QUALITY INFORMATION SYSTEMS THROUGH PEOPLE...QUALITY INFORMATION SYSTEMS THROUGH PEOPLE DAVID PAPER Utah State University JAMES A. RODGER Southern Illinois University The Total Quality

QUALITY INFORMATION SYSTEMS THROUGH PEOPLE

DAVID PAPER Utah State University

JAMES A. RODGER Southern Illinois University

The Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy is rapidly being adopted by organi-

zations that are concerned about remaining competitive in an intensely competitive

global marketplace. As a result, Information Technology (IT) is being developed and

deployed to foster these quality programs. However, little empirical research is avail-

able concerning implementation of technology in TQM environments. Research is

needed to guide organizations toward a path of successful implementation of quality

systems. The objective of this study is to devise a set of guidelines for organizations

attempting to infuse total quality into their systems development efforts. The study

draws upon data gathered from case studies of three organizations involved in total quality systems development. The three organizations were chosen based on their differ-

ences in size (total revenues). Contrasting the three organizations should add richness

to the development of TQM guidelines. The study begins with a review of the quality

research. The methodology is described in the next section. A synopsis of the case stud-

ies is then presented. Finally, a set of guidelines and theoretical implications synthesized

from the literature and cases are introduced.

INTRODUCTION

The decade of the 90s has seen a rapid shift to global competition in many industries.

Moreover, Information Technology (IT) is allowing smaller organizations the ability to move into “once secure” markets with added flexibility and customer responsiveness. In

an attempt to remain competitive, many organizations have slashed operating budgets,

laid off workers, and restructured. However, these actions have not appeared to increase

Direct all correspondence to: David Paper, Utah State University, BISE Department, UMC 3515, College of

Business, Logan, UT 84322-3515.

The Journal of High Technology Management Research, Volume 7, Number 2, pages 269-282 Copyright@ 1996 by JAI Press, Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISSN: 1047-8310.

270 THE JOURNAL OF HIGH TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT RESEARCH VOL. 7/NO. 2/ 1996

product quality, customer satisfaction or market share. Notwithstanding, a select group of

organizations have been able to retain excellence in ma~ufactu~ng and service. The

success of these org~i~tions is not an accident. They have in common a holistic

approach for managing their respective organizations. The generic name given to this

approach (or methodology) is Total Quality Management (TQM). The TQM philosophy promotes world-class excellence in manufacturing and service

through focused and continuous improvements in core business processes, waste reduc-

fion efforts, customer satisfaction, and timely delivery of goods and services (The Shingo

Prize for Excellence in Mauufactu~ng~ 1994). Therefore, TQM initiatives should perme-

ate all facets of an organization to provide successful results. Information technology is a critical resource that should be strategically deployed to

foster enterprise-wide quality efforts (Davenport, 1993). However, IT should only be

considered after a process or activity has been improved ~H~ngton, 1991). Therefore,

integration and coordination of ente~~s~-wide core processes associated with TQM initi-

atives should be logically conceptualized prior to implementation of new systems. Logical

conceptualization should also consider the role of existing systems. The role of IT should

then be carefully considered. At a minimum, IT should focus on fostering customer satisfaction by delivering quality information, in a timely fashion, to core business processes.

However, many info~a~n~ systems were not designed in accordance with the TQM

philosophy. ~nfo~~ion systems design and development efforts have typically ignored

the users and customers of the system. The results have been fess than satisfactory.

Systems that did not meet user demands were underutilized or not used at all. Moreover,

customers were not better served by the systems. TQM is rapidly being adopted by organizations concerned about remaining competitive

in an intensely competitive global marketplace (Zultner, 1993). As a result, IT is being

developed and deployed to foster these quality programs. However, little empirical

research is available concerning implementation of technology in TQM environments.

Research is needed to guide organizations toward a path of successful implementation of

quality systems. The objective of this study is to devise a set of guidelines for organ~atio~s attempting

to infuse total quality into their systems dev~Iopment efforts. The study draws upon case

studies with three organizations (Qualitech, SGI, IBM) involved in total quality systems development. The case study methodology was chosen because TQM is a relatively new

research area. Case studies provide rich data and may act as a basis for preliminary

construction of conceptual frameworks by other researchers. The study begins with a review of the quality research. The methodology is described

in the next section A synopsis of the cases is then presented. Finally, a set of guidelines and theoretical implications synthesized from the literature and cases are introduced.

Purpose of The Study

The purpose of this study is to devise a set of guidelines for org~~~tions attempting to

infuse the total quality paradigm into their systems development efforts. The study draws upon case studies with three organizations (Qualitech, SGI, IBM) involved in total quality

systems development. The three organizations were chosen based on their differences in size (total revenues). Contrasting the three organizations should add richness to the devel-

opment of TQM guidelines.

Quality Information Systems Through People 271

In a recent editorial, Palvia (1995) suggested that investigation of a new field requires serious inquiry. Without rigorous inductive work into new fields of research, theoretical grounding may be based on erroneous assumptions. Palvia added that objectivity can be introduced into research by data triangulation. Triangulation does not necessarily require complex statistical analysis to strengthen theoretical development. It can be accomplished

by conducting in-depth case study analysis. Case studies are useful mechanisms to investigate new areas of research because

comparative case analysis permits collection of multiple data sources (company documents, interviews, questionnaires, and observations). Within case analysis enables unique patterns of each case to emerge (Eisenhardt, 1989). Across case analysis allow researchers to infer similarities and differences between cases. Several parallel lines of inquiry can then be pursued with ultimate convergence (Swanson and Beath, 1988). Theoretical grounding is thus strengthened by triangulation of evidence (Yin, 1989).

Consistent with Palvia (1995), it appears that TQM research has been overly specula- tive in terms of drawing objectivity from anecdotal studies. Nevertheless, we believe that case study analysis is not the culprit. Serious and detailed inquiry into even one case can provide researchers with a tremendous amount of useful information to guide future

research. Moreover, survey research may be premature in a field of study devoid of a theoretical foundation. Considering the complexities involved in TQM implementation and the lack of established theories, scholars should work closely with managers involved in TQM

initiatives to provide more accurate and insightful research reports. Therefore, our approach involves case studies of TQM initiatives in three companies.

In sum, the case study methodology was chosen because empirical work in the area is relatively new. Even though TQM is not new to organizations, rigorous research in this

area is scarce making case research ideal.

Literature Review

The quality concept was pioneered by individuals who had quantitative interests which focused on the production and manufacturing of tangible goods. Walter Shewhart of Bell Telephone Laboratories was the first to investigate statistical quality control. Two other

Bell Lab investigators, Harold Romig and Harold Dodge, developed a statistical sampling method as an alternative to one hundred percent inspection. Edward Deming, convinced the Japanese to adopt Shewhart’s principles of statistical process control (Garvin &

March, 1986). He is given credit for much of Japan’s manufacturing preeminence (Mondy, Sharplin, & Flippo, 1988). Many others have contributed to the quality movement including Feigenbaum, Ishikawa, Taguchi, Crosby, Kearns, Mazda, Taylor, Deming, and Juran (Gehani, 1993). The pioneers of the quality movement and their contributions are summarized in Table 1.

A paradigm shift in the organizational view (North American industry) of acceptable quality has occurred during the past decade. Traditionally, producers of goods and services allowed for a small amount of defective output. An rejection rate of one percent (99 percent defect-free part production) was considered acceptable. In contrast, the TQM perspective is production of “error-free” products and services (Harrington, 1991).

Quality-minded organizations are beginning to realize that accepting a one percent defect rate may lead to disastrous consequences. For instance, dissatisfied customers may decide to shop elsewhere. The relatively recent onslaught of global competition is opening up more shopping options for “once loyal” consumers. Typically, foreign organizations

212 THE JOURNAL OF HIGH TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT RESEARCH VOL. 7/NO. 211996

TABLE 1 Contributions of Quality Pioneers to the TQM movement

Quallity Pioneer Contribution

Feigenbaum Total Quality Control

Ishikawa Preventative Quality

Taguchi Design Quality

Crosby Quality Cost

KWrIlS Competitive Quality

Mazda Innovative Quality

Taylor Inspected Quality

Deming Process Control Quality

Juran Quality Management

have broken into the North American marketplace by offering high quality goods and services at marketable prices. In addition, domestic competitors are adopting quality initiatives to become more competitive. American industries are therefore placing greater emphasis on quality to establish a stronger competitive position in a global economy (Parisi, 1991). Motorola, Inc. is one of the leaders in quality and productivity achieve- ments (Garvin, 1987). Motorola is currently involved in a five-year quality improvement program called Six Sigma. The main goal of the Six Sigma program is to maintain a

99.9999998 percent correct operation rate. The TQM philosophy has also been embraced by the service sector (Parasuraman et al.,

1985; Blackbum & Rosen, 1993). Service organizations are striving for “zero defects” in order to keep every customer the company can profitably serve. “Customer defections have a surprisingly powerful impact on the bottom line. They can have more to do with a service company’s profits than scale, market share, unit costs, and many other factors usually associated with competitive advantage. As a customer’s relationship with the company lengthens, profits rise. And not just a little. Companies can boost profits by

almost 100% by retaining just 5% more of their customers” (Reichheld & Sasser, 1990). TQM has become a catchphrase for an enterprise-wide effort to improve quality.

However, to implement TQM, companies should commit to a “zero defects” philosophy (Zultner, 1993). They should continuously search for ways of making sure that defects and errors never happen. To reduce confusion about the meaning of TQM, a definition is now offered. Deming (1986), a pioneer in the quality movement, provided a widely accepted views of TQM. He described TQM as a company wide organizational effort aimed at

changing the way business is conducted. Production of a good or a service involves a process. Although Japanese firms have

been focusing on process improvement for many years, Western firms have been slow to realize its importance (Imai, 1986; Thurow, 1991). Both product and service quality can be dramatically improved by focusing on the process rather than only on the result (Davenport, 1993). Therefore, there should be improvement in both the process and the product (or service) if total quality management is to be successfully implemented.

Methodology

Potential respondents were drawn from the literature based on assertions that they had been involved with TQM initiatives. A commercially available database of current MIS professionals was consulted in an attempt to identify contact points for potential respon-


dents. Once a contact person was identified, he or she was solicited by telephone to obtain

participation in the study. Organizations were screened based on size (total revenue) and

participation (current or past) in a TQM systems development project. Organizations were

included once it was established that they had participated in at least one TQM project and

met the size criterion. The advantage of this strategy is the abundance of rich data that can

be collected by direct contact with a relatively small number of organizations. The draw-

back of this strategy is the non-random nature of data collection. The sample strategy was to choose one organization for each of three groups. For group

one, the size of the organization had to be less than 20 million dollars in gross total reve-

nues. For group two, the size had to be greater than 20 million dollars and less than 2 billion. For group three, the size had to be greater than 2 billion dollars in gross total reve-

nue. The demarcations between the three groups was chosen arbitrarily by the researchers.

Organizations with greater size tend to have available slack resources (deep pockets) to be

better able to afford innovations (Kimberly & Evanisko, 1981; Barreyre, 1978; Bourgeois,

1981). Slack resources enable a firm to purchase innovations, absorb losses, and explore with R&D expenditures (Rosner, 1968). However, there exists some empirical evidence

which states that smaller firms are more flexible and tend to become established in an

industry through new product innovation (Ettlie, 1983). Therefore, larger organizations

have more slack resources to invest in TQM efforts. However, smaller organizations can

adjust to change more readily. The sample was stratified into three groups of organizations (small, medium, large) to

enable us to compare and contrast TQM methodologies by size. Analysis of the case study interviews should provide a more specific set of TQM guidelines for systems development projects based on the size of the organization in total revenues.

For a preliminary investigation of TQM initiatives in organizations, our goal was to

conduct a case study of one organization in each category. A total of nine organizations

were included in the database of potential respondents. Three of the organizations were

relatively small. Three were medium sized organizations. Three were large organizations.

The first three calls were made to one organization in each category (small, medium,

large). Only three organizations needed to be contacted as each agreed to participate. Case studies were based loosely on a set of open-ended questions-as depicted in

Table 2. Each respondent was asked to frame each question in terms of a specific TQM

initiative related to a systems development project. On-site case studies, review of organi-

TABLE 2 Questions Asked Concerning TQM Projects

Case Study Questions

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Describe the management team responsible for the TQM project. Who is included?

Are team members and project leaders trained to deal with empowerment? Discuss.

How much authority is delegated to the team? Are they truly empowered?

involved? Describe the composition of the team (cross-functional, education, skill sets, etc.)

Does the project have a committed project champion? How important is he or her?

Which direction is your company heading -- growth, downsizing, stability, etc.?

How committed is top management to the TQM project? Discuss.

How critical are your customers to the success of the project? Discuss.

Discuss the basic culture and management style of your organization.

Describe your telecommunications/hardware/database configurations.

274 THE JOURNAL OF HIGH TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT RESEARCH VOL. 7/NO. 2/ 1996

zational documents (annual reports), and follow-up telephone calls were included to resolve loose ends and inconsistencies. Data assimilated from the cases were analyzed in terms of m~agement style, team involvement, team structure, top-level involvement, and corporate evolution.

Results

This section presents a brief profile of each company. Table 3 presents demo~aphic characteristics of each organizations. Table 4 describes the results of the case study interviews with each company. The section concludes by presenting a synthesis of the results of the cases.

Qualitech is a small company in Florida that develops database and other software packages for medium to large organizations. The company also provides in-house consulting and rn~nten~~e to assure successful implementation of the systems they develop. The company employs a few very bright and highly skilled system developers to build

their systems. The small size of the company enables flexibility when dealing with change. In addition, one person is usually responsible for an entire project. Therefore, quality can be built into the system more easily as the project team is typically very small and very experienced.

IBM is an international provider of computer products and services. Due to its enormous size, IBM has had difficulty dealing with change. The data was collected on a single

TABLE 3 Profiles of the Respondents

Company Profiles

Qualitech: l Total revenue (sales)-$2 million

l Full-time employees-90

l Employees in IS Dept.-30

0 Major industry--service (software development & delivery)

l Job title of respondent-Executive Manager of IS Development

l Years employed in the organization-8 months

. Current position-8 months

Silicon Graphics, Inc.: l Total revenue (sales)-$1.5 billion

l Full-time employees--42CO

* Employees in IS Dept.-20

l Major indust~-manufacturing (silicon graphics chips)

* Job title of respondent-Group controller l Years employed in the organization--S years

l Current position-2 years

IBM: l Total revenue (saJes&$4.5 billion (Disk Packaging & Assembly business unit)

l Full-time employees-8~

l Employees in IS Dept.40 l Major industry-manufacturing (computer hardware, PC’s, & service)

l Job title of respondent-Manager of Corporate Accounting

. Years employed in the organization---l5 years

l Current position-2 years _

@dity Informution Systems Through People

TABLE 4 Case Study Results by Organization

Qualitech SGI IBM

Managed Empowerment

Autonomy

Championship

Top-level Commitment

Corporate Evolution

Customer Satisfaction

IT Configurations

Supportive Training important Moderate delegation

Moderate accountable Slightly controlled Training important Open communication Cross-functional team

Access to IT resources Politics minimal Work with IS team Important for success

Very high

Small and stable

Very important Involvement moderate

Distributed C/S Partial-integrated data

Very supportive No training High delegation

Highly accountable Slightly controlled Low training Open communication Cross-functional team

Access to IT resources Little political clout Work closely with IS Important for success

Very high

Rapid growth

Very important Involvement high

Distributed C/S Partial-integrated data

215

Supportive No training Delegation

Accountable Controlled Low training Communication fair Cross-functional team

Access to IT resources Have political clout Work with IS team Important for success

Weak

Downsizing

Critical Involvement very high

Mainframe Partial-integrated data

business unit of the company-Disk Packaging and Assembly. Even so, Disk Packaging is still a $4.5 billion dollar business. The contact person was given autonomy to redesign his business unit. His mission was to increase quality and efficiency with existing resources. He achieved positive results by fostering employee creativity and input, reduc- ing unnecessary staff, focusing on downstream activities that add value to the manufactur-

ing process, and prioritizing the key drivers of the business-inputs, outputs, processes, and tasks. His quality project was successful. However, downstream activities outside of his realm could not be controlled, data integration across business unit boundaries was low, and he encountered enormous resistance to change from many of his employees.

Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) is a medium-sized company, based in California, that manufactures silicon graphics chips for computers. They take pride in producing state-of- the-art silicon graphics chips which incorporate the newest technology in support of

advanced graphics for commercial and private use. The company is only 12 years old, but has already quadrupled in size in the past 5 years. The company is used to dealing with change and seems to embrace it. The contact person at SGI believes that his company is positioned appropriately for the globalization of the economies of the world. He reported that the management team is relatively young, comfortable with change, technically competent, and very sensitive to customer needs. The growth orientation of the company appears to foster change and new ideas from its employees. Therefore, the implementation of TQM philosophies has been relatively easy.

As depicted in Table 4, case study results were classified into seven categories- managed empowerment, team autonomy, project championship, top management commitment to the project, corporate evolution (direction), customer satisfaction, and IT configuration. Managed empowerment refers to the ability of the project management team to facilitate employee empowerment and involvement in major project decisions. Team


autonomy refers to the extent team members are empowered to carry out their jobs.

Project championship is the influence the champion has on the success of the project. Top management commitment is the degree that the top management team supports the

project. Corporate evolution is the growth pattern and direction of the company. Customer satisfaction is the importance of the customer to project success. Finally, IT configuration is the existing technological infrastructure supporting the project.

Qualitech and IBM reported that managed empowerment was important. Both organizations agreed that it is management’s responsibility to create a conducive environment for continuous project team development. However, they were hesitant to allow project team members to make completely autonomous decisions. Qualitech believes in training managers in how to deal with empowered workers. They also believe in training workers in how to succeed in an empowered environment. IBM believes in training, but was not willing to commit resources to this activity. In contrast, SGI perceived managed empowerment as critical to the successful implementation of the TQM project. Moreover, they involved team members in the decision making process. SC1 management was comfortable delegating decision making to workers at the production line level. Notwithstanding, SGI does not provide formal training to managers or workers in how to succeed in an empowered environment.

IBM reported that strict control of empowered workers is important. SGI and Qualitech reported that control should be maintained, but at a distance. In other words, they believe that strict control defeats the purpose of empowerment. IBM and Qualitech believes that workers should be held accountable for their actions. However, strict guidelines for worker accountability were not in place at the time of the case study interviews. SGI has established strict guidelines for worker accountability. Communication channels between workers and management are open in SGI and Qualitech TQM projects. Communication in IBM is only fair. All three organizations have built cross-functional teams to represent the different constituents of the process.

All three organizations reported that the project champion was important to the success of the project, was critical in securing IT resources, and worked closely with IT personnel. The champion at IBM had the political clout necessary to assist project implementation. The contact person reported that political clout was a necessity to champion projects in a culture like IBM. The IBM culture and size make it difficult to secure solid top management commitment. Qualitech and SGI found that the political clout of the champion was not critical. Conversations with respondents indicated that a possible explanation may be that top management’s commitment was strong enough to see the project through to completion.

Qualitech is a small service (consulting) company with no aspirations of becoming much larger in the near future. Their size allows them a lot of flexibility to deal with

change. Since a project is typically assigned to one person, quality is much easier to control. Hence, implementation of TQM in Qualitech is not a major problem. SGI is in an expansion mode. Growth has been so rapid that change is a way of life for SGI employees. SGI top management is very committed to quality initiatives which makes TQM implementation relatively smooth. In contrast, IBM is downsizing operations. IBM has grown such a large bureaucracy that it has lost touch with the needs of the marketplace (in many instances). TQM implementation at IBM is very difficult. Employees are used to structure and stability, not change. Top management is so far removed from operations that it makes it very difficult for them to commit to any project in the long-run. Nevertheless, IBM is aggressively attempting to deal with its problems. Major reengineering and restructuring efforts are currently underway. Employee training has also been intensified.


IBM is attempting to infuse the importance of customer satisfaction throughout its organization by training and job rotation. In addition, IBM is allowing more autonomy to product managers to enhance creativity and closer adherence to customer demands.

Customer satisfaction is very important to all three companies. IBM realizes that it needs to be much more sensitive to its customers for its future survival. Therefore, one of the major enterprise-wide goals of IBM is to enhance customer involvement in product development. SGI and Qualitech also believe that customer involvement is very important. However, they have always been sensitive to their customers.

IBM has a centralized mainframe technology configuration. SGI and Qualitech have a distributed client/server technology configuration. They have been able to take advantage of advances in technology due to their size and management flexibility. None of the organizations reported totally integrated data. All three reported that their databases were partially integrated.

Discussion and Guidelines

Consistent with the case study interviews, a primary measure of quality success is customer satisfaction. The challenge for organizations is not just to please the customer, but to exceed customer expectations. Quality means developing products and services which truly surprise and delight the customer (Peterson and Hillkirk, 1991). The customer is the key. An organization is producing a good or service for a customer (Drucker, 1954). Even if a product or service is perfectly “defect-free, ” it may not satisfy the customer in terms of price/performance or expectations. The product or service should be of high quality, price competitive, and meet customer needs.

Total involvement is also critical to TQM success. A successful quality program requires an enterprise-wide commitment dedicated to continuous improvement of the processes involved in producing a good or service (Imai, 1986; Zultner, 1993). According to Imai, total involvement includes everyone-top management, managers, and workers. A critical aspect of TQM is that it shifts responsibility for quality from staff operations specialists to the manufacturing line (Davidow & Malone, 1992). Line workers are in the best position to effect meaningful change to a process as they are closest to the manufacture of the good or service (Davenport, 1993). Empowerment is critical to the successful implementation of TQM initiatives (Lawler, 1994). However, worker involvement requires a

paradigm shift in the traditional style of management. Managers should act as facilitators rather than autocrats. Creative input from line workers should be nurtured and encouraged. We found that all three organizations believed that total involvement of workers, project managers, and top managers was important for successful TQM implementation.

TQM initiatives can be facilitated through several managerial actions. First, management should communicate and demonstrate the importance of the quality concept to the customer, organization, and employees. Second, employees need to be trained and educated so that they have the skills and knowledge necessary to understand and provide quality goods and services. Third, management should not only secure employee participation in the quality effort, but they should also reward them for quality performance. Employees should be rewarded for adherence to quality standards. Quality input and performance of employees deserves money, praise, visibility, advancement, and all the other encouragements that a company can provide (Firnstahl, 1989). Discussions with respondents from the three organizations confirmed that communication, training, and employee involvement are critical to success. Notwithstanding, training monies may not


be available, communication channels may be blocked by bureaucracies, employees may

not be properly encouraged to participate, and the existing management team (and

employees) may be resistant to change. Dealing with human problems is very difficult, but

should be faced to ensure successful implementation of TQM projects. In sum, total involvement and customer satisfaction are critical to the successful imple-

mentation of TQM projects. Notwithstanding, an organization’s size and corporate evolu-

tion may cause it special problems. Larger organizations may find it much more difficult

dealing with change because of sizeable bureaucracies. Bureaucracies separate manage-

ment levels from employees and employees from customers. Small organizations tend to

be more flexible and can therefore cope with change more readily. Growth-oriented orga-

nizations live with change as growth brings change. Therefore, TQM implementation may be easier.

The remainder of this section will develop two sets of guidelines for organizations deal-

ing with TQM implementation issues. The first is a set of generic guidelines to facilitate

TQM initiatives in any organization. The second is a set of more specialized guidelines for

TQM based on company size and corporate evolution. The generic guidelines still hold, but

organizations with special problems should prioritize TQM activities a little differently. The ten generic guidelines provide a direction for organizations involved in the imple-

mentation of TQM initiatives. The guidelines would also work well for dealing with most

innovations and changes in organizational routines. Each guideline is followed by a set of

questions. The questions are intended to facilitate thinking (brainstorming) about how an

organization can develop strategies to foster implementation of each guideline.

Generic Guidelines

1. Identify and sell key players impacted by the TQM Effort.

Whose feet will we step on? Who benefits most from the changes? How are costs distributed across functions and users? (Who pays?)

2. Interact with customers to verify needed modifications.

What are we doing right? Wrong? How do we plan to better serve the customer? What changes will best facilitate customer satisfaction? How can we conduct better market research to pinpoint customer needs? How can we get customers more involved in major product decisions?

3. Identify the domain of the project. What business processes are involved? What functional areas are impacted? What users are impacted? How can we rearrange or reassign work-flows and activities process reengineering

4. Build a project team composed of workers from each functional area impacted by

the project. Do team members have the skills required to work with others? Do team members represent a critical mass of functions (cross-functional)

impacted?


Can team members adapt and be effective in an empowered environment?

Are team members trained to operate in an empowered environment?

5. Choose managers and project leaders with the skills to excel in an empowered envi-

ronment.

Can project leaders delegate authority? Can managers coach rather than control? Are incentives and rewards aligned with empowered activities and cooperation? How can we establish a conducive environment for empowerment? How can we create employee accountability? How can we better budget for empowerment education and training? How can we open communication channels with workers? Customers?

6. Justify modifications based on a “value-added” rather than a “cost/benefit”

approach. Can top management embrace a long-term vision of the project? Can they operate with a “value-added” mentality?

7. Build mechanisms to foster data and technology integration.

Can the organization make key managers aware of the capabilities of IT? Can the organization integrate the IS function with the business function?

8. Choose a project manager with political clout and skills that fit culture. Does the champion have enough enthusiasm and dedication to follow-through? Can the champion facilitate acquisition of IT and other resources?

9. Secure top management commitment and involvement for the project.

Is top management sensitive to the resources and time needed for success? Is top management involved in the progress of the project? Are steering committees set up to monitor the project?

10. Establish a proactive philosophy for dealing with change. Are we reacting to our competition? How can we keep up-to-date on technological advances? How do we proactively

manage our IT resources? How do we proactively manage our people?

Organizations that are bureaucratic and/or in a downsizing mode (like IBM) have special problems when it comes to dealing with change. Table 5 provides suggestions for

organizations in one or both of these situations. This table should be consulted in conjunc- tion with the generic guidelines as they are still applicable.

Companies in the downsizing mode should retain employees that “add-value” to the organization and that can adapt to change. Training these employees should also be a priority. Empowerment is critical since less employees should now do the same amount of work. Funds for training should be channeled in from monies released from the downsizing effort. The project champion should be politically smart and be able to thrive in an environment of change. The major goal of downsizing should be to build customer involvement.

In a bureaucratic organization, managed empowerment won’t work (in the long-run). Therefore, restructuring, downsizing, and/or reengineering should be a high priority. Managers and employees should be trained or retrained to deal with change. Training is


even more critical as the structure of the company is not conducive to empowerment and

TQM. The project champion should have access to top management to promote the

project. A top priority should be to reduce bureaucracy. Otherwise, empowerment won’t

succeed and customers won’t be served. Information technology can play a pivotal role in enhancing productivity. Nevertheless,

IT was not the main focus of this study as organizations are realizing that their existing

structures and management styles are flawed. Corrective action should be taken before IT

can really be effective. The role of technology should be that of facilitation and support of

organizational processes rather than as a ubiquitous solution to organizational problems.

Theoretical Implications

Analysis of the data has provided a foundation for relating a set of factors to TQM

implementation success. The factors derived from the cases include managed empower-

ment, worker autonomy, project championship, top management commitment, corporate

evolution, customer satisfaction, and IT configurations. Properties of each factor were also

reported. For instance, managed empowerment had three properties-management

support for employee involvement, empowerment training, and willingness to delegate

decision making to line workers. Our study provides an initial effort toward building a cumulative research tradition in the

area of TQM research. Other researchers can build on our study by comparing the factors

and relationships we found to other case studies. Additional case studies should contribute

additional factors (and their respective properties) and provide further insights into TQM

implementation. Accumulation of such studies should eventually lead to development of a

theoretical model of TQM success. Repetitive case studies should precede field studies to

validate TQM factors and their relationships to successful TQM implementation.

CONCLUSION

The study identified a set of generic guidelines to facilitate implementation of TQM initi-

atives in systems development projects. In addition, a set of specialized guidelines were

developed to assist organizations with special problems in terms of size and corporate

evolution. The guidelines were developed from case study interviews with three organiza-

tions and the quality literature. In sum, top management involvement, empowered work-

ers, customer satisfaction, open communication, and a strong project champion greatly

enhances the chances for the successful implementation of TQM initiatives. Larger organizations should become more sensitive to their special problems. They should find ways

to circumvent or eliminate bureaucracies to involve key people in the TQM effort and

develop closer ties with their customers. Organizations, regardless of size, should continue to explore the potential of informa-

tion systems to facilitate teamwork, customer interaction, and management awareness of

current and future problems. The organizations included in the study consider technology

to be pivotal to their future success. However, they believe that their employees are their

greatest asset. Employee morale and productivity should be a first priority followed by

consideration of information technology’s role in enhancing these objectives.

Quality Infomation Systems Through People 281

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QUALITY INFORMATION SYSTEMS THROUGH PEOPLE...QUALITY INFORMATION SYSTEMS THROUGH PEOPLE DAVID PAPER Utah State University JAMES A. RODGER Southern Illinois University The Total Quality