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Extending Total Quality Management: Social Responsibility
Abstract
The paper examines the central values and philosophy, as well as, the evolution of Total
Quality Management (TQM) and the possibility of its extension to Total Expectations
Management (TEM) a much broader management system that takes into account not only
the expectations and needs of customers, but also those of all other legitimate
(environmental, ethical, and social) and their integration into a single management
standards, and management models, is further examined in the context of the institutional
approach. The impact of new trends in global economy and the potential role of new
international standards, like ISO 26000, are also assessed. Potential barriers of applying
such an expanded management system in small firms in the context of a small peripheral
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1. Introduction
Total Quality Management (TQM) is today widely accepted as a philosophy for the
and Davis, 2006). The ethical foundations and the basic principles and values of TQM
and its evolution over the last few decades have been widely debated in the literature
(Boje and Winsor, 1993, Rayborn and Payne, 1996). While TQM is widely appraised it
has also attracted criticism as another management fad failing to achieve in practice its
promised exaggerated benefits (Juran, 1993, Brown, 1993). Another line of criticism
focuses on its inadequacy to respond to current societal needs and trends and the social
(Campbell, 2007). TQM is not just management rhetoric or a set of methods and tools, it
standards, organizations both state and private (e.g. quality assurance auditors and
certifying bodies, etc) and managerial practices and models (Mueller and Carter, 2005, p.
20). The question then is whether TQM is capable to transform in such a way that it will
Institutions, even those including global standards, are probably different in different
countries due to cultural and social effects (Matten and Moon, 2008).
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The present paper considers the European context of social responsibility. The European
Union puts particular emphasis on sustainability. The latter concept has been extended
from the environmental sphere to include societal and equitable goals. The European
sustainable development strategy tries to integrate and reconcile the economic, social,
The main purpose of this paper is to propose a new management philosophy the “Total
the needs and expectations of not only customers, but also all other stakeholders that are
affected by the actions of the firm or affect the firm (Mc Adam and Leonard, 2003). It
extends the philosophy of total quality management to correspond to modern trends and
needs. The new approach is also consistent with the recent Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) research shift from why firms engage in CSR and what CSR is, to
“how” to formulate and especially implement CSR strategies (Basu and Palazzo, 2008).
The values and ethical principles of social responsibility, which form the foundation of
the new philosophy, are then briefly reviewed and compared to those of TQM (Hazlett et
al, 2007).
models, and standards can be used as a basis for TEM by extending their scope or
integrated management standards and new developments as the introduction of the new
standard for corporate social responsibility (ISO 26000) are evaluated. Despite good
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intentions CSR strategy implementation can not be successful unless firms translate
vision into methods and tools and develop practical knowledge, by gradually building
The feasibility of TEM and difficulties of its applicability are then examined in a specific
and demanding context that of a small peripheral country (Cyprus). An illustrative case
study of an SME is used for the evaluation of CSR barriers and enablers. Problems of
Section 2 below presents the theory of TQM and the model of TEM. Section 3 discusses
the methodology. Section 4 considers the new societal and economic developments and
trends that underlie the need for extension of TQM and introduction of TEM. Section 5
considers the applicability of TEM in small countries and presents an SME case study.
The quality movement started first with quality control that was focused on products and
expanded then to quality assurance with an emphasis on both products and processes. It
has gradually developed into total quality management at the end of the 1980s and then in
the 1990s covering the totality of a business or organization including products and
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processes (Mangelsdorf, 1999). At the same time the concepts of transparency and
responsibility of the “third generation” of TQM have emerged (Foster and Jonker, 2003).
The initial focus on the quality of outputs of a firm has expanded to the focus on
management of the entire organization. The concept of business excellence that affects all
aspects of business has emerged out of the total quality management philosophy
An evolutionary process of the quality movement from a set of techniques for statistical
discernible (Zbaracki, 1998). The latter includes operations of the business itself and all
other links of the supply chain starting from suppliers and including distributors and other
TQM can be seen as a set of practices, a philosophy and a set of values or as management
rhetoric. The emphasis in this paper is on philosophy and values with only passing
references to the other dimensions. The main values of TQM and its ethical basis are
usually deduced by reference to quality gurus like Deming, Juran, and Crosby (Hackman
and Wageman, 1995, McAdam and Leonard, 2003). TQM can be seen as an integrative
management system and a systemic change initiative, which extends the traditional focus
of firms to internal operations into an external focus on the needs and expectations of the
customer. The main values, beliefs and ethical principles of TQM, such as integrity of
products and mistake prevention are summarized below under three main headings, i.e.
product related, people related and system and society related (Table 1). The values show
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the strong ethical basis of TQM and its relationship to the democratic ideals of equality,
liberty, etc.
Total quality management has received sharp criticism and was considered as an indirect
effort to resurrect the Taylor theory of management (Boje and Winsor, 1993). Its
emphasis on principles and values as mentioned above is criticized as part of its rhetoric
and a utopian description of an ideal environment (De Cock and Hipkin, 1997). The main
5. It increases the control of the firm on its employees with their conformance to
standard work instructions reducing their discretion, work planning and initiative.
people.
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TQM is then far from a synonym of quality and success. Despite its rhetoric as a
management panacea there are many examples of TQM failure and problems of safety or
environmental pollution in firms that have adopted TQM related quality systems. The
difficulties of application and the long time required for implementation should not be
There is today a discussion about the need for extended management models to include,
apart from quality, the various dimensions of corporate social responsibility, especially
the environmental one. The proposed new management model of total expectations
and suppliers, but also all other relevant stakeholders. The concept and theory of
stakeholders and the corporate social responsibilities against the various groups of
stakeholders is briefly considered before the further explanation of TEM, its rationale,
and its relationship to TQM. The basic issue is whether TQM has been superseded and
can be replaced by a new model or it can serve as a foundation for a broader system
(McAdams and Leonard, 2004). Also whether TEM can develop into an operationally
useful management model and company management can balance the interests of
ISO 9000 certified firms, quality assurance organizations, consultants and academics and
the relevant TQM philosophy, methods, and tools they share and use can be seen as
forming an “institutional field” (Mueller and Carter, 2005). The concept of institutional
field is defined here as a system of interacting actors and their actions and relations
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(Davis and Marquis, 2005). The quality management field due to market pressures,
conceived in a broad sense, and social developments further described below is in a state
of flux. It is then the argument of this paper that TQM could be transformed into a “new”
field, i.e. ‘Total Expectations Management’ adding new players and rules of the game,
The ‘Stakeholder Theory’ has been elaborated by Freeman (1984) and refers to internal
and external groups that are affected by or affect the corporation. Such groups are the
organizations. After the definition and classification of stakeholders for the specific firm
and the identification of their needs, the stakeholder assessment process tries to establish
The corporate social responsibility (CSR) concept recognizes that firms apart from their
responsibility to produce profit for their shareholders they have responsibilities to their
stakeholders (Moir, 2001). The main dimensions of CSR include the environmental,
social, and economic aspects (McAdam and Leonard, 2003). Acceptance of CSR means
commitment to ethical and transparent business actions for the “common good” and
which in TQM were only indirect targets (Foster and Jonker, 2003). TEM offers a holistic
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consideration of quality including the so-called ‘social quality’. From customer we pass
to stakeholder groups and from the avoidance of defective products to zero waste and the
The need for TEM originates from the expansion of the concept of customer and the new
requirements of society from the business for the solution of problems of a social nature.
It also takes into account the expectations and interests of employees as an important
Similar concepts and models have been proposed in the literature under different names,
but almost the same content. Leigh and Waddock (2006), for example, have proposed the
versus stakeholder groups, whether this management is correct or not (Waddock and
Responsibility means recognizing the obligation, as a matter of principle. The use of the
term “expectations” as proposed in this paper emphasizes the need for an external
orientation of the firm and the priority of the needs and expectations of stakeholders as
they express them and not what the firm perceives or recognizes as its responsibilities.
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1. Incorporation of TEM philosophy in the strategy of the firm.
expectations
4. Forecasting the impact on the operations of the firm by stakeholder group and
7. Developing suitable tools and methods for balancing the interests of the diverse
stakeholder groups
Problems may arise in the implementation of TEM due to the increased complexity that is
shareholders profit versus the cost of maintaining a clean environment for the community)
(Zwetsloot and Marrewijk, 2004). Trade-offs have then to be struck between conflicting
expectations and a balanced approach should be followed (Wood, 1991). There may also
be disagreement within the firm regarding the methods of achieving balance between
implementation is outside the scope of this paper. There are however relevant approaches
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An alternative approach, instead of the development of a new management system like
TEM, could be the integration of specific standards like ISO 9000 (quality standard), ISO
14000 (environmental standard), OHSAS 18001 (a standard for health and safety), and
system. Newer versions of these standards have a trend towards compatibility between
them, there are however major problems in the development of a universal system
focus on customers and suppliers only and remains at the level of methodology rather
than philosophy of a holistic management system. TEM in contrast extends the focus on
the total value added chain and all stakeholder groups. The standards mentioned above
expectations.
The business excellence models like the European EFQM, which is based on the TQM
philosophy, have already integrated, even if partially so, the social dimension with the
criterion “influence on society” (Robson and Mitchell, 2007, Zwetsloot, 2004). There is
therefore a partial overlapping of the expanded TQM systems with the proposed new
The new developments that affect and shape the new approach of TEM are discussed in
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3. Methodology
While the paper is mainly conceptual it also uses secondary sources to document the
current trends and developments that a modern management philosophy should address.
In addition it uses the case study method to examine the applicability of total expectations
management in an SME. The experiences of the particular firm with quality and
environmental management are examined and the barriers and enablers of applying
The research design of the case study focuses mainly on a description of the actual
behavior of the firm, instead of sole perceptions of managers, especially actions going
beyond legal expectations according to the suggestions of Thompson and Smith (1991).
The author worked in this firm for several years till the end of September of 2004 (with
an additional six months period as a consultant) and had a first hand experience of its
activities and strategies. The account of the activities based on participant observation
provides a unique longitudinal type research over the about 10 years’ period under
customers, and discussions with key managers with a semi-structured approach were also
used to document relevant attitudes and behavior. Information from the web site of the
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firm was additionally obtained regarding its environmental and health and safety policy
and measures.
makes the discussion of total expectations management (TEM) especially relevant. The
potential effect of the recent financial and economic crisis is, however, beyond the scope
of this paper.
The major trends that affect and shape the new approach (TEM) are summarized below in
Table 2. Environmental degradation and climatic change have led to an increased societal
concern. ISO 14001 a widely recognized and reputable environmental standard covers the
1996. It is a voluntary international standard that refers to the structure, application, and
between ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 in their new versions (Jorgensen et al, 2006).
ISO 26000 is a guiding tool for a balanced assessment of multiple stakeholders and is
expected to become a reliable and widely acceptable international standard. The process
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[Enter Table 2 about here]
The brief survey of new trends suggests that the proposed total expectations management
model reflects the new trends and is a response to them, it also promotes the self –control
of firms with good conduct codes and corresponds to the new role of a firm responsible
to state and society. While the above discussion has presented the normative aspects of
TEM the next section considers the potential difficulties and barriers of its application in
The social and cultural environment of a country affects its management systems and the
management philosophy, as a radical change, can not succeed without its simultaneous
adaptation to the local social and cultural institutions. There is a current need to re-focus
CSR away from multinational enterprises and USA to European countries most of them
having a high proportion of SMEs. The cumulative effect of SMEs on the environment
Some of the main issues that have to be taken into account in the application of a new
management system as TEM and which could form potential barriers to its application in
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a country like Cyprus are summarized in Table 3. In Cyprus the vast majority of firms are
SMEs and most of them family firms using traditional management methods. Delegation
of authority, team work, and encouraging initiative among employees are rather limited.
There are also institutional gaps and deficiencies at the state level. The nature of SMEs
with the lack of adequate resources and management knowledge and the conservatism
that they usually exhibit increase the obstacles of the introduction of new management
An important point to be emphasized is that in a small country like Cyprus SMEs are not
“invisible”, as it is usually assumed for small firms, but may be leaders in their sector and
well-known to the media and the public and not just the local community. Some of the
current practices and values of Cyprus culture (e.g. the centrality and authority of
management) are therefore probably not congruent with the values and philosophy of
TEM (for example its emphasis on the system, rather than particular parts, and collective
CSR is a relatively new concept in Cyprus first introduced by banks and other large firms.
A recent survey in Cyprus carried out by the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists
Organization (CEIO), between March and May 2007, among executives of 384 firms
(most of them SMEs) of all industrial sectors (but mainly manufacturing and construction)
has tried to find their views on corporate social responsibility and good practices for its
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promotion. The majority of the respondents know the concept, but this knowledge was
not found to be related to gender, education, or position in the firm. Information about
CSR comes mainly from the press and 70% of the respondents consider that their firm
has partially or to a large extent adopted CSR practices (CEIO, 2008). Most firms offer
flexible working hours, and promote flexible employment forms, but have not adopted
plans for balancing personal and professional life or facilities for employee child care.
Alpha Chemicals (disguised name) is a medium size family-owned firm (with around 80
employees) in the chemical sector. Due to space limitations only some of its activities
related to quality and environmental issues are considered here. The firm is active in both
local and export markets. It is used here as an “exemplar” case in the sense that it has
Cyprus certifying with ISO 9000 at that time. It was among the first to build an on-line
database for all ISO documents making their updating much easier. The firm provided
external training for its personnel, e.g. training for internal auditors.
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The main motives for the introduction of the ISO 9000 system were external pressures
agreements with Alpha for the Middle East Market) and a desire to build reputation and
image in local and export markets. Similarly these MNEs recommended strict health and
Alpha a leader in its sector has a high visibility in the local market. The nature of the
sector and its potential adverse impact on both employee health and the environment
were also important factors in the adoption of quality and especially environmental
standards, although environmental regulations during the nineties were not yet costly in
terms of non-compliance (fines etc.) The company installed systems for health and safety
of the personnel and pollution abatement equipment like ventilation, air filters, solvent
vapor treatment systems, etc. It even earned an award as responsible employer for its
health and safety measures. There was, however, no long term environmental policy as
Government was an important stakeholder for the company due to its power to affect the
marketing.
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The company was anxious about getting a government permit to expand the
factory.
Fast residential development in the area had led to close distance of the factory
from the nearest houses, which could affect the decision for granting expansion
The institutional context shaped the sensitivity of Alpha towards environmental issues.
There was minimal environmental legislation until the end of nineteen eighties. The
situation changed rapidly in the nineteen nineties with the introduction and gradual
enforcement of detailed environmental legislation. At about the same time (mid nineties)
the company started to upgrade its environmental protection systems. In recent years and
especially since the year 2000 the harmonization with EU legislation and the stricter
enforcement of legislation has forced even laggard firms to comply with it.
The company has also placed significant emphasis on product safety aspects for its
although available for many years in the market, were presenting risks in their use by
customers (farmers) especially when they were neglecting safety precautions in their use.
It was also involved in an innovative collaborative research project for the development
Alpha had the necessary scientific personnel and the sources of information. Actually the
multinational firms that had contract manufacturing agreements with Alpha and were also
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the suppliers of raw materials provided information in terms of detailed guidelines,
The background of the owner-manager, who has a degree in Chemistry, and his
experience in industry has played a key role in developing quality and environmental
policies. The role of one of the owner’s sons, who was persuaded about the value of
quality policies and became a champion of quality systems within the firm, was also
The company after introducing ISO 9000 quality systems and getting experience in their
use was considering at the end of nineteen nineties the adoption of ISO 14001
problems and operational issues and the unexpected problems during the adoption of an
enterprise resource planning (ERP) system led to the postponement of the adoption of the
5.3. Discussion
The case illustrates the adoption of quality systems due to external pressures (by major
international customers) and the introduction of environmental protection and health and
part of a risk management process. At the same time the company realized the need to
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create good relationships with particularly powerful external stakeholders like the
government and large suppliers and customers. It can be said that its attitude was more
calculated out of self-interest rather than originating from social motivations. The state
has thus a particular role as regulator and facilitator to encourage SMEs to engage in CSR
activities. The above findings agree with those of Russo and Tencati, 2008, p.1) that
SMEs have informal CSR strategies and are “attempting to secure their license to operate
in the communities”.
The main concerns and strategies of the firm were two of the three suggested strategies
by Hart (1995), i.e. pollution prevention and product stewardship (especially diminishing
the adverse impact of products in use). The third strategy according to Hart (1995), i.e.
the sustainable development strategy manifested in the mission of the firm is not explicit
in this case. The company has used its network of suppliers and customers, especially
MNEs, as source of knowledge. This is considered as typical for SMEs involved in CSR
activities (Ortiz-Avram and Kuehne, 2008). This finding agrees with the social capital
approach to the corporate social responsibility, since the cumulative effect of these
relationships over the years and the trust developed between members of the network
forms a stock of social capital for the firm (Perrini, 2006, Spence and Schmidpeter,
2003). The problem of the multi-stakeholder approach that the case illustrates is that
dealing with separate stakeholders one by one for evaluation of their power, saliency, and
urgency is just not practical or even feasible and SMEs consider simultaneously the
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Operational priorities are paramount in small firms and frequently take precedence over
strategic issues as shown by the delay in introduction of ISO 14001, although there is also
the possibility that the firm is still uncertain about the benefits of the system (over the
6. Conclusions
The current demanding business environment of the globalization era requires a new
management (TEM) has been proposed as the most suitable one for today’s business. The
expansion of the TQM philosophy and TEM could develop through a transformation of
the institutionalized field of total quality management. The new approach will build on
the tradition of TQM and business excellence models. The methods, tools, and standards
of TQM can serve as useful blueprints for development of TEM implementation tools.
forward for CSR. Global standards may facilitate convergence of CSR practices on an
international scale. There is, however, some skepticism whether global standards are the
best solution for CSR strategy development and implementation in small firms. The
proposition of this paper, based on the literature review and the results of the case study,
is that after accepting the philosophy of expectations management, SMEs can then
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develop their own approach to its implementation. They should be encouraged and
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Table 1 Principles and values of TQM
Source: Prepared by the author on the basis of literature sources (e.g. Rayborn and
Payne, 1996, De Cock and Hipkin, 1997).
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Table 2 Major trends that affect and shape the new approach (TEM)
Trend Examples
Increased demands /requirements of Investor driven CRS initiatives (social
stakeholders investment
Customer requirements
Emerging institutional pressures New legislation/EU directives
Integration moves Integration of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000,
ISO 26000, etc into an integrated system
Changing public priorities/expectations Mass media, ecological organizations
New international initiatives/Global U.N. Global Compact, SA 8000, ISO
standards 26000/Certified accountability systems
Business excellence models European (EFQM), American (Baldridge),
Japanese Deming Prize
Source: Prepared by the author on the basis of literature sources (e.g. Castka and
Βalzarova, 2007, Waddock, 2008)
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Table 3 Main potential barriers to TEM implementation
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