Title : Studies on Total Quality Management in Indian Manufacturing Firms:
This thesis is concerned with the study and statistical analysis of Total Quality Management (TQM) adoption practices within the context of Indian manufacturing firms. The research work reported in this thesis has been carried out to address a few design- and implementation-related critical issues in Total Quality Management. Specifically, the research has been directed towards (i) assessing the status and scope of TQM practices in Indian manufacturing firms, (ii) development of a framework for employee empowerment process methodology that can be applied to a real-life situation. (iii) development of a financial performance measurement and evaluation methodology, and verify the methodology so developed with a real-life case data, and (iv) development of a comprehensive performance measurement and evaluation methodology for TQM practices. Despite extensive research carried out in the area of Total Quality Management (TQM) worldwide, the TQM concepts have not yet been very well adopted in developing countries like India. An attempt has been made in this thesis, through an extensive survey conducted among Indian manufacturing firms, to assess the present status and scope of TQM practices. In this survey, the first of its kind in India, opinions from the Indian manufacturers from across the country, have been sought. A number of issues such as role of information technology (IT), area of IT applications, benefits of employing TQM, quality management performance measures, issues hindering TQM practices, and common barriers in TQM implementation have been addressed in the context of Indian manufacturing firms. A detailed statistical analysis of the survey responses is presented in the thesis indicating usefulness of the survey results to the manufacturing firms contemplating implementation of TQM practices in near future. The findings of the survey suggest several directions of research work, which can be undertaken in TQM and determination of important performance measures for the development of a comprehensive performance measurement system.