To Make It 'Total': Quality Management over Subcultures

Although the concept of Total Quality Management has been fuzzy for decades, academics currently appear to agree that it should concern the entire organization. Total Quality Management inevitably involves a change in the organizational culture, and this, therefore, seems to be a key area in the success of any TQM-efforts. Moreover, any culture change programme in a large company will have to take into account the existence of subcultures with their values and beliefs. Any universally planned uniform change will probably fail to satisfy the expectations in large sectors of the organization. This article first discusses the concept and existence of subcultures and the difficulties in analysing them through two studies conducted by the authors. Then, some culture change problems encountered following the introduction of TQM are addressed through yet another study. Finally, conclusions are drawn to act as guidelines for practitioners.