A review on constructs of the practices of quality management

Quality management is a management function that ensures the quality of the products, services and/or operation processes of an organization. It contributes to the competitiveness and maintains the sustainability of the organization. This paper reviews the constructs of practices of quality management adopted by researchers. Based on the literature review, the practices of quality management are summarized into eight constructs. They are approaches, methods, tools and techniques, management commitment, quality attitude and culture, customer focus, human resource management, supplier relationship, cost of quality, measurement, information and analysis, and continuous improvement and sustainability.


INTRODUCTION
Quality management is a management function that ensures the quality of the products, services and/or operation processes of an organization. It contributes to the competitiveness and maintains the sustainability of the organization. There are many constructs for one to study the practices of quality management. This paper reviews the constructs of practices of quality management. The focus is to identify the constructs of practices adopted by researchers. The word "practice" has been defined as habitual action/established method/exercise to improve skill in the Oxford Dictionary (1986). There have been many studies conducted on the practices of quality management. As far as the practices of quality were *Corresponding author. E-mail: tan_chinkeng@yahoo.com.
Abbreviations: MBNQA, Malcolm baldrige national quality award; ISO, international organization for standardization; R&D, research and development. concerned, it seemed there was no consensus among researchers. Wolf et al. (1990) were focusing on the quality program in place and their structure, cost of the quality program and whether quality costs were being monitored, quality education, and quality management procedures employed. Sohal et al. (1992) addressed general quality practices (formal quality program, areas covered by the program, quality manuals, and separate department for quality), human resources issues (management involvement, employees involvement, and education and training for quality), quality control practices (quality of design, quality of conformance), and quality program evaluation (performance, quality costs, and quality benefits). Redman et al. (1995) studied the quality management practices from the perspective of their approaches adopted, the quality management measurement, and evaluation for improvements. Lin and Clousing (1995) included aspects of leadership, mission, teamwork, motivation, measurement, attitudes, and cost considerations in their study of total quality management practices in health care industry. Kam and Tang (1997) discussed the practices of quality assurance system for construction works. Carr et al. (1997) surveyed the quality management practices in manufacturing industry focusing on cost versus quality strategy, corporate wide quality policy, customer focus, supplier linkage, process improvement, quality training, open organization, employee empowerment, quality measurement, physical quality measures, financial quality measures, and traditional efficiency measures. Fryer (1998) emphasized to deliver quality more systematically in his discussion in quality management. Corbett et al. (1998) used quality management approaches as variables to determine quality management practices in their survey. Alhozaimy et al. (1999) reported aspects of inspection, quality assurance program, administrative and follow-up activities, technical support and development, and public awareness programs in their case study of a quality scheme. Bubshait et al. (1999) identified 15 quality sections as having a bearing on the quality of service provided by design organizations.

Constructs of the practices of quality management
They are organizational quality policy, designer qualifycation, employee training and education, design planning, design inputs, design process, interface control, design review, design changes, subcontractor control, document control, design maintainability, computer usage, working relationship and performance quality audit. Samson and Terziovski (1999) adopted leadership, people management, customer focus, strategic planning, information and analysis, process management, and performance as the elements of total quality management in their study on the relationship between total quality management practices and operational performance. Terziovski et al. (1999) purported that the attributes of total quality management practices are quality mission/ statement, the quality management philosophy applied across all functional areas, training, awareness of the customer/supplier relationships, close relationship with supplier, and technical methodologies in place. Dow et al. (1999) categorized quality practices into nine dimensions, that is, workforce commitment, shared vision, customer focus, use of teams, personal training, co-operative supplier relations, use of benchmarking, advanced manufacturing systems, and use of just-in-time principles. Ismail et al. (1999) was only focusing on tools and techniques applied in their study on the state of quality management. Barad et al. (2000) adopted the following quality management practices in their study on contribution of quality management tools and practices to project management performance. They are brainstorming, cause and effect analysis during planning, periodic review of reports and documents, control of trends and deviations, cause and effect analysis during control, simulation, benchmarking, requirements management, subcontractor management, quality control, quality management, training programs and customer satisfaction surveys. Prabhu and Robson (2000) studied the impact of leadership on business excellence. In the study, leadership was categorized into explicit leadership and implicit leadership. The variables for explicit leadership were vision, benchmarking, human resources strategy, product technology, manufacturing strategy, quality vision, innovation/creativity, and sustainability. Implicit leadership variables included shared vision, job flexibility, problem solving, quality processes, employee involvement, customer orientation, training and education, and supplier relation.
Project management institute (PMI) (2000) included the processes of quality planning, quality assurance, and quality control in quality management. Various tools and techniques that are commonly used for the processes were identified. Harris et al. (2001) explained that the modern concept of quality management is evolved through three major stages, that is, quality control and inspection, quality assurance, and total quality management. Mathews et al. (2001) examined the range of tools and techniques that were applied in support of quality program in their study on the quality management practices. Lai et al. (2002) evaluated quality management implementation based on 10 dimensions developed on the basis of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) of the USA, that is, people and customer management, supplier partnerships, communication of improvement information, customer satisfaction orientation, external interface management, strategic quality management, teamwork structures for improvement, operational quality planning, quality improvement measurement systems and corporate quality culture. Sharma and Gadenne (2002) indicated that the quality management factors for the service industry include value chain integration, employee training and quality measurement, employee efficiency, supplier quality cooperation, executive involvement, customer-employee cooperation, efficiency-transparency, emphasis on overall quality, and defects reduction. Quazi et al. (2002) identified eight constructs for quality management in their survey, that is leadership, information and analysis, strategic quality planning, human resource development, quality assurance, supplier relationship, customer orientation, and quality results.
The analytical framework of Bossink (2002) consisted of six quality management practices, that is design, planning, systems, goal, positioning, and interaction practices. Battikha (2003) described the quality management tasks and roles assumed in a scheme relating construction quality control, quality assurance, and the interface between them. Lagrosen and Lagrosen. (2003) examined the areas of customer orientation, leadership commitment, participation of all, continuous improvements, management by facts, and process orientation which are considered as the common basis of quality management. Wennerstrom (2004) studied the status of quality management in the Canadian construction company based on the status of ISO 9001 application. Summary of the above review is shown in Table 1.

CONCLUSIONS
Based of the literature review, the practices of quality management are summarized into 10 constructs.

Approaches, methods, tools and techniques
Quality management approaches and methods are formal quality management systems used for the purpose of quality enhancement. International organization for standardization (ISO) 9000 certification is one of the popular systems applied by the practitioners and it attracts much attention from researchers. Total quality management is another quality management system widely discussed. Tools and techniques are some specific procedures applied in the quality management systems, such as inspection, control charts, statistical sampling, etc.

Management commitment
Management commitment is the dedication by the management towards certain matter. Many researchers relate the success of quality management implementation with the management commitment, top management commitment in particular, towards the implementation.

Quality attitude and culture
Quality attitude and culture are the perceptions, beliefs, behaviors and actions of all members of an organization towards quality. It is considered as an important factors for the success of a quality management system.

Customer focus
Customer focus is the level an organization view the important of its customers. The organization should be more committed to quality management if it is of much customer focus. Customer focus can have been the drive for an organization for product/services quality.

Human resource management
Human resource management concerns the management of manpower of an organization. Some organizations state that their human resources or manpower is their most important asset. Such statement implies the important of human resources to an organization. In other words, human resources should have contributed to product/services quality of an organization. As such, the management of human resources reserves attention in the discussion of quality management.

Supplier relationship
Supplier relationship is about the management of working relationship with suppliers. Suppliers are important business partners of an organization. They supply materials or components for the organization to process and produce their product or provide their services. The quality of the materials or components supplied by suppliers has an impact on the quality of final product or services. With that in mind, the management of supplier relationship should not be neglected in the quality management of an organization.

Cost of quality
Good quality of product or services always comes with a cost. An organization would also need to pay for a cost by suffering business losses resulted from the poor quality in its product or services. Hence, there is a relationship between cost and quality. Quality management of an organization should always consider such relationship so as to optimize the business performance of the organization.

Measurement
Practices of any quality management system would not be complete without an effective measurement device. Such measurement device would obtain data or results for evaluation on quality of product or services. The importance of this process is to ensure continuing quality improvement.

Information and analysis
Information is always required for a right decision to be made or an appropriate action to be taken. Sometimes, before information is obtained, analysis of data is required. The process of getting data, analysis, obtaining information, and use of the information is part of quality management as it will contribute to obtaining quality product or services.

Continuous improvement and sustainability
Quality management should be a dynamic process, aiming at sustainability of achievements and further improvement in the future. Without these, an organization will be lacking behind by its competitors. Organizations with determination for improvement are normally having research and development (R&D) activities for the purpose and also be innovative in their operations.