The Successful Implementation of TQM: In Malaysian

The Successful Implementation of TQM: In Malaysian Local Authority Norudin Mansor, Zalinawati Abdullah This paper examined the successful implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) in one of the local authorities in Malaysia. Several identifiable constructs concerning participative management, continuous process improvement, customer focus, and employee commitment were selected in measuring its contribution to the successful implementation of TQM. As been repeatedly stated in most literatures, top management and employees should take considerable effort in ensuring that all quality instruments consistently been practiced in any organizational setting. With the total commitment of both parties then only the mission and vision of an organization could be accomplished. Based on the population list a cross-sectional survey was conducted for getting the generalization of the study. Using questionnaire as the research instrument, a proportionate stratified sampling was executed with a total sample of 300 to represent the whole population of the study. The result of the investigation demonstrated that all the identifiable constructs were moderately and significantly correlated with the successful implementation of TQM.

Field of Research: Successful implementation of TQM, participative management, continuous process improvement, customer focus, employee commitment, local authority

_______________________________ Assoc. Prof Norudin Mansor, Faculty of Business Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA Terengganu email: [email protected] Zalinawati Binti Abdullah, Faculty of Business Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA Terengganu email: [email protected]

1

1. Introduction Total Quality Management (TQM) provides a paradigm shift in management philosophy for improving organizational effectiveness. It is important for one organization that could either be public or private sector or neither has it produced product nor services to the customer. In other word, it is the art of managing the whole to achieve excellence. According to Talukder and Ghosh, (2004), TQM can be defined as both a philosophy and a set of guiding principle that represent the foundations of a continuously improving organization. It is the application of qualitative methods and human resources to improve all the processes within an organization and exceed customer need now and in the future. TQM integrates fundamental management techniques, existing improvements, and technical tools under a disciplined approach. TQM focused on the understanding that organizations are systems with processes that have the purpose of serving customers. TQM calls for the integration of all organizational activities to achieve the goal of serving customers. It seeks to impose standard, achieve efficiencies, define roles of individuals within process and the organization as a whole, reduce errors and defects by applying statistical process control, and to employ team to plan and execute processes more efficiently. It required leaders who are willing to create a culture in which people define their role in term of quality output to customers. The Public Sector is part of economic and administration life that deals with the delivery of goods and services by and for the government, whether national, regional or local or municipal. Examples of public sector activities range from delivery social security, administering urban planning and organizing national defenses. Other than that, public sector initiated other role such as dealing with legal issues arising in certain part of the society, environment and economy. TQM in the public sector are helping to increase motivation, leadership, and creativity. These are factors that are vital for the productivity, efficiency, profitability and quality of working organizations. Thus it is important to note that in order to achieve SITQM in the public sector; the organization must take them into consideration the entire factors that can influence the achievement. Kuantan Municipal Council (Majlis Perbandaran Kuantan) (MPK) recognized to be one of the success models of local authority in Malaysia. Having a government system local, the organization began to be implemented in one of the main towns in the East Coast Region of Malaysia. In the year 1913 with the establishment of Kuantan Sanitary Board the authority was responsible for controlling cleanliness, health and development round. 20 years later Kuantan Sanitary Board has been replaced with Kuantan Town Board. After almost 16 year stay under the system, the Board has been upgraded to Kuantan Town Council with administrative area as wide as 10 square miles. With the growth momentum, then in the year 1979, Kuantan Town Council was upgraded to Kuantan Municipal Council (MPK) based upon Government National Act (Act 171) that remained until today. Administrative area of MPK has developed to 324 km square which covered four district. Of the area, 10% form the area of Kuantan’s whole town. Since its establishment in 1979 till now, there have been eight Council Presidents that undertake their responsibility in making MPK a very stable council. Strategically 9 divisions were structured to ensure that the authority is able to deliver services which are of high

2

quality, efficient, fair and friendly thus able to fulfill customer satisfaction for every service rendered.

2. Problem Statement The most debatable issues for today’s industry and business are how to keep pace with an increasingly turbulent, dynamic and evolutionary workplace. This is especially true for organizations facing strong international competition as well as for many services industries, which are dealing with unprecedented changes in the social environment. In response to this situation, TQM has evolved. TQM is a visionary movement, which represents a final recognition of a management philosophy that encourages employees to share responsibility for delivering quality services and products. This paper is very much fascinated to investigate how successful the implementation of TQM that was incepted since 1979 by MPK. Since it involving in quality movement from the year 1979, MPK had received more than 100 quality award either given in Malaysia or given by other international bodies outside Malaysia. The Prime Minister Quality Award was the most impressive award received by MPK in the year 1998. Other than that, MPK strengthened it’s role after been nominated the first Local Authority been given the ISO certification that will be transform from ISO 9000:2000 to the ISO 9000:2008. But, in the process of promoting efficient delivery, the record received by the authority displayed that for the year 2005 it had received 961 complaints from their customer, decreased to 842 complaints for the year 2006, surprisingly increased to 1772 complaint in the year 2007, further increased to approximately 3047 for the year 2008, and no sign of declining for the year 2009. With the statistic figure reflecting the increasing trend of complaints, despite of efforts done by the authority through the application of all quality instruments, it therefore create issues that needed management attention. It is important to explore the possibilities of certain deliverables that could be associated with the phenomena in ensuring SITQM is achievable.

3. Scope of Study The research was conducted to investigate SITQM at one of the local authorities in the East Coast of Malaysia. Several related independent variable such as customer focus, continuous improvement, teamwork and involvement of employees, top management commitment and recognition, training and development, quality system and policy practiced by the organization, super visioning leadership, measurement and feedback from the customer and employee, cultural change and many other related factors that may influence SITQM in a public sector. However, the scope of the study only focused on factors such as participative management, continuous process improvement, customer focus and, employee commitment. For this purpose, the employees working with MPK will be the respondent for this study

4. Research Objectives This research aims to achieve the following objectives:

3

i. To measure factors that may influence SITQM in a public sector. ii. To evaluate the effectiveness of SITQM practices in the public sector. iii. To measure the successful implementation of TQM in the context of participative management given in MPK. iv. To measure the successful implementation of TQM in the context of continuous process improvement practices in MPK. v. To measure the successful implementation of TQM in the context of customer focus that practices in MPK. vi. To measure the successful implementation of TQM in the context of employee commitment that given in MPK.

5. Hypotheses There were six hypotheses been formulated to address the above problem statement: H1 H2 H3 H4 H5

H6

The successful implementation of TQM is associated by strong participative management. The successful implementation of TQM is associated by continuous process improvement. The successful implementation of TQM is associated by customer focus. The successful implementation of TQM is associated by employee commitment. The factor of (IV) that is participative management, continuous process improvement, customer focus, and employee commitment may influence the factor of (DV) that is successful implementation of TQM. The participative management with the continuous process improvement may lead to the successful implementation of TQM.

6. Literature Review 6.1 Total Quality Management (TQM) A clear understanding of the meaning of TQM is vital to the success of its implementation. According to Liang Tan, (1997), TQM is an organization’s corporate strategy. It is a team approach strategy that integrates and encompasses the goals of the organization with its human, capital, and financial resources. It must be a corporate strategy that integrates planning, operations, and the needs of customer and employees. Earlier opinion by Creech (1994) viewed TQM as a quality mind set that manifests itself positively in pride and professionalism whereby employees can feel and reflect their performance. It is different with the opinion given by Cassidy, (1996), which assumed that TQM can increase business excellence and enable all organizations to meet the needs of customers competitively. Continuously learning from one another in their search for excellence in TQM is goals to increase market share and reap profits for their stakeholders. As manifested by Hellsten and Klefsjo, (2000), TQM is rather than a mere set of factors, a network of interdependent components, and a management system consisting of

4

critical factors, techniques and tools. Thus in a simplified version, Dale and Shaw, (1999); Bunney and Dale, (1997); Stephen, (1997); Hellsten and Klefsjo, (2000); Curry and Kadasah, (2002), agreed that in fact, TQM is techniques and tools are vital to support and develop the quality improvement process. However the whole TQM philosophy suggested by Anjrad, (1995) believed that, TQM is not a system; it is rather, a ‘state of mind, both collectively and individually’. When implemented effectively, TQM empowers all people in an organization to do their best and fully satisfy all customers’ needs. The relevancy of counter service for example will provide a good indicator in promoting customer satisfaction (Norudin Mansor and Che Hamdan Che Mohd. Razali, 2010). TQM is the art of managing the whole to achieve excellence. According to Talukder and Ghosh, (2004), TQM is defined as both a philosophy and a set of guiding principles that represent the foundations of a continuously improving organization. It is the application of qualitative methods and human resources to improve all the processes within an organization and exceed customer needs now and in the future. TQM integrates fundamental management techniques, existing improvements, and technical tools under a disciplined approach. These form the basis for successful implementation of TQM (Tari, 2005). Despite of its acceptance throughout the world, basically TQM is not an overnight strategy that can turn a failing company into a market leader or became the most efficient and productive organization. Without free flow of information, co-operation and co-coordinated effort, many obstacles will be encountered. But through dedicated perseverance, perhaps some false starts, and plenty of skilful application, TQM can help an organization better serve its customers.

6.2 Participative Management Most managers are very good at, and comfortable with, the technical, quality-analysis side of TQM. They are excellent problem solvers. However some managers lack the connectivity of behavior supporting the technology because they are being asked to transfer the power of solving problems to their people. Manager often question their roles as the company adopts TQM plans to implement (Anjard, 1995). According to Joblonski, (1992), participative management refers to the intimate involvement of all members of a company in the management process, thus deemphasizing traditional top-down management methods. In other words, manager set policies and make key decisions only with the input and guidance of the subordinates that will have to implement and adhere to the directives. This technique improves upper managements group of operations and more importantly, as an important motivator for workers who begin to feel like they have control and ownership of the process in which they participate. Liang Tan (1997), stated that TQM has been successfully implemented in organizations where it resulted in the commitment, involvement, and sponsorship of the top management team. By being involved in the implementation process and periodic reviews, managers will be able to see if the improved process is producing the desired results.

5

From the overall view, participative management is the main factor that may influence to the successful implementation of TQM. Manager is the leader in one organization. If they really implement all the TQM principles and practices the entire instrument in TQM, became a good leader to their employees it is not possible, the TQM can be implement successful in the organization.

6.3 Continuous Process Improvement Continuous process improvement entails the recognition of small, incremental gains toward the goal of total quality. Large gains are accomplished by small, sustainable improvements over a long term. As mentioned by Jablonski (1992), the concept of continuous process improvement necessitates a long-term approach by managers and the willingness to invest in the present for benefits that manifest themselves in the future. A corollary of continuous improvement is that workers and management develop an appreciation for, and confidence in, TQM over a period of time. The concept of continuous improvement is a critical success factor of any organization and should be used as the foundation stone upon which every successful TQM initiative should be built. This view is shared by Handly (1994), arguing that the world keeps changing and it is one of the evolution of success that keep our momentum. According to Golnessa and Mostafa, (2007), continuous improvement of all activities is at the heart of TQM. Once it is recognized that customer satisfaction can only be obtained by providing a high-quality product. Continuous improvement of the quality of the product is seen as the only way to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction. As well as recognizing the link between product quality and customer satisfaction. TQM also recognizes that product quality is the result of process quality. As a result, there is a focus on continuous improvement of the organization’s processes. This will lead to an improvement in process quality. Continuous process improvement also can find in many and varied interpretations. Through continuous process improvement it guided us with the definition related to the uninterrupted extension in space, time, or sequence and enhanced value or excellence. A more focused definition from Granzod and Gershon, (2000), stated that continuous process improvement is a system of incremental and innovative improvements in processes, products, and services. In general, continuous process improvement is one of the factors that can contribute to the successful implementation of TQM in organization. It may influences the organization to practices all the TQM instrument everyday without failed to make sure that the quality instrument can helps the organization to become more productive and efficient from day to day.

6.4 Customer focus TQM has a customer-first orientation. Customer focus is important to helps the successful implementation of TQM in the organization. According to Golnessa and Mostafa, (2007), customer focus may influence to the customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is seen as the organization’s highest priority and the organization believes it will only be successful if customers are satisfied. The TQM organization is sensitive to

6

customer requirement and responds rapidly to them. Within the TQM context the requirements goes beyond defect and error reduction and merely meeting specifications or reducing customer complaints. TQM is not just to meet customer requirements it is also concerning how to give them satisfaction. A company like Rover Cars, use the term “extra-ordinary customer satisfaction” as their corporate mission. Customer requirements may include availability, delivery, reliability, maintainability and cost effectiveness among many other features. Thus, customer focus is the ultimate test of TQM measuring customer service, satisfaction, public image and acceptance provide pictures of the effects of the TQM philosophy (Anjard,1995).

6.5 Employee Commitment The key to business success is employee commitment. According to Porter, (1975), a company’s success in building commitment covers positive communication that can shape TQM and vice versa. Therefore, commitment should get the most attention. It is been asserted that TQM programs will be more successful if climate is modified and managed to elicit employee commitment and satisfaction consistent with the values of TQM. Other opinion from Golnessa and Mostafa, (2007) stated that, a successful TQM environment requires a committed and well-trained employee that participates fully in quality improvement activities. Such participation is reinforced by reward and recognition system which emphasize the achievement of quality objectives. Ongoing education and training of all employees supports the drive for quality. Employees are encouraged to take more responsibility, communicate more effectively act creatively, and innovate. As people behave the way they are measured and remunerated, TQM links remuneration to customer satisfaction metrics. In another perspective mentioned by Harvey and Brown (1996), traditionally, employee commitment and involvement has been conceptualized as the process of developing “a feeling of psychological ownership among organizational members and has been implemented via the participation of employees in information processing, decision making and / or problem solving. However, Dale and Cooper, (1993), stated that within a TQM environment, employee commitment and involvement has been conceptualized as the process of achieving broad employee interest, participation and contribution in the process of quality improvement. Furthermore, following to Wagner (1994), it is claimed that employee involvement in quality management can take various forms, including: extrinsic involvement, where employees’ participation and contribution to continuous improvement is linked with a system of collective Total Quality-oriented rewards, comprising extrinsic monetary (such as salary increased, bonus) and / or non monetary rewards (e.g. recognition, responsibility). As employees become committed and involved and the entire workforce understands, and is committed to the vision, value and quality goals of the organizations, empowerment becomes a necessity. Employees need to be aware of the TQM concepts, trained to improve interactive skills, problem identification and solving skills, and technical skills. Employee need to be informed about the quality initiative and

7

participate in the improvement activities and through top-down and bottom-up communication.

6.6 Public sector According to Laing, (2003), public sector is a part of national economy providing basic goods or services that are either not, or cannot be, provided by the private sector. It comprises of national and local governments, public corporations, and any quasiautonomous non-governments organizations. Public sector is one of the largest sectors of any economy. As stated by Weber (1994), it is through the public sector organization that mechanized the force of law and there is hence no stakeholder choice in whether to accept them, unless the choice is through long-term democratic decision making. Holmstrom, (2004), stated that there is a shift in public sector organizations today towards legitimacy that is derived from several sources. This new view is possible only under a democratic order, and it has been called ‘poly-contextual corporate legitimacy’. However, the idea is that various individuals and groups around the organization are taken into consideration and involved in the processes of the organization instead of merely being monitored and controlled. This shift is due to a change in thinking, as in the public sector and national administration, support and dialogue is growing more important than control. Thus maintaining reputation of public organization should not be underestimated (Luoma-aho, 2008). The idea is in line with the concept of organizational learning (Senge, 1990; Norudin Mansor et. al. 2010) where there is a need for participation of the employees in ensuring that learning and understanding of TQM can be culturized. This shift is due to a change in thinking, as in the public sector and national administration “support and dialogue is growing more important than control”.

7. Methodology and Research Design The investigation of the framework was in the form of descriptive research. Through this approach the study is expected to demonstrate the relationship as well as attempting to predict the influence of participative management, process improvement, and customer focus and employee commitment on to the SITQM. Figure 1: Theoretical Framework Explaining Variables for the study Participative Management Continuous Process Improvement

Successful Implementation of TQM

Customer Focus Employee Commitment 8

7.1 Sampling Design The execution of the sampling procedure started with defining the right population which is the employees who worked at MPK. As for the year 2009, the total number of employees working in MPK, in all categories (permanent, contract or part-time workers) were about 1256 people. Our sampling frame relies on the list of employees generated by MPK for the year 2009. The decision on determining the appropriate sample size follows the rule of thumb suggested by Krejcie and Morgan, (1970). With the population of approximately 1300, the selected sample should be 297. In this study, the researcher used proportionate stratified sampling technique in order to get the most efficient representation of the population. By using this technique the researcher selected 30 respondents from the group of Management and Professional, 50 respondents from the group of Supporting Staff (Group B), 108 respondents from the group of Supporting Staff (Group C), 79 respondents from the group of Supporting Staff (Group D) and 33 respondent from the group of Supporting Staff (Group IMG), thus making the total of 300 respondents. The technique further divided the sample according to their work group. All respondent names were placed into the bowl that already been mark according to the group. Thus every sample was given the equal chance to be selected as a respondent for this study.

7.2 Data collection method The questionnaire was designed and distributed to the respondent in order to collect all the relevant data based on the existing employee that work in MPK. The questionnaire was Personally Administered. By using this approach, the researcher distributed the questionnaire directly to the sample selected so that the respondent may directly answer the questionnaire in front of the researcher. Personally Administered Questionnaire found to be more effective way to be used in this research because the data can be collected immediately after the respondent fulfilled or answering the questionnaire. Other than that, the researcher was able to motivate respondent in cases where the respondent did not understand with certain measurement used in the questionnaire. The instrument was made up of 5 sections measured by using Likert Scale. By using this Scale the respondent need to indicate a degree of agreement or disagreement with each series of statements about the stimulus object. The scale item were made up of 5 response rating from “1” or “Strongly Disagree” or “5” or “Strongly Agree” and the middle rating scale is “3” namely “Fair”. Section A, of the questionnaires is for the demographic profile of the respondent. This part may includes the respondents’ gender, age, marital status, race, group of services, duration of work, experiences work in MPK, familiarities with TQM, and familiarities with the quality instruments among the respondent in the organization. In section B, the questions are related to investigating how effective the quality instrument was delivered either to their customer or to their employees. As in section C, the questions aimed at examining whether the management gives their full cooperation in order to execute the TQM instrument in the organizations. Section D examined to what extent TQM practices and instrument is carried out in the organization, the continuity of implementing TQM

9

process, the clear understanding about the TQM instrument, and the TQM principle that had been practiced in the organization. Section E, of the questionnaire is related to the customer focus. Section F, elicit information on how the respondent as an employee of the organization may commit to the TQM principles that practices in the organization in order to helps the SITQM in the organization.

8. Finding and Data Analysis 8.1 Reliability analysis In addressing the issue concerning reliability of the instrument, 30 sets of questionnaire was early distributed to the selected respondent and collected for analysis. The measurement was done by calculating the Cronbach’s alpha that indicates how well the items in a set are positively correlated to one another. With some minor improvements, the field work was executed. The data collected was again subjected to the reliability analysis to establish the reliability of measure. The result for the reliability test of this research is shown in table 1. Table 1: Reliability Testing SECTION

ITEMS

CRONBACH’S ALPHA

SITQM

10

0.893

Participative Management

8

0.596

Continuous Process Improvement

7

0.868

Customer Focus

8

0.852

Employee Commitment

8

0.925

Except for Participative Management which was considered a little bit low, all other variables can be accepted and found to be reliable for the study.

8.2 Frequency distribution Frequency analysis is used to analyze the overall information of the respondent based on profile information. This study was incriminating the entire nine (9) Departments in MPK involving 300 respondents. The result for the study is shown below.

Table 2: Frequencies of Respondents Profile

10

Category

%

Freq

GENDER

Category

%

Freq

EDUCATION LEVEL

Male

57.0

171

SRP/PMR

15.0

45

Female

43.0

129

SPM

43.7

131

STPM/Sijil

14.3

43

AGE 18-26 Years

3.0

9

Diploma

18.0

54

27-39 Years

27.0

81

Degree

8.7

26

37-46 Years

48.7

146

Further Degree

-

-

51 Years & >

21.0

63

Missing

0.3

1

Missing

0.3

1

WORKING LEVEL

10.0

30

Mgmt & Prof

16.3

49

MARITAL STATUS Single

11.3

34

Staff I (JKK-B)

35.7

107

Married

87.7

263

Staff I (JKK-C)

26.0

78

Others

1.0

3

Staff II (JKK- D)

10.3

31

Staff II (JKK-IMG)

1.7

5

5 Years &


39.7

119

RACES Malay

95.7

287

Missing

Chinese

2.3

7

WORKING EXPERIENCE

Indian

2.0

6

Others

-

-

UNDERSTAND TQM Understand

66.0

198

Not Having Enough

32.7

98

Did not Understand

1.3

4

Table 1 above showed the profile of the respondent for this study. Out of 300 respondents, 57% were males and 43% females involved in the survey. Considering the respondent’s age distribution, 48.7% were those within 37-46 years old. However, those within the age of 18-26 years old made up only 3.0% of the sample. The representation on marital status of the respondent, displayed that 87.7% were married, followed by the

11

respondents who were single (11.3%) and the rest of them were in the other status (0.3%). In term of race composition, 95.7 % of them were Malays, followed by Chinese 2.3% and Indian 2.0%. Analysis from the aspect of education level exhibited that 15.0% was only having SRP/PMR or LCE (Lower Certificate of Education), 43.7% having an education at SPM level (Secondary school level certificate) and the other 14.3% had succeed to further their study to the higher level such as STPM/sijil (43 people), 18% at Diploma Level (54 people), 8.7% at Degree Level (26 people). There was no respondent having further Degree such as Master or PhD. A total of 35.7% of the respondents were convergent to the group of work who are in the group of Supporting Staff (JKK-C), 10% were from Top Management and Professional, 16.3% were from Supporting Staff (JKK-B), 26% were from Supporting Staff (JKK-D) and 10.3% were from Supporting Staff (JKK-IMG). Through the analysis of the working experience, 39.7% had been working more then 21 years and already familiar with the quality instrument practices in MPK. Respectively those with 11 to 15 years, 6 to 10 years, 16 to 20 years, and less than 5 years, of working experience were 19.7%, 17.3%, 14.7%, and 8.7% represented. Analysis according to the respondents’ level of understanding of TQM that had been practiced in MPK, revealed that 66% of them were familiar with the quality instrument practices in the organization. The rest of them (32.7%) did not have enough understanding and only 1.3% did not understand at all about the quality instrument practices in MPK.

8.3 Cross Tabulation There are seven (7) cross-tabulation procedures performed in this analysis:Table 3: Gender, Age, Marital Status, Race, Education level, Work group, Working Experience * Successful Implementation of TQM Successful Implementation of TQM Uncertain ty

Agree

Strongly Agree

Total

Chi Square

Male

3 (1.75%)

121 (70.76%)

47 (27.49%)

171 (100%)

0.000

Female

8 (6.20%)

88 (68.22%)

33 (25.58%)

129 (100%)

18-26 Years

0 (0%)

6 (66.67%)

3 (33.33%)

9 (100%)

27-36 Years

3 (3.71%)

49 (60.49%)

29 (35.80%)

81(100 %)

37-46 Years

2 (1.37%)

106 (72.60%)

38 (26.03%)

146 (100%)

Gender

Age 0.000

12

> 51 Years

6 (9.52%)

47 (74.60%)

10 (29.2%)

63 (100%)

Marital Status Single

0 (0%)

24 (70.59%)

10 (29.41%)

34 (100%)

Married

9 (3.42%)

184 (69.96%)

70 (26.62%)

263 (100%)

Others

2 (66.67%)

1 (33.33%)

0 (0%)

3 (100%)

Malay

11 (3.83%)

197 (68.64%)

79 (27.53%)

287(10 0%)

Chinese

0 (0%)

7 (100%)

0 (0%)

7 (100%)

Indian

0 (0%)

5 (83.33%)

1 (16.67%)

6 (100%)

0.000

Race 0.246

Education Level SRP/PMR

1 (2.22%)

29 (64.44%)

15 (33.33%)

45 (100%)

SPM

10 (7.63%)

91 (69.47%)

30 (22.90%)

131 (100%)

STPM/Sijil

0 (0%)

34 (79.07%)

9 (20.93%)

43 (100%)

Diploma

0 (0%)

32 (59.26%)

22 (40.74%)

54 (100%)

Degree

0 (0%)

23 (88.46%)

3 (11.54%)

26 (100%)

0.000

Working group Mgt&Professio nal

0 (0%)

23 (76.67%)

7 (23.33%)

30 (100%)

JKK-B

0 (0%)

38 (77.55%)

11 (22.45%)

49 (100%)

JKK-C

7 (6.54%)

75 (70.10%)

25 (23.36%)

107 (100%)

JKK-D

4 (5.13%)

49 (62.82%)

25 (32.05%)

78 (100%)

JKK-IMG

0 (0%)

21 (67.74%)

10 (32.26%)

31 (100%)

0 (0%)

14 (53.85%)

12 (46.15%)

26 (100%)

3

31

18

52

0.000

Work Experience 21 years

7 (5.88%)

89 (74.79%)

23 (19.33%)

119(10 0%)

Table 3 above displayed the analysis between gender and SITQM. The analysis revealed that majority of the gender respondent agreed that the organization had SITQM. However the value of Pearson Chi-square of 0.000 indicated that was significant difference among the group. Analysis between age and SITQM showed that 100% of the respondents between 1820 years old agreed that the organization had successfully implemented TQM. For the respondents between 27-36 years old, majority (97%) of them agreed and only 3% of them were uncertain about the SITQM. Similarly as for the respondents between the age of 37-46 years old, 98% agreed and only 2% were uncertain that the organization had successfully implemented the TQM. The same pattern was also displayed for the respondents of 51 years old and above whereby majority of them agreed that the organization had been successfully implemented TQM. Further analysis between marital status and SITQM was performed The analysis showed that majority (100%) of the respondent with single status, 96.58% of married respondents, and only 33.33% of the respondents with other status agreed that the organization managed to achieve SITQM. Only the small number of the married respondents and having the others status were uncertain with the SITQM in the organization. Analysis between races and successful implementation of TQM, showed that 100% of the Chinese and Indian respondent agreed the successful implementation of TQM in the organization. For the Malay respondents approximately 96% agreed and only 4% were uncertain about the SITQM in the organization. The analysis between educational level and SITQM showed that majority (100%) of the respondent with the STPM (Higher School certificate) qualification, Diploma, and Degree holder agreed that the organization had achieved SITQM target. Of those from the SPM (Secondary School Level certificate) and SRP/PMR (Lower Level Certificate) holder, the result demonstrated that 92% and 97% agreed with the achievement and only 7% and 3% respectively were uncertain about the SITQM in this organization. Table 3 further displayed the analysis between working group with SITQM. The analysis showed that majority of the respondent from the work group of Top Management and Professional, JKK-B, and JKK-IMG agreed that the organization had been successfully implemented TQM in the organization. For the work group of JKK-C and JKK-D only 93% and 94% agreed, and only 7% and 6% were uncertain about the SITQM in the organization. For the analysis between working experience and SITQM, the result revealed that 100% of the respondent that had been working below than five (5) years, and 11-15 years, agreed that the organization had achieved SITQM. As for the respondents who had

14

been working between 6-10 years, 16-20 year, and more than 21 years, 94%, 97% and 93% of them agreed and only 6%, 3% and 7% were uncertain about SITQM in the organization.

8.4 Correlation of coefficient among the predictors with SITQM The analysis for correlation of coefficient was tested by using the Pearson Correlation Matrix. The rules of thumb proposed by Hair, et al (2003) was used to characterize the strength of association between variables. Table 4: Pearson Correlation Coefficient between participative management, continuous improvement, customer focus, employee commitment, with SITQM

Successful

Pearson Correlation

Implementation Sig.(2TQM tailed) N

Participative Management

Continuous Process Improvement

Customer Employee Focus Commitment

.516**

.676**

.550**

.566**

.000

.000

.000

.000

300

300

300

300

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) The results of the coefficient analysis showed that the relationship between the independent variables of participative management, continuous process improvement, customer focuses and employee commitment with SITQM indicating a moderate correlation as been showed by the p value of 0.516, 0.676, 0.550 and 0.556 respectively. Thus it demonstrated that all the factors were having a significant relationship toward SITQM based on significant value of 0.000 as be showed in the table 4 above.

8.3 Multiple Regression analysis of the predictors and SITQM Through this procedure it becomes a subsequent after the Pearson correlation coefficient measure which is expected to confirm the analysis in table 4. As regression and correlation are closely related, regression assumes the successful implementation of TQM is predicatively linked to the participative management, continuous process improvement, customer focus, and employee commitment. Moreover, regression analysis is used in order to substantiate the hypotheses testing. Table 5 shows the combination between the factor of participative management, continuous process improvement, customer focus, and employee commitment as input for coefficient regression. Continuous process improvement have a higher beta value of 0.450, followed by employee commitment at 0.200, customer focus 0.101, and the lowest was at 0.080 that is participative management.

15

Table 5: Coefficient (a) table

Model

Unstandardized Coefficients B Std. Error

Standardized Coefficients Beta

1 (Constant) .746 .198 Participative Management .068 .047 .080 Continuous Process Improvement .449 .061 .450 Customer Focus .098 .061 .101 Employee Commitment .188 .058 .200 a. Dependent Variable: Mean Successful Implementation TQM

T

Sig

3.763 1.448

0.000 0.149

7.386 1.593 3.234

0.000 0.112 0.000

The t-value or beta value displayed that the combination of the factor continuous process improvement, and employee commitment have a significant relationship with SITQM, whereas factor representing customer focus and participative management demonstrated the beta-value of 0.101 and 0.080, found not to be significant as indicated by the significant value of 0.112 and 0.149 respectively. Table 6: Model Summary of the Investigated Variables Model

R

R-square

1

.717a

0.514

Adjusted R-square 0.507

Sig F Change .000

Predictors: Participative Management, Continuous Process Improvement, Customer Focus, Employee Commitment Variables: Successful Implementation TQM Through the comparison of R-square that showed in Model Summary, table 6, revealed that the model of the study was fairly good because 50.7% from the four (4) independent variables were able to explain the relationship toward SITQM. The evidence became stronger through the significant value of 0.000.

9. DISCUSSION and CONCLUSION The result of our analysis clearly demonstrated that MPK had successfully implemented TQM practices among its employees. In addition, several other dimensions such as participative management, continuous process improvement, customer focus, and employee commitment exhibited to be part of the acceptable values in the organization.

16

In order for the MPK to consolidate their SITQM, they have to continuously maintain their good communication strategy neither with their employees nor through their customers. This is very much relevant since it is having such a reasonably large size of employees and so much variety of services offered. In order to sustain its relevancy, certain proactive strategic plan should be considered in ensuring that any unforeseen circumstances such as unhappy internal or external customers can be immediately managed. It is therefore important to make sure any flows of information should be effectively delivered from each members of employees group that are working in MPK. Higher level worker must be alert and know how to deliver the information in order to make sure everybody may get the inputs and benefit from the information that they has. In order to be successful, TQM implementation has to start with top management making a commitment towards excellence and then providing the leadership that would cascade that commitment to all levels and inspire people towards the transformation of the organizations. In making this commitment, top management should execute the steering committee by providing adequate allocation of funds, effort and time for ensuing activities. Besides that, as the employees of MPK everybody not only top management must have a high commitment in doing their responsibility for this organization to make sure that the quality improvement can be do continuously. Despite of its success, the systematic structure of the organization must be regularly reviewed and adapted towards encouraging cross functional multi disciplinary teams, breaking down departmental barriers, and having consistent goals that would eliminate conflict of interests between departments and between the levels of the organizations. Top down communication and understanding approach always formed the basis of good relationship establishment between organizational hierarchies. More attempts should be further initiated to improve the understanding of SITQM usefulness, especially among the contact and operational staff (level JKK-C and JKK-D) representing MPK. The fact that they were the one who actually delivered the final touch of the service offered is clear evidence. As our finding revealed that these groups were not 100% supportive to SITQM, thus any positive attempts will create chances in enhancing their commitment. Reflecting the importance of working experience in enhancing SITQM obviously are very much related to the study. It is expected that this variable will significantly contribute to the success of any program. Even though our findings suggested the evidence, but still those who were less experience provide more initiative, where as the very experience group looked to be less exhaustive. The main issue of this paper is to investigate SITQM at MPK as a one of the successful model of local authority in Malaysia. The selected predictors of the study were formulated based on the literatures and interviews conducted with the management of the local authority. By relying on the four selected predictors we were able to provide their significant roles in determining the success of TQM implementation at the organization. The selected respondents with 300 sample size were able to generate a good generalization of the findings as the execution of sampling method was performed using stratified sampling approach. Thus any of the findings revealed from the investigation can be objectively used as a platform for other local authorities in preparing for a good TQM practices. In addition, with this model it will provide an outline

17

for the MPK towards increasing their performance, and endorsing the use of TQM for ensuring the success of the organization in future.

References Anjard, P. R. 1995, Keys to Successful TQM Training and Implementation. Journal of Training for Quality, Vol.3 No.1, pp. 4-22. Bunney, H.S & Dale, B.G 1997, “The Implementation of Quality Management Tools and Techniques: - a study”, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 9 No.3, pp. 183-189. Cassidy, M.P 1996, “Streamlining TQM”, Proceedings of the First International Conference on ISO 9000 and Total Quality Management, De Monfort University, Leicester, pp. 315-320. Creech, B. 1994, The Fuve Pillars of TQM: How to Make TQM Work For You, Peguin Group, New York, NY. Curry, A. & Kadasah, N. 2002, “Focusing on Key Elementsof TQM-evaluation for sustainability”, The TQM Magazine, Vol.14 No. 4, pp. 207-216. Dale, B.G & Shaw, P. 1991, “Statistical Process Control: An Examination of Some Common Queries”, International Journal of Production Economic, Vol.22 No.1,pp. 3441. Dale, B.G & Cooper, C. 1993, Total Quality and Human Resources, Blackwell, Oxford. Golnesa, G.M. & Mostafa M. 2007, Total Quality Management in Library and Information Sectors, Vol.26 No.6, pp. 912-922. Granzol, J.R & Gershon, M. 1998, “ A survey Instrument for standardizing TQM modeling Research”, International Journal of Quality Science, Vol.3 No. 1, pp. 80-105. Hair, J.F., Babin, B., Money, A., and Saouel, P., 2003, Essential of business method, John Wiley & Sons Inc. U.S.A. Handy, C. 1994, The empty Raincoat:- Making Sense of the Future, Hutchinson, Landon. Harvey, D.E & Brown, D.R 1996, An Experiental Approach to Organization Development, Prentice Hall International, Upper Saddle River, NY. Helsten, Y. & Klefsjo, B. 2000, “TQM as a Management System Consisting of Values, Techniques and Tools”, The TQM magazine, Vol.3 No.1 pp. 80-105.

18

Holmstrom, S. 2004, “the reflective paradign of public relations”, in Van-Ruler, B. & Vercic, D. (Eds), Public Relations Theory and Practice, Mouton de Grayter, Berlin. Jablonski, R. J. 1992, Implementing TQM. Technical Management Consortion, Inc. pp. 213-227. New York; Citadel Press. Kia, Peter Liang Tan 1997. An Evalution of TQM and the Techniques for Successful Implementation. Journal of Training for Quality, Vol. 5 No. 4, pp. 150-159. Krecjie, R. & Morgan, D. 1970. Determining Sample Size for Research Activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30, p. 607-610 Laing, A. 2003, “Marketing in the Public Sector: Towards a Typology of Public Services”, Marketing theory, Vol.27, pp. 253-279. Luoma-aho, V. 2008, Sector reputation and Public Organizations, International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 21 No.5, pp. 446-467. Norudin Mansor & Che Hamdan Che Mohd. Razali. 2010 Customers’ Satisfaction towards Counter Service of Local Authotiry in Terengganu, Malaysia, Asian Social Science Journal, Vol.6, No.8, pp 197- 208. Norudin Mansor, Noor Hafidzah Abd. Malik & Azman Che Mat, 2010, Organizational Learning for Developing Competency in Malaysian Islamic Banking Institution, Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 144-159 Poerter, L.W., Lawler, E.E & Hackman, JR. 1975, Behavior in Organizations, Mc GrawHill, New York, NY. Senge, P.M. 1990. The fifth Discipline, Doubleday, New York. Stephens, B., 1997, “Implementation of ISO 9000 or Ford’s Q1 Award:- Effects on organizational knowledge and application of TQM principles and quality tools”, The TQM Magazine, Vol.9 No.3, pp. 190-200. Talukder, T. & Ghosh, S., 2004, “Total Quality Management and its implication on library laws”, SRELS Journal of Information Management, Vol.41 No.3, pp. 255-266. Tari, J. J. 2005. Components of Successful TQM. Journal of the TQM Magazine, Vol.17 No.3, pp. 182-194. Wagner, J.A., 1994, “Participation’s effect on Performance and satisfaction: a reconsideration of research evidence” The Academy of Management Review, Vol.19, pp. 312-330. Weber, M. (1994), Political Writtings, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

19

Zeithmal, V.A, Parasuraman, A. & Berry, L.L., 1990, Delivering Quality Service, The Free Press, New York, NY.

20