Quality Management Worldwide Total Quality Management in India
Quality management worldwide Total quality management in India ± perspective and analysis
R. Jagadeesh
Introduction
For more than four decades after independence the companies in India enjoyed a protected market with virtually no competition, and some of them even monopolised the market, with customers having little or no choice. As a result complacency set in, and no pressure existed for improvement or change. However, the policy of globalization and liberalization adopted by the Indian Government five years ago, has thrown open new avenues and challenges to companies in India. The new policy has resulted in open doors through which global corporate players have entered the Indian markets, and are threatening the domestic manufacturers and suppliers, using quality as a weapon. This has compelled the managers of local companies to look for those tools and techniques, proven and tested, which would help them to maintain and improve their strategies and positions in the market. One such policy or philosophy that has captured the attention of industry and the business community is TQM. Particularly, in the recent years TQM is even regarded as absolutely essential for growth, stability, and prosperity. This paper has the main intention of presenting an overview of TQM 's progress in the country, starting from its initiation to its current status. Besides, the paper also describes how the organizational attempts by various agencies enabled the establishment of a TQM culture. Further, these attempts are presented in a chronological order, to appreciate the role played by various agencies, which resulted in growth and propagation of TQM in India. Towards the end, the gaps that still exist and hence the efforts that need to be channeled are pointed out, so as to result in appropriate guidelines about the work to be done.
The author R. Jagadeesh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, S.J. College of Engineering, Mysore, India.
R. Jagadeesh
Introduction
For more than four decades after independence the companies in India enjoyed a protected market with virtually no competition, and some of them even monopolised the market, with customers having little or no choice. As a result complacency set in, and no pressure existed for improvement or change. However, the policy of globalization and liberalization adopted by the Indian Government five years ago, has thrown open new avenues and challenges to companies in India. The new policy has resulted in open doors through which global corporate players have entered the Indian markets, and are threatening the domestic manufacturers and suppliers, using quality as a weapon. This has compelled the managers of local companies to look for those tools and techniques, proven and tested, which would help them to maintain and improve their strategies and positions in the market. One such policy or philosophy that has captured the attention of industry and the business community is TQM. Particularly, in the recent years TQM is even regarded as absolutely essential for growth, stability, and prosperity. This paper has the main intention of presenting an overview of TQM 's progress in the country, starting from its initiation to its current status. Besides, the paper also describes how the organizational attempts by various agencies enabled the establishment of a TQM culture. Further, these attempts are presented in a chronological order, to appreciate the role played by various agencies, which resulted in growth and propagation of TQM in India. Towards the end, the gaps that still exist and hence the efforts that need to be channeled are pointed out, so as to result in appropriate guidelines about the work to be done.
The author R. Jagadeesh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, S.J. College of Engineering, Mysore, India.
References: Agrawal, S.K. (1993), ``ISO 9000 implementation in Indian industry ' ', Proceedings of the Eighth ISME Conference in Mechanical Engineering, New Delhi, India, March, pp. 638-44. Ahire, S.L., Landeros, L. and Golhar, D.Y. (1995), ``Total quality management: a literature review and an agenda for future research ' ', Journal of Production and Operations Management, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 277306. 326 Total quality management in India ± perspective and analysis R. Jagadeesh The TQM Magazine Volume 11 . Number 5 . 1999 . 321±327 Arun, N.S., Prabhu, S.R., Aruna Kumar and Lokesh Sharma (1998), ``Identification of barriers to achieve TQM after getting ISO 9000 certification and development of a causal model for TQM ' ', unpublished dissertation, Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, SJ College of Engineering, Mysore, India. Business India (1998), ``Change is painful but vital ' ', 29 December 1997-11 January, p. 152. Business Today (1995), ``State of quality ' ', January 7-21, pp. 146-241. Business Today (1998), ``The quest for quality ' ', 22 June 1998, p. 98. Deccan Herald Advertising Feature (1993), ``Total quality management ± the Indian scene ' ', Monday, 1 November, 1993, p. 8. Gupta, V.K. and Sagar, R. (1993), ``Total quality control using PCs in an engineering company ' ', International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 31 No. 1, pp. 161-73. Jain, S. (1996), TQM ± the leading edge ' ', India Today, 31 March pp. 90-1. Longnecker, C.O. and Scazerra, J.A. (1993), ``Total quality management from theory to practice: a case study ' ', International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 10 No. 5, pp. 24-31. Pati, N. and Reis, D.A. (1996), ``Proliferation of TQM in India ± a survey ' ', Proceedings of the Global Conference on Small & Medium Industry and Business, Bangalore, India, January 1996, pp. 209-14. Piramal, G. (1997), ``Legends of the Maharajas ' ', Business Today, 22 August-6 September, pp. 10-15. Premchander (1996), ``Succeeding in business ' ', Management Review, Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 109-21. Skaria, G. (1995), ``The total quality imperative ' ', Business Today, 7-21 January, pp. 19-27. Sridharan, R. (1998a), ``Total quality limited ' ', Business Today, 2 November, pp. 69-79. Sridharan, R. (1998b), ``The drive to Detroit ' ', Business Today, 7 August, pp. 84-9. Sterman, J.D., Repenning, N.P. and Kofman, F. (1997), ``Unanticipated side effects of successful quality programs: exploring a paradox of organizational improvement ' ', Management Science, Vol. 43 No. 4, pp. 503-21. Sukumar, R. (1998), ``Total quality confusion ' ', Business Today, 7 December, p. 27. The Economic Intelligence Unit (1996), ``How Asia practices TQM ' ', World Executive Digest, November, p. 54. The Economic Times (1998), ``From six-sigma to strategy ' ', 23 March, p. 3. The Standards Engineer (1996), ``News and views ' ', Vol. 31 Nos. 1 and 2, April-September, pp. 20-6. The Times of India (1997), ``Complacency, a major problem with Indian management: Crosby ' ', Monday, 10 November p. 12. World Executive Digest (1996), ``Quality In Asia: the state of the quality art ' ', October pp. 25-36. Yojana, (1997), ``Current state of the Indian economy ' ', December, pp. 24-7. Commentary A fascinating discussion on one of the world 's emerging powerhouse economies. 327