Impact of Soft and Hard aspects of Total Quality Management on performance. Empirical evidence from Textile sector of Pakistan

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to identify the critical success factors of Total Quality Management as per aspect of soft TQM and hard TQM and to evaluate their impact on the organizational financial performance of Pakistani Textile companies, operating within the manufacturing industry. The data underlying this study was collected using a self-administered questionnaire, distributed to 212 Pakistani Textile manufacturing companies, including both ISO certified and non-certified companies. Of the 212 questionnaires posted, a total of 157 questionnaires were returned. The questionnaire was administered among managers, quality managers, general managers, production managers and technical directors of textile firms registered with APTMA (All Pakistan Textile Mills Association). The data was utilized to test the proposed theoretical model, established with the objective of assessing the impact of empirically identified TQM critical success factors on the organizational performance of Pakistani Textile manufacturing companies. An extensive analysis of the reliability and validity of the model was conducted, revealing no concerns regarding the quality of the model put forward. The empirical analysis confirmed a strong and positive relationship between the soft TQM constructs and organizational performance. The same is in evidence with the constructs, hard TQM and organizational performance, with weak positive relationship. The reliance on subjective evaluations from the respondents is another limitation of this study. The findings thus suggest that a visible and concentrated effort by management, with the objective of improving quality and setting up a corporate culture encompassing the quality missions and vision of the organization, is found to be positively associated with organizational financial performance.