Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-30T00:30:04.689Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Value Dynamics of Total Quality Management: Ethics and the Foundations of TQM

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Andrew C. Wicks
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Total Quality Management (TQM) has been the object of extensive discussion within the popular literature and is increasingly of interest among management scholars. Recent scholarship has focused on the theoretical foundations of TQM, particularly what makes it work, why so many firms have had problems implementing it, and under what circumstances it may create a sustainable advantage for individual firms. This paper extends the work in theory development regarding TQM and offers an empirically testable theoretical model of its function. The central claim of the paper is that embedded within TQM there are a set of moral values (“value dynamics”) that must be developed and maintained if it is to work, and that seeing them as moral values has significant theoretical and practical implications. That is, how TQM is understood and “enacted” (Weick 1979) by managers plays a significant role in determining its success. The discussion is linked to the ethics literature, normative implications of the model are explored, and directions for future research are outlined.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , July 2001 , pp. 501 - 535
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, E.; Fornell, C.; and Lehmann, D. 1993. Economic consequences of providing quality and customer satisfaction. Research Report No. 93–112. Cambridge, Mass.: Marketing Science Institute.Google Scholar
Anderson, J.; Rungtusanatham, M.; Schroeder, R. 1994. A theory of total quality management underlying the Deming management method. Academy of Management Review 3: 472–509.Google Scholar
Argyle, M. 1991. Cooperation: The Basis of Sociability. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Arrow, K. 1974. The Limits of Organization. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Arthur, J. 1994. Effects of human resource systems on manufacturing performance and turnover. Academy of Management Journal 3: 670–687.Google Scholar
Baier, A. 1986. Trust and antitrust. Ethics 96: 231–260.Google Scholar
Barney, J. and Hansen, M. 1994. Trustworthiness as a source of competitive advantage. Strategic Management Journal 15: 175–190.Google Scholar
Bass, B. M. 1985. Leadership and Performance beyond Expectations. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Bellah, R.; Madsen, R.; Sullivan, W.; Swidler, A.; and Tipton, S. 1985. Habits of the Heart. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Bendor, J.; Kramer, R.; and Stout, S. 1991. When in doubt: Cooperation in a noisy prisoner’s dilemma. Journal of Conflict Resolution 35: 691–719.Google Scholar
Blackburn, R. and Rosen, B. 1993. Total quality and human resource management: Lessons learned from Baldrige Award-winning companies. Academy of Management Executive 3: 49–66.Google Scholar
Bowen, D. and Lawler III, E. 1992. The empowerment of service workers: What, why, how and when. Sloan Management Review 31–39.Google Scholar
Bowie, N. 1988. The profit seeking paradox. In Ethics of Administration, ed. Dale Wright, N.Provo: Brigham Young University Press.Google Scholar
Bowie, N. and Freeman, R., eds. 1992. Ethics and Agency Theory. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Brehm, J. 1966. A Theory of Psychological Reactance. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Brickley, J.; Smith, C. W.; and Zimmerman, J. L. 1994. Ethics, incentives, and organizational design. Journal of Applied Corporate Finance 7: 20–30.Google Scholar
Browning, L.; Beyer, J.; and Shelter, J. 1995. Building cooperation in a competitive industry: SEMATECH and the semiconductor industry. Academy of Management Journal 1:113–51.Google Scholar
Burns, J. 1978. Leadership. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Bushe, G. 1988. Cultural contradictions of statistical process control in American manufacturing organizations. Journal of Management 14: 19–31.Google Scholar
Cochran, E. 1968. Planning Production Costs: Using the Improvement Curve. San Francisco: Chandler.Google Scholar
Conger, J. and Kanungo, R. 1988. The empowerment process: Integrating theory and practice. Academy of Management Review 3: 471–482.Google Scholar
Conte, M. and Svejnar, J. 1988. Productivity effects of worker participation in management, profit sharing, worker ownership of assets and unionization in U.S. firms. International Journal of Industrial Organizations 6: 139–151.Google Scholar
Cotton, J. L.; Vollrath, D. A.; Froggatt, K. L.; Lengnick-Hall, M. L.; and Jennings, K. R. 1988. Employee participation: Diverse forms and different outcomes. Academy of Management Review 13: 8–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuilla, J. 1995. Leadership ethics: Mapping the territory. Business Ethics Quarterly 1:5–28.Google Scholar
Dean, J. W. and Bowen, D. E. 1994. Management theory and total quality: Improving research and practice through theory development. Academy of Management Review 19: 392–418.Google Scholar
Deming, W. E. 1986. Out of the Crisis. Cambridge: MIT Center for Advanced Engineering Study.Google Scholar
Deming, W. E. 1994. The New Economics. 2nd ed. Cambridge: MIT Center for Advanced Engineering Study.Google Scholar
DeTocqueville, A. 1966. Democracy in America. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T. 1989. The Ethics of International Business. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T. 1999. Making stakeholder theory whole. Academy of Management Review 24: 237–241.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T. and Preston, L. 1995. The stakeholder theory of the corporation: concepts, evidence, and implications. Academy of Management Review 20: 65–91.Google Scholar
Dondero, C. 1991. SPC hits the road. Quality Progress 1: 43–44.Google Scholar
Dutton, J.; Thomas, A.; and Butler, J. 1984. The history of progress functions as a managerial technology. Business History Review 58: 204–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eden, D. 1990. Pygmalion in Management. Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath.Google Scholar
Ernst and Young and the American Quality Foundation. 1992. Best Practices Report. New York: Ernst and Young.Google Scholar
Evan, W. and Freeman, R. E. 1983. A stakeholder theory of the modern corporation: Kantian capitalism. In Ethical Theory and Business, ed. Beauchamp, T. and Bowie, N., pp. 75–93. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Farris, G. and Lim, F. 1969. Effects of performance on leadership, cohesiveness, influence, satisfaction, and subsequent performance. Journal of Applied Psychology 53: 490–499.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folger, R. and Konovsky, M. 1989. Effects of procedural justice and distributive justice on reactions to pay raise decisions. Academy of Management Journal 32: 115–130.Google Scholar
Frank, R. 1989. Passions Within Reason: The Strategic Role of the Emotions. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Frederick, W. 1992. Anchoring values in nature: Toward a theory of business values. Business Ethics Quaterly 2: 283–304.Google Scholar
Freeman, R. E. 1984. Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Freeman, R. E. 1994. The politics of stakeholder theory: Some future directions. Business Ethics Quarterly 4: 409–22.Google Scholar
Freeman, R. E. 1999. Divergent stakeholder theory. Academy of Management Review 24: 233–236.Google Scholar
Freeman, R. E. and Gilbert, D. R. Jr. 1988. Corporate Strategy and the Search for Ethics. Engelwood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Frey, S. and Schlosser, M. 1993. ABB and Ford: Creating value through cooperation. Sloan Management Review 1: 65–72.Google Scholar
Friedland, N. 1990. Attribution of control as a determinant of cooperation in exchange interactions. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 20: 303–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fukuyama, F. 1995. Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
General Accounting Office. 1987. Employee stock ownership plans: Little evidence of effects on corporate performance. Report to the chairman, committee on finance, U.S. Senate. Washington, D.C.: United States General Accounting Office.Google Scholar
General Accounting Office. 1991. U.S. companies improve performance through quality efforts. (NSIAD-91–190). Washington, D.C.: United States General Accounting Office.Google Scholar
Gilbert, D. R. Jr. 1992. The Twilight of Corporate Strategy. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gini, A. R. and Sullivan, T. 1987. Work: The process and the person. Journal of Business Ethics 6: 649–55.Google Scholar
Gist, M. 1987. Self-efficacy: Implications for organizational behavior and human resource management. Academy of Management Review 12: 472–485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gist, M. and Mitchell, T. 1992. Self-efficacy: A theoretical analysis of its determinants and malleability. Academy of Management Review 17: 183–211.Google Scholar
Graham, J. 1995. Leadership, moral development, and citizen behavior. Business Ethics Quarterly 1: 43–54.Google Scholar
Greenberger, D.; Strasser, S.; Cummings, L.; and Dunham, R. 1989. The impact of personal control on performance and satisfaction. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Process 43: 29–51.Google Scholar
Gulati, R. 1995. Does familiarity breed trust? The implications of repeated ties for contractual choice in alliances. Academy of Management Journal 1: 85–112.Google Scholar
Hahn, C.; Kim, K.; and Kim, J. 1986. Costs of competition: Implications for purchasing strategy. Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management 2: 2–7.Google Scholar
Harari, O. 1993. Ten reasons why TQM doesn’t work. Management Review 1: 33–38.Google Scholar
Hill, C. 1990. Cooperation, opportunism, and the invisible hand: Implications for transaction cost theory. Academy of Management Review 15: 500–513.Google Scholar
Hill, C. 1995. National institutional structures, transaction cost economizing and competitive advantage: The case of Japan. Organization Science 1: 119–131.Google Scholar
Hollander, E. and Offermann, L. 1990. Power and leadership in organizations: Relationships in transition. American Psychologist 45: 179–189.Google Scholar
Hosmer, L. 1995. Trust: The connecting link between organization theory and philosophical ethics. Academy of Management Review 20: 379–403.Google Scholar
House, R. 1995. Leadership in the twenty-first century: A speculative inquiry. In The Changing Nature of Work, ed. Howard, A., pp. 411–450. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
House, R. and Podsakoff, P. 1994. Leadership effectiveness: Past perspectives and future directions for research. In Organizational Behavior: The State of the Science, ed. Greenberg, J.Hillsdale, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Howell, J. M. and Avolio, B. J. 1993. Transformational leadership, transactional leadership, locus of control, and support for innovation: Key predictors of consolidated-business-unit performance. Journal of Applied Psychology 78: 891–902.Google Scholar
Huber, G. 1991. Organizational learning: The contributing processes and the literatures. Organization Science 2: 88–115.Google Scholar
Huselid, M. 1995. The impact of human resource management practices on turnover, productivity, and corporate financial performance. Academy of Management Journal 3: 635–672.Google Scholar
Imai, M. 1986. Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Johnson, D. and Johnson, R. 1989. Cooperation and Competition: Theory and Research. Edina, Minn.: Interaction.Google Scholar
Jones, T. M. 1995. Instrumental stakeholder theory: A synthesis of ethics and economics. Academy of Management Review 2: 404–437.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, T. M. and Wicks, A. 1999. Convergent stakeholder theory. Academy of Management Review 24: 206–221.Google Scholar
Juran, J. A. M. 1989. Juran on Leadership for Quality. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Keeley, M.The trouble with transformational leadership. Business Ethics Quarterly 1: 67–98.Google Scholar
Kohn, M., and Schooler, C. 1978. The reciprocal effects of the substantive complexity of work and intellectual flexibility: A longitudinal study. American Journal of Sociology 84: 24–52.Google Scholar
Korman, A. 1971. Expectancies as determinants of performance. Journal of Applied Psychology 55: 218–222.Google Scholar
Kornhauser, A. 1964. Mental Health of the Industrial Worker: A Detroit Study. New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Korsgaard, M.; Schweiger, D.; and Sapienza, H. 1995. Building commitment, attachment, and trust in strategic decision-making teams: The role of procedural justice. Academy of Management Journal 1: 60–84.Google Scholar
Lascelles, D. and Barrie, D. 1990. Quality management: The chief executives’ perception and role. Journal of European Management 8: 67–75.Google Scholar
Lawler III, E. 1994. Total quality management and employee involvement: Are they compatible? Academy of Management Executive 1: 68–76.Google Scholar
Lawler III, E. E.; Mohrman, S. A.; and Ledford, G. E. Jr. 1995. Creating High Performance Organizations: Practices and Results of Employee Involvement and TQM in Fortune 1000 Companies. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Leana, C.; Locke, E.; and Schweiger, D. 1990. Fact and fiction in analyzing research on participative decision making: A critique of Cotton, Vollrath, Froggatt, Lengnick-Hall, and Jennings. Academy of Management Review 15: 137–146.Google Scholar
Liden, R. and Tewksbury, T. 1995. Empowerment and work in teams. In Handbook of Human Resource Management, ed. Ferris, G., Rosen, S., and Barnum, D., pp. 386–403. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Locke, E. 1991. The Essence of Leadership: The Four Keys to Leading Successfully. New York: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Mayer, R.; Davis, J.; and Schoorman, F. 1995. An integrative model of organizational trust. Academy of Management Review 3: 709–734.Google Scholar
McAllister, D. 1995. Affect- and cognition-based trust as foundations for interpersonal cooperation in organizations. Academy of Management Journal 1: 24–59.Google Scholar
Mitchell, T. and Silver, W. 1990. Individual and group goals when workers are interdependent: Effects on task strategies and performance. Journal of Applied Psychology 75:185–193.Google Scholar
Muth, J. 1986. Search theory and the manufacturing process function. Management Science 32: 948–962.Google Scholar
Noreen, E. 1988. The economics of ethics: A new perspective on agency theory. Accounting, Organizations and Society 13: 359–369.Google Scholar
Pfeffer, J. 1994. Competitive Advantage Through People. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Pierce, J.; Rubenfield, S.; and Morgan, S. 1991. Employee ownership: A conceptual model of process and effects. Academy of Management Review 1: 121–144.Google Scholar
Powell, T. 1995. Total quality management as competitive advantage: A review and empirical study. Strategic Management Journal 16: 15–37.Google Scholar
Reed, R.; Lemak, D.; and Montgomery, J. 1996. Beyond process: TQM content and firm performance. Academy of Management Review 1: 173–202.Google Scholar
Reeves, C. and Bednar, D. 1994. Defining quality: Alternatives and implications. Academy of Management Review 19: 419–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reger, R.; Gustafson, L.; DeMarie, S.; and Mullane, . 1994. Reframing the organization: Why implementing total quality is easier said than done. Academy of Management Review 3: 565–584.Google Scholar
Roberts, K. and O’Reilly, C. 1974. Measuring organizational communication. Journal of Applied Psychology 59: 321–326.Google Scholar
Rooney, P. 1992. ESOPs, producer co-ops, and traditional firms: Are they different? Journal of Economic Issues 2: 593–603.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, R. and Jacobson, L. 1968. Pygmalion in the Classroom: Teacher Expectations and Pupils’ Intellectual Development. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.Google Scholar
Rost, J. 1995. Leadership: A discussion about ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly 1: 129–142.Google Scholar
Sashkin, M. and Kaiser, K. J. 1993. Total Quality Management. San Francisco: Berett-Koehler.Google Scholar
Schwartz, A. 1982. Meaningful work. Ethics 92: 634–646.Google Scholar
Sen, A. 1987. On Ethics and Economics. New York: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Sitkin, S.; Sutcliffe, K.; and Schroeder, R. 1994. Distinguishing control from learning in total quality management: A contingency perspective. Academy of Management Review 3: 537–564.Google Scholar
Sockell, D. 1985. Attitudes, behavior, and employee ownership: Some preliminary data. Industrial Relations 1: 130–138.Google Scholar
Solomon, R. 1992. Ethics and Excellence. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sower, V. 1990. The consequences of implementing statistical process control. Doctoral dissertation, University of North Texas, Denton.Google Scholar
Smith, A. 1982. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Indianapolis: Liberty Press.Google Scholar
Smith, A. 1981. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Indianapolis: Liberty Press.Google Scholar
Smith, K.; Carroll, S.; and Ashford, S. 1995. Intra- and interorganizational cooperation: Toward a research agenda. Academy of Management Journal 1: 7–23.Google Scholar
Snell, S. and Dean, J. 1992. Integrated manufacturing and human resource management: A human capital perspective. Academy of Management Journal 35: 467–504.Google Scholar
Spencer, B. 1994. Models of organization and total quality management: A comparison and critical evaluation. Academy of Management Review 3: 446–71.Google Scholar
Spreitzer, G. 1995. Psychological empowerment in the workplace: Dimensions, measurement and validation. Academy of Management Journal 5: 1442–1465.Google Scholar
Starbuck, W. 1992. Learning by knowledge-intensive firms. Journal of Management Studies 29: 713–740.Google Scholar
Stark, A. 1993. “What’s wrong with business ethics?” Harvard Business Review 3: 38–48.Google Scholar
Szwergold, J. 1992. Why most quality efforts fail. Management Review 8:5.Google Scholar
Thomas, K. and Velthouse, B. 1990. Cognitive elements of empowerment. Academy of Management Review 4: 666–681.Google Scholar
Tjosvold, D. and Deemer, D. 1980. Effects of controversy within a cooperative or competitive context on organizational decision making. Journal of Applied Psychology 65: 590°595.Google Scholar
Tse, D. and Wilton, P. 1988. Models of customer satisfaction formation: An extension. Journal of Marketing Research 25: 204–212.Google Scholar
Wageman, R. 1995. Interdependence and group effectiveness. Administrative Science Quarterly 40: 145–180.Google Scholar
Waldman, D. 1994. The contributions of total quality management to a theory of work performance. Academy of Management Review 3: 510–536.Google Scholar
Wall, D.; Jackson, P.; and Davids, K. 1992. Operator work design and robotics system performance: A serendipitous field study. Journal of Applied Psychology 77: 353–362.Google Scholar
Wagner III, J. A. 1994. Participation’s effects on performance and satisfaction: A reconsideration of research evidence. Academy of Management Review 19: 312–330.Google Scholar
Weick, K. 1979. The Social Psychology of Organizing. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Werhane, P. 1991. Adam Smith and His Legacy for Modern Capitalism. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wicks, A. C.Overcoming the separation thesis: The need for a reconsideration of sim research. Forthcoming in Business and Society.Google Scholar
Wicks, A. and Derry, R.An assessment of journal quality: The perspective of business ethics researchers. Forthcoming in Business Ethics Quarterly.Google Scholar
Wicks, A. C.; Gilbert, D. R. Jr.; and Freeman, R. E. 1994. A feminist reinterpretation of the stakeholder concept. Business Ethics Quarterly 4: 475–498.Google Scholar
Williamson, O. 1975. Markets and Hierarchies. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Wood, D. and Jones, R. 1995. Stakeholder mismatching: A theoretical problem in empirical research on corporate social performance. The International Journal of Organizational Analysis 3: 229–267.Google Scholar