Relationships of TQM philosophy, methods and performance: a survey in Taiwan

Total quality management (TQM) has been a widely applied process for improving competitiveness around the world. The implementation of TQM usually consists of both TQM philosophy from Deming’s “14 points”, Juran’s “ten steps”, and Crosby’s “14 steps” and techniques such as SPC, QCC, benchmark, QFD, etc. The integration of philosophy and methods are usually used in implementing practices of TQM. Some researches indicated only TQM philosophy enhances quality performances; the others indicated both philosophy and methods help. This research conducts a questionnaire survey in Taiwan to test the following propositions: TQM philosophy enhances quality performance; TQM methods enhance quality performance; and the integration of TQM philosophy and TQM tools enhances quality performance. The results showed TQM philosophy, and TQM tools have a positive relationship with business performance. The integration of TQM philosophy and tools positively influenced both cost reduction and business performance.