Analyzing the interaction of critical success factor for TQM implementation- A grey-DEMATEL approach

In an organization, successful implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) brings lot of benefits in terms of quality improvement, customer satisfaction, profit, and market share. It also assists businesses to improve in terms of performance, reducing rework in the process, and reduction in overall costs associated with poor quality (e.g. replacement, warranty, late deliveries, rework and scrap.).However, in practice many enterprises fail to adopt and implement TQM besides having known its benefits and advantages into the organization. Consequently, there is essential requirement for a further systematic and deeper assessment of the various TQM factors for its successful implementation. By considering this research gap in the context of Indian industry, an exhaustive and planned work was carried out to meet this requirement. Several factors influencing the implementation of TQM were decided by consulting industrial and academic experts. From the available responses, an attempt was made to uncover the causal relationships among the identified critical success factors (CSF’s) and categorize them into cause-and-effect groups. In the present work, Grey Set Theory has been integrated with DEMATEL (Decision making Trial and Evaluation Method). Further, the integrated grey based DEMATEL approach was applied to reveal the interrelation among the identified critical success factor. The results indicate that among the identified 15 CSF’s for the successful TQM implementation in Indian SMES industries ‘Top management commitment (CSF1)’, ‘Training and education (CSF6)’,’ Human resource management (CSF3)’ and’Information system (CSF11) are topmost influential cause group factor. Whereas ‘Process management (CSF4)’, ‘Customer focus (CSF5)’, ‘Supply development (CSF7)’ and’ Product and service design (CSF13)’ are the prominent influenced group factors. Analysis outcomes suggest that ‘Top management commitment’ is at the core of the efforts to maintain quality culture throughout the process. Furthermore, implication to theory and practices has been discussed, implication to theory will significantly contribute to existing literature and implication to practice will work as a guideline for practicing mangers and industrial experts. At last, managers and quality engineers will get insight of how to develop efficient quality culture throughout organization by successful implementation of TQM.