Sustaining quality management implementation in small organisations – experiences from quality award recipients

While the use of Total Quality Management (TQM) continues to be high among large organisations, small organisations are still behind in considering such systematic and comprehensive quality efforts. One reason for this might be that many advocates of TQM consider the concept as a fixed entity to be utilised by any organisation independent of size. However, the specific characteristics of small organisations imply a need for a more tailored approach when initiating such considerable organisational changes as TQM. Therefore, further knowledge regarding quality management in the context of small organisations is needed. This paper is based on a multiple-case study and describes quality-related work in a number of small organisations, which have received a quality award for their successful work with TQM. The focus is on how successful small organisations organise their TQM-related activities and components. The TQM implementations were sustained by approaches focusing on external and internal customers, where measurements of external customer satisfaction and employee development, involvement and satisfaction comprised common TQM components. The empirical findings also indicate that small organisations can reach, and sustain, a successful TQM implementation without a thorough and formal organisational structure for quality.