and culture of the whole
institution. All institutions or projects and each department within the institution
need to adopt the same strategy, to serve the customer with even better quality,
lower cost, quicker response and greater flexibility (Schonberger 1990:11).
According to Reeves and Bednar (1994: 419), a search for the definition of quality
has yielded inconsistent results. The two researchers emphasize that regardless of
the time period or context in which quality is examined, the concept has had
multiple and often muddled definitions and has been used to describe a wide
lxviii
variety of phenomena. They further states that the strategies and tools for assuring
quality may have changed, but the basic customer expectations have been fairly
constant for a long time. Although many definitions of quality exist, it is prudent
to create a deeper insight into the definitions of researchers such as Deming,
Crosby, Feingenbaum, Isikawa and Juran. They state further that from the various
definitions of quality indicated by these quality gurus in literature, there seem to
be two levels in the concept of quality, namely:
1. Level one, by producing products or delivering services whose measurable
characteristics satisfy a fixed set of specifications ; and
2. Level two, products and services that satisfy customer expectations for
their use or consumption.
Here, according to Evans and Dean (2003:11) level one quality means
conformance of specifications and level two means satisfy the customer. They
further notes that quality is much more than that stated at level one, namely
conformance to specifications. They also identify eight attributes for category one,
namely (a) performance, (b) features, (c ) reliability, (d) conformance, (e)
durability, (f) serviceability, (g) aesthetics, and (h) perceived quality. However,
quality is defined differently by each of the five gurus on quality thus:-
i. Crosby‟s definition of quality is “conformance to requirements”, which is a
level one formulation. Crosby‟s essential points in his definition of quality
are (1) it is necessary to define quality, (2) one must know what the
requirements are and be able to translate these requirements into
measurable products or services characteristics, and (3) it is necessary to
measure the characteristics of a product or service to determine whether it
is of high quality (Crosby 1997:7). It is clear from Crosby‟s definition that
he concentrates on two levels – acceptable and unacceptable.
ii. Deming‟s perspective of quality is based on level two definitions and he
defines quality as namely “Quality is multidimensional to produce product
and /or deliver a service that meets the customer‟s expectations to ensure
customer satisfaction.” Through this definition, he equates high quality and
customer satisfaction. Deming (1988:54) essential arguments are (1) that
lxix
quality must be defined in terms of customer satisfaction, (2) quality is
multidimensional where it is impossible to define the quality of a product
or service in terms of a single characteristic or agent, and (3) there are
different degrees of quality, because quality is essentially equated with
customer satisfaction.
iii. Feigenbaum‟s definition of quality is a level two definition and he defines
quality as “the total composite product and service characteristics of
marketing, engineering, manufacturing and maintenance through which the
product and service in use will meet the expectations of the customer.” The
essential points of Feingenbaum are (1) that quality must be defined in
terms of customer satisfaction (2) quality is multidimensional and it must
be defined comprehensively, and (3) as customers have changing needs
and expectations, quality is dynamic. In this regard, Feingebaum writes, “A
crucial quality role of top management is to recognize this evolution in the
customer‟s definition of quality at different stages of product growth”
(Feigenbaum 1983:7).
iv. Ishikawa‟s definition of quality is a level two definition, namely “we
engage in quality control in order to manufacture products with the quality
which can satisfy the requirements of consumers.” Ishikawa makes it clear
that high quality is essential to satisfy the ever- changing consumer
expectations. Ishikawa‟s essential points are (1) that quality is equivalent
to consumer satisfaction, (2) quality must be defined comprehensively, (3)
consumers‟ needs and requirements change continuously, therefore the
definition of quality is ever changing, and (4) the price of a product or
service is an important part of its quality. Ishikawa (1985:44).
v. Juran‟s definition of quality is simultaneous attempts to be a level one and
level two definitions. He defines quality based on a multiple meaning,
namely (1) Quality consists of those product features which meet the needs
of customers and thereby provide product satisfaction.” (2) Quality
consists of freedom from deficiencies.” According to Juran (1988:22), the
essential points are (1) a practical definition of quality is probably not
possible, and (2) quality is apparently associated with customer‟s
lxx
requirement, and fitness suggests conformance to measurable product
characteristic.
vi. Atkinson (1990:251) defines quality as “the conformance to a set of
customer requirements that, if met, result in a product or service that is fit
for its intended use.” Wiele, Dale & Williams (2003:20) presents a slightly
different perspective with their emphasis on the artistic and energetic
properties of quality; quality is what surprises and delights the customer.”
In other words, quality is consistent conformance to customer‟s
expectations.” With reference to the above definition of quality, the use of
the word “conformance‟ implies that there is a need to meet a clear
specification. The definitions of Crosby (1979:7) and Atkinson support this
viewpoint of quality. The use of customer expectations attempts to
combine the user- and value based approaches. The definitions of
Feigenbaum (1983:7) and Ishikawa (1985:44) recognize that the product or
service must meet the expectations of customers, which may be influenced
by price. By consistently meeting customer requirements, the definition
can move to a different plane of satisfaction, ie delighting the customer.
vii. Goodman, et al (1980:49) support the viewpoints made above by defining
quality as consistently producing what the customer wants, while reducing
errors before and after delivery to the customer. The quality definition of
fulfilling or exceeding customers‟ needs has become an ideological
trailblazer driving the pursuit of customer satisfaction. According to them,
quality is not so much an outcome as a never-ending process of continually
improving the quality of what an institution produces. There is no doubt
that many institutions have so well ordered their capability to meet their
customers‟ requirement, time and time again, that this has created a
reputation for “excellence”. Institutions must “delight” the customer by
consistently meeting customer requirements, and then achieve a reputation
of “excellence”. They conclude that quality should be viewed from the
perspective of the customers and potential customers. The aim of
institutions (projects) should be to satisfy existing needs of customers with
quality products or services, and to identify, anticipate and create new
lxxi
needs. This requires the cultivation of a close relationship between the
institution and its customers.
Oakland (1989:56) agues that the roots of quality definitions can be divided into
four categories, namely:
a. Quality is excellence.
b. Quality is value.
c. Quality is conformance to specifications.
d. Quality is meeting and / or exceeding customer expectations.
Chaudron (2010) while contributing on the elements of quality, states that no one
has to tell you about how important quality is to your organization. You see the
results of it, or the lack of it, every time you have a satisfied customer, or when
your competitor‟s market share increases. According to him, though the concept is
the rage these days, it is hard to define.
2.3.1 Elements of quality (Sigma Six)
Chaudron (2010) states that among the elements of Six Sigma are:-
2.3.1.1 Focus on Quality and Prevention of Problems
Here, he defines quality as consistently producing what the customer wants while
reducing errors before and after delivering to the customer. More importantly, he
states that quality is not so much an outcome as a never ending process of
continually improving the quality of what your company produces. Sigma six
emphasizes detecting potential problems before they occur. Failure to prevent
defects has several consequences. It also involves the need to inspect other
people‟s finished work, rather than relying on the worker‟s own motivation and
skill. This inspection requires extra people and resources, that is to say that if
another employee (a superior) finds errors, someone must fix the error, causing
extra time and workload, or scrap it with all accompanying waste; if customers
find errors, this can cause dissatisfaction, loss of customer confidence, and
perhaps loss of customers themselves.
lxxii
2.3.1.2 Cooperate with your Suppliers and Customers
Another element of sigma six which he emphasizes is cooperating with suppliers
of products and services to the organization, and a focus on customer satisfaction.
He asserts that many organizations treat suppliers with indifference, and often
with hostility. So instead of having many potential suppliers, each competing to
give the organization the cheapest price, six sigma emphasizes a different
relationship. In an organization that implements six sigma, vendors are treated as
business partners, with all parties working to deliver a quality product or service.
2.3.1.3 Continuously improve and eliminate wasteful steps.
Quality is a moving target as well. Cars that consumers believed reliable in the
past are now of average quality. What is now a rare feature produced only by you
will soon become commonplace and expected. To meet dynamic customer needs,
the organization itself must be dynamic. The social consequence of this would
appear to be minor. One caution exists, however, in eliminating wasteful steps: it
can mean the elimination of positions or whole classes of work. Employees may
receive this and actively resist against such moves.
2.3.1.4 Encourage the proper climate, empower employees.
For continuous improvement to work, management must empower employees, so
they are willing to innovate and act in an atmosphere of trust and respect. All of
the other components can be in place, and six sigma still fail. Employees
motivated to improve service to their customers with the climate allowing them to
do so is a potent combination.
2.3.1.5 Use the problem solving / problem prevention cycle.
He states also that this cycle describes the steps that six sigma problem solving/
prevention groups use. Its major elements are (1) the gathering of information and
its analysis before actions are taken; the use of brainstorming (2) creating possible
solutions) before evaluating ideas generated and (3) evaluation of success. This
cycle, using different terminology, is also called the Deming cycle, where its
components are PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, and Act). This cycle can be used in
Cross-functional teams, to clarify and refine processes that cross organizational
boundaries; design teams, to create or change organization-wide systems; intact
lxxiii
family work groups working to improve their day-to-day operations; and newly
formed and intact work groups to improve their interpersonal functioning.
2.3.1.6 Use Measurements to back decisions
Here, the key to success is to deliver consistently services your customers need.
So to find out whether the project is successful, we ask our customers to evaluate
how well we are doing. In six sigma, this data can be graphed. With such data,
trained employees (including management) can use it; to support trends, and
correct these trends before problems are caused; as part of problem solving, to
find out why the problems occurred and what can be done to prevent it from
happening again. These graphs the tools of statistical Process control (SPC) and in
product design. The use of experiments at this stage of product development can
identify key characteristics that can affect and optimize product or service
development. These products may be specific services useful to a customer, or
manufactured equipment or materials. When an organization like the donor
agency-assisted project uses statistics to make decisions, they can avoid making
random changes in outcome. Statistics allow the decision maker to tell the
difference between chance occurrences and systematic factors that significantly
affect product or service quality.
Therefore, as no definition of quality is best in every situation, managers and
researchers must examine the strengths and weaknesses of each definition before
adopting any as a guide. However, Federick et al (1989, 22:26) in their research
conclude that quality means different things to different people at different levels
in the organization, while at home here, Obioha (1995:126) concludes that the
introduction of TQM techniques have brought about improvement of the quality
of services rendered, which has in turn, contributed to an impressive profit margin
by some private institutions.
2.3.2 Quality models
Gilbert (1992:22) states that there are three basic types of quality models. These
are namely Process analysis, integrated and charismatic models. Each of the
models focus on the customer so as to ascertain what actions the organization
lxxiv
should take to improve itself. However, he concludes that the structure and
organization of the TQM processes used to achieve these actions would differ
considerably.
(a) Process Analysis Model
According to Gilbert, the steps in the process analysis model include:
1. Flow charting activities;
2. Core processes;
3. Supporting processes;
4. Measuring and improvement for example cost of quality; and
5. Excellence.
Process analysis involves analyzing the activities of the processes of the business
in search for a better understanding of where improvement is possible. The core
and supporting processes of business should be ascertained and flowcharts
prepared, depicting the interlinks between them. Inputs and outputs of each of the
processes are defined and also customers and suppliers actions interface. It is
primarily a top-down process of improvement with reviews from the bottom – up.
Ascertaining who is the process owner is an important requirement and nothing of
value will likely take place until the process owner is found. The owner is usually
an elusive character and may initially deny responsibility for his own process, but
lay claim to somebody else‟s process.
(b) Integrated model
The integrated approach includes:
1. Teach the rhetoric;
2. Put everybody into teams;
3. Start projects;
4. Measure Successes;
5. Disband project and if excellence is not achieved, go to the step of
everybody into teams; and
6. Excellence
lxxv
The integrated model is an “all fronts” process that relies on the use of teams at all
levels. The focus continuous to be the customer‟s expectations and the prevention
of problems, but with this sort of model, the method of accomplishing the actions
is to organize people into teams from the top to the bottom of the organization.
This includes steering teams, quality circle, facilitator networks and various types
of teams.
(c.) Charismatic model
the charistmatic model states that it needs:,
i. A leader of great stature;
ii. Process steps; and
iii. Excellence.
Gilbert further explains that the charismatic model is less structured and is typified
by the companies such as Disney and Marks & Spence. When they were little
outfits, they had leaders with vision who influenced a sense of quality and pride of
belonging in all the people, since they were small enough for the leader to know
all the employees.
2.4 THE CHALLENGES (PITFALLS) OF TQM
Among the greatest challenges of transforming to TQM, according to Deming
(1964:18 – 24), is that people often see TQM as a “project” and not a
“Process”, the result is that:,
i. This gives an impression that it has an end as most projects do.
ii. It‟s a one off exercise.
iii. It‟s somebody else‟s responsibility.
iv. There is a completion date.
All these points mentioned above revolve around bureaucratic inertia on the part
of both management and members of staff of the donor agency-assisted projects.
The fact that most duties are regarded as someone else‟s responsibility is the main
reason why teamwork is grossly lacking and constitutes one of the greatest
barriers (challenge) to TQM implementation in Nigeria. Guth and MacMillan
(1986) have documented that when lower – level managers decide it is in their
lxxvi
interest to oppose change, they can delay, diminish, or completely destroy
implementation efforts by their actions or inactions. Their level of cooperation
with fellow managers was found to be key factor influencing the success or failure
of specific change initiatives. Therefore, given the important role played by these
lower-level managers of these donor agency-assisted projects in Nigeria, the
researcher believes that teamwork and cooperation among these management
personnel is critical, not only in the bid to implement TQM, but in the long-term
success and improved performance.
In a study conducted by Longenecker and Mitchel (2002) on “barriers and
gateways to management cooperation and teamwork”, the top ten factors are
herein listed in the table below.
Table 2.2: Factors (challenges) that prevent Frontline – Line Management
Personnel from Working Together
( N= 204 Managers)
Key Factors Percentage
1. Personality conflicts/egos 41.6
2. Conflicting goals 37.3
3. Rewards are based on individual 36.3
Performance
4. Lack of unifying goals/direction/ focus 35.3
5. Ineffective leadership from above 33.3
6. Lack of teaming skills 30.4
7. System and structural barriers to cooperation 28.9
8. Team work / cooperation is not a management 27.5
Priority/ no accountability to cooperate.
9. Personal agendas / politics / turf wars 24.5
10 No perceived benefits to cooperating 21.1
Source: Study conducted on “Barriers and gateways to management
cooperation and teamwork by Clinton O. Longenecker and Mitchel Neubert
as reported in MANAGEMENT, annual edition 02/03, Article 19.
lxxvii
Therefore, the challenge of bureaucratic inertia, most obvious in lack of team
work among managers can be caused by the managers themselves, their
superiors‟ leadership style and priorities, or system factors. Again, we can see
that it is relatively easy to understand why bureaucratic inertia is the core
challenge of TQM implementation in donor agency-assisted projects. This begs
for the question: What is the cost of lack of team work among managers of these
donor agency-assisted projects?
In the same study referred to above, the same managers were asked about the
problems created by lack of cooperation, they were quick to provide a
multifaceted list of factors that would not be tolerated if caused by members of
the work force at large as listed in the table below:
Table 2.3: Problems Created by Front-line Management Personnel Not
Working Together
(N=204 Managers)
Key Problems Percentage
1. Communication breakdown 46.6
2. Decreased performance and productivity 38.2
3. Wasted resources and effort 35.3
4. Ill-will / bad feelings / decrease in morale 29.4
5. Loss of coordination / planning breakdowns 25.0
6. Failing to fix problems and improve processes 24.5
7. Loss of focus on the customer and profits 23.1
8. Increased workplace conflict / political activity 22.5
9. Increased job-related stress / work – place tension 20.5
10. Sets a poor example for the work force. 18.1
Source: Study conducted on “Barriers and gateways to management
cooperation and teamwork by Clinton O. Longenecker and Mitchel Neubert
as reported in MANAGEMENT, annual edition 02/03, Article 19.
lxxviii
It is the opinion of the researcher that these problems are not the characteristics
of an organization practicing continuous improvement (TQM ) or that is in
search of excellence. They reflect an organization that is hurting itself by its own
behavior on the part of its managers. When Management people do not work
together and cooperate, the bad things that follow come at great expense to
productivity, planning, communication, stress levels and moral.
According to Milan (2000:487) like any management approach, TQM does not
protect from failures and implementation problems. Also, information provided by
Juran Institute: quality improvement guide revealed that 80 percent of the
companies that tackled TQM in the 1980s failed. They stated that one of the
reasons is that the origin and disseminating patterns of TQM are quite different
from those of almost every other management innovation of the past 30 years.
They stated that among the reasons accounting for the pitfalls are that:
i. Many projects have misunderstood and misapplied it.
ii. It has not received the careful academic scrutiny that has served to give
credence and authority to other innovations in organization and
management.
iii. Management may go into TQM process without a proper understanding of
the necessary organizational conditions for its successful implementation.
Jashmid (2010) on examining why the TQM challenge, states that TQM as it is
known today has gone through three evolutionary stages during its 40 years of
development and practice in Japan. It evolved in response to the challenges
dictated by the necessities of the lean production process1. He goes further to cite
the example of the Chief engineer of Toyota, who in an attempt to duplicate the
American mass –production system, encountered four major challenges:
a. Not enough money to buy the necessary number of presses and finance the
level of inventory necessary for mass production
b. Not enough space to create multiple production lines and store the in-
process and finished- goods inventory;
c. Not enough market to sell the mass-produced goods, and
d. Not enough immigrant workers who could be laid off at will.
lxxix
He further states that in order to dissolve these obstructions, they had to redesign
the production process in such a way that the same production line could produce
variety of products at small batch sizes.
Again, some of the barriers to successful implementation of TQM as listed by
Kubr (2002:487) includes:,
i. That there is lack of awareness among top managers about TQM, its
potentials, when to use it and their own role in managing quality.
ii. There is a company culture that is not conducive; changing culture is
difficult.
iii. That there are middle managers who are reluctant to change their attitudes
and behaviors
iv. There is lack of time and funding for the training and development of
teams.
v. There is ddifficulty in quantifying tangible benefits, leading to a feeling
that the effort is not worthwhile.
However, the transition to a TQM programme depends on the extent to which
institutions successfully implement certain quality management practices. Fewer
defects, reduced rework and scrap, lower inventory levels, reduced lead times,
higher flexibility and increased employee satisfaction are reportedly among the
benefits of a successful TQM programme. According to Armand V. Feingenbaum
(1989), what is critical is a thorough understanding of the barriers that can impede
an effective quality transformation. They stressed further that there is ample
evidence that quality management systems improve institutional performance if
properly implemented. However, the inconsistent track record of institutions
reported to have implemented TQM, has resulted in many debates about the
usefulness of TQM programmes. It is argued that the majority of failures involve
the process by which the TQM philosophy is implemented rather than flaws in the
principles of TQM itself.
Stephen (1991) argues that there appears to be multitude reasons why institutions
fail in their endeavors to implement a quality management system; stating that
two common problems appear to be – (a) lack of strategic planning, and (b) lack
lxxx
of an appropriate culture supportive of TQM programmes. Therefore, it is
important for donor agencies assisted projects in Nigeria to understand the reasons
why TQM programmes fail. Hill further states that Institutions and authors have
identified a variety of reasons why TQM programmes fail and many surveys have
been done on this subject. We thereby state a list of obstacles and pitfalls as
recorded by him. Although the list is not exhaustive, they include namely the:
i. Lack of management commitment, communication thereof and
participation.
ii. Lack ability to establish a guiding framework for TQM.
iii. Inadequate knowledge or understanding of TQM.
iv. Lack of an institution-wide definition of quality.
v. Quick fix approach, emphasis on short-term results.
vi. Lack of a formalized strategic plan for change.
vii. Inability to change institutional culture.
viii. Lack of customer focus (internal and external customers)
ix. Poor inter institutional communication.
x. Lack of real employee empowerment and teamwork
xi. Lack of employee trust in senior management
xii. Drive for short – term financial results
xiii. Traditional belief that TQM costs money
xiv. Lack of strong motivation and seeing it as the quality people‟s job
xv. Lack of time to devote to quality initiatives
xvi. Lack of vision, imagination and constancy of purpose.
xvii. Lack of leadership.
xviii. Lack of continuous training and education.
xix. Inappropriate conditions for implementing TQM.
xx. Lack of investment, resources allocation.
xxi. Lack of employee involvement and commitment/ inability to change
culture.
xxii. Lack of education and training of management and employees.
xxiii. Lack or inadequacy of an improvement measurement system.
xxiv. Barriers between departments.
lxxxi
xxv. View of quality programme as a quick fix.
xxvi. Perception of TQM as an optional extra and not as a necessity for
development.
xxvii. Lack of cooperation between suppliers, management, and customers.
xxviii. Obsolete technologies.
xxix. Use of a generic model rather than adopting the model to the institution‟s
culture.
xxx. Inflexible and highly bureaucratic institutional structure.
If donor agency - assisted projects must implement and derive its benefits,
understanding the barriers that can hinder the success of TQM initiatives is
essential. These obstacles cited in this research can be used with other TQM
frameworks like:- Deming‟s 14 points, Crosby‟s 14 steps, and Baldrige Award
criteria, ISO 9000:2000 by such donor agencies assisted projects to conduct
SELF-AUDIT of their total quality management culture. Generally, these reasons
why TQM fail have important implications for its successful implementation.
2.5 IMPACT OF TQM ON THE PERFORMANCE OF DONOR
AGENCY- ASSISTED PROJECTS
There is no gainsaying the fact that total quality management has positive impact
on the performance of any organization where it is properly implemented.
According to Demings (1964: 93-95), the transition in the implementation of
TQM is very crucial to its overall success. It requires a careful consideration of
the following issues:
i. What are the potential problems?
ii. How can we get started – financial and logistics implication, timeframe,
etc?.
iii. What is the impact of our organization‟s focus and culture – on the
successful take off and sustenance of the TQM effort?
iv. Understanding customers and their needs expressed and implied.
v. Learning to measure service quality.
vi. Understanding the cost of quality.
lxxxii
Beckhard and Pitchard (1992), also outlined the basic steps in managing a
transition to a new system such as TQM: identify tasks to be done, creating
necessary management structures, developing strategies for building commitment,
designing mechanisms to communicate the change, and assigning resources.
They assert that task identification would include a study of present conditions
(assessing current reality, as described above); assessing readiness, such as
through a force field analysis; creating a model of the desired state, in this case,
implementation of TQM or the system cybernetic model of the TQM transform;
announcing the change objectives or goals to the entire Project Team; and
assigning responsibilities and resources. This final step would include securing
outside consultation and training and assigning someone within the Project to
oversee the effort. This should be a responsibility of top management. Then also,
the next step which is designing transition management structures is also a
responsibility of top management.
However, Kubr (2002:474) states that in real life, simple and systematic process
of moving to TQM is more complicated. These steps cannot always be used
especially where the organization already have some experience in quality
improvement and management. He further outlines a more sophisticated approach
which is distinguished in four stages namely:
1. TQM 1, is regarded as the simplest start, and covers quality control and
quality assurance. It also embraces all aspects of quality that have to be
managed throughout the organization. Here, he defines quality as
conformity to specifications.
2. TQM 11 applies the “total” approach to management and quality, as more
attention to people and their attitudes begins to take effect.
3. TQM 111 also applies the “total” approach to management, but with the
spread of the paradigm towards customers, “total” takes on a broader sense
when linked to quality. It no longer simply refers to ensuring quality, but is
expanded to mean delivering what the customer wants.
4. TQM IV is a way of life in which everyone works wholeheartedly to do
the best for customers, be they internal or external. In this case, he
lxxxiii
continues, quality means giving customers the best value possible, not just
what they think they want. Going beyond satisfaction, the total capability
of the organization must be marshaled to delight customers by determining
and fulfilling their latent as well as their manifest needs.
He further stresses that the above stages of TQM has practical value in :-
a. helping to diagnose where a company stands in the implementation
process;
b. ensuring that quality improvement does not end with TQM1 or TQM 11; it
is only the beginning.
c. eensuring that a company does not plunge into the full sophistication of
TQM IV without putting in place the elements of TQM 1 and TQM 11.
d. realizing that TQM IV has transcended its origin and is better understood
as a shift of attention from product quality (TQM 1) to delivering value to
the customer.
In the opinion of the researcher, the fact that total quality management has
transcended its origin, and is now better understood as a shift of attention from
quality to delivering quality is a paradigm shift that must not be overlooked by
donor agency assisted projects. Gilbert (1992:15) opines that no matter the type of
TQM that you decide to practice, it is a process of change and has the following
characteristics.
i. Focus on customer expectations
ii. Prevention of problems
iii. Open decision making
He went further to ask “How do you do it?” but immediately answered by saying
that the answer is very easy. He likened the TQM process to an elephant and said
“it is done little by little”. It is not possible to hurry through eating an elephant or
running a TQM process.
lxxxiv
Figure 2.2: The Main Elements of TQM
Figure 2.2 The Main Elements of TQM.
Source: Milan Kubr (2002) page 478.
Figure 2.2 shows the main elements –customer, supplier, and the organization‟s
TQM support and measurement system. It is important to note that without the
active participation of these key elements, putting an effective TQM may not be
possible.
Also the characteristics of each phase of TQM were listed as;
Phase 1: Diagnosis
Phase 2: Management commitment
Source: Milan Kurb (200) Management Consulting
Figure 2.2 shows the main elements – customer, supplier, and the organization‟s
TQM support and measurement system. It is important to note that without the
may not be possible.
Also. The characteristics of each phase of TQM were listed as;
Phase 1: Diagnoses
Phase 2: Management commitment
Phase 3: Establish process ownership
Phase 4: Defining the TQM introduction programme
Phase 5: Developing and delivering total quality training
Phase 6: Intensive action
Supplier
Knowledge
Consulting
(internal &
external)
Qaulity Council
Executive
Ownership
Policy
Strategy
Customer
Organization
Function
Department
Measurement
System
Effectiveness
Efficiency
Adaptability
Feedback Feedback
Feedback
Requirement
Input Requirement
Output
lxxxv
2.5.1 The culture of TQM necessary for its implementation in donor
agency - assisted projects.
Oakland (1998:24) states categorically that TQM being a user-driven tool cannot
be imposed from outside the organization. That is to say that the ideas for
improvement must come from those with knowledge and experience of the
processes, and activities of the organization. This has serious implications because
TQM has to do with changing the attitudes, behavior and indeed the culture of the
system.
According to Kilmann et al, (1986:9), culture is the pattern of shared beliefs and
values that provide the members of the organization with the rules of behavior or
accepted norms for conducting operations. It is the philosophies, ideologies,
values, assumptions, beliefs, expectations and norms that puts an organization
together and shared by all. This also implies that if total quality management must
thrive in donor agency-assisted projects in Nigeria, they must imbibe the
necessary culture for it. In any business, culture may also be seen as the beliefs
that pervade the organization about how business should be conducted, and how
employees should behave and be treated.
Oakland (1998:22) goes further to stress in the same place that the culture within
an organization is formed by a number of components such as behavior based on
people‟s interactions; norms resulting from working groups; dominant values
adopted by the organization; rules of the game for getting on; and the climate set.
Therefore, clearly defined beliefs and objectives, which can be summarized in the
form of mission statements, must be properly communicated to all the managers
and staff of the donor agency-assisted project if they are to work together as
winning teams. There is serious need for a cultural change if the projects must
survive because here in Nigeria, we know that it is “business as usual. The
management of the donor agency-assisted projects must be involved and available
if they are to succeed in implementing the new management philosophy called
TQM.
lxxxvi
Hyde (1992), speaking on the proverbs of TQM, asserts that management must be
heavily involved as leaders rather than relying on a separate staff person or
function to shepherd the effort. While writing on why quality circles failed but
total quality management succeeds, Hill Stephen (1991) opined that an
organization wide steering committee to oversee the effort may be appropriate. He
further stated that to communicate the change, mechanisms beyond existing
processes will need to be developed. In an ideal donor - agency assisted project,
special all-staff meetings attended by executives, sometimes designed as input or
dialog sessions, may be used to kick off the process, and TQM news letters may
be an effective ongoing communication tool to keep employees aware of activities
and accomplishments.
Juran (1990: 50) hints that through the data gathered from customer surveys, the
analysis of critical processes and internal customer/supplier service alignments
shows what is to be measured, how, when etc. According to him, the under listed
steps could be followed in the transition process with the steps to:
1. Start with internal– internal customers.
2. Select the particular transaction.
3. Analyze the current process e.g. flowcharting.
4. Review for improvement.
5. Identify critical processes and service exposure points.
In the internal customer/ supplier chain, lower service levels are compounded
along the chain. Mistakes, delays and inefficiencies are passed along from one
operation to the next, leading to a compounded decrease in performance when
viewed in aggregate. On the whole, the customer decides the quality. According to
Juran (1990:1-65) service or product quality must be defined from the perspective
of the customer and not by your organization‟s own internal standards. Whilst you
might be making phenomenal improvement in your performance as eventually by
you, the customer decides what that performance adds up to!
For donor- agency assisted projects, failure to measure complaints is one of the
reasons why they do not border about the quality of services rendered to
lxxxvii
communities and other beneficiaries. Juran stated further that a sound system for
measuring customer complaints should be in place to record customer complaints
that are lodged by customers. These needs to be categorized and a system devised
for immediate follow-up. Each complaint should be broken down into fame detail
to show if it is: Service related, product related, delivery process related – back
office support administration, paperwork; or just a failure on your part to keep
your promise.
Frederick et al (1989:22) in their research conclude that quality means different
things to different people and levels in the organization. The individual
differences in the way employees view it, suggests that they will have
considerable difficulty in improving quality, unless core values are embedded in
the donor agency-assisted project. For example, on follow ups on how to resolve
issues some organizations give a 24 hour response time commitment to
complaining customers – if only to acknowledge them. However, measuring
quality through complaints only could be misleading.
According to Juran (1964:22), considering that less than 30% of your customers
are likely to complain, you cannot use the number of complaints to show the level
of service quality you provide. Most customers, who have a service or product
quality complaint, either suffer in silence or wait for an alternative: or just quietly
refuse to use your service again and thus go away. He explained that customer
supplier alignment is all about how to build effective working relationships in
organizations, adopting the TQM philosophy. A situation of ensuring that “the left
hand knows what the right hand is doing”. This alignment also ensures that the
service process which is usually cross functional is based on thorough
understanding of what each person needs in the organization to do a good job.
Omachonu and Ross (1995:33) are of the opinion that cultural change
mechanisms that are necessary for the implementation of total quality
management in an organization can be categorized into three:
a. Signaling: here means making statements or taking actions that support
the vision of quality such as mission statements, creeds or charts directed
lxxxviii
toward customer satisfaction. They gave such examples as “The customer
is always right”.
b. Focus: Every employee must know the mission, his or her part in the
mission of the organization, and what has to be done to achieve it. They
emphasize here that when all the functions and systems are aligned and
when practice supports the culture, everyone in the system is more likely to
support the vision.
c. Employee policies: These are the clearest expression of culture. A culture
of quality can be easily demonstrated in such policies as the reward and
promotion system, status symbol and other human resource actions.
System, status symbol and other human resources actions.
On the human resource issues, according to lyayi (1994:62), it is not only the
quality or correctness of the product or service; there is the issue of the way and
manner in which it is delivered. So the manner, in which service or product is
provided, influences the client‟s perception of that service even if the product is
faultless. Behavior therefore plays a major role in service delivery. It takes people
with a particular behavioral style to suit each type of direct service delivery
situation.
By consistently meeting customer requirements, we can move to a different plane
of satisfaction – delighting the customer. There is no doubt that many
organizations have so well ordered their capability to meet their customers‟
requirements time and time again that this has created reputation for „excellence‟.
A development of this thinking regarding customers and their satisfaction is
customer loyalty and can provide several commercial advantages that:
i. Customers cost less to retain than to acquire.
ii. The longer the relationship with the customer, the higher the profitability.
iii. A loyal customer will commit more spending to its chosen supplier.
iv. About half of new customers come through referrals from existing clients
(indirectly reducing acquisition cost) Crosby (1979:44). Companies like
3M use measures of customer loyalty to identify customers who are
lxxxix
„completely satisfied. Those satisfied customers would „definitely
recommend‟ 3M, and would „definitely repurchase‟.
Succinctly put, Total quality management means that the whole organization‟s
culture is defined by and supports the constant attainment of customer satisfaction
through integrated system of tools, techniques and trainings. Therefore, by
implementing TQM in donor agency-assisted projects would translate to
continuous improvement of organizational processes, which will result in high
quality products and services. As Dominick concludes it, Total Quality
Management has been positioned as a carefully engineered set of technological
process modifications which purport to lead to enhanced levels of product quality
or lower costs and thereby provides the ability to achieve and sustain a global
competitive advantage. To achieve these spoils however, TQM directly and
covertly alters the values, culture, and mind-sets within an organization.
TQM establishes a carefully integrated program of social and psychological
engineering which is critical to the successful implementation of TQM and which
has a significant impact on the behavior and consciousness of both managers and
workers.
2.5.2 TQM and performance in donor agency-assisted projects.
The English dictionary defines performance as how well or badly one does
something; how well or badly something works. Barrick and Mount (1991) opine
that performance in business means the extent to which an objective has been or is
being met. Put in another way, performance refers to the degree to which
organizations‟ goals are achieved. Efficiency is measured from concepts –
efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency refers to the rate of resource utilization, ie
cost incurred in the course of work done, while effectiveness refers to the extent in
which results are achieved by way of units of goods produced or sold. Both
aspects of performance are very relevant for this research. In evaluating and
assessing performance of a business enterprise, attempt is made to examine not
only the resultant outcome of the company‟s efforts in terms of returns, but also
xc
those aspects of the company‟s financing and asset structure which indicate its
ability to survive or its disposition to avail itself of future opportunities.
The monitoring of the operational performance of donor agencies assisted projects
in Nigeria is very essential, yet it is often undermined. The purpose of monitoring
the performance of these agencies would be mainly to systematically collect and
evaluate key information likely to reveal negative trends ie. Those that will need
to be corrected or positive trends that may need to be reinforced so that any
opportunities disclosed are not missed. According to Kubr (2002:741)
performance monitoring aims at immediate improvements first of all, but its
strategic implications should not be overlooked. He stresses further that it helps to
reveal changes and trends that will affect the donor agencies assisted projects in
the long run, such as major shifts in demand for certain kinds of services, or the
increasing cost of getting their services to the communities.
2.5.2.1 Performance factors
Pearce and Robinson (2003:324) state that to be effective, operational control
systems must take three steps common to all post action controls:
i. Set standards of performance
ii. Measure actual performance
iii. Initiate corrective action.
Generally then, performance factors include among others:-
a. Profitability
b. Liquidity
c. Leverage
d. Efficiency of operation
e. Effectiveness
f. Activity
g. Moral
For donor agency - assisted projects to improve performance, they must set
standards or operational control system. A typical operational control system of a
donor agencies assisted project could be a five – year strategy intended to
xci
differentiate the Agency as a customer-service- oriented provider of high quality
products and services. In order words, management‟s concern would be to
compare progress to date with expected progress.
Robinson (2003: 324) further stresses that having established standards of
performance, and after measuring the actual performance, the current deviation is
of particular interest because it provides a basis for examining suggested actions
(usually suggested by subordinate managers) and for finalizing decisions on
changes or adjustments in the donor agencies daily operations. The information
presents operations managers with several options eg. They may attribute the
deviations primarily to internal discrepancies. Therefore, correcting deviations in
performance brings the entire management task into focus since managers can
correct such deviations by changing measures or plans. They can also eliminate
poor performance by changing the way things are done, by hiring or retraining
workers, by changing job assignments, and so on.
With TQM, correcting deviations can involve all the functions, tasks, and
responsibilities of operations managers. Pearson and Robinson (2003: 325) also
states that companies worldwide have adopted this point of view that operational
control is best achieved through a pervasive commitment to quality, originally
called Total Quality Management (TQM) which is seen as essential to strategic
success into the 21st century.
Lucy (1996:418) states that when central management have decided that
decentralization should take place, and operating divisions are established, some
systems of control or performance appraisal becomes necessary. He further
stressed that in particular, performance appraisal systems for monitoring divisions
with substantial delegated powers, ideally should promote goal congruence,
provide relevant and regular feedback to central government, encourage initiative
and motivation and encourage long run views rather than short-term expedients.
2.5.3 Improving Performance through Benchmarking
According to Kubr (2002: 451-454), one of the best ways to improve company
competitiveness and productivity is through benchmarking – studying how world
xcii
class companies operate. Omachonu and Ross, (1995:138), states that
benchmarking as a tool of Total Quality management may have evolved in the
1950‟s when Edward Demings taught the Japanese the idea of quality control.
After this period, other American ideas and management innovations followed.
However, the method was rarely used in the United States until the early 1980s,
when IBM, Motorola, and Xerox became the pioneers. The later company became
the best – known example of the use of benchmarking. In Joseph Juran‟s 1964
book Managerial Breakthrough, he asked the question: “What is it that
organizations do that gets results so much better than ours? He states further that
the answer to this question opens the door to benchmarking, an approach that is
accelerating among U.S firms that have adopted the total quality management
(TQM ) philosophy.
Although donor- agency assisted projects may not be all out to make profit, but
Spiker (1991:40-45) refers to Benchmarking as the researching and observing best
competitive practices and provides a guideline for rational performance goals and
help set expectations for cost product reliability, asset management and other
factors. The wall street journal (1992) states that benchmarking is a way to go
backstage and watch another company‟s performance from the wings, where all
stage tricks and hurried realignments are visible.
Also since benchmarking not only involves examining performance results but
also understanding what lies behind them, a projects success may be based on
optimal staffing structure, use of new technology, organizational design, ability to
network or other great innovations, but often the essence of their strategy is to
bring all these elements together, forming combinations that change continuously,
while still applying more innovations. Kubr as referred to above goes further to
say that benchmarking is a continuous process of assessing products and services
against the toughest competitors or the recognized leaders in those fields.
Therefore, benchmarking is very vital to donor agency - assisted projects in
Nigeria since it is a process of identifying and understanding outstanding practices
in organizations anywhere in the world and adapting them to improving their
xciii
performance. He further stressed that benchmarking requires being humble
enough to admit that others are better at something, and wise enough to try to
learn how to march and even surpass them.
Hammer and Champy (1993:32) describe benchmarking as looking for companies
that are doing something best and learning how they do it in order to emulate
them. The implication of this is that as we have many donor agencies an assisted
project in Nigeria, there is obvious need for them to network with each other so as
to tap from the best practices of those that are doing well, in the overall interest of
the nation. He states further that the process is more than a means of gathering
data on how well a company performs against others both in and outside the
industry. It is a method of identifying new ideas and new ways of improving
processes and hence meeting customer expectation. He states that cycle time
reduction and cost cutting are but two process improvements that can result. The
traditional of measuring defects rates is not enough. The ultimate objective is
process improvement that meets the attributes of customer expectation. He
concludes that the improvement, of course, should meet both strategic and
operational needs.
When a project applies benchmarking, it would provide the information needed to
focus and support improvements, and develop a competitive advantage.
A most important feature of benchmarking which successful donor- agency
assisted projects in Nigeria can tap into is an ability to learn and an open learning
culture, which encourages project managers and indeed the project team to search
for continuous improvements, and develop a project – wide perspective on how
best to create value and reduce cost by applying best procurement procedures as
stated in their project agreement.
The performance measurement of a typical donor agency - assisted project would
be based on how well they have implemented their work plan. In a typical work
plan and procurement plan, every activity has a specified expected start date and
expected completion date. Each of these activities has their cost attached (usually
in Dollars). Therefore, time is also a good neutral measure for benchmarking.
xciv
Through this, benchmarking affords implementing projects the ability to separate
their activities into those that have value-adding and those that are non-value
adding.
Another implementation success derivable from benchmarking to donor- agency
assisted projects is that rather than feel passive because the Dollar used for
implementing projects come from the donor agencies, such projects begins to look
for best-practice especially giving attention to changes in their environment. Huge
investments usually committed to capacity development would begin to yield high
returns to the project. Here, Stoner et al (1996:243) raise such questions as: how
big is the gap between the actual and desired state of affairs? How does the gap
affect the chances of a firm (project) reaching or exceeding its goals? What
problems are encountered or opportunities that exist that should be taken
advantage of? These factors discussed above are further illustrated below.
xcv
Figure 2.2 Gap Performance Analysis
According to Elnathan and Kim (1995:80) there is a growing interest
Figure 2.4 Gap measurement in benchmarking.
Bennet (1997:35) as seen from the above figure, opines that benchmarking was
originally conceived as a way of measuring what the organization did against
industry best practice. In cooperative benchmarking where several firms
voluntarily share information about selected areas of operation in order to identify
and learn from the best practice. For instance, according to Gaither, (1994:719)
International Benchmarking Clearing House (IBC) at Houston‟s American
productivity and quality centre has built a data base of best practices, fitted on an
electronic bulletin board that can be assessed by IBC members. The bulletin bulb
allows members to share information and ask for benchmarking information from
(2)
(4)
(1)
Benchmarking helps
to set strategy and
learn new approaches
Benchmarking
maintains the stimulus
for continuous
improvement
Benchmarking
identifies and
calibrates
performance gap
Benchmarking helps
to measure success in
closing the gap
(3) Current Performance
BEST –IN-
CLASS
PERFORMANC
E
gap
P
E
E
F
O
R
M
A
N
C
E
SOURCE: BENNET, 1997, PP 35-36
GapMeasurement
xcvi
other members. One would wish that such an innovative clearing house be set up
in Nigeria.
2.5.3.1 Types of Benchmarking
Since benchmarking is just an aspect of this research work on the prospects of
total quality management in donor agencies assisted projects in Nigeria, we do not
intend to continue with a detailed study of it. The researcher only intends to
introduce interested readers to the types of benchmarking, their groupings and a
type that would be considered most useful to the donor agencies - assisted
projects. Cooperative benchmarking will be discussed in a nutshell.
Watson (1993:347) suggests that there are eight types of benchmarking. However,
Hodder and Stoughton (1999: 22) groups it into three broad categories thus:-
1. Metric benchmarking
2. Diagnostic benchmarking and
3. Process benchmarking.
Here, Watson (1993:347) further breaks down Metric benchmarking into
2. Internal benchmarking
3. Competitive benchmarking
4. Product benchmarking and
5. Statistical benchmarking.
Other types of Benchmarking Identified under the Study are;-
1. Product benchmarking (Besterfield et al, 1995:249)
2. Statistical benchmarking ((trabelsi and Hillmer, 1987:1064-1071)
3. Strategic benchmarking (Miller et al, 1992)
4. Cooperative benchmarking. Other forms of benchmarking may abound,
which is not covered in this study.
A. Cooperative Benchmarking
In the view of Elnathan and Kim (1995: 345-346) cooperative benchmarking
involves the voluntary sharing of information through mutual agreements. They
further state that cooperative bench marking groups are formed among a set of
firms that possesses different amounts of technological information contained in
xcvii
their operations. In a comparative static analysis, they showed that group size and
the number of firms participating on cooperative benchmarking tend to increase as
learning becomes more efficient. The researcher considers this form of
benchmarking most suitable for donor agencies assisted projects in Nigeria.
Also, Foster and Sjoblom (1996:31) further categorize cooperative benchmarking
into three:
1. Data approach
2. Indirect / third party
3. Group
In a nutshell, all these categories refer to different modes of gathering information.
They refer to Data approach as an approach which involves paying a certain fee in
order for the project or organization to have access to vital information concerning
the other project being benchmarked. The indirect/third party on its own involves
consultancy services. In a typical donor agency assisted project, much emphasis is
given to consultancy services as a major procurement method. Lastly, the group
mode of benchmarking requires that participants from the relevant projects or
organizations be drawn to meet at designated location for open discussion on the
issues required. In line with this practice, a report in Wall Street Journal (1993:10)
states that the Executives of small firms created a network of what can be said to
be an informal benchmarking. Such executives felt that the best way of improving
their operations is to discuss with the leading firms. However, it is important to
note that no matter the type of benchmarking involved, it can only work if the
leading organization is ready and willing to cooperate with the other organization
seeking it. Also the firm seeking to benchmark others must first understand its
own processes before starting to look at others.
B. Benchmarking Process for a Project
As earlier stated, the process of benchmarking is used as a basis for comparing
one project to another, in terms of processes, products and the procedures adopted
in the system. The reason for this is to identify those other projects where
performance is found to be superior in whatever variables one may whish to use in
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evaluating them for comparison. Having identified the “Best among equals” then
the next line of action would be to determine the reasons behind their superior
performance.
Box 1. Benchmarking process
Steps Tasks
1. Determine what to Identify key performance figures with a
Benchmark critical impact on the company‟s success.
This will influence the search for a
Benchmark company.
2. Identify benchmark Identify benchmark companies that are
Companies. Significantly better than yours in terms
Of the selected performance measures.
3. Measure performance Identify performance gaps between you
Gap and the benchmarking company and how
Performance areas have improved and
Are expected to be developed.
4. Identify excellence Identify factors that account for difference
Enablers in performance and that need development
To achieve improvement.
5. Learn how we do it Develop an understanding of your own
Process. Measure performance and identify
Practices to achieve a satisfactory
Performance.
6. Learn how they do it. Visit company. Develop an understanding of
The process. Measure their performance,
Identify aspects of the process that contribute
To excellence, compare performance and
Observe the root cause and enablers,
Determine gaps.
7. Establish performance Establish performance goals for
Goals. Improvements. Determine ideas to be
Implemented immediately after the visit, as
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Well as long-term goals.
8. Adopt and implement Prepare plans and schedules and implement
them. Adapt and implement the best
methods, practices, and enablers into your
own process.
9. To gain superiority, The aim is to use continuous measurement
Continue development To ensure that the objectives are achieved
And the benchmark level exceeded.
10.Start again with higher Determine the long – term target, and start
Targets from the beginning.
Figure 2.5: The Benchmarking process.
Source: Management Consulting by Milan Kurb. Page 260.
Generally, according to Harrington and Harrington (1996:38-39), the benchmarking
process involves that decisions are made on the following points:
1. What are the things the firm is going to benchmark?
2. Which firm is going to be benchmarked?
3. How would the information obtained be analyzed?
4. How will the firm or project use the information so obtained?
Although there is no commonly accepted approach to the benchmarking process,
Camp (1995:65) suggests seven steps to be taken in the benchmarking process.
Figure 2.6 The seven modes of benchmarking suggested by Camp.
Source: Hellriegal et al (1999) Benchmarking pg 65.
Identify the best
performers
Repeat Evaluations
Collect and analyzed data
of identify gaps Setting of improvement
goals
Develop and implement
plans to close gaps
Evaluating results
Define the issue (start)
c
2.5.3.2 The Benefits of Benchmarking
According to Robert Camp, the former Xerox guru asked that given the
considerable effort and expense required for effective benchmarking, why would
an organization embark on such an effort? And he justified the answers by giving
a set of three benefits:
(a) Cultural Change
Benchmarking allows organizations to set realistic, rigorous new performance
targets, and this process helps convince people of the credibility of these targets.
This tends to overcome the “not invented here” syndrome and the “we„r different”
justification for the status quo. The emphasis on looking to other companies for
ideas and solutions is antithetical to the traditional U.S. business culture of
individualism. He adds here that it is important to overcome the myopia there are
no people doing things better than your own.
(b) Performance Improvement
Benchmarking allows the organization or project to define specific gaps in
performance and to select the processes to improve. It provides a vehicle whereby
products and services are redesigned to achieve outcomes that meet or exceed
customer expectations. The gaps in performance that are discovered can provide
objectives and action plans for improvement at all levels of the organization and
promote improved performance for individuals and group participant.
(c) Human Resources
Benchmarking provides a basis for training. Employees begin to see the gap
between what they are doing and what best- in – class are doing. Closing the gap
points out the need for personnel to be involved in techniques of problem solving
and process improvement. Moreover, the synergy between organization activities
is improved through cross-functional cooperation.
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2.5.4 Team building as an effective tool of TQM that impacts on
Performance.
As Harrington (1991:25) states, the bedrock of total quality management is the
combined behavior of the individuals in the organization. The total quality culture
change process is, therefore, a change in the behavior of these individuals. He
further stresses that total quality management involves tools and techniques such
as statistical process control and problem solving, but as any teacher knows, it‟s
the use of the tools, not the tools themselves, that matter. According to Carlson
(1987:21) some quality problems cross-organizational boundaries because service
delivery processes do the same. People work in teams either naturally within the
same department or across departments and functions in recognition of the
specialized role they all play. To be successful in managing a project, it is
desirable to have competent people managing the key functions. Project
management is not a one- person operation. Although a typical donor- agency
assisted project could be multi-disciplinary in nature, it requires a group of
individuals dedicated to the achievement of a specific goal, and the completion of
the project. This requires that each member of the team has a good understanding
of their domiciliary credit agreement and other fundamental requirements. Each
member of the team must be an authority in his ability to the organization‟s
human resources towards the achievement of organizational performance
objectives.
According to Heather (2000:64) nobody goes to work to make mistakes unless the
system makes it possible. Yet 20 – 30% of people‟s activity at work is devoted to
fixing mistakes. Majority of mistakes occur at work because the process has
failed. The objective of TQM in this area is to design robust processes that make it
difficult to fail. Using flow charts for example, areas of possible failure can be
highlighted and possibility of failure reviewed. Top management must lead the
process, institute leadership, and take action to accomplish the transformation.
TQM now challenges management‟s traditional role to plan organize and control
and now demands that management should now empower, coach, develop and
encourage organization wide participation in running the business. This demands
commitment and leadership from management at all levels. Management must
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realize that with the advent of the knowledge worker, he is no longer the only
solution provider.
The middle management must support for the project to be transformed and
moved forward. To Rank (1980: 40) traditionally, middle management‟s role is
that of supervision, maintenance of quality, setting priorities and developing staff.
Therefore, in a donor agency - assisted project, you must break down barriers
between staff areas. In a TQM focused organization, all the above remain in
addition to the responsibility for the continuous improvement of every aspect of
processes under his control. As the popular saying goes, a chain is strong as its
weakest link. Business process cross functional boundaries, therefore management
must now break those boundaries and abandon “turf‟ protection. Harrington
J.(1990) echoes this when he said that the limited tools of inspection techniques
and statistical process control have become less important as more sophisticated
approaches of TQM begin to pervade all functions and activities, rather than just
manufacturing. For example, performance evaluation systems are now geared to
rewarding processes and not functions. Protecting functional areas will no longer
work in this new dispensation.
People work in chains of activities that collectively form business processes. TQM
focused organizations seek to improve the process of delivering a service or
product than individual or departmental performance or competence. In a Harvard
Business Review article, Gimpet (1986) describes a small and involved work
force. He found that keeping the operation small strengthened employee
cohesiveness and gave them a feeling of responsibility and pride. Rank added that
processes consist of a chain of customer/ supplier relationships. System failures
occur when the link in the chain breaks- When the flow of work is disturbed.
2.5.4.1 The role of teams in continuous improvement
Dale and Heather (1999:180) state that teams have a number of roles to play as a
component in a process of continues improvement. Accordingly, they opine that
teams can:
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1. Aid the commitment of people to the principles of TQM.
2. Provide an additional means of communication between individuals,
management and their direct reports, across functions and with customers
and suppliers.
3. Provide the means and opportunity for people to participate in decision
making about how the business operates.
4. Improve relationships, develop trust and facilitate co-operative activity.
5. Help to develop people and encourage leadership traits.
6. Build collective responsibility and develop a sense of ownership.
7. Aid personal development and build confidence.
8. Develop problem solving skills.
9. Facilitate awareness of improvement potential, leading to behavior and
attitude change.
10. Help to facilitate a change in management style and culture.
11. Solve problems.
12. Imbue a sense of accomplishment.
13. Improve the adoption of new products to the production line.
14. Improve morale.
15. Improve operating effectiveness as people work in a common direction
through interaction and synergy.
2.5.4.2 Description of a Team
Simon (1989) states that the partnering concept requires a new corporate culture
of participative management and teamwork throughout the entire organization. He
concludes it by saying that Ford increased productivity 28 percent by using the
team concept with the same workers and equipment. The organization is a
systematic arrangement of people and technology to achieve some pre-determined
purpose. Donor agency - assisted project managers must be increasingly
concerned about how to fully mobilize the energy of the organization‟s human
resources towards the achievement of organizational objectives.
According to Peters (2005:2) of the Administrative staff college of Nigeria, there
are various descriptions of a team viz:-
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i. A group of individuals working together towards a common goal, with
identified common characteristics such as defined objectives, defined
membership criteria, pre-determined hierarchies and optimum size.
ii. A group that is dedicated to a purpose or goal and recognizes that it needs
the efforts of every one of its members to achieve the purpose.
iii. A group that has worked out its team ways and is going in the direction of
the team. And lastly every team is a group but only the rare group is a
team.
Thus, team building is the process of enabling a group of people to reach their
goal. Contributing further to this, Lansing (1989) reports that Harleysville
Insurance Company‟s discovery program provides synergism resulting from the
team approach. According to him, the program produced a cost saving of $3.5
million, along with the enthusiasm and involvement of employees.
2.5.4.3 Project Teams
Dale et al (1999:182) states that the drive to improve originates at the top of an
organization. So if senior management identifies the main problems facing the
organization, key improvement issues can be developed which are then allocated
among their membership for consideration as a one-off project. The project
manager or the owner of an organization then selects employees to constitute a
team which will consider the improvement issue. They stress further that through
participation in project teams, managers better understand the problem solving
process and become more sensitive to the problems faced by other types of teams.
The senior management project team is one example of this type of team.
2.5.4.4 Quality Circles
Dale (1999: 183) states that a quality circle is a voluntary group of between six to
eight employees from the same work area. They meet usually in company time,
for one hour every week or fortnight, under the leadership of their work supervisor
to solve problems relating to improving their work activities and environment. He
listed the typical characteristics of quality circles as:- Membership is voluntary
and people can opt out as and when they wish, membership are usually drawn
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from a single department and are doing similar work, all members are of equal
status, they operate within the existing organizational structure, members are free
to select, from their own area, the problems and projects which they wish to
tackle- these tend to be the ones they have to live with every day; there is little or
no interference from management, the quality circle members are trained in the
use of seven basic quality control tools, meeting skills, facilitation, team building,
project management and presentation techniques, etc.
2.5.4.5 Quality improvement teams
Teams of this type can comprise members of a single department, be cross-
functional, and include representatives of either or both customers and suppliers.
The objectives of such teams range across various topics but fall under the general
headings of improve quality, eliminate waste and non – value – added activity,
and improve productivity. They stress that the characteristics of quality
improvement teams are more varied than any other type of team activity but
typically include: membership can be voluntary or mandatory and can comprise of
line workers, staff or a mixture of both. Some teams involve a complete range of
personnel from different levels in the organizational hierarchy. Projects can arise
as a result of a management initiative, a need to undertake some form of
corrective action, a high incidence of defects, supplier/customer problems and an
opportunity for improvement, etc.
2.5.4.6 Quality Action Teams (QATS)
According to Iyayi (1994:62), it is not only the quality or correctness of the
product or service; there is the issue of the way and manner in which it is
delivered. So the manner in which a service or product is provided, influences the
client‟s perception of that service even if the product is faultless. Behavior
therefore plays a major role in service delivery. It is most unfortunate that in most
Nigerian enterprise, team work gets a lot lacking. Individual behavioral traits are
often not taken into consideration in forming teams for Nigerian projects. It takes
people with a particular behavioral style to suit each type of direct service delivery
situation. For example, in a given project team, you require different behavior
traits for:
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1. A customer / clients complaint desk
2. Information desk
3. Community outreach/ mobilization
Iyayi further added that quality action teams (QATs) represent the lowest level of
TQM deployment possible. The organization or project throws the mantle of
responsibility for organizational improvement to the people who work in the
system. These teams provide the organization with observable team activities that
will serve as the learning base from which the leadership can begin to analyze the
success of TQM in its deployment throughout the organization. Iyayi also noted
again that TQM is an organization wide activity and QATs facilitate that process.
QATs provide the opportunity for employee to empowerment which:
i. Demand full participation of the organization in putting things right or
preventing failure.
ii. Encourages organization wide involvement.
iii. Supports vertical alignment at all levels.
iv. Supports horizontal alignment through cross functional teams.
Here, each QATs have to be empowered with tools, techniques, encouragement
and freedom to act. Each group in the organization is encouraged to establish as
many customer/ supplier alignment exercises in any one year to the extent that this
becomes an appraisal factor in the TQM process. Target number of alignments is
then set up, thus ensuring that the process is going on all the time. A common
vocabulary is thus established between departments or sections. Through such
team alignments also, people are trained by their counterparts in understanding
each other‟s job. There can be agreement on where the boundaries of control and
authority exist and when such boundaries can be extended on both sides in getting
the job done. QATs is also a process designed to:
1. build effective working relationships
2. encourage clear communication of needs and expectations.
3. ensure employee relationships results in doing the “right things right”.
4. develop an internal supplier – customer philosophy. Iyayi (1994:84).
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Also, according to Juran (1990:20-21), key success factors for Quality Action
Teams consist of the following factors”-
i. Strong effective and efficient leadership
ii. Fluid membership
iii. Disciplined documentation
iv. Management support
v. Mastery of problem solving processes and tools
vi. Teaming and communication skills
vii. Training.
In Juran (1990: 08) the team leader must be a good listener, open minded,
enthusiastic, able to focus the group, sensitive and tolerant. He (the leader) or
Project Manager should be able to conduct meetings, assign responsibilities,
provide direction, and assess progress. On their part, the members of the team
must be good listeners, responsive, participative, co-operative and committed to
improving quality. He stressed further that each member of the team is expected
to:
1. Attend meetings
2. Offer ideas
3. Perform assignments
4. Recommend agenda
5. Actively participate
6. Improve the team‟s process.
Also contributing on personal mastery of team members, Erinle (1996:11-6) states
seven steps to mastering personal quality as follows:
1. Creative and define your personal vision
Among the points listed here are:
1. To change, to grow, and to learn is a necessity for a healthy life.
2. Growth is almost impossible without some vision of our future.
3. Strategy is where we want to be in future years.
4. A personal vision is our personal strategic plan.
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5. Immediate actions make sense and can be coordinated when they are in
pursuit of an understood strategy.
6. It is helpful to force yourself to write down some ideas about the attributes
you would like to develop.
2. Set goals and pinpoint behavior
Erinle states that to set goals and pinpoint behavior which can be measured,
counted and recorded. How does your dream become reality? He asked.
a. Goals must be set; tactics follow strategy.
b. Intermediate stages or goals are necessary to move toward the ultimate
dream.
3. Establish activators and activate performance
He states that these are guidance system of personal growth and development. In
order to manage these you must establish your own guidance system. Key
questions to ask your self if you are going to continue your movement toward
personal quality are:
1. How do you know what attributes, goals, performance or behavior to
develop?
2. How do you know whether you are making progress?
3. How do you gain the satisfaction that comes from knowing that you are on
course toward your destination?
4. Track Performance
Here, Erinle stresses that you develop a precise system of keeping score of your
performance. It is easy to make excuses for yourself, and accept them when you
would never accept the same excuse from someone else. He states that without
human development, there is deterioration.
5. Take Action
Without any question, one of the qualities that most distinguishes successful
people is their action orientation. Certainly, they plan, study, set goals and set
targets. More importantly, they act. That action leads to the greatest learning of
all.
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6. Reinforce improvement (Managing Consequences)
What is stressed here is that you create quality self-concept through positive
reinforcement. If we want to manage our own performance toward our goals and
vision, it is perfectly reasonable to reinforce ourselves for making progress. When
behavior is habitual, the only reinforcement needed is the feeling of self
satisfaction.
7. Evaluate Change and iterate.
People who succeed are constantly seeking to improve. They will make it their
business to gather feedback and opinions that will help them evaluate their own
progress. Iterative means that the cycle will be repeated over and over again each
turn building on the lessons of the previous. Your programme of mastering quality
should have numerous stages, each one seeking new ways, new experiments, and
new goals, for moving toward your vision.
Thus, Peters, (2005:3) also goes on to list the advantages of teamwork as:
a. More specialists/experts for integration into large tasks within the
organization, thereby increasing success rates.
b. More organizational members become increasingly involved in their total
work environment.
2.6 APPROACHES TO TQM IMPLEMENTATION
According to Juran (1989:26), these earliest approaches to TQM implementation were
originally as the breakthrough sequence for improvement. Each approach brings fresh
ideas, and organizations have learnt to continuously integrate where possible these
older ideas with the new and successful methods. Betz (1999:28) noted that using as
ten element model; an organization can “jump in” at any point. This allows for a more
flexible approach whilst still maintaining a structured process. It is thus possible to
introduce TQM to an organization whilst maintaining current strategies and then
gradually adopt the full philosophy. He proffers the element approach to TQM
implementation as follows:
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2.6.1 The Guru approach
He explained further that this method uses the theories and lessons of one of the
leading quality thinkers as a benchmark to determine where the organization has
deficiencies and then begins to make appropriate changes to remedy those
deficiencies, i.e. Deming‟s 14 points.
2.6.2 The Company Model Approach
In this approach, individuals or organizational teams would visit other companies
that are TQM leaders and determine what successes they had and how they
accomplished them. The individuals or team would then integrate these ideas with
their own and thus develop their own organizational model which would be
adapted for their organization.
2.6.3 The Japanese TQM Approach
Demings (1989) states that under the Japanese approach, organizations using this
method study the implementation techniques and strategies employed by Deming
prize winning companies (Deming‟s prize is a Japanese Award) and use this
experience to develop 5 year master plan.
2.6.4 The Prize Criteria Approach
Using this model, an organization applies the criteria of the Deming Prize or the
Baldridge award as benchmark to identify areas for improvement,
2.6.5 Company Wide Approach
According to Carlzon (1987:17), get everyone to work on improving quality
processes. Minor details are solicited and encouraged from every employee. Such
suggestions are easier to implement, so visibility of success is higher. It is thus
more effective and faster to communicate the quality focus of the company
through this approach. Formal training on Quality management will be required so
that a more logical approach can be adopted by all. This soon develops into part of
the culture of the organization where every one is focused on service
improvement. Quality improvement teams should also be created to identify
improvement areas and training needs of the organization.
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2.6.6 Training Cascade
Carlzon advised: start with a top management seminar or workshop to present an
overview of TQM, its implementations and the required commitment to the
process. Facilitators are then trained in detail on the implementation process of
TQM. This group of managers or persons then proceeds to train others in the
organization. A hierarchical and functional mushrooming of training should take
place. Training must be relevant to the business and include all the management
planning and quality control tools. These will then be geared to achieve specific
needs. Specific questions needed to achieve these would be:
i. What areas need improved performance?
ii. What changes are planned for the future?
iii. Why new processes and procedures need to be established?
2.6.7 Project Based Approach
Service or product problems are sometimes so obvious that they become the first
target for service improvement. Such are identified as areas which will benefit
from an initiative. Quality improvement exercises can thus be conducted for each
one in turn. There is the danger that if a department or function contributing to a
particular service failure is not included in the project, there could be a lack of
support from those left out, yet initial projects must be kept at a manageable size.
Carlzon (1987:44) further states that there is no single right way to approach
TQM. Organizations have different needs, priorities and problems. Culture and
management style also affects approaches to implementing TQM. What is most
important is the degree of management committee.
2.7 THE PROSPECTS OF FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF TQM IN
DONOR - AGENCY ASSISTED PROJECTS.
According to Dale (2003:10) satisfying customers and creating customer
enthusiasm through understanding their needs and future requirements is the crux
of TQM and all institutions are dependent on having satisfied customers.
Gbobadian et al. (1998:14) argue that TQM could effectively address much of the
strategic issues faced by an institution. A more detailed examination of the
reasons for the introduction of TQM revealed the following points:
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1. It improves efficiency by driving out waste from the system. Improving the
operating procedures in line with values expounded by TQM and using its
suggested tools not only drives out unnecessary costs, but also reduces
time to market and delivery reliability.
2. It increases revenue through the provision of more effective products or
services. A focus on customer needs improves customer satisfaction, while
a focus on institutional effectiveness and culture improves the image of the
institution. These two combined help the institution to increase its revenue.
3. It increases overall competitiveness through improved process efficiency
and institutional effectiveness.
4. It provides a focus for the introduction of wide- ranging cultural
institutional and procedural change.
5. It provides positive effects on quality of working life (QWL) of the
employees.
6. It provides continuous improvement that can be related to improved goal
setting, and therefore to an increase in job satisfaction.
7. It provides teamwork that can be related both to increased job satisfaction
and better institutional commitment.
Also Stowell (1999) states that research have shown that institutions or projects
that do not meet their customers‟ expectation have lost market shares to
competitors who are customer-oriented. He also developed a generic model for the
implementation of customer service, for the very reason of complying with the
expectations of the customer. The generic model follows a six- step approach:
Step 1: Identify the added value of service that is to be rendered to the customer.
Step 2: Identify the customer and clearly determine his or her expectations.
Step 3: Identify the institution‟s critical needs that are required for customer
satisfaction.
Step 4: Define the process required to perform the work in order to ensure quality
customer service.
Step 5: Zero-defect the process and eliminate wasted efforts
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Step 6: Ensure continuous improvement by obtaining continuous feedback from
the customer, in order to produce continuous total quality results as
output.
From the above, it could be seen that quality services and products are critical and
very important for the continued relevance of donor agency - assisted projects in
Nigeria. Also, according to Kubr (2005:466), the objectives and benefits of total
quality management fall into two major categories- revenue enhancement and cost
reduction. It therefore goes without an overemphasis to state that adopting TQM
in the management of donor agency projects in Nigeria will lead to improved
project performance, especially in terms of features, reliability, conformance to
specification, durability, serviceability.
Milan Kubr further summarized the benefits of full implementation of TQM as
follows:-
i. Meeting customers‟ requirements and ensuring their satisfaction;
increasing market share, revenue and return on assets; reducing internal
costs; providing higher employee satisfaction; understanding better the
competition; and developing an effective competitive strategy.
ii. Achieving a top-quality performance in all business and operational areas,
not just in product or service quality, through critical and continuous
examination of all processes to remove non- productive activities and
waste.
iii. Involvement of everyone in continuous improvement, not just people
directly involved in the quality function; greater focus on work processes
and improvements; identification and solution of problems at lower levels
by people close to the work who are empowered to deal with the problems.
iv. Less fire-fighting and rework, and more data-based efforts to eliminate the
root causes of problems; more up-front effort to clarify requirements and
prevent defects and errors.
cxiv
v. More open and frequent communication horizontally among people who
view and treat each other as customers and suppliers, better
interdepartmental cooperation.
vi. Intolerance of and action taken on defects and errors that have previously
been ignored.
According to Imaga (2000:193) key contributions of TQM to Nigeria‟s industries
include:-
i. Practical services to improve the nation‟s industries in response to the
concern of the Standard organization (SON), National agency for food and
drug administration and control (NAFDAC) and the executive arm of the
government about the sub-standard quality of most products and services
offered to consumers by most manufacturers and business service
industries.
ii. Reversal of the existing inferiority complex of less quality oriented
manufacturers‟ quality products who indulge in the fraudulent practice of
using foreign trade marks and labels on local products for image making
instead of acquiring image by building same into their process and
products.
However, as the researcher had observed in 2.7 above that despite the above
sound and logical reasons for embarking on a TQM programme, many institutions
still fail to achieve success and their programmes fail dismally.
2.8 MODIFICATION AND ADAPTATION OF TRANSFORM OF THE
PROCESS OF TQM (SYSTEMS CYBERNETIC MODEL)
A model is a representation of the real system but it is not reality itself. Not all the
variables in the real system are present in the model but only the significant ones
so that the model does not become too cumbersome to analyze and interpret. The
aim of a model is to analyze, interpret and predict the real system. Taha (2008).
cxv
INPUTS Men
Materials
Money OUTPUT
Time Increase
Energy in the performance
Knowledge of donor agency-
assisted project
Figure 2.7 The system‟s cybernetic model of the transform of the TQM process.
Source: Adopted by the author from O‟brien, J.A. (2008), Computers in Business
Management: An Introduction. New York; Holt, Rinchart and Winston.
From Figure 2.7 it is shown that the system‟s cybernetic model has five components
namely input, transform, output, feedback and control. According to Koontz
O‟donnel and weihrich (2000), a system is an integrative whole which has parts. In
Management, Business Administration and social Sciences systems are open because
the components have interfaces and interactions with the environment (Nwachukwu,
1998).Then also, Agbonifoh (2008) asserts that the environment is the totality of the
variables and factors that affect managers and workers at their work. He further
explains the environment using the PEST model. PEST is an acronym where P
means the political environment, E, the Economic environment, S, the social
environment and T, the Technological environment.
The inputs of the model are six in number namely, men, materials, money, time,
energy and knowledge. By men or women is meant the totality of the human resource
with the skills, potentialities and competences. According to Adebayo (2009),
materials are the raw materials, work – in – progress, finished goods, inventory, parts,
Control
Feedback
Feedback
TRANSFORM
The total quality
management process
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sub-assemblies, stationary and inventory, or stock that go into the TQM process.
Money is in the form of fixed and working capital put in by the owners or
shareholders of the donor agencies assisted projects to be studied. Van Horn (2006)
asserts that money is used to pay staff salaries, procure fixed and short –term assets,
pay interest on loans, pay contractors and suppliers, pay dividends to shareholders.
Hornby (2003) states that time is the non-renewable resource which has the capacity
of 60 seconds per hour, 60 minutes per hour, 24 hours per day and if it is lost it cannot
be regained and it could lead to losses. Energy is the work done per unit time and is
measured in watts, or kilowatts while work is measured in Joules. Knowledge is the
sum total of the information, understanding, skills, competences, available to the
managers and owners of the donor agencies assisted projects.
The transform is the TQM process of donor agency - assisted projects in the eastern
states and Federal capital territory of Nigeria. Topic of the thesis is Total Quality
Management in donor- agency assisted projects in Nigeria: challenges and prospects.
The output of the model is the increase in the performance of the donor agency -
assisted projects under study. The output corresponds to solutions that will assist in
achieving the objectives of the study.
Nwachukwu (1988) opines that control is the system‟s element that involves setting
standards, appreciating results, measuring past performance, doing variance analysis,
separating controllable and uncontrollable variables and correcting action if there are
negative deviations from the plans and continuing if things are right. O‟brien
concludes this by stating that feedback is information to know how the system is
performing so that corrective action can be taken if the system is not performing well.
The assumption of the model is that the managers of the donor- agency assisted
projects will be able to put together the five components of the system‟s model.
2.9 PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN DONOR AGENCY-
ASSISTED PROJECTS
Performance management in donor agency-assisted projects has to do with using
behavior modification techniques like total quality management to improve the
overall organizational performance. The application of performance management
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as an aspect of total quality management of donor agency-assisted projects cannot
be over emphasized. Abernathy (2004:211) states that performance management
is a systematic, data oriented approach to managing people by providing positive
recognition and reinforcement for individual and group performance. He goes
further to assert that the application of performance management is linked to valid
sources targeting the goal of performance. By this, we see that one of the most
useful outcomes of the science of behavior analysis has been its application into
the world of business and industry. Essentially, it means setting up systems and
processes that ensure that people are rewarded for doing the right thing as in
TQM, therefore making the average worker to keep their highest quality
performance strong and accurate.
Total quality management ensures that firms like donor agency-assisted projects
develop and implement strategies that achieve lasting improvements in human
performance. For example, the use of balance score cards and incentive pay
systems are such innovations used to achieve quality performance. It also ensures
that companies or donor agency-assisted projects create work environments in
which people perform their best, especially when they work as teams. Even on
individual bases, it creates the consciousness of performance improvement in each
staff.
According to Mcsween, (2006:187) performance management as an aspect of total
quality management has the following objectives:
1. Employee should know how to act and communicate in ways that support
the organizations value for customers, safety and continuous
improvement.
2. Understand the role of leadership in creating a value-based culture
through the alignment of the systems, values and behaviors that produce
results.
3. Understand the role of behavior, the organizational and personal factors
that have an impact on the behavior at work, and the importance of
creating a positive work environment.
4. Improve personal skills in applying these concepts to have a positive
impact on the performance of the firms.
cxviii
5. Develop plans for improving organizational systems based on behavioral
principles.
Riverside (2007:12) states that corporate performance management improves the
capability of a business. It provides three important values to the business viz:-
a. Information delivery
b. Performance oversight
c. Performance effectiveness
He goes further to say that these values help to understand, manage and improve
the business. Corporate performance management systems coordinate the
performance of managers, staff, customers, and suppliers within an integrated
environment. Thus, the basic elements of corporate performance management are
providing information and strategic planning. Lober (2006:87) states that
corporate performance management can provide the decision makers direct access
to required information. With a clear understanding of the facts of the business
therefore, informed decisions can be taken for boosting the performance.
Corporate performance management (CPM) assures the necessary performance
effectiveness by combining the management in a single, interactive and
collaborative workplace. It integrates the business strategies, business measures
and business actions. It also provides accurate financial information about the day-
to –day activities of people.
2.9.1 Measures of Performance
According to Drucker (1979:93) there are four general dimensions that encompass
most of what is considered to be performance:-
1. Quality – mistakes, errors, waste, accuracy.
2. Quantity, amount, productivity profit and loss.
3. Time at work- absenteeism, lateness, lost times, accidents, premature
turnover, long service, overtime
4. Cooperation toward goal attainment, including positive and negative
effects on the performance of others and on goal attainment, theft,
sabotage, incurring of costs, squandering resources, contributions.
cxix
He states that the four dimensions of performance noted are neither mutually
exclusive nor unrelated in practice. Efficiency, as it relates to the best utilization
of resources is a concept that includes both quality and quantity. Total quality
management emphasizes training. Drucker, here still avers that training
programmes have several objectives which metamorphoses into improved
performance.
2.9.2 Service concept in donor agency assisted projects
According to the World Bank (1992) Guideline on procurement, the major
headings of all projects activities executed in a typical donor agency - assisted
project are carried out through (a) Goods, (b) Works (c) Services. Also project
managers and managers of other service institutions would agree that service
quality can be defined as the customers‟ (be it a community, State or Nation)
judgment of the total superiority or excellence of their service. Donor agency -
assisted projects in Nigeria in particular, and Sub- Saharan Africa, must therefore
constantly involve a comparison of customers‟ expectations with customers‟
perceptions of the actual service performance. Kathalawa (1989) states that
delivering service means conforming to customer expectations on a consistent
basis. Answering the question “what does service mean? He states that service
consists of all the support the customer expects, apart from the basic product or
service, as well as the image and reputation of the institution involved. He opines
further that the service concept has two components, namely firstly the degree to
which customer needs are satisfied, and secondly, the added value to that the
customer receives. A service is intangible as in most cases it cannot be seen or
touched. Therefore, the customer only experiences that the service has been
rendered and therefore the customer‟s perception of service is of the utmost
importance.
Following up on the above opinion, Jennifer (1992) states that man is continually
striving for a better standard of life, accompanied by a better quality of life. The
last aspect is closely related to the whole concept of customer service. Customers
expect quality service that considers their needs and improve their quality of life.
cxx
Actually, the broad objective of setting up these donor agencies assisted projects
is to improve the quality of life of their host communities (customers). So, as the
customers of these projects become more important, the demand for services will
increase and the projects‟ ability to provide for the demands of the customer will
determine their viability. She concludes by stating that in order to obtain an
understanding of service quality, three characteristics of service must be
acknowledged. These are:-
i. Intangible: Service relates to performance and is not an object. Most
services cannot be counted, measured, tested, stored or verified before
being rendered.
ii. Heterogeneity: Customers have heterogeneous needs. Consumers of the
same services do not all have the same priorities.
iii. Inseparability: For the purpose of determining quality, the production and
consumption of services cannot be separated as in the case of
manufacturing.
This means that during production, attention cannot be paid to quality before it is
delivered to the customer as is the case with manufacturing. Quality can therefore
only be determined during the rendering of the service. Donor agency - assisted
projects must take cognizance of this fact.
2.10 SCOPE OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
According to Harrison (1983:10), Project Management can be regarded as a
management technique that deals with particularly complex activities which
cannot be handled effectively within traditional hierarchical organization
structure. It has to do with planning, organizing, directing and controlling the
timing and quantity of an organization (project) resources, skills, and knowledge
to complete a particular endeavor or scheme in an orderly and economical
manner, so as to meet a pre-determined objective or set of objectives.
cxxi
Figure 2.8 : A TYPICAL LIFE CYCLE OF A PROJECT IS AS ILLUSTRATED
Source: ASCON project Management Programme (2005) Vol. 1A (unpublished)
Select Project objectives
Determine activities
& prepare work plan
Identify & Define
Problems
Define Project goal and
Overall strategy
Develop Monitoring &
Evaluation Plan
Develop a Staffing &
Training Plan
Establish
Recordkeeping System
Determine Activities
Start – Up Activities
Undertake Activities
Monitor& Evaluate
Assess Needs
cxxii
1. Identification
2. preparation
3. Appraisal
4. Negotiations / Board Presentation
5. Implementation
6. Evaluation.
As World Bank (1992: 412) observed, once identified, projects are incorporated
into a multi – year lending programme for each country that forms the bases for
the Bank‟s future lending in the country.
Thus, the need for the application of TQM as a Project Management technique
cannot be overemphasized as managers in most developing countries today are
faced with series of abandoned and/or uncompleted projects. In such cases, the
needs and aspirations of the people which such projects are supposed to meet
remain largely unsatisfied. Even where projects are eventually completed, they are
done embarrassingly behind schedule and at a cost many times higher than the
budget. Edward (1976) states that as a result, we often experience inability to
complete projects on schedule as well as at alarming project budget overruns
because of:
i. Ineffective project planning and preparation;
ii. Faulty appraisal and selection process;
iii. Defective project design;
iv. Problems in start – up and activation;
v. inadequate project execution, operation and supervision;
vi. Inadequate / ineffective external coordination of project activities; and
vii. Deficiencies in diffusion and evaluation of project results and follow–up
action.
It is in order to cope with this plethora of problems and many others that this
research is advocating the integration of the principles of total quality
management in the management of donor- agency assisted projects in Nigeria.
Goodman et al (1980: 46) contributing to this, stated that as a management
technique, Project Management:
cxxiii
i. Provides disciplines which ensure complete coverage, and avoids omission
of important tasks;
ii. Fixes responsibility and assures continuity of efforts ;
iii. Identifies real time requirements and provides limits for scheduling;
iv. Schedules potential problem areas in time so as to take preventive action;
v. Measures accomplishment against current plans and objectives;
vi. Provide opportunity for consideration of trade – offs in funds, manpower,
time and performance, between critical and non – critical areas;
vii. Permits rescheduling and provides evaluation of plans; and
viii. Provides an historical data bank and project models for future planning.
As a result of the above, we see that the application of TQM to the management of
donor- agency assisted projects in Nigeria will lead to the much desired positive
results.
2.10.1 Projects and Characteristics of Projects
According to Goodman et al (1980:87), a project is an elusive concept to define.
However, he states that attempts have been made in several forms and some of
those definitions are:
i. The use of one or more scarce resources during a specific time period for
the purpose of producing some economic return, or output at a later time;
ii. The consumption, in the near future of scarce (or at least limited )
resources in the hope of obtaining in return over a longer period, some
benefits;
iii. An optimum set of investment – oriented actions by means of which
human and non – human resources are expected to cause a determined
amount of social and or economic development;
iv. an organized programme of investigation and activity carried
v. out to reach a defined goal, often of a non – recurring nature,
vi. with a specified terminal point;
vii. any scheme or part of a scheme, for investing resources which can be
reasonably analyzed and evaluated as an independent unit;
viii. The building blocks of development.
cxxiv
Donor agencies assisted projects in Nigeria fall into one or all of these definitions
as stated above.
2.10.2 Characteristics of a Project
From the above definitions, a project can be said to have the following
characteristics:
i. It has a beginning and an end; it is time bound;
ii. It is non-repetitive or non – recurring;
iii. It is aimed at achieving a definite predetermined objective;
iv. Outcome cannot be predicted with absolute confidence.
He adds that it should be noted that size, complexity, duration, cost, number and
types of resources required are not listed. These factors cannot be used to identify
projects. ASCON (2005:4) lists examples of projects as including:
i. Building an airport;
ii. Building a house
iii. Road construction from point A to point B;
iv. Building a dam, Hospitals or Bridges;
v. Installation of an organization development programme (like donor
agencies assisted projects);
vi. Carrying out a management audit of an institution or organization;
vii. Reorganization of the production department of an industry;
viii. Preparation of feasibility studies for the establishment.
ix. Engaging a second wife or second husband (as the case may be); and
x. Burying a dead body or performing naming ceremony.
The list according to them is endless and the examples above show clearly that
projects vary widely in scope, nature and complexity. They could also be social or
economic. A project is said to be successful if: (a) it is completed on schedule (b)
it is completed within budget (c ) it is satisfactorily delivering the planned goods,
works and services as the case may be.
cxxv
2.10.3 Project Schedule / Work Breakdown Structure
Ascon (2005:5) concludes this part by stating that successful management of
projects rests on effective planning (TQM) and project scheduling, which is
regarded as the modus operandi of project management. A major step in the
planning process is the development of the work breakdown structure (WBS).
Ascon states that work breakdown structure is the vehicle for breaking the work in
a project down into smaller elements in a systematic and disciplined fashion, thus
providing a greater probability that every major and minor activity will be
accounted for. It lists all the activities that must be carried out to complete a
project in a systematic, hierarchical and structured manner, enabling the project
manager to visualize the whole project, together with all its major sub – projects
and activities, and their interrelationships in a single diagram. Ascon further states
that although a variety of Work breakdown structures exists, the most common is
the five – level indenture, shown bellow:
Figure 2.8 Diagrammatic Representation of a Work Breakdown Structure
Source: Management Workshop 2005 pp. 6. By A.A. Peters
Programme
Project Project
Phase Phase
Task Task
Activity Activity
cxxvi
Unyimadu (2007:102) states that managers use project scheduling network analysis
generally for effective planning and control, and specifically for the attainment of the
following objectives:
i. The determination of the shortest time to complete the project;
ii. The identification of critical or bottleneck activities with a view to giving such
activities extra attention.
iii. The determination of how much flexibility or slack exists with bottleneck
activities;
iv. The assessment of the effects of shifting resources from ordinary to bottleneck
activities; and
v. The determination of the probability of completing the project on schedule
should there be variations in the time of requirements of activities.
2.11 SUMMARY OF REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE.
A full understanding of the concept of TQM, as presented in literature forms an
important part of the initial foundation on which to build a framework for its
implementation in donor- agency assisted projects here in Nigeria and anywhere
globally. This chapter has also covered different rationalizations of the TQM
concept as an internal institutional arrangement. According to Obioha (1995),
Total quality management has been successfully implemented in many
organizations, including service providers in Nigeria. TQM has grown gradually
over a period of more than 40 years, starting from the quality control (QC) and
quality circles movement in Japan.
The research has also provided an overview of total quality management as a
discipline, based on the historical review of its development. However, there has
not been a commonly and universally accepted definition of TQM. Pearce and
Robinson (2003:326) stated that the initial TQM have become the most popular
abbreviation in business management literature since MBO (management by
objectives). It is viewed as virtually a new organizational culture and way of
thinking and is built around an intense focus on customer satisfaction; on accurate
measurement of every critical variable in a business‟s operation; on continuous
cxxvii
improvement of products, services and processes. Imaga (2000:184) states that
organizations must transform themselves and make quality as measured by
customer satisfaction their top priority. This philosophy is known as Total Quality
Management. TQM also demands changes. These changes involve moving away
from the traditional situation where control is exercised over employees and their
activities to an approach where employees are supported and empowered in their
attempts to establish continuous improvement. By following this approach,
employees are forced to continuously develop new ways of doing things .In
implementing TQM, the leadership of the project or organization must be
committed to it, and be the driving force behind it. Also, top management must
clearly specify which actions will improve quality and they cannot delegate such
responsibility.
This was followed by examining the barriers that could hinder an effective
implementation of TQM. Those factors were also analyzed and stated. The
barriers or impediments as stated further helps in appreciating the enormous
capabilities of TQM in revolutionizing and transforming a project or enterprise.
Attention was also given to continuous improvement and change from exercising
control over employees to an approach where employees are supported and
empowered to establish continuous improvement. The full benefits of
implementing total quality management in a donor- agency assisted project in
Nigeria were also succinctly discussed.
Finally, despite diverse views on what constitutes TQM, there are a number of
principles that we now summarize in this literature review. TQM as a philosophy
or an approach to management can be characterized by its principles. They
indicate that TQM implementation can only be accomplished through a set of
principles that support the philosophy. In other words, what differentiates from
other management processes is the emphasis on continuous improvement. Yes,
TQM is about continuous improvement of individuals, of groups and of
institutions. In order to improve performance, people need to know what to do,
how to do it, and have the right tools to do it. All these are necessary to be able to
measure performance and to receive feedback on current levels of achievement.
cxxviii
Dale and Heather (1999) stated that TQM provides this by adhering to a set of
general governing principles.
Therefore, as a result of this review of related literature, we sum it that the
following principles underlie the TQM concept, namely:
i. TQM focuses on doing it right the first time.
ii. TQM starts at top management – the top management of donor- agency
assisted projects should demonstrate understanding, commitment and be
involved in the total quality improvement process from the beginning.
iii. TQM requires that all the employees of the donor-agency assisted project
be involved – the individual workers in the project are of the essence and
their full involvement enables their abilities to be used.
iv. TQM focus on the customer- satisfying customers, both the internal and
external is fundamental to TQM. This should spore donor- agency assisted
projects to design and deliver products and services that fulfill their clients‟
needs.
v. TQM needs strategic planning – strategic planning is necessary to integrate
all the efforts of the project with the concepts.
vi. TQM focus on the systems approach to management – identifying,
understanding and managing interrelated processes as a system should
contribute to the donor agencies assisted projects‟ effectiveness and
efficiency in achieving its objectives.
vii. TQM focus on teamwork:- donor - agency assisted projects should
understand that employees need to participate in vertical, horizontal and
cross functional teams so as to be very effective.
viii. TQM focus on continuous improvement – Continuous improvement should
be a permanent objective of the projects. It means a commitment to
constant examination of technical and administrative processes in order to
achieve better results.
ix. TQM respects employees and their knowledge – subordinates make inputs
which are taken into account, especially where they have the experience
and specialists in their field.
cxxix
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Development Research, 9.1.
Stoner, J.A.F, Freeman, R.E, and Gilbert, D.R. (1996), Management, New Jersey;
Prentice – Hall International.
Stowell, D.M., (1999), “Quality in the marketing Process” Quality Progress, Oct.
Taguchi, G. (1986) Introduction to Quality Engineering, Asian Productivity
Organization, New York: Free Press.
Tichey, N. (1983) “The Leadership Challenge: A Call for Transformational
Leadership” Sloan Management Review, Fall.
Tichey, N. (1983), Managing Strategic Change. New York, John Wiley & Sons.
cxxxv
Trabelsi, A and Hillmer, S.C (1987) “A benchmarking approach to forecasting
Combination”, Journal of business and economic statistics, July, 7, No 1064-
1071.
Unyimadu, S.O. (2007) An introduction to Project Management and Feasibility
Studies. Benin City: Harmony Books.
Wall Street Journal (1993), Small Company CEOs share experience and advice,
February, 11.
Wall Street Journal, may 26, 1992, section c.
Watson, G.H (1993), Strategic Management, New York;John Wiley.
Wiele, T., Dale, B. G. and Williams R. T. (1997) „ISO 9000 Series, Registration
total Quality Management: the Transformation Journey: “International
Journal of Quality Sciences”, 2(4).
cxxxvi
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This section explains the step-by- step procedure that was adopted by the
researcher in achieving the set objectives of the study as stated in the first chapter.
According to Ikeagwu (1998:22), the usual objective of research are to describe a
research situation, forecast or estimate unknown quantities, establish a structural
relationship between variables and compare probability distributions of statistics,
(and) the values of the relevant random variables.
3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN The study started with a detailed descriptive survey of Total Quality Management
in donor agency - assisted Projects: the challenges and prospects. It was carried
out to assess the prospects of full implementation of Total Quality Management to
improve the performance of donor agency - assisted projects in Nigeria, and to
view the challenges thereat. From that perspective, the study proceeded to collect
and analyze empirical data to ascertain objectively the impact of TQM in
improving the performance of such projects in Nigeria. Therefore, the study
adopted the survey research design, as the study dealt with the practical
application of already standardized theories available in organizations.
3.2 AREA OF STUDY
The study was conducted in the following donor agency - assisted projects in the
Federal capital territory and South East States of Nigeria:
a. HIV/AIDS programme development Project-States/National Action
Committee on Aids(World Bank)
b. United Nations Industrial development Organization-UNIDO-UNDP
(United Nations)
c. Aids Relief Foundation (United States).
The federal capital territory was chosen because as the federal capital of Nigeria,
all the international donor organizations have their operational headquarters
located at Abuja, and the South East states are in the geographic area of abode of
the researcher.
cxxxvii
3.3 POPULATION OF THE STUDY
Population is described as the aggregate of all elements defined, prior to the
selection of a sample (Kinnear and Taylor, 1983:133). The population of the study
was finite population which consisted of donor agency- assisted projects in
Nigeria. However, it was not possible to use the entire population (infinite
population). Unyimadu (2003:15) points out that the population size is normally
too large and it will be very cumbersome to go round the entire population. Three
donor agency - assisted projects operating in Nigeria were selected. The target
population of this study consisted of the senior, middle and lower management
staffs of these projects, including their support staff.
In particular, the population of the study was six thousand (6000) employees of the
selected donor agency - assisted projects in the Federal capital territory and South
East States of Nigeria. These organizations were chosen because they are big in
size, and have sustainability –long term operation all over the country. Moreover,
their Donees are The World Bank, The United Nations (UN) and The United
States of America (USA).
Table 3.1: Population of the Study
HIV/ AIDS Program Development Projects (World Bank) & NACA 3483
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (United Nations) 1469
Aids Relief Foundation (United States) 1048
Total 6000
Source: Field Work 2009.
The population of this study is six thousand (6000) derived from the selected
donor agency - assisted projects in Nigeria.
3.4 SAMPLE AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUE
In calculating the sample size, we applied the statistical formula for selecting from
a finite population as formulated by Yamane (1964:280).
cxxxviii
n = N
1 + N (e) 2
Where I = Constant value
N = Population size
n = Sample size
e = co-efficient of confidence or margin of error or allowable
error or level of significance.
According to Taro Yamane, the margin of error (e) is meant to determine and get
reasonable and workable sample size from a finite population. Therefore, for this
study, 5% was considered an appropriate margin of error. Using the Taro
Yamane‟s Formula
N is the population size = 6000
e is the error term which is 5% confidence level.
n = 6000
1+6000 (5/100) (5/100)
n = 6000 = 6000
1+15 16 = 375
Therefore, a total of 375 staff of donor - agency assisted projects in the South East
geopolitical zone and the Federal Capital territory constitute the Sample size. A
stratified sampling method was adopted so as to give a fair representation to the
designated donor- agency assisted projects staff in the ratio of 3:2:1 using the
proportionality formula thus:
Q = A/N x n/1
Where Q = the number of questionnaires to be allocated each
segment:-
A = the population of each segment
N = the total population of all the segments
n = the estimated sample size used in the study
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Breakdown =
i. Hiv/ Aids program/ NACA = 3483 x 375
6000 1 = 218
ii. United Nations (UNIDO-UNDP) = 1469 x 375
6000 = 92
iii. Aids Relief Foundation = 1048 x 375
6000 = 65
Table 3.2 Allocation of Sample Size
Organization A B
HIV/ AIDS Programme Development
Project/National action committee on aids 3483 218
United Nations Industrial Development Programme 1469 92
Aids relief Foundation ( United States) 1048 65
Total 6000 375
Source: Field Survey
The total number of questionnaire distributed for this study was therefore three
hundred and seventy five (375) to all the categories of staff in the donor agencies
studied.
In determining the respondents that participated in the study, the use of random
numbers was applied. In applying the random numbers, assuming the first number
is 1, the other random numbers, as presented below, were obtained by systematic
sampling.
cxl
1, 17, 33, 49, 65, 81, 97, 113, 129, 145, 161, 177, 193, 209, 225, 241, 257,273,
289, 305, 321, 337, 353, 369, 385, 401, 417, 433, 449, 465, 481, 497,513, 529,
545, 561, 577, 593, 609, 625, 641, 657, 673, 689, 705, 721, 737,753, 769, 785,
801, 817, 833, 849, 865, 881, 897, 913, 929, 945, 961, 977,993, 1009, 1025, 1041,
1057, 1073, 1089, 1105, 1121, 1137, 1153, 1169,1185, 1201, 1217, 1233, 1249,
874, 890, 906, 922, 938, 954, 970, 986, 1002, 1018, 1034, 1050, 1066, 1082,
1098, 1114, 1130, 1146, 1162, 1178, 1194, 1210, 1226, 1242, 1258, 1274, 1290,
1306, 1322, 1338, 1354, 1370, 1386, 1402, 1418, 1434, 1450, 1466, 1482, 1498,
1514, 1530, 1546, 1562, 1578, 1594, 1610, 1626, 1642, 1658, 1674, 1690, 1706,
1722,1738, 1754,1770, 1786, 1802, 1818, 1834, 1850, 1866, 1882, 1898, 1914,
1930, 1946, 1962, 1978, 1994, 2010, 2026, 2042, 2058, 2074, 2090, 2106, 2122,
2138, 2154, 2170, 2186, 2202, 2218, 2234, 2250, 2266, 2282, 2298, 2314, 2330,
2346, 2362, 2378, 2394, 2410, 2426, 2442, 2458, 2474, 2490, 2506, 2522, 2538,
2554, 2570, 2586, 2602, 2618, 2634, 2650, 2666, 2682, 2698, 2714, 2730, 2746,
2762, 2778, 2794, 2810, 2826, 2842, 2858, 2874, 2890, 2906, 2922, 2938, 2954,
2970, 2986, 3002, 3018, 3034, 3050, 3066, 3082, 3098, 3114, 3130, 3146, 3162,
3178, 3194, 3210, 3226, 3242, 3258, 3274, 3290, 3306, 3322, 3338, 3353, 3370,
3386, 3402, 3418, 3434, 3450, 3466, 3498, 3514, 3530, 3546, 3562, 3578, 3594,
3610, 3626, 3642, 3658, 3674, 3690, 3706, 3722, 3738, 3754, 3770, 3786, 3802,
3818, 3834, 3850, 3866, 3882, 3898, 3914, 3930, 3946, 3962, 3978, 3994, 4010,
4026, 4042, 4058, 4074, 4090, 4106, 4122, 4138, 4154, 4170, 4186, 4202, 4218,
4234, 4250, 4266, 4282, 4298, 4314, 4330, 4346, 4362, 4378, 4394, 4410, 4426,
4442, 4458, 4474, 4490, 4506, 4522, 4538, 4554, 4570, 4586, 4602, 4618, 4634,
4650, 4666, 4682, 4698, 4714, 4730, 4746, 4762, 4778, 4794, 4810, 4826, 4842,
4858, 4874, 4890, 4906, 4922, 4938, 4954, 4970, 4986, 5002, 5018, 5034, 5050,
5066, 5082, 5098, 5114, 5130, 5146, 5162, 5178, 5194, 5210, 5226, 5242, 5258,
5274, 5290, 5306, 5322, 5338, 5354, 5370, 5386, 5402, 5418, 5434, 5450, 5466,
5482, 5498, 5514, 5530, 5546, 5562, 5578, 5594, 5610, 5626, 5642, 5658, 5674,
5690, 5706, 5722, 5738, 5754, 5770, 5786, 5802, 5818, 5834, 5850, 5866, 5882,
5898, 5914, 5930, 5946, 5962, 5978,5994.
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3.5 SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION
The sources of data comprised both primary and secondary sources of data.
3.5.1 Primary Sources
The information from this source comprises responses to the questionnaire
administered to and collected from the staff of the donor agency - assisted projects
under study. One set of questionnaire was used for the study. The information that
was sought included background information on educational qualification,
position in the company and number of years of service. Other information in the
main questionnaire addressed the research hypotheses.
3.5.2 Secondary Source
Relevant information from textbooks, journals, magazines, newspapers,
periodicals and other publications were effectively used to source the secondary
data. The Independent Evaluation group reports sourced from the World Bank was
very useful. Another source of important information was derived from the World
Bank Country Office in Asokoro-Abuja, documentries on projects.
3.6 DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH INSTRUMENT
The major research instrument used in gathering data for this study was a
structured questionnaire. This designed questionnaire has two (2) sections.
However, all the questions in section A were drawn and aimed at providing some
general information on the respondents while the remaining questions in section B
were meant to directly address the research questions . Also both open-ended
questions and multiple-choice questions were used.
The questionnaire was distributed from the lowest support staff of the donor
agency – assisted projects under study, to the middle and top management.
Interviews also were held personally with some top, middle, lower and support
staff of those projects.
3.7 VALIDATION OF THE INSTRUMENT
Validity is concerned with measurement. According to Ikeagwu, (1998:150),
validity deals with the soundness and the effectiveness of the measuring
instruments.
cxlii
In order to ensure that the research instruments applied in this work are valid, the
researcher ensured that the instruments measure the concepts they are supposed to
measure. Proper structuring of the questionnaire and conduct of a pre-test of every
question contained in the questionnaire was made to ensure that they are valid.
Also, the questionnaire was designed in such a way that it made it easy for the
respondents to tick their preferred choice from the options provided. Lavine,
(1986:11) opines that the longer the length of questionnaire, the lower the
response rate. Response validity was obtained by going back to those individuals
whose responses appear unusual or inconsistent. The instrument was structured in
such a way as to minimize the effect of errors.
3.8 RELIABILITY OF THE INSTRUMENT
3.8.1 Reliability Analysis
The same version of the questionnaire was delivered to the ten (10) respondents at
two points in time. The scores were correlated. Table 3.3 shows the reliability
analysis of the research instrument.
Table 3.3 The reliability analysis
Respondents X Y RX RY d (RX – RY) d2
A 65 66 8 5 3 9
B 72 69 1 3 -2 4
C 56 59 9 9 0 0
D 67 64 6 7 -1 1
E 72 68 1 4 -3 9
F 66 63 7 8 -1 1
G 70 73 4 1 3 9
H 69 66 5 5 0 0
I 72 70 1 2 -1 1
J 55 58 10 10 0 0
34
Source: The responses of the number of respondents that strongly agreed or
agreed is got from the questionnaires administered.
Rs =
cxliii
Rs =
Rs =
Rs =
Rs = 0.79394
From the above table, the Spearman‟s rank correlation coefficient is 0.79394. This
indicates a strong positive correlation. Therefore, the research instrument is very
reliable.
3.9 METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS
Appropriate statistical tools like tables, percentages, pie chart, bar charts were
used to analyze the data generated. Hypotheses 1, 3, and 5 were tested using Z-
test, while Hypothesis 2 was tested using linear programming with the aid of
SPSS Computer programme. Hypothesis 4 was tested using Z- test of population
prorpotion.
cxliv
REFERENCES
Ikeagwu, E.K. (1998), Ground Work of Research Methods and Procedures,
Enugu: Institute of Development Studies, Unec.
Kinnear, T.C., and Taylor, J.R (1983) Market Research: Boston: Mc Graw-Hill
Co.
Unyimadu, S.O.(2003), Principles of Research Methods, Benin City: Harmony
Publishers.
Yamane, T. (1964), Statistics: An Introductory Analysis, New York: Harper and
Row Publishing.
cxlv
CHAPTER FOUR
4.1 DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION AND
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
In the previous chapter, the research methodology was handled indicating that the
research design was a combination of a survey, oral interview and model
modification. In this Chapter, the data presentation, analysis and model solution
are to be handled. Data is a representation of facts, observations and occurrences.
It is also the input of the statistical and data processing systems. Obrien (2000:35).
Table 4.1 Sex of the respondents
Donor agency-assisted projects
Sex
Male Female Total
HIV/AIDS Project with NACA (World Bank) 169 57 226
United Nations Industrial Development
Organisation – UNIDO (United Nations)
62 24 86
Aids Relief Foundation (United States of America) 47 11 58
Total 278(75.1
%)
92 (24.9%) 370
Source: Field study (Year 2010 )
From Table 4.1 278 out of the 370 are males, while 92 are women. This implies
that there are more males than females in the donor agency-assited projects.
Table 4.2 Lenght of service of respondents
Length of service Frequencies Percentages
1-5 years 65 18
6-10 years 120 32
11-15 years 114 31
16 years and above 71 19
Total 370 100
Source: Field survey (2010)
cxlvi
Table 4.2 shows that 65 (18%) served 1-5 years, 120 (32%) served 6-10 yrs, 114
(31%) served 11-15yrs, while 71 (19%) served 16 years and above. This implies
that majority of the respondents have served for 6-10 years.
Table 4.3: Educational Qualification
Educational Qualification Frequency (F ) Percentages
WASC, SSCE, NECO, GCE 93 25.1%
Diploma 19 5.1%
HND, B.Sc, PGD 186 50.3%
MSC, MBA, MA 67 18.10%
Ph.D 5 1.6%
Total 370 100
Table 4.3 Data on the educational qualification of the respondents.
Source: Field Survey( Year 2010).
From figure 4,3, it is shown that the highest frequencies in educational
qualification were HND, SSCEs, M.Sc-MBA-MAs, Diploma and Ph.D. they have
the frequencies of 186, 93, 67, 19, and 5 respectively in descending order of
magnitude.
Analysis of the data related to the five objectives
Table 4.6 shows the analysis of the responses on the challenge of TQM to
improve the performance of donor agency-assisted projects.
cxlvii
Table 4.4 Data on the responses on the challenges of TQM to improve the
performance of donor agency-assisted projects.
Statement % Bureaucratic
Inertia
Lack of
teamwork
Middle
managers
reluctance to
change
behavior.
Lack of
institution
wide
definition
of quality
Quick –
fix
approach
Total
What are
challenges of
TQM to
improve the
performance
of donor
agency-
assisted
projects in the
area under
study.
200 153 10 4 3 370
%
54.05
41.35
2.70
1.08
0.81
100
Source: The frequencies are got from the questionnaire administered (Year 2010
Field Work).
From table 4.4, it is shown that bureaucratic inertia constituted the highest
challenge to the application of TQM in donor agency assisted projects in Nigeria.
The challenges identified were Bureaucratic inertia, Lack of team work, middle
managers‟ reluctance to change behavior, lack of institution wide definition of
quality and quick fix approach. They have frequencies of 200,153, 10, 4, and 3 out
of 370 respectively. These give percentages of 54.05, 41.35, 2.70, 1.08 and 0.81
respectively.
Table 4.5 below shows the analysis of the responses on the impact of TQM on
improving the performance of donor agency-assisted projects in the areas under
study.
cxlviii
Table 4.5: The responses on whether TQM had significant impact to improve
the performance of donor agency-assisted projects in the areas under study
Statement SA A U D SD Total
TQM has significant
impact on the performance
of donor agency-assisted
projects?
Frequency 265 87 10 4 4 370
Percentage 71.62 23.51 2.70 1.08 1.08 100
NB: 99.99% is rounded up to 100%
Source: The frequencies are got from the questionnaire distributed. (Year
2010 Field Work).
From table 4.5 it is shown that the question on whether TQM had significant
impact on improving the performance of donor agency-assisted projects in the
area under study, the responses were Strongly Agree, Agree, Undecided,
Disagree, and Strongly Disagree. They have frequencies of 265, 87, 10, 4, and 4
out of 370. These give percentages of 71.62, 23.51, 2.70, 1.08 and 1.08
respectively.
Table 4.6: The responses on the major solution to the weak application of
TQM in the donor agency-assisted projects in the area studied in order to
move it to the next level.
Statement Management
development
Building
a
conducive
company
culture
Creation
of
awareness
Quantification
of tangible
benefits
Establishing
a guiding
framework
Total
To ascertain the
major solution to
the weak
application of
TQM in donor
agency-assisted
project in order
to move it to the
next level.
Responses 263 87 10 6 4 370
Frequencies 71.08 23.51 2.70 1.62 1.08 100%
NB: 99.99% is rounded up to 100%
Source: The frequencies are got from the questionnaire administered (Year
2010 Field Work).
cxlix
From table 4.6, it is shown that on the statement to ascertain the major solution to
the weak application of TQM in donor agency-assisted project, the responses were
Management development, building a conducive company culture, creation of
awareness, quantification of tangible benefits, and establishing a guiding
framework. These yielded frequencies of 263, 87, 10, 6, 4, with relative
frequencies of 71.08, 23.51, 3.70, 1.62 and 1.08 respectively.
Table 4.7 shows the analysis of the responses to the assessment of the dominant
approach to the application of TQM in the donor agency-assisted projects in the
area studied.
Table 4.7: The analysis of the responses to the assessment of the dominant
approach to the application of TQM.
S/N Approaches Frequency Percentage
1. Company Wide approach 141 38.11
2. Guru approach 18 4.86
3. The Japanese approach 113 30.54
4. The prize criterion approach 88 23.78
5. The project based approach 10 2.70
370 99.99
NB: 99.99% is rounded up to 100.
Source: From questionnaire administered (Year 2010 Field Work)
From table 4.7, it is shown from the responses that the company wide approach is
the modal model with the frequency of 141 and percentage 0f 38.11%. This is
followed by the Japanese Approach with frequency of 133 and percentage of
30.54%. The prize criterion approach has frequency of 88 and percentage is
23.78%. the Guru approach has frequency of 18 and 4.86% while the project
based got 10 frequencies and2.70%.
cl
Table 4.8: Shows the responses of the prospects of full implementation of
TQM in donor agency-assisted projects.
S/N Responses Frequency Percentage
1. Very Good 263 71.08
2. Good 87 23.51
3. Undecided 09 2.43
4. Bad 07 1.87
5 Very bad 04 1.08
Source: The frequencies are got from the questionnaire administered. (Year
2010 Field Work)
From Table 4.8, it is shown that the responses are very good, good, undecided,
bad and very bad. They have frequencies of 263, 87, 09, 07 and 04, out of 370
respectively. These give percentages of 71.08, 23.51, 2.43, 1.87 and 1.08
respectively.
ANALYSIS USING RELATIVE FREQUENCIES
Table 4.9 shows the analysis of the responses on the dimensions of TQM to
improve the performance of the donor agency-assisted projects in the area studied.
Table 4.9: The analysis of the responses on the dimensions of TQM to
improve the performance of donor agency-assisted projects in
the areas studied.
S/N Dimensions Frequency Relative frequency
1. Challenges 186 0.503
2. Prospects 184 0.497
Total 370 100
Source: The frequencies are got from the questionnaire administered (Year
2010 Field Work)
From Table 4.9, it is shown that the dimensions are challenges and prospects.
They have frequencies of 186 and 184 out of 370 respectively. They give relative
frequencies of 0.503 and 0.497 respectively.
cli
Table 4.10 shows the analysis of some LIKERT Scale responses on the effect of
TQM on the performance of donor agency-assisted projects in the area under
study.
Table 4.10: The analysis of some Likert scale responses on the effect of TQM
on the performance of donor agency assisted projects in the area under study
S/N Statements SA A U D SD
1. Bureaucratic inertia constitutes the major
challenge of TQM in the execution of the
donor agency-assisted projects under
study.
Frequency
Relative
frequency
40
0.108
301
0.814
11
0.300
9
0.27
9
0.24
2. TQM has positive impact on the
performance of donor agency-assisted
projects
Frequency
Relative
frequency
150
0.405
89
0.420
38
0.102
49
0.132
44
0.118
3. Management development is the major
solution to the weak application of TQM
in donor agency-assisted projects under
study.
Frequency
Relative
frequency
43
0.116
39
0.105
27
0.729
173
0.467
88
0.378
4. The company wide model is the
dominant approach to the application of
TQM in donor agency-assisted projects
under study.
Frequency
Relative
frequency
300
0.810
50
0.135
7
0.19
7
0.19
6
0.16
5. Full implementation of TQM holds very
high prospects to improve the
performance of donor agency-assisted
projects under study.
Frequency
Relative
frequency
301
0.814
59
0.159
3
0.81
3
0.81
4
0.10
Source: The frequencies are got from the questionnaire administered (Year
2010 Field Work)
Table 4.10 shows the responses of the respondents to the Likert statements in
absolute numbers (frequencies) and relative frequencies. For the statement on
what were the challenges to the application of TQM to improve the performance
of donor agency-assisted projects, the responses are bureaucratic inertia, lack of
team work, middle managers reluctance to change behaviors, lack of institution
wide definition of quality and quick fix approach as the challenges. They have
frequencies of 301, 40, 11, 9 and 9 out of 370. These give percentages of 0.814,
0.108, 0.0300, 0.27 and 0.27. For the statement that TQM has positive impact on
clii
the performance of donor agency-assisted projects, they have frequencies 150, 89,
38, 49, and 44. These give percentages 0.405, 0.420, 0.102, 0.132, 0.118. For the
statement on what was the major solution to the weak application of TQM in the
performance of donor agency assisted projects, the responses were management
development, building a conducive company culture, creation of awareness,
quantification of tangible benefits and establishing a guiding framework. They
have frequencies of 263, 87, 10, 6, and 4 with relative frequencies 0.71, 23.51,
105, 0.729, 0.467, and 0.378. For the statement that on the various approaches of
the application of TQM in the donor agency- assisted projects, they have
frequencies 300, 50, 7, 7, 6.
For the statement to evaluate the prospects of the full implementation of TQM in
the donor agency-assisted projects, they have frequencies of 301, 59, 3, 3, and 4.
The 370 respondents were asked whether there were challenges of TQM to
improve the performance of donor agency-assisted projects in the area under
study. They listed bureaucratic inertia, lack of awareness, unconducive company
culture, middle managers reluctance, difficulty in quantifying tangible benefits.
They were asked if TQM had impact to improve the performance of donor
agency-assisted projects. Most of them either strongly agreed or agreed with the
question.
The 370 respondents were asked the major solution to the weak application of
TQM to the donor agency-assisted projects in the area under study with a view to
identifying the dominant model. They listed management development as the
major solution.. They were asked what were the prospects of the full application
of TQM to improve the performance of donor agency-assisted projects in the area
under study. Most of them said that it held very high prospects.
4.2 TESTING OF THE FIVE HYPOTHESES
Five hypotheses were formulated in the alternate that:
1. Bureaucratic inertia constitutes the major challenge of TQM in the
execution of the donor agency-assisted projects in the area under study.
cliii
2. TQM has positive impact on improving the performance of donor agency-
assisted projects.
3. Management development is the major solution to the weak application of
TQM in donor agency-assisted projects under study.
4. The company wide model is the dominant approach in the application of
TQM to improve the performance of donor agency-assisted projects under
study.
5. Full implementation of TQM holds very high prospects to improve the
performance of donor agency-assisted projects under study.
The corresponding null hypotheses are that:
1. Bureaucratic inertia is not the major challenge of TQM in the execution of
donor agency-assisted projects under study.
2. TQM does not have positive impact on improving the performance of
donor agency assisted projects.
3. Management development is not the major solution to the weak application
of TQM to improve the performance of donor agency-assisted projects
under study.
4. The company wide model is not the dominant approach in the application
of TQM in donor agency-assisted projects under study.
5. Full implementation of TQM does not hold very high prospects to improve
the performance of the donor agency-assisted projects under study.
The statistical tools used in testing hypotheses 1, 3,4,5, are Z-test, while linear
regression (SPSS) was used to test Hypothesis 2.
cliv
Table 4.11 shows the computation details of the five hypotheses.
4.2.1 COMPUTATIONAL DETAILS OF THE FIRST HYPOTHESIS
RESPONSE SCORES FREQUENCY
(X) (F) FX F(X- X)2
SA 5 153 765 153 (0.66)2 = 66.6468
A 4 200 800 200(0.34)2 = 23.1200
U 3 10 30 10(1.34)2 = 17.9560
D 2 4 8 4(2.34)2 = 21.9024
SD 1 3 3 3(3.34)2 = 33.4668
Total 370 1606 163.3093
µ = (population mean) = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5
5
= 3.00
Sample mean X = ∑FX
∑F
= 1565 = 4.34
370
Sample variance S2 = ∑F(X-X)2
n -1
= 163.3092 = 0.441983739
369
Standard deviation SD = 0.441783739
S = 0.664818576
Formulating null and alternate hypotheses
Ho: µ ≤ 3.00( respondents agreed with the claim)
H1: µ > 3.00 (respondents disagreed with the claim)
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DECISION RULE: if the calculated value of t is greater than the critical value of
t (table value) then there is a significant difference between the two means. The
null hypothesis (Ho) is rejected and the alternate hypothesis (H1) is accepted
Calculation
tn-1 = X - µ = 4.34 – 3
s/n
= ( 370 ) (1.34)
0.664818576
t = 38.771
t370 (0.05) = 1.633
While t-calculated = 38.771
CONCLUSION
Since the calculated t-value is 38.771 while the table value is 1.645 at 370 degree
of freedom and 0.05 level of significance, showing that the t-calculated is more
than the table value of t, we reject the null hypothesis Ho, and accept the alternate
H1, with the conclusion that bureaucratic inertia constitutes the major challenge of
TQM in the execution of donor agency-assisted projects in the area studied.
INTERPRETATION OF RESULT
Bureaucratic inertia is the major challenge to the application of TQM in donor
agency-assisted projects in Nigeria.
4.2.2 TEST OF HYPOTHESIS TWO
To test this hypothesis, we restate it in null and alternate forms as follows:
Ho: There is no significant positive impact of TQM on the performance of
the donor agency-assisted projects in the area studied
HA: There is a significant positive impact of TQM on the performance of
the donor agency-assisted projects in the area studied
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Regression
Descriptive Statistics
Mean
Std.
Deviation N
what is the impact of TQM on the performance of donor
agency-assisted projects 4.6351 .69404 370
what is the extent of the impact of TQM on the
performance of donor agency-assisted project? 4.4189 .98232 370
Correlations
what is the impact of
TQM on the
performance of donor
agency-assisted
projects
what is the extent
of the impact of
TQM on the
performance of
donor agency-
assisted project?
Pearson
Correlation
what is the impact of
TQM on the
performance of donor
agency-assisted
projects
1.000 .869
what is the extent of the
impact of TQM on the
performance of donor
agency-assisted
project?
.869 1.000
Sig. (1-tailed) what is the impact of
TQM on the
performance of donor
agency-assisted
projects
. .000
what is the extent of the
impact of TQM on the
performance of donor
agency-assisted
project?
.000 .
N what is the impact of
TQM on the
performance of donor
agency-assisted
projects
370 370
what is the extent of the
impact of TQM on the
performance of donor
agency-assisted
project?
370 370
clvii
Model Summary(b)
Mod
el R
R
Square
Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of the
Estimate
Durbin-
Watson
1 .869(a) .755 .754 .34419 .126
a Predictors: (Constant), what is the extent of the impact of TQM on the
performance of donor agency-assisted project?
b Dependent Variable: what is the impact of TQM on the performance of donor
agency-assisted projects
ANOVA(b)
Mod
el
Sum of
Squares Df
Mean
Square F Sig.
1 Regression 134.148 1 134.148 1132.394 .000(a)
Residual 43.595 368 .118
Total 177.743 369
a Predictors: (Constant), what is the extent of the impact of TQM on the
performance of donor agency-assisted project?
b Dependent Variable: what is the impact of TQM on the performance of donor
agency-assisted projects.
Coefficients(a)
Mod
el
Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients t
Sig
.
B
Std.
Error Beta
1 (Constant) 1.923 .083 23.289
.00
0
what is the extent of
the impact of TQM
on the performance of
donor agency-assisted
project?
.614 .018 .869 33.651 .00
0
a Dependent Variable: what is the impact of TQM on the performance of donor
agency-assisted projects
Performance = 1.923 + 0.614Impact
(t = 33.651)
Where, Performance = Performance of Donor Agency-Assisted Project
Impact = Impact of TQM on performance
clviii
R = 0.869
R2 = 0.755
Ř2 = 0.754
F = 1132.394
D.W = 0.126
From the above model, Performance is influenced by the summation of the
constant 1.923 with the product of 0.614 and Impact. With a regression sum of
squares (134.148) that is greater than the residual sums of squares (43.595), most
of the variation in Performance is explained by the model. Furthermore, the
significance value of the F statistic (0.00), which is less than 0.05, indicates that
the variation explained by the model is not due to chance.
Though the ANOVA table is a useful test of the model's ability to explain any
variation in the dependent variable, it does not directly address the strength of that
relationship. The model summary table reports the strength of the relationship
between the model and the dependent variable.
R, the linear correlation coefficient, is the linear correlation between the observed
and model-predicted values of the dependent variable. The regression coefficient
of 0.869 indicates a strong, positive relationship between Performance and Impact.
The R Square value (0.755), which is the coefficient of determination, shows that
75.5% of the variation in Performance is explained by the model.
The Durbin-Watson statistic tests the null hypothesis that the residuals from an
ordinary least-squares regression are not auto correlated against the alternative that
the residuals follow an AR1 process. The Durbin-Watson statistic of 0.129 which
does not tend to 2 indicates there is an autocorrelation.
Therefore from the above results, the null hypothesis should be rejected, and the
alternate accepted accordingly. Hence, there is a significant positive impact of
TQM on the performance of the donor agency-assisted projects in the area
studied.
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4.2.3 TEST OF HYPOTHESIS THREE
RESPONSE SCORES FREQUENCY
(X) (F) FX F(X- X)2
SA 5 263 1315 263(0.39)2 = 40.0023
A 4 87 348 87(0.61)2 = 32.3727
U 3 10 30 10 (1.61)2 = 25.9210
D 2 6 12 6 (2.61)2 = 40.8726
SD 1 4 4 4 (3.61)2 = 52.1284
370 1709 191.297
Sample mean X = ∑FX
∑F
= 1709 = 4.61
370
µ = (population mean) = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5
5
= 3.00
Sample variance S2 = ∑F(X-X)2
n -1
= 191.297 = 0.5184200542
369
Sample Standard Deviation = 0.7200139264
tn-1 = X - µ = 4.61 – 3
s/n
= 1.61
= (370 ) (1.61)
0.7200139264
= 43.01162409
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4.6.4 TEST OF HYPOTHESIS FOUR
t = x –po
n__________
(po) (1-po)
N
t = 0.3811 - 0.5
(0.5) (0.5)
370
t = (370) (-0.1189)
t = (19.23538406) (-0.1189)
0.5
t = - 4.57417433
t2 = 4.574 to 3 decimal places
Decision Rule: Since t calculated 4.574 is greater than table value of 1.960, we
reject Ho and accept H1.
4.2.5 TEST OF HYPOTHESIS FIVE
t = 263 - 0.5
370
(0.5 ) (0.5 )
370
= ( 370 ) (0.7108- 0.5)
0.5
= (19.23538406) (0.2108)
0.5
t = 8.10963792
t = 8.110 to 3 decimal places.
clxi
Conclusion
Since the calculated t-value is 8.110while the table value is 1.645 at 370 degree of
freedom and 0.05 level of significance, showing that the t-calculated is more than
the table value of t, we reject the null hypothesis Ho, and accept the alternate H1,
with the conclusion that Full implementation of TQM holds very high prospects
for donor agency-assisted projects in the area under study.
Interpretation of Result
Full implementation of TQM holds high prospects for donor agency-assisted
projects.
Table 4.12: Summary of the computation details of the test of the six
hypotheses
Hypothesis
No.
Statistical test Calculated
values
Table value Decision
rule
1 Z- test Z = 38.771 1.645 Reject Ho.
2. Linear regression
(SPSS)
fc
=1132.394(df1=1,
df2=368),
r = 0.869,
r2=0.755,
ft=3.8415
Reject Ho.
3. Z-test 43.012 1.645 Reject Ho.
4. Z-test of
population
proportion
4.574 1.960 Reject Ho.
5. Z-test 8.110 1.645 Reject Ho.
Source: Results of the computations of the test of the five hypotheses.
In the five hypotheses, all the null hypotheses were rejected in each case and
the alternate hypotheses stated before were accepted in each case.
4.3 MODEL SOLUTION
Table 4.13 shows the analysis of the dichotomous responses for generating the
primary data for the model solution.
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Table 4.13: The analysis of the dichotomous responses for generating the
primary data for the model solution
S/N Questions Yes in
numbers
% No in
numbers
% Total in
numbers
Total
in %
1. Are men inputs of the
model?
370 100 0 0 370 100
2. Are materials input of
the model?
369 99.73 1 1.27 370 100
3. Is money an input of
the model?
370 100 0 0 370 100
4. Is energy an input of
the model?
363 98.11 7 1.89 370 100
5. Is time an input of the
model?
360 97.30 10 2.7 370 100
6. Is knowledge an input
of the model?
358 96.76 12 3.2 370 100
7. Is improvement in the
performance of donor
agency-assisted
projects in the area
studied an output of
the model?
370 100 0 0 370 100
8. Are control and feed
back elements of the
model?
370 100 0 0 370 100
Source: from the oral interview schedules administered during the field
work. (Year 2010)
Table 4.13 shows that when asked whether men were inputs of the model, all the
respondents making 100% of them said yes, when asked whether materials were
inputs of the model, 369 out of 370 of them said yes, making 99.73% of them,
while 1 of them making 0.27% said no. when asked whether money was an input
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of the model, all of them making 100% said yes. When asked whether energy was
an input of the model, 363 of them said yes, making 98.11%, while 7 of them said
no, making 1.89%. When asked whether time is an input of the model, 360 of
them said yes, making 97.3% while 10 of them said no, making 2.7%. When
asked whether knowledge was an input of the model, 358 making 96.76% said
yes, while 12, making 3.2% said no. When asked whether improvement in the
performance of the staff of the donor agency-assisted projects was an input of the
model, all of them agreed, making up 100% response. Finally, when asked if
control and feedback are elements of the model, all of them said yes also being
100%.
4.4 DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS ON THE MAJOR CHALLENGE
IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TQM TO IMPROVE THE
PERFORMANCE OF DONOR AGENCY-ASSISTED PROJECTS IN
THE AREA STUDIED.
The finding is that most of the respondents 200, (54%) strongly averred that
bureaucratic inertia constituted the major challenge of the implementation of
TQM in the execution of the donor agency-assisted projects under study. Porter
(2001:243) explaines that a challenge is a difficult task that requires the effort of
the managers and staff of an organization. This finding that TQM has challenges
is also in agreement with the contention of Demings (1986:100) that TQM is a
very challenging process. This is because quality is a journey and not a
destination. It therefore calls for excellence.
Closely following that is that lacks of team work among project operators also
constitute a big challenge to implementation of TQM in Nigeria. As high as 153
respondents, representing 41.35% attested to this. There is lack of team work from
the various stakeholders. The solution to effective work process is through team
work. Longenecker and Neubert (2000), assert that when front-line managers
don‟t work together, it can translate into failure to gain a sorely needed
competitive edge.Team work ensures that everyone understands each other‟s
needs. Team alignment is one of the specific exercises which donor agencies -
assisted Projects can follow to streamline work processes.
clxiv
Meeting and exceeding the expectations of both the internal and external
customers of the business so that they will not come back to complain forms part
of these challenges. If they come back to complain, the cost of re-work will be
prohibitive, especially when the projects executed by these donor agency-assisted
projects range from simple or soft services to complex and complicated gigantic
projects like dams, bridges, roads and some turn-key projects. No wonder Banjoko
(1989:150) observes that there are such cost of quality like training cost, appraisal
cost, internal failure and external failure cost, cost of re-work and cost of lost
customers. The cost of quality is a substantial part of the total cost of production
and this could push up the price in a typical profit oriented business.
Also, Juran (1989:10) has observed that the TQM process is very challenging.
This is because it requires that all the people in the organization imbibe the
philosophy of quality. TQM implies total quality improvement and continuous
quality improvement by all workers in all the activities and functions of the donor
agency-assisted projects. One of the challenges of TQM is the need to improve the
organizational performance. Performance is also very challenging because it is
multi-faceted. Such performance factors include profitability, productivity,
efficiency, effectiveness, gearing liquidity, employee moral and even the
contribution of the sector to the gross domestic product (GDP).
Unless the managers and workers of the donor agency-assisted projects are able to
cope with these challenges, they could become threats that will eat into the
weaknesses of the projects. However, if the staff is able to cope with the
challenges, some of the challenges will become opportunities that would lead to
positive synergy. This will now make for good and very good prospects for the
donor agency-assisted projects. It was found out that if challenges are properly
coped with, then the prospects of TQM in enhancing the performance of donor
agency-assisted projects in the area studied will be very good. Challenges are
barriers that would make a manager or worker not to do his or her work well.
Ability to cope with challenges would make for TQM as a competitive advantage
that might be beneficial in the pursuit of growth, market share and profitability.
As Longnecker and Mitchell (2001) has said that when barriers are properly
clxv
handled they now lead to good prospects, management cooperation and team
work.
4.5 DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS ON THE OBJECTIVE THAT TQM
HAS POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF DONOR
AGENCY ASSISTED PROJECTS
It was found that TQM had positive impact on the performance of donor agency-
assisted projects, as 352 out of the 370 agreed and strongly agreed when asked.
This represents 95.14% of the entire respondents of the donor agency assisted
project studied. Total quality management is a company wide approach to
continuous quality improvement in all the activities and functions of the
organization. If total quality management is properly implemented, it will be
achieved at the levels of quality of design, quality of the process and quality of
performance. This finding is in agreement with the contention of Deming (2008)
that the company wide process of continuous quality improvement would make
for process capability and the use of such quality technology like use of quality
circles, team work, use of check sheets, use of pareto diagrams, use of quality
control charts and a lot of emphasis on quality that would make for an
improvement in the ability of the donor agency-assisted projects to achieve their
objectives
This positive effect of TQM has made for quality revolution. Quality has come a
long way to become an attribute that would become a determinant of
organizational success. The survival and growth of most organizations is now
contingent on the ability to produce good quality of products and services. Quality
has now become a business enabler and quality has become a strategic option that
makes for distinctive competence. Most practitioners now believe that if an
organization does not produce good quality products and services, it will become
difficult for it to survive. Quality has now become one of the issues that stimulate
demand for products and services.
Apart from improvement in the performance of the goods, works and services
provided by this donor agency - assisted projects, they benefit a lot by applying
clxvi
TQM philosophy. Such benefits include positive change in the behavior of not
only middle managers but the entire workforce, improvement in innovation and
technology; doing it right the first time, increase in customers (clients or
communities) satisfaction etc, etc. Based on these facts, the study confirms that
TQM is a veritable management tool that revolutionizes and enhances the
performance of those projects that are applying it.
4.6 DISCUSSION OF THE FINDING ON THE MAJOR SOLUTION TO
THE WEAK APPLICATION OF TQM IN THE DONOR AGENCY-
ASSISTED PROJECTS IN THE AREA UNDER STUDY
The possible solutions to the weak application of TQM in donor agency assisted
projects in the area studied included management development, building a
conducive company culture, creating awareness, quantifying of tangible benefits,
establishing guiding framework in descending order of magnitude.
It was found that the major solution to the weak application of TQM in donor
agency-assisted projects studied was management development. 350 respondents,
representing 95% of the entire 370 respondents agreed and strongly agreed to this
fact. In training, the managers and entire staff will be able to acquire skills that
will enable them to adopt TQM concepts in their daily operations. Nwachukwu
(1988) states that development will assist managers and staff to understand the
steps necessary for TQM implementation so as to move it to a higher level.
According to Dessler (2005:150-154) training refers to the methods used to give
new or present employees the skills they need to perform their job. Training focus
is broader today than it was several years ago, when training used to be focused on
teaching and technical skills alone.
Dessler further asserts that training and development programs can be visualized
as consisting of five steps as summarized as:
i. Needs analysis:
ii. Instructional design
iii. Validation
iv. Implementation
v. Evaluation.
clxvii
Here, needs analysis includes: Identifying specific skills needed to improve
performance and productivity, ensuring that the program will be suited to trainees,
specific levels of education and experience. In other words, it ensures that there
are complete set of training objectives. Instructional design is having a complete
training objectives, methods, media, descriptions and sequence of content,
examples and exercises.
Validation ensures introduction and validation of the training before a
representative audience. Also, it ensures that final revisions are based on pilot
results to ensure program effectiveness. Implementation ensures that when
applicable, train the trainer workshops that focus on presentation, them implement
the training programme and finally, evaluation ensures that the trainees reactions,
learning behavior and results are reviewed.
Organization is a composite of individuals with variant motivations, experiences
and values. These natural individual differences tend to direct behavior in
numerous often divergent directions. This underscores the importance of training
and development, if there must be synergy. On the other hand, the aim of any
organization is to direct behavior towards the accomplishment of strategic
missions and goals and at the same time present itself to its stakeholders as a body
where members have shared values and common interest. It becomes necessary to
create an environment that can reduce variability among the individuals and
enhance desired behaviors. This also agrees with the United State‟s Department of
Labour that Culture plays the role by providing shared interpretations that guide
employee behavior in organization (1993). Culture is the personality of an
organization. Some aspects of it are visible and tangible. For example
assumptions, values, norms and artifacts. You can tell the culture of an
organization by looking at the arrangement of furniture, what they brag about,
how the members dress, institutional structures, jargons and title, nomenclature
etc. Mc Namara (1997). Others are intangible and unconscious for example basic
assumptions that guide an organization are deeply rooted and often taken for
granted such as avoidance of conflict.
clxviii
On alignment of culture and strategy, John Gardener quoted by Covey (2004)
states that most ailing organizations have developed a functional blindness to their
own defects. They are not suffering because they cannot resolve their problems
but because they cannot see their problems.
4.7 DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS ON THE OBJECTIVE OF THE
DOMINANT APPROACH TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TQM
IN DONOR AGENCY ASSISTED PROJECTS.
It was found that the approaches included Company Wide approach (38.11%),
Japanese approach (30.54%), Prize criterion approach, (30.548%), Guru approach
(4.86%) and Project based approach (2.70%) in their descending order of
magnitude, with frequencies of 141, 113, 88, 18 and 10 respectively. This finding
is in line with the contention of Adam Smith in his wealth of nations (1960) where
he observed that division of labor was important for organizational performance.
This finding is also in line with the findings of Pugh where specialization became
one of the important structural dependent variables along with centralization,
formalization and configuration.
TQM has turned out to be a very important approach to management. It is now
more than a fad. It is now ranked as high as such other approaches like business
process management, which also derived its root from TQM. According to Kubr
(2002:14), business process management that has derived from TQM is a process
where the way the process elements such as machines, methods and maintenance
become very critical in organizational performance. Those also are components of
the company wide approach. The machines have an advantage that even though
they are inert equipment, they have good mechanical advantage and good ratio.
Work measurement has benefited from method study; method study is an acronym
of work measurement. Maintenance is all about the reliability of the production
system
The company wide approach has been a method that has ushered in the Japanese
miracle. Despite the fact that Japan does not have many natural resources, this
Asian country depends on import of raw materials and export of manufactured
clxix
goods to support its economy. The Company wide, which is based on use of
quality circles, team work, life employment, participative management, use of
TQM concept, minimization of quality cost, use of alloys to minimize material
cost, etc has come a long way. Juran (1989).
Therefore, among the various approaches to the implementation of TQM in donor
agency projects, the company wide approach, followed by the Japanese approach
are the ones commonly used by the donor agency - assisted projects than others. It
may be that these approaches are long standing and the steps less cumbersome
than the other approaches. Gryna (2001:18) states that the company wide
approach provides the facts that are essential to stimulate upper management to
take action on quality. This factual information not only inspires immediate action
on quality but also provides a solid bases for developing long – range strategies
for quality. Assessment of quality comprises four elements (a) Cost of poor
quality (b) Standing in the market place (c) Quality culture in the organization,
and (d) Operation of the company quality system.
These elements constitute an analysis of the project‟s quality status in terms of
SWOT and become a formal part of the SWOT analysis for overall operations of
the project. The company wide approach guarantees that an annual and biannual
assessment is usually warranteed. The SWOT analysis can be conducted for the
entire organization or for a division, a plant or even the various departments.
4.8 DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS ON WHAT ARE THE PROSPECTS OF
THE FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF TQM TO IMPROVE THE
PERFORMANCE OF DONOR AGENCY-ASSISTED PROJECTS
It was found out that if challenges are properly coped with, then the prospects of
TQM in enhancing the performance of donor agency-assisted projects in the area
studied will be very good. 283 (76.49%) of the 370 respondents strongly agree
that if the challenges are well coped with, TQM in donor agency-assisted projects
lead to good prospect. Challenges are barriers that would make a manager or
worker not to do his or her work well. Ability to cope with challenges would make
for TQM as a competitive advantage that might be beneficial in the pursuit of
clxx
growth, market share and profitability. As Longnecker and Mitchell (2002) has
said that when barriers are properly handled they now lead to good prospects,
management cooperation and team work.
4.9 MODIFICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A SYSTEM
CYBERNETIC MODEL OF THE TRANSFORM OF THE PROCESS
OF TQM LEADS TO IMPROVED PERFORMANCE OF THE
DONOR AGENCY-ASSISTED PROJECTS
It was found that the inputs of the model were staff of the donor agency-assisted
projects, materials, money, time, energy and knowledge. It was also found that the
transform was the TQM process. The outputs were an improvement in the
performance of the donor agency assisted projects. Moreover, the transform of the
total quality management process to move the input into output put the topic of
total quality management in donor agency-assisted project: challenges and
prospect in context. Also the finding that the respondents assessed the TQM
model as going on well meant that implementing TQM in donor agency-assisted
project was better than not implementing it.
The problems of lack of awareness can be solved by publicity. It is concerned
with sharing ideas, meaning or information to members of the public. It involves
giving information about the TQM process. The problem of poor implementation
can be solved by good strategy implementation. A strategy or a strategic plan is of
no effect if it is not properly implemented. The benefits of the strategic plan of the
new TQM process cannot be got unless it is properly implemented.
It was found that men, materials, money, time, energy and knowledge are the six
inputs of the model. By men is meant the totality of the human resources with
their skills, potentialities and competencies (O‟brien 2000) As the first input in the
model, it implies that the managers of the donor agency-assisted projects have to
perform all the human resource functions. These include recruitment, selection,
placement, orientation, induction, training and development, wage administration,
employee welfare management, safety management, and industrial relations
(Schuler, 1998).
clxxi
A material is anything- objects or tools which is stocked and considered important
in the production process. Materials include raw materials, inventory, semi-
finished goods, finished goods, parts, sub-assemblies etc. As materials are inputs
of the model, it has the implication that the managers of the donor agency-
assisted projects in Nigeria have to pay attention to materials management which
is considered as a confederacy of traditional management planning, acquisition,
conversion, flow, distribution of production materials.
Money is the totality of both fixed and working capitals. Money is anything that is
generally accepted as a legal tender for purchasing goods and services, paying
salaries to workers, running the expenses, paying dividends to shareholder, paying
debts.(Pandey 2007). Money has four functions namely a unit of accounts, a
medium of exchange, a standard of differed payments and a store of value. Time
is a non- renewable resource. It waits for no one. It has the capacity of seven days
a week, 24 hrs per day, 60 minutes per hour and 60 seconds per minute. Time,
when seen as a resource, implies that the managers of donor agency-assisted
projects in Nigeria have to use the techniques of efficient time management.
Energy is the totality of the amount of work that can be done. It is power times
time. If power is measured in watts, energy and work are measured in joules.
Energy is a very useful resource. Knowledge is the information, understanding
and skills that is gained through education, training and development, or
experience, Hornby (2006). The implication of knowledge being an input is that
managers of the donor agency-assisted projects have to pay attention on
knowledge management by encouraging education, training and development
experience. The finding that the TQM process is a transform of the model implies
that TQM process has steps for moving the inputs into the output of increase in
the performance of the donor agency-assisted projects.
The finding that feedback is an element of the model implies that information on
the functioning of the model is important. This implied that for proper functioning
of the model towards implementation the five parts; inputs, transform, output,
feedback and control were all important O‟brien, (2000:33).
clxxii
The finding that control is an element implies that after planning for TQM, there
is need to execute the plan, set standards, appraise and appreciate performance,
conduct variance analysis, separate variables into controllable and non
controllable variables and continue if the targets are being met and the expected
output has no negative deviation, and take corrective action if there are negative
deviations.
4.10 DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS RELATING TO THE THEORIES
The 370 respondents were asked whether there were challenges of TQM to
improve the performance of donor agency-assisted projects in the area under
study. They listed bureaucratic inertia, lack of awareness, unconducive company
culture, middle managers reluctance, and difficulty in quantifying tangible
benefits in descending order. The 370 respondents were asked the challenges that
are to be coped with in the application of TQM to improve the performance of
donor agency-assisted projects. As earlier stated, bureaucratic inertia, lack of
customer focus, middle managers reluctance to change behavior, lack of team
work, difficulty in quantifying benefits, quick-fix approach, unconducive
company culture, lack of an institution wide definition of quality, and lack of
continuous training in a descending order of magnitude. The 370 respondents
were asked what was the possible solution to the weak application of TQM to
improve the performance of donor agency-assisted projects. The majority of the
respondents said management development, building a conducive company
culture, creating awareness, quantification of tangible benefits and establishment
of a guiding framework in a descending order of magnitude. They were asked
what were the various approaches to the application of TQM to improve the
performance of donor agency-assisted projects in the area under study. The
responses were Company wide approach, (38.11%), Japanese approach (30.54%),
Prize criterion approach (23.78%), Guru approach (4.86%) and the project based
approach (2.70%) in a descending order of magnitude.
The entire respondents were asked the prospects of full implementation of TQM if
the challenges have been coped with by donor agency-assisted projects to improve
clxxiii
their performance. The responses were that most of the respondents (95%) said
that TQM holds high prospects in donor agency-assisted prospects.
4.10.1 There are two theories this study is related to. These are
1. The total Quality Management theory
Gilbert (1992:15) states that total quality Management is gaining grounds in many
organizations. The concept focuses on quality in every aspect of business
operations such as quality planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling,
quality in material and resource planning, quality in sales and marketing, quality
in manufacturing, quality in middle and top management decisions; quality in
virtually all decisions necessary in enhancing the growth, survival and
development of the organization.
The TQM theory stipulates that if the objective is to meet the expectations and
aspirations of both the internal and external customers, then certain ingredients are
necessary:
i. The organization must strive towards excellence in all its activities and
functions.
ii. Quality is a company wide concept or explanation of a phenomenon. This
means that there must be training and involvement of every member of the
organization from the head to the shop floor. Juran (2008).
The assumption of TQM theory is that there will be quality of design, quality of
production and quality of performance in all the products. Also, at all the stages of
the production process and at all the elements of the system, there must be
emphasis on good quality so that at the end of the day none of the customers will
come back to complain. The consequence is that if the project or organization
adopts the TQM principles, it will lead to the organization achieving all its
promises to the stakeholders.
2. The strategic contingency theory of performance.
The strategic contingency theory of performance is very relevant here. Its
assumption is that the survival and growth of an organization is contingent on its
ability to perform well. TQM as a strategic business enabler that emphasizes
clxxiv
excellence in all activities and functions at a company wide level have become a
veritable tool for achieving organizational performance.
clxxv
REFERENCES
Banjoko, S.A. (2008) Production and Operations Management. Lagos: Saban
Publishers.
Deming, W.E. (1986), Out of Crisis. New York: MIT Press.
Dessler, Gary. (2005), A framework for Human Resource Management. New
Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Drucker, P.F (2006), The Practice of Management. London: Pan Book PVT Ltd.
Frank, Gryna (2001) Quality planning and analysis. New York: Mc Graw Hill
Coys.
Gilbert, J (1998) How to eat an elephant: A slice by slice guide to Total Quality
Management. London: Tudor Business Publishing Limited.
Hornby, A.S.(2006) Advanced Learners Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Ikeagwu, E.K. (1998), Ground Work of Research Methods and Procedures,
Enugu: Institute of Development Studies, Unec.
Juran, J.M. (1989), Juran on leadership for Quality: an executive hand book,
New York: The Free Press (Macmillian)
Kubr, M (2002, Management Consulting. Geneva: International labor Office.
Koontz, B., O‟donnel C., and Weisrich, H. (1990). Management, London:
McGraw – Hill.
Longenecker,C.o, and Mitchel Neubert (2002) Management, Connecticut:
Mc Graw -hill.
Mc Namara, D. M. (1997) “Process Maturing Classes”, Annual Progress
Proceedings ASQ, Milwakee pp 891-pp7.
Mills, G.N., and Walker, J.A.,(2000) Technical Writing. New York: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston.
Nwachukwu, C.C.(1988) Management Theory and Practice,Onitsha: Africana
FEP Publishers Limited.
O‟ brien, J.A (2000). Computers in Business Management: An introduction. New
York : Holt, Rinehart and Winson.
Pandey, I.M.(2007) Financial Management. New Delhi: Vikas publishing house
PVT Ltd.
clxxvi
Porter, M. E., (2001) Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior
Performance. New York: The Free Press.
Schuler, R.S (1998) Managing Human Resources, Ohio: South Western College
Publishing.
Taha, H. (1990) Operations Research, New York: Macmillan.
Terry, G.R. (1997), „Principles of Management Synergism and participation”
Management analyst, Number 1.
Unyimadu S.O. (2007) An Introduction To Project Management And Feasibility
Study, Benin City: Harmony Books.
United State‟s Department of Labour (1993) High Performance Work Practice
and Work Performance: Washington D.C., US Government Printing
Office.
Yamane, T (1964), An introductory analysis, New York: Harper and
Row Publisher.
clxxvii
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.0 INTRODUCTION
This chapter summarizes major findings from this study in line with the objectives
set in chapter one. It also draws conclusions and makes recommendations based
on the findings.
5.1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
5.1.1 Research Objective One
To ascertain the major challenge of Total Quality Management to improve the
performance of donor- agency assisted projects in South East and Federal Capital
territory of Nigeria.
Summary of Findings
It was discovered that among other challenges such as, lack of awareness,
unconducive company culture, middle managers reluctance, difficulty in
quantifying tangible benefits, lack of team work, bureaucratic inertia constituted
the major challenge to the implementation of TQM in donor agency assisted
project that were studied. These challenges were barriers, which, if they are coped
with would make TQM a very good approach for improving the performance of
the donor agency-assisted projects in Nigeria. Bureaucratic inertia had been the
bane of poor management across both public and private organizations in Nigeria.
This finding also implies that even if TQM was properly formulated it could fail
in its implementation largely due to the apathy. It also implies that even when all
the stages of the strategies of TQM formulation has been done, its execution could
still be a barrier. There has now been a popular management adage that the failure
of TQM in particular and all other strategies in general is in the execution and not
in the formulation.
5.1.2 Research Objective Two
To determine the impact of TQM on the performance of the donor-agency assisted
projects in the area of study.
clxxviii
Summary of Findings
The study reveal that TQM has positive impact to improve the performance of
donor agency assisted- projects as most of the respondents strongly agreed imply
that TQM had a positive effect on their organizational performance. It spans all
the tiers of management and staff- top, middle and lower levels. Therefore it is
viewed as the management that revolutionizes all aspects of an enterprise;
marketing, personnel, administration, finance/ accounting and more so,
production/ engineering. It was therefore seen that the impact of TQM on
improving the performance of the donor agency-assisted projects was good. Also,
TQM as an emerging business phenomenon also implies that if managers of donor
agency-assisted projects were interested in improving the performance of these
long term investments financed with loans and credits from foreign donors, they
should strive to imbibe continuous quality improvement at a company wide level.
5.1.3 Research Objective Three
To ascertain the major solution to the weak application of TQM to the donor
agency-assisted projects in the area under study in order to move it to higher level.
Summary of Finding
It was discovered that the managers of the donor agency-assisted projects should
emphasize management development in relevant areas, especially management
sciences for skills acquisition and preparation of lower managers to hold future
positions. Training and development has emerged as a front-line independent
variable to achieve organizational performance using TQM or any other
management approach. If TQM must be moved to a higher levels in donor
agency-assisted projects, management development involving training of both the
management and their staff must be emphasized. Organizational culture, acquired
through management development has turned out to be a very important
independent variable to achieve the dependent variable of organizational
performance. it has also become important to achieve culture- strategy alignment.
clxxix
5.1.4 Research Objective Four
To ascertain the dominant approach of the application of TQM on the
performance of the donor agency-assisted projects with a view to identifying the
dominant model.
Summary of finding
The finding shows that the various approaches to the implementation of TQM in
donor agency-assisted projects were company wide approach, Japanese approach,
prize criterion approach, Guru approach and Project based approach. The
company wide approach is in line with the requirement for the implementation of
TQM. This is because it requires carrying every body in the project along, from
the least of the cleaners to even the top management.
5.1.5 Research Objective Five
To ascertain the prospects from full implementation of TQM to improve the
performance of donor agency-assisted projects in Nigeria.
Summary of major Findings
it was discovered that if the challenges were properly handled, the prospects of
using TQM to improve the performance of donor agency assisted projects in
Nigeria would be very good.
The bedrock of Total quality management is the combined behavior of the
individuals in the organization. Therefore, the work reveals that the change
process which TQM brings into the organization is also a change in the behavior
of these individuals. It also involves tools and techniques such as statistical
process control and problem solving, etc.
5.1.6 Management implication of the findings of the result
The various findings that there are challenges, and solutions to the problem of
weak application of TQM to improve the performance of donor agency-assisted
project in these organizations has a lot of management implications. Management
is explained by Kont‟z Odnel and Weirich (1990:1) as the provision and design of
an environment within a group or an organization so that the group or the
organization and the individuals within there can achieve their objective by
clxxx
utilizing both human and material resources. Drucker (2000:15) has observed that
management is the act of planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling.
Terry (1997:1) has written that management is executive leadership everywhere.
In this research work the explanation of management by Kont‟z et al (1990). It is
accepted because of the detailed dimensions of provision of an environment in a
group, organization, to use resources to achieve the objectives.
By environment is meant the factors that affect the manager and the workers when
they are doing their work in an organization like the donor agency-assisted
project. The model of an environment in terms of PEST is very handy. P-stands
for Political environment, E-stands for Economic environment, S-stands for Social
environment and T-stands for Technological environment. A group is a collection
of two or more people that know themselves and want to achieve a common
objective. If a group performs well it is called a team. A team will have such
positive attributes like cohesion, cooperation, productivity and leadership.
Objectives are short term aims at a point in an organization mission. The mission
is a purpose and the direction in which the organization is heading. When it is
done in the long term, it is called a goal.
Resources are inputs in the production process aimed at achieving objectives.
They are called the three Ms of management because they include the men or
human resources, materials, or stocks and money or capital. The outputs of the
production process are the objectives in terms of the ability to produce.
Management is the process for achieving the objectives. Performance is the ability
to achieve objective and total quality management is tool for achieving enhanced
organizational performance. The finding of the study in which total quality
management becomes a tool to be used to enhance the performance of the donor
agency-assisted project definitely has management reputation.
5.2 CONCLUSION
The findings that most of the respondents said that there were challenges to the
application of TQM to improve the performance of donor agency assisted projects
in the area studied implied that the challenges which were barriers, if properly
clxxxi
coped with would make TQM a very good approach for improving the
performance of donor agency-assisted projects in Nigeria. Bureaucratic inertia has
been the bane of poor management across both public and some private
organizations in Nigeria. This finding has also put the research finding in proper
perspective. This implies that even if TQM was properly formulated, it could fail
in its implementation largely due to the apathy. It also implies that even when all
the stages of strategies of TQM formulation has been done, its execution could
still be a barrier. There has now been a popular management adage that the failure
of TQM in particular and all other strategies in general is in the execution and not
in the formulation. So the implementation of the TQM strategy was now very
critical along with the choice of strategic alternatives, budgeting and going
forward. The ability to cope with the challenges holds very high prospects for the
donor agency-assisted projects in Nigeria.
The finding that TQM has positive impact to improve the performance of donor
agency-assisted projects as most of the respondents strongly agreed imply that
TQM had a positive effect on their organizational performance. TQM as an
emerging business phenomenon, also imply that if managers of the donor agency-
assisted projects were interested in improving the performance of these long term
investments financed with loans and credits from foreign donors, they should
strive at imbibing continuous quality improvement at a company wide level.
The finding that most of the respondents said that the solutions to the weak
application of TQM to improve the performance of donor agency-assisted projects
were Management development, building a conducive company culture, creation
of awareness, quantifying tangible benefits and establishing a guiding framework
in the descending order of magnitude implied that the solution that had the highest
hierarchy was Management development. Training and development has emerged
as a front-line independent variable to achieve organizational performance using
TQM or any other management approach. If TQM must be moved to higher levels
in donor agency-assisted projects, management development implied training of
both the managers and their staff in other to acquire new skills and prepare them
to hold future responsibilities. Organizational culture, acquired through
clxxxii
management development has turned out to be a very important independent
variable to achieve the dependent variable of organizational performance. It has
also become very important to achieve culture-strategy alignment.
The finding that various approaches to the implementation of TQM in donor
agency-assisted projects were company wide approach, Japanese approach, Prize
criteria approach, Guru approach and project based approach in descending order
of magnitude implied that the Company wide approach was at the top of the
hierarchy. The company wide approach and the Japanese approach are the most
preferred among the donor agency-assisted projects.
The finding that most of the respondents said that if the challenges were properly
handled, the prospects of using TQM to improve the performance of donor
agency-assisted projects in Nigeria would be good and very good. This implies
that challenges were now barriers and these barriers needed to be handled to make
for good prospects. They also needed to be handled to create gate ways to
management cooperation, team work and performance.
Lastly, the finding that most of the respondents said that modifying and
implementing a systems cybernetic model of the transform of the process of TQM
results to improved performance implies that these five element model was better
than that of Wooldridge (1990:7) and Floyd‟s general systems model. It also
implies that donor agency-assisted projects in Nigeria should adopt this very
important approach to improve their performance.
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS
(1.) It is recommended that the managers of the donor agency-assisted projects
must dismantle bureaucratic inertia if the projects must benefit from this
revolutionary management process called TQM.
(2.) The managers and staff of the donor agency-assisted projects should have
both internal and external focus to handle the frontline challenges of TQM
to improve their performance,
clxxxiii
(3.) Since TQM holds positive impact for improving the performance of the
donor agency-assisted projects, the managers should strive to apply it in
order to have good prospects, gateways, cooperation and team work.
(4.) As a solution to the weak application of TQM, the managers of the donor
agency-assisted projects should emphasize management development in
relevant areas.
5.4 SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER STUDIES
The research work has focused on the challenges and prospects of TQM to
improve the performance of donor agency-assisted projects located in Abuja and
the Eastern States of Nigeria. The area of study should be extended to include all
the donor agency-assisted projects in all the 36 states and Federal capital territory.
This study has provided an insight into the operations of the donor agency-assisted
projects in Nigeria. It therefore opens up new areas of opportunity for scholars in
Nigeria and other parts of the globe to conduct future studies.
Also, interested scholars are encouraged to further test empirically, the findings
embodied in this study across the entire country. This will actually validate and
corroborate these results.
A further research on TQM in a zero-quality culture like Nigeria is highly
suggested to unravel the mysteries behind the monumental inefficient
management of both public and private enterprises in our dear country.
5.5 CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE
(1.) A major contribution to knowledge which was discovered in the course of
this work is that the major cause of project poor performance and even
failure in Nigeria stems from the individualistic tendencies of the Managers.
During the interviews and oral discussions, it was discovered across the
projects that there is gross absence of team spirit, with each team member
striving to hyjack the project.
clxxxiv
(2) There have also been many researches on different aspects of TQM and how
they have improved performance in different parts of the world. Juran
(1994:4), Demings (1989:15) and Taguchi (1987:20) who are regarded as the
GURUs have all written on this near household concept called TQM, but
non of them have carried out a study in donor agency assisted projects in
Nigeria
clxxxv
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APPENDIX A
Department of Management,
Faculty of Business Administration,
University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus,
10th September, 2011.
Dear Respondent,
TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN DONOR AGENCY-ASSISTED
PROJECTS IN NIGERIA: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS
I am a post graduate student in the Department of Management, pursuing a Doctor of
Philosophy (Ph.D) degree in Management.
I am currently carrying out a research on the above topic. I hereby present for your
response and completion this questionnaire that would aid me in fulfilling the
requirement for the project.
You are assured that the information given by you will be treated in utmost
confidence and will be strictly used for the purpose of this study. Thank you in
advance for completing and returning the questionnaire on time.
Yours faithfully,
Ogbaekirigwe Charles Odu
Researcher
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APPENDIX B
SECTION A
INSTRUCTIONS:
Respondents must be employee of the selected Donor agency-assisted projects in
Federal Capital Territory and South- Eastern States of Nigeria.
(A) Please tick √ or fill in where appropriate.
1. Name of Donor Agency-assisted Project……………………
2. Department………………………………………………………………
3. Status …………………………………………………………………….
4. Educational Qualification; (i) WAEC, NECO, GCE [ ] (ii) DIPLOMA [ ]
(iii) HND, B.Sc. PG.D [ ] (iv) M.sc, M.B.A, MA [ ] (v) Ph.D [ ]
5. What is your Gender (sex); (a) Male [ ] (b) Female [ ]
6. Marital Status; Single [ ] Married; [ ] Divorced; [ ]
7. What age bracket are you? (i) 20 Yrs and lower [ ] (ii) 20yrs -29yrs [ ]
(iii) 30yrs-39yrs [ ] (iv) 40yrs -49yrs [ ] (v) 50yrs- 59yrs [ ] (vi) 60yrs or over
[ ]
8. How long have you worked with this Project? (i) 0-5yr [ ] (ii) 6-10yrs [ ]
(iii) 11-15yrs [ ] (iv) 16-20yrs [ ] (v) 21yrs [ ]
9. What level of management do you belong
a. Top management [ ]
b. Middle management level [ ]
c. Lower Management level [ ]
d. Support staff (operatives) [ ]
cxcix
SECTION B: DATA ON TQM AND PERFORMANCE IN DONOR
AGENCY
1. OBJECTIVE 1. To ascertain the major challenge of TQM to improve the
performance of donor agency assisted projects.
S/N QUESTIONS. A SA D SD UNDECIDED
1. What is the major challenge of the
application of TQM to improve the
performance of donor agency-
assisted projects?
a. Bureaucratic inertia
b. Unconducive company culture
c. Middle managers reluctance to
change attitude and behavior.
d. Difficulty in quantifying
tangible benefits.
e. Lack of institution wide
definition of quality
f. Quick fix approach, emphasis on
short term result
g. Lack of team work
h. .Lack of continuous training and
education.
2. Can lack of awareness among top
managers of TQM, its potentials,
when to use it and their own role in
the process be an impediment?
3. Are there some middle level
managers who are reluctant to
change their attitude and behaviors
eg. Coming to work late, etc.?
4. Do you consider difficulty in
quantifying tangible benefits,
cc
leading to a feeling that TQM effort
is not worthwhile?
5. Is your organisation unwilling to
transit to TQM because it is seen as
a “Project” and not a “Process”.
OBJECTIVE 2: To determine the impact of TQM on the performance of donor-
agency assisted projects in the area studied.
S/N QUESTIONS. A SA D SD UNDECIDED
1. TQM is needed when project
experiences some difficulty such as
lack of team spirit, poor performance
rating and general managerial
innefficiencies?
2. If “Yes” is your answer in 1 above,
to what extent has TQM enhanced
the overall
performance rating of your project?
A To a very great extent
B Moderately to an extent
C. Did not contribute in any
way to enhance performance.
3. A full understanding of TQM concepts
form an important part of the innitial
foundation to build a framework for its
implementation in donor agencies
assisted projects in Nigeria?
cci
4. 1. What extent is the impact of TQM
in the performance of donor agency-
assisted projects?
a. Very large impact
b. Large impact
c. Undecided
d. Little impact
e. Very little impact
5 Upon application of TQM in your
project, how are your services and
project rated by the communities you
serve?
(a)High
(b) Average
(c) Low
OBJECTIVE 3: To ascertain the major solution to the weak application of TQM to
donor agency-assisted projects.
S/N QUESTIONS. A SA D SD UNDECIDED
1. What is the major solution to the
weak application of TQM in the
donor agency-assisted projects?
a. Management development
b. Building a conducive
company culture
Quantification of tangible
benefits
c. Establishing a guiding
framework
2. A full understanding of TQM
concepts form an important part
of the innitial foundation to build
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a framework for its
implementation in donor
agencies assisted projects in
Nigeria?
3. What would you consider as the
reasons for the weak application of
TQM in your project?
(A). Problem of ignorance of
TQM concept.
(B). It does not lead to increased
managerial efficiency.
(C ) We do not need continuous
improvement .
(D ). Leads to waste of
money
4. TQM is needed when project
experiences some difficulty such as
bureucratic innertier, team spirit,
poor performance rating and general
managerial innefficiencies?
OBJECTIVE 4:To ascertain the dominant approach in the application of TQM in
the donor agency-assisted project under study.
S/N QUESTIONS. A SA D SD UNDECIDED
1. 1. What are the various approaches
of the implementation of TQM
to improve the performance of
donor agency-assisted projects
and which do you consider the
dominant approach?.
a. Guru approach.
b. Company wide model.
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c. The Japanese approach.
d. The prize criteria.
e. Project based approach.
3. Which of the approaches do you
consider most suitable for your
organisation?
a. Guru approach.
b. Company wide model.
c. The Japanese approach.
d. The prize criteria.
e. Project based approach.
4. 1. In your own view, in which of
these area(s) have TQM brought
in changes needed in your
organisation?
A. Training and development
B. Computerization
C. Staff emoluments
D. Organisation structure
5. 1. Staff of the project accept the
approach when they are
informed about the proposed
changes and are allowed to
participate in the
implementation?
cciv
OBJECTIVE 5: To ascertain if the prospects from full implementation of TQM is
good.
S/N QUESTIONS. A SA D SD UNDECIDED
1. What are the prospects of the full
implementation of TQM on the
performance of donor agency-
assisted projects?
2. It also provides continuous
improvement that can be related to
improved goal setting and
therefore increased job
satisfaction?
3. 1. TQM in donor agencies result in
an organization that produces
products and serv ices that are
considered to be satisfactory?
4. Employee participation prevents
the hijark of project activities by a
few in the project?
5. 1. Employing team work in the
project has unlocked the potentials
of personel and improved all
processes?
ccv
APPENDIX C
INTERVIEW SCHEDULE
1. How often do you meet to plan and organise the affairs of this project?
2. Do you consider benchmarking a very important process that can help your
project to compete favourably with the best in class?
3. How would you rate the interpersonal relationships of both staff and
management of your project.?
4. Can implementation of Total Quality management in donor agency-assisted
project transform the inputs into the output of improvement in
performance?
5. Upon application of TQM in your project, how are your services and
project rated by the communities you serve?
6. What guidelines or factors do you consider neccessary prior to the
implementation of TQM in your project?
A. Provide frequent opportunities for the staff to take responsibility [ ]
B. Educate the entire workforce about the fundamentals of TQM. [ ]
C. Build the structure to support implementation of TQM. [ ]
D. Apply the principles of quality on each area of responsibility. [ ]
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APPENDIX D
VALIDITY TEST RESULT
Correlations
Nonparametric Correlations
Correlations
Donor
Agency
Age
Bracket
Kendall's tau_b Donor Agency Correlation
Coefficient
1.000 .863*
Sig. (2-tailed) . .017
N 13 13
Age Bracket Correlation
Coefficient
.863* 1.000
Sig. (2-tailed) .017 .
N 13 13
Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
ccvii