Total quality management and cultural change: a model of organizational development

The provision of a high quality service is increasingly being accepted as a critical factor for a successful business. The birth and consolidation of Total Quality Management (TQM) as a management focus have paralleled the progressive dissatisfaction with the previous managerial approaches, linked to some basic changes in technology, market and enterprise strategies. After studying these challenges, this paper offers a sequential model on the road to TQM, differentiating seven steps classifiable in three phases: the technical stage, the human stage and the strategical stage. A lasting organizational change towards TQM implies a change of the culture of the organization; we analyse a system of values key to TQM program, the available methods for the change, some essential supports in the process of introduction of TQM program, and last, the conditions to assure the success of any initiative of this kind.