Influencing the future of TQM: internal and external driving factors

The aim of this paper is to investigate the future of total quality management (TQM) by determining the scope and depth of the influencing or driving factors that will shape the body of knowledge, known as TQM, into the future. The rapid rate of change in global and niche markets has increased pressure on organisations to become more competitive. TQM is not immune from such changes. Rather, TQM theory and practice must continually adapt to be in the vanguard of such change and potential future changes. The research to determine the influencing/driving factors for the future of TQM involved a panoptic literature review and an inductive grounded theory approach using multiple case studies. Overall, the research indicates that both the mechanistic and organismic aspects of TQM will continue into the future, along with the continual representative development of initiatives to meet current and future organisational change. Furthermore, the TQM discourse will remain a challenging research area for both academics and practitioners.