Total Quality Management and Organizational Performance: the Role of Performance Measurement System

Abstract

Escalation in globalization, information and advancement in manufacturing technologies have constantly contribute to the increase in demand and in the competitive manufacturing business environment. Align with the challenges facing the companies, there is a need for companies to devise relevant strategies to help them cope with the changes and sustain their competitiveness. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management philosophy and strategy that can help improve the quality of product and production processes. Prior research highlights the importance of implementing performance measurement system (PMS) in assisting the implementation of TQM practices. Incorporating contingency theory and socio-technical system theory, this study aims to examine the relationship between TQM practices and organisational performance and to determine the influence of PMS use in the relationship. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaire survey on a sample of Malaysian manufacturing companies. Our results support the view that more extensive PMS benefits performance as we find that, firms implementing TQM with more advanced PMS especially those that include financial and nonfinancial measures have higher performance. The results revealed that the relationship is more significant for companies using more advanced PMS compared to companies that used traditional PMS.