Faisal Talib a, Zillur Rahman b & M.N. Qureshi c a Mechanical Engineering Section, University Polytechnic, Faculty. Available online: 07 Dec 2011

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3 Total Quality Management Vol. 22, No. 12, December 2011, Prioritising the practices of total quality management: An analytic hierarchy process analysis for the service industries Faisal Talib a, Zillur Rahman b and M.N. Qureshi c a Mechanical Engineering Section, University Polytechnic, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India; b Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India; c Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Technology and Engineering, MS University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, India Total quality management (TQM) is a major business strategy which employs a set of principles and practices to achieve sustainable competitive advantage in the service industry. This research aims to categorise TQM practices and examine its relative importance for better implementation in service industries. The relative importance and ranking of TQM practices in service industries was done through a literature review, discussion with experts, and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach. In all, 17 TQM practices were identified and further divided into three factor categories. Then their prioritisation was done using AHP approach to assign the relative importance of these 17 TQM practices in service industries. The results will help service industry managers to work upon them based on their relative importance to improve their TQM performance. Finally, limitations, managerial implications, and scope of future study are presented at the end. Keywords: total quality management (TQM); TQM practices; analytic hierarchy process (AHP); service industries; prioritisation; top-management commitment 1. Introduction During the past two decades, quality issues namely service quality and product quality have become major areas of attention for practitioners, managers, and researchers owing to their significant contribution to business performance, cost, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and profitability (Seth, Deshmukh, & Vrat, 2005; Silvestro & Cross, 2000; Sureshchandar, Rajendran, & Anantharaman, 2002). It is well recognised nowadays that quality and its management issues strongly impact the overall performance in service industries. Adequate quality systems are of paramount importance (van de Water & de Vries, 2006) from a competitive point of view. Therefore, all service industries seek to adopt and implement a set of operational practices that are successful in similar domains so that proactive identification and response to needful changes can lead to continuous improvement (Fassoula, 2006). One of these proactive responses is the adoption of total quality management (TQM) in operational environment (Jung & Wang, 2006). It has received a great attention due to its effectiveness in achieving sustainable competitive advantage and enhanced business performance (Arumugam, Chang, Ooi, & Teh, 2009; Powell, 1995; Salaheldin, 2009; Venkatraman, 2007). Research has shown that strategic benefits of TQM are increasing market share, return on investment (Cole, 1992), Corresponding author. ftalib77@yahoo.co.in ISSN print/issn online # 2011 Taylor & Francis

4 1332 F. Talib et al. improvement in strategic performance (Zhang, 2000), cost reduction, improved productivity (Ashok & Santhakumar, 2002; Goetsch & Davis, 2000) and many more. Literature on TQM implementation further suggests that TQM practices are positively associated with organisational performance (Brah, Wong, & Rao, 2000; Salaheldin, 2009; Yusuf, Gunasekaran, & Dan, 2007). Likewise, Powell (1995) examined TQM as a potential source of sustainable competitive advantage and found that performance was positively associated with TQM practices. Agus, Krishnan, and Kadir (2000) indicated that proper implementation of TQM can positively influence customer satisfaction, leading to enhanced financial performance. Kanji (1998) stated that TQM can lead to business excellence. Further, Saravanan and Rao (2006) found that there is a significant correlation between implementation of TQM practices, customer satisfaction, and business performance. Considering the major benefits of TQM implementation, several studies have undertaken the identification of TQM practices in service sector to find out the core TQM practices. These include: top-management commitment, continuous improvement and innovation, customers requirements, employee involvement, teamwork, supplier quality management, process management, employee training, and benchmarking (Kaynak, 2003; Sila & Ebrahimpour, 2002; Whiney & Pavett, 1998). Effective implementation of these practices can derive desired benefits (Ashok & Santhakumar, 2002). Further, it is critical to determine the implementation priority of TQM practices to achieve maximum benefits and desired goals. Therefore, it is important to prioritise resource allocation to individual practices during TQM implementation in service industries. A review of literature on TQM practices indicated that much has been written about TQM practices and their implementation in different sectors but little attention has been paid to prioritising these practices. However, there is pressing need to identify the criteria for determining implementation priority of TQM practices for their successful implementation in service industries. In order to bridge this gap, the present study uses an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach to determine the relative importance of TQM practices in service industries. For this purpose, the research aimed at achieving the following objectives:. to investigate and categorise the TQM practices of service industries; and. to prioritise the relative importance of these TQM practices for implementation so that service industries can evaluate their current practices and re-allocate reasonable resources to improve their TQM performance. The paper hereafter is organised as follows. The next section presents the literature review followed by discussion on the identification and categorisation of TQM practices. An introduction to AHP is given and the relative importance of the TQM practices is determined via the AHP approach in the subsequent section. Finally, results and analysis and discussion on findings are presented followed by the limitations, conclusion, and scope of future research. 2. Literature review Evaluation of TQM practices was conducted in the literature review. The focus was on the identification of those TQM practices in service industries that results in improved business performance and customer satisfaction. The study finally identified 17 TQM practices that can impact the organisation performance. This was done on the basis of review of literature and discussion with experts and academicians in the quality area

5 Total Quality Management 1333 keeping service sector in focus. After critically reviewing the 17 TQM practices, they were grouped into three categories or criteria: strategic factors ; tactical factors ; and operational factors. Table 1 shows some of the selected literature references used in this study Identification of factors categories and TQM practices in service industries Strategic factors Strategic factors are those factors that are important and critical for achieving business goals and organisational effectiveness (Tseng & McLean, 2008). These factors influence other linking factors and provide a benchmark for TQM implementation in the organisations to achieve enhanced business performance and customer satisfaction. They are broad in nature and impact the long-term effectiveness of the organisation (Davis, Aquilano, & Chase, 2003). They further require a significant change in the organisation culture (Turban, McLean, & Wetherbe, 1999). Moreover, these factors play a dominant role in the successful implementation of TQM practices (Saleheldin, 2009). There are six TQM practices in this factor category. First, top-management commitment is crucial not only in setting and communicating clear objectives and goals (Schmitz & Platts, 2004) but also in motivating and providing direction to employees to improve organisational performance (Dale, 1999). It affects both quality performance and financial performance (Lee, Lee, & Chang, 2001). Second, a quality culture leads to organisation culture and corporate culture (Curry & Kadasah, 2002). It creates an impression on the customer about the organisation (Bitner, 1992). Quality culture is necessary for providing employee empowerment that guides employees to focus on quality and inspect their own mistakes (Ahire, Golhar, & Waller, 1996). Third, having continuous improvement and innovation practices in service industries help in eliminating lead times in delivery, reducing errors, and variability in the process, thereby continuously improving business performance and reducing all non-value-adding activities to a minimum (Hyland, Mellor, & Donepadi, 2000). The aim of continuous improvement and innovation is about learning from the current processes to improve them in future. It is an integral part of TQM and improves customer satisfaction (Anderson, Rungtusanatham, & Schroeder, 1994). Fourth, quality systems in the organisation lead to improved organisational performance as well as customer requirements and expectations. Continuously evaluating and adjusting quality and strategic policies within an organisation will further strengthen the quality systems in the organisation (Saravanan & Rao, 2006). Quality systems such as ISO9000 standards, statistical process control, and qualitative tools and techniques may help to create a solid basis for quality improvement and implementing TQM in an organisation (Curry & Kadasah, 2002). Fifth, benchmarking is critical in providing a target for improving the performance of the organisation in order to achieve superiority in market place (Yusuf et al., 2007). Benchmarking ensures continuous improvement and achievement of higher standards of competitiveness (Zairi & Hutton, 1995). Finally, effective strategic planning and deployment of plans is crucial to the success of TQM implementation (Brah, Serene, & Rao, 2002). Long-term strategy should be clearly identified and effectively communicated within the organisation (Peters, 1988; Tillery & Rutledge, 1991) to reap full benefits of this practice in the organisation.

6 1334 F. Talib et al. Table 1. TQM practices and their selected references as reported in the TQM literature. Author(s) Saraph, Benson, and Schroeder (1989) Brah et al. (2000) Kanji and Wallace (2000) Sureshchander et al. (2002) Sila and Ebrahimpour (2002) Samat, Ramayah, and Saad (2006) Rahman and Siddiqui (2006) Khamalah and Lingaraj (2007) Yusuf et al. (2007) Claver-Cortés, Pereira-Moliner, Tarí, and Molina-Azorín (2008) TQM practices Top-management leadership, role of quality department, training, product design, supplier quality management, process management, quality data reporting, and employee relations Top-management support, customer focus, employee involvement, employee training, employee empowerment, supplier quality management, process improvement, service design, quality improvement rewards, benchmarking, and cleanliness and organisation Top-management commitment, customer focus and satisfaction, quality information and performance measurement, human resource management, employee involvement, teamwork, process management, quality assurance, zero defects, and communication Top-management commitment and visionary leadership, human resource management, technical system, information and analysis system, benchmarking, continuous improvement, customer focus, employee satisfaction, union intervention, social responsibility, servicescapes, and service culture Top management commitment, social responsibility, strategic planning, customer focus and satisfaction, quality information and performance measurement, benchmarking, human resource management, teamwork, employee involvement, training, employee empowerment, employee satisfaction, process management, process control, product and service design, employee appraisal, reward and recognition, supplier management, continuous improvement and innovation, quality assurance, quality culture, zero defects, communication, quality systems, just-in-time, and flexibility Management support and commitment, employee involvement, employee empowerment, information and communication, training and education, customer focus, and continuous improvement Top-management commitment, customer-centric advancements, benchmarking, relentless improvement, and strengthening the employee base Top-management commitment, benchmarking, quality improvement programmes, teambuilding techniques, supplier involvement, training, reward and recognition Leadership and commitment, customer focus, continuous improvement, get things right first time, just-in-time, competitive benchmarking, cost of quality, employee involvement, teamwork, training, communication, and recognition and reward Training, information and communication technologies and information systems, environmental management, and performance

7 Total Quality Management Tactical factors Tactical factors are supposed to be supporting and critical for TQM implementation. Moreover, they lead to methods and actions to achieve the expected benefits of TQM implementation. In other words, they affect the decisions that are made by middle management (Turban et al., 1999). There are seven TQM practices in this category. First, employee encouragement in the form of recognition and rewards motivates and stimulates desired performance and employee satisfaction (Yusuf et al., 2007). Employee encouragement leads to productivity and performance and supports organisational improvement (Tatikonda & Tatikonda, 1996). It gives right direction to workforce and is more critical in service sector (Schneider & Bowen, 1995). Second, having employee involvement in the organisation implies that every organisational member is involved in quality improvement processes, decision-making processes, problem-solving and directly or indirectly instrumental to the financial success of the organisation (Yusuf et al., 2007). Third, training and education is one of the keys of any meaningful quality improvement programme. Employees will understand the objectives of quality only when they are equipped with quality concepts and tools (Sureshchandar, Rajendran, & Anantharaman, 2001). It is one of the essentials for improving quality (Perry, 1995; Ueno, 2008) and delivering service quality competently and confidently (Ueno, 2008). Fourth, teamwork is a key practice of TQM, which requires cooperative efforts and contributions of a number of people with a common goal (Yusuf et al., 2007). Teamwork is considered essential to overcome and supplement individual skill weaknesses and promote values such as co-operation, increased communication, and multi-skilling (Robbins & Finley, 1997). Fifth, without an appropriate information and analysis system, quality management will be rendered futile. The organisation needs to equip its employees with information regarding the quality processes and customer s expectations (Berkley & Gupta, 1995). The organisation should always analyse the feedback from employees and customers in order to improve the product/service quality on a continuous basis. Sixth, selecting a quality supplier can help improve service quality. It involves evaluation of supplier characteristics based on selection criteria and selecting the one whose characteristics best matches with the needs of the product/service (Araz & Ozkarahan, 2006; Tam & Tummala, 2001). Developing a long-term relationship with suppliers can increase organisational competitiveness (Zineldin & Fonsson, 2000). Finally, communication is also an important TQM practice for the successful implementation of TQM. Good communication motivates, avoids misunderstanding, and reduces the cost of quality by avoiding mistakes (Cohen & Brand, 1993). Communication helps to provide a better control of processes, which in turn improves the quality (Bunse, Verlage, & Giese, 1998) Operational factors Operational factors are defined as those factors that reflect consequences and are visible in the short term (Salaheldin, 2009). They have a positive correlation with organisational performance (Brah & Lim, 2006) both in financial and non-financial terms (Brah & Lim, 2006; Brah et al., 2002). TQM is concerned with operational effectiveness as they act as drivers to operational quality success. There are four factors in this category. First, design of product and service is an important dimension of quality management. A sound and reliable product design is essential to meet or exceed the needs and expectations of customers leading to improved organisational performance (Sureshchandar et al., 2001). Second, process management is critical for service quality which emphasises conformance to customer requirements by means of error-free services in the most efficient way

8 1336 F. Talib et al. (Duggirala, Rajendran, & Anantharaman, 2008). This factor deals with how an organisation designs and introduces product and services, integrates production and delivery requirements, and manages these processes (Brah et al., 2002). Third, with a customer focus, organisations can surpass their competitors by addressing the customers needs and demands effectively as well as anticipate and respond to their evolving interests and wants (Sureshchandar et al., 2001). Organisations that understand what their customers really want and provide them a product or service that meets their expectations can gain competitive advantage (Yusuf et al., 2007). Finally, human resource management is required for the effective utilisation of available workforce to improve the organisation systems. Appropriate selection, training, and appraisal will lead to benefits in the organisation (Schneider & Bowen, 1992). 3. Introduction to AHP AHP is a multi-criteria decision-making tool (Saaty, 1980). It is a powerful technique for solving complicated and unstructured problems that may have interactions and correlations among different objectives and goals. AHP is a systemic decision approach first developed by Saaty in 1971 (Saaty, 1988). It is designed to decompose a complex, multi-criteria problem into multiple levels of hierarchy with the top level as the goal or objective, while the intermediate levels are the criteria and sub-criteria, and the lowest level offers alternatives, forming a hierarchy structure (Crowe, Noble, & Machimada, 1998; Saaty, 1980). AHP then develops priorities among all the criteria and sub-criteria within each level of the hierarchy. It is based on both predetermined measurements and experts judgements throughout the system which are calculated through pair-wise comparisons. Experts and decision-makers are interviewed and pair-wise comparison judgements are applied to pairs of homogenous criteria, eventually generating the overall priorities for ranking the alternatives (Saaty, 1980). AHP can accommodate both objective and sub-objective judgements of the evaluators involved in order to make a trade-off and to determine priorities among them (Saad, 2001). The AHP method is extensively applied in different areas with different applications. Some of the selected applications of AHP as appearing in the literature are summarised in Table 2. Analysing the different applications of AHP in the literature, it was found that priority and ranking are applications widely used in different areas (Chin, Pun, & Chan, 2002; Vaidya & Kumar, 2006) and are therefore applied in the present study. Table 2. Author(s) Chin et al. (2002) AHP as reported in the literature. Wedley, Choo, and Schoner (2001) Saaty, Vargas, and Dellmann (2003) Jain and Nag (1996) Chan and Chin (2007) Law, Chan, and Pun (2006) Lewis, Pun, and Lalla (2005) Lam, Poon, and Chin (2008) Area of AHP application Priority and ranking of TQM practices in manufacturing industries Scrutiny in cost benefit analysis Allocation of intangible resources Development of a decision support model for identification of new ventures Examining the key success factors of strategic sourcing Prioritising the safety management elements for manufacturing enterprises Determination of TQM benefits in ISO9001 certified SMEs Organisational learning model for vocational education

9 Total Quality Management Prioritisation of relative importance of factors categories and TQM practices In order to investigate the relative priorities of the TQM practices for service industries, this research paper uses the AHP methodology. Figure 1 shows a flow chart involving various steps to conduct the AHP study. Figure 1. Flow chart to conduct AHP study.

10 1338 F. Talib et al. Step 1: Define the object or goal The objective or goal of the study is to determine implementation priorities of TQM practices for service industries, in order to achieve maximum benefits and to prioritise resource allocation to individual practice during TQM implementation. Step 2: Decompose the objective or goal into lower-level criteria or sub-criteria In this step, the objective or goal of TQM implementation was decomposed into three factors categories (criteria) and 17 TQM practices (sub-criteria) identified from the literature so as to form a hierarchical abstraction of the problem. The factor categories (criteria) are strategic factors (SF), tactical factors (TF), and operational factors (OF) and TQM practices (sub-criteria) identified are top-management commitment (TMC), quality culture (QC), Continuous improvement and innovation (CII), Quality systems (QS), Benchmarking (BM), Strategic planning (SP),Employee encouragement (EE), Employee involvement (EI), Training and education (TE), Teamwork (TW), Information and analysis (IA), Supplier management (SM), Communication (COM), Product and service design (PSD), Process management (PM), Customer focus (CF), Human resource management (HRM). Step 3: Construct a hierarchy framework for analysis After the TQM goal had been established, relevant and important criteria and sub-criteria of TQM were identified via steps 1 and 2. These criteria and sub-criteria were then structured into a hierarchy descending from the overall objective or goal to the various stages and related sub-criteria in successive levels. Saaty (2000) suggested the guidelines for selection of the different levels of criteria and construction of the hierarchy structure. Using these guidelines, an AHP framework was developed for facilitating the study, as presented in Figure 2. Figure 2 shows a three-level decision hierarchy incorporating these criteria and sub-criteria. Step 4: Collection of empirical information and data This step is concerned with the collection of empirical information and data through the combined judgements of the individual evaluators from specially chosen service industries and academia. In this study, a group of 10 evaluators were chosen and interviewed for evaluating these criteria and sub-criteria (Muralidharan & Anantharaman, 2001). Four evaluators were chosen from academia having wide experience in the field such as service quality, quality management, and service marketing. Six evaluators were invited from organisations in four service industries namely:. information and technology (IT) and software development;. telecommunication;. healthcare; and. banking. All 10 evaluators were responsible for ensuring quality and related issues in their organisations. They have substantial experience in managing quality improvement activities, particularly at strategic levels for their respective organisations. They hold various positions such as project manager, senior technical manager, human resource manager, quality engineer, etc. They had sufficient knowledge and understanding of the general quality practices in the service industry. This implied that the group of evaluators had views and opinions regarding the service industry, and thus, they were able to evaluate the criteria and sub-criteria and assign relative importance to these criteria and sub-criteria

11 Total Quality Management 1339 Figure 2. A hierarchy model of TQM implementation for the AHP study. in the AHP model. All interviews involved personal visits. The length of the interviews had been limited to end within min. Step 5: Perform pair-wise comparisons for each level of criteria and sub-criteria Once the evaluators are identified and relevant empirical information and data were collected, the next step is to determine the relative importance among the criteria and sub-criteria at each level. For this, the AHP approach was used to measure the strength of importance by pair-wise comparisons and it puts the results into a matrix form. Invited evaluators were requested to compare carefully criteria of each hierarchy level by assigning relative scales in a pair-wise fashion with respect to the goal or objective of the model. The evaluators were asked to assess a pair-wise comparison among three factor categories (criteria) and related 17 TQM practices (sub-criteria) using a nine-point scale of intensity (Table 3) proposed by Saaty (1988). With the use of Table 3, the pair-wise comparison matrix for the three factors categories (criteria) is calculated (Table 4). The data in Table 4 indicate how important the ith criteria compared are with the jth criteria. For example, in the present case, if an evaluator decided that strategic factors are strongly important than operational factors, then based on scale of preferences between two elements in Table 3 (Saaty, 2000), a number 5 was assigned. Hence, reciprocally the operational factors is 1/5 times less important than the strategic factors. As a result, a matrix of rating was obtained (Table 4). The next step is to divide each entry in column i of Table 4 by the sum of

12 1340 F. Talib et al. Table 3. Scale of relative preference for pair-wise comparison. Scale Judgements of preferences 1 Equal importance 3 Moderate importance of one over the other 5 Essential or strong importance 7 Very strong or demonstrated importance 9 Extreme or absolute importance 2, 4, 6, 8 Intermediate values between the two adjacent judgements Source: Saaty (1988). Table 4. Pair-wise comparison of the three factor categories or criteria with respect to the implementation of the TQM practices. Factor categories/criteria SF TF OF Strategic factors Tactical factors 1/3 1 3 Operational factors 1/5 1/3 1 Sum 23/15 13/3 9 Table 5. Normalised matrix. Factor categories/criteria SF TF OF Strategic factors 15/23 9/13 5/9 Tactical factors 5/23 3/13 1/3 Operational factors 3/23 1/13 1/ the entries in column i. This generates the normalised matrix (Table 5), in which the sum of the entries in each column is 1 (Saaty, 2000; Chuang, 2001). Finally, by computing the average of the entries in row i of Table 5, priority weights were produced (Table 6). Priority means the relative importance or strength of influence of a criterion in relation to other criteria that is placed above it in the hierarchy. From Table 6, one can predict that the priority is given to strategic factors followed by tactical factors and then to operational factors Step 6: Check the consistency in the pair-wise comparison This step examines whether the created pairs of criteria are consistent or not. It is possible that, through the pair-wise comparisons, evaluators may be inconsistent in their judgements. The AHP technique incorporates these inconsistencies into the model and provides the evaluator with a measure of these inconsistencies (Crowe et al., 1998). The consistency ratio (CR) is used to check whether a criterion can be used for decision-making. It is derived from the ratio of the consistency of the results being tested to the consistency of the same problem evaluated with a random number. Thus, CR is calculated according to the following equation: CR ¼ CI/RI. Consistency index (CI) is obtained by the following equation: CI ¼ l max n/n 1, where n is the

13 Total Quality Management 1341 Table 6. Priority weights. Factor categories/criteria Priority weight Strategic factors Tactical factors Operational factors Sum 1.00 Table 7. Consistency ratio (CR). Factor categories/criteria d Eigenvector (l) Strategic factors Tactical factors Operational factors l max ¼ Notes: CI ¼ , RI ¼ 0.580, CR ¼ for n ¼ 3. Table 8. Consistency ratio random number index. Size of matrix Random index (RI) Source: Saaty (1988). number of criteria or sub-criteria of each level and l max is the largest eigenvector in Table 7. The appropriate value of the random index (RI) is selected from Table 8. To obtain the eigenvector (Table 7), the following sub-steps were performed.. Compute d (i.e. Table 4 multiplied by Table 6) / = = d. 1/5 1/ Compute the eigenvector l : l = ith entry in d ith entry in priority weight. Table 7 shows the values of l for the three criteria and the largest eigenvalue (l max ) is chosen to calculate CI. If CI is sufficiently small, the evaluators comparisons are probably consistent enough to give useful estimates of the priority weights for the goal or objective. If CR, 0.10, the degree of consistency is acceptable (Dyer & Forman, 1992), but if CR. 0.10, serious inconsistencies may exist, and the AHP may not yield meaningful results. Then the assessment can be revised. For example, in this case, the CR is ; thus, the degree of consistency is considered satisfactory (CR, 0.10).

14 1342 F. Talib et al. Table 9. Pair-wise comparison of the six sub-criteria or TQM practices with respect to strategic practices/factors. TQM practices/ sub-criteria TMC QC CII QS BM SP CR ¼ , CI ¼ , priority weight Topmanagement commitment Quality culture 1/ Continuous 1 1/ improvement and innovation Quality systems 1/2 1/3 1/ Benchmarking 1/3 1/3 1/5 1/ Strategic planning 1/5 1/3 1/7 1/5 1/ Maximum eigenvalue l max ¼ Table 10. Pair-wise comparison of the seven sub-criteria or TQM practices with respect to tactical practices/factors. TQM practices or sub-criteria EE EI TE TW IA SM COM CR ¼ , CI ¼ , priority weight Employee 1 3 1/5 1/5 1/2 3 1/ encouragement Employee 1/3 1 1/7 1/7 1/3 3 1/ involvement Training and education Teamwork 5 7 1/ Information and 2 3 1/5 1/ / analysis Supplier 1/3 1/3 1/7 1/7 1/3 1 1/ management Communication 3 5 1/3 1/ Maximum eigenvalue l max ¼ Similarly, the pair-wise comparisons for sub-criteria in the other levels (level 3) are performed and their degree of consistency is checked following steps 5 and 6. The results of pair-wise comparisons of sub-criteria are depicted in Tables Step 7: Calculate the global weights of each criteria and sub-criteria In this step, the priority weights are divided into local weights the priority weight with respect to the preceding hierarchical level, and global weights the priority weight with respect to the highest hierarchical level the goal or objective. In order to conduct an overall ranking for sub-criteria, AHP combines the priority weights of criteria with the comparison rating for sub-criteria. This is performed by the following formula (Drake, 1998):

15 Table 11. Pair-wise comparison of the four sub-criteria or TQM practices with respect to operational practices/factors. TQM practices or sub-criteria PSD PM CF HRM CR ¼ , CI ¼ , priority weight Product and service design Process management 1/ Customer focus 1/7 1/ Human resource management 1/7 1/5 1/ Maximum eigenvalue l max ¼ Total Quality Management 1343 Global weights ¼ (Local weight for criterion i local weight for sub-criterion j with respect to criterion i). Table 12 illustrates the local and global weights of criteria and sub-criteria. Step 8: Incorporate findings and improve TQM implementation Table 12. The local and global weights of the three factor categories or criteria and 17 TQM practices or sub-criteria. Hierarchy level Level 2 Level 3 Factor categories/criteria and TQM Local weights Global weights practices Weights Ranking Weights Ranking With respect to implementation priorities of TQM practices Strategic factors (SF) Tactical factors (TF) Operational factors (OF) Sum With respect to strategic factors (SF) Top-management commitment Quality culture Continuous improvement and innovation Quality systems Benchmarking Strategic planning Sum 1.00 With respect to tactical factors (TF) Employee encouragement Employee involvement Training and education Teamwork Information and analysis Supplier management Communication Sum 1.00 With respect to operational factors (OF) Product and service design Process management Customer focus Human resource management Sum

16 1344 F. Talib et al. From the calculation carried out in the previous step, one can prioritise and rank the factor categories (criteria) and TQM practice (sub-criteria) for TQM implementation and can allocate the resources accordingly to achieve maximum benefits. The use of AHP has generic applications because its structure and hierarchy can be easily modified to incorporate specific attributes (Bañuelas & Antony, 2003). AHP can, therefore, be adopted for prioritising TQM practices in different service industries and processes according to specific objectives set by decision-makers. 5. Results and analysis Table 12 shows the local weights and global weights of three factor categories and 17 TQM practices that are normalised based on the AHP analysis. The rankings in both local and global weights are shown in Table 12. In level 2 of the hierarchy dealing with Implementation priorities of factor categories, the evaluators considered strategic factors the most important criteria, followed by tactical factors and operational factors (SF ¼ 0.633, TF ¼ 0.260, and OF ¼ 0.105). As the three factor categories form the second level of the goal, the local and global weights are the same. Regarding the 17 TQM practices, the results are reported separately to depict their local and global weights Local weights of the 17 TQM practices In level 3 of the hierarchy, this study first reviews the TQM practices with respect to strategic factors. The evaluators considered Top-management commitment (0.257) as the most important factor, followed by Continuous improvement and innovation (0.256), Quality culture (0.245), Quality systems (0.118), Benchmarking (0.084), and Strategic planning (0.037). For the tactical factors, the seven TQM practices in their order of importance were Training and education (0.378), Teamwork (0.252), Communication (0.149), Information and analysis (0.083), Employee encouragement (0.066), Employee involvement (0.041), and Supplier management (0.028). For operational factors the TQM practices were ordered as Product and service design (0.583), Process management (0.250), Customer focus (0.109), and Human resource management (0.056) Global weights of the 17 TQM practices The global weights indicate that Top-management commitment (0.163) is the most important factors among the 17 TQM practices and is highest ranked. This is followed by Continuous improvement and innovation (0.162), and Quality culture (0.155). These are the three most important TQM practices and their weights are similar. The fourth practice is Training and education (0.097), followed by Quality systems (0.075), Teamwork (0.065), Product and service design (0.060), and Benchmarking (0.053). The others in order of the ranking were Communication (0.038), Process management (0.026), Strategic planning (0.023), Information and analysis (0.021), Employee encouragement (0.017), Customer focus (0.011), and Employee involvement (0.010). The last two lowest ranked TQM practices, Supplier management (0.007) and Human resource management (0.005) are still important and cannot be ignored.

17 Total Quality Management Discussion Through the literature review and discussion with the experts in the field, 17 TQM practices were identified and grouped into three factor categories or criteria. The study further identifies the priority rankings of the three factor categories and 17 TQM practices for the service industries. Understanding their relative importance, service industries can evaluate their current practices and re-allocate reasonable resources and efforts to these factors and practices to improve their TQM performance. Detailed recommendations for the service industries are given as follows Three factor categories There is marginal difference in ranking between the three factor categories which is not significant. strategic factors has the greatest priority, followed by the tactical factors and operational factors. Thus, the service industries should implement strategic factors with utmost priority and all efforts must be given to adhere to them. For example, top-management commitment, continuous improvement and innovation, and quality culture must be taken care in case of service quality. These practices should be used to gain long-term benefits. Benchmarking, quality systems, and strategic planning are also important strategic factors and supports in implementing TQM programme. Therefore, without these practices, it is hard for TQM to be implemented effectively and successfully. The second step should be to focus on tactical factors. The tactical factors are considered to be supporting practices for effective TQM implementation in service industry. These factors are significant and influence the latter. Tactical factors can be best utilised by encouraging the employee through rewards and incentives, involving employees in major decisions, providing training and education, incorporating teamwork, managing supplier by evaluating and selecting the right suppliers, proper communication among employees, and flow of important information between departments to improve TQM performance and results. These are the pillars of successful TQM implementation. Finally, the third step should be to emphasise on operational factors. These factors are responsible for organisational performance and are concerned with the effectiveness of TQM as they are the drivers of TQM success. The highest ranked operational factors are product and service design and process management. From time to time, industries must look for opportunities to improve their product and service design and process management activities to achieve service quality. The managers and practitioners should also recognise customers needs in order to compete in the market. They should be customers focused. Human resource management should be a supporting element in effective utilisation of available human resources to improve and enhance organisation systems TQM practices In relation to strategic factors, the evaluators ranked TQM practices in the order to which they contribute to the immediate positive results. Top-management commitment received the greatest weight. This implies that continuous support from the top management and their effort towards never-ending continuous quality improvement leads to better customer service and satisfaction. Thus, top-management commitment is a driving force for the successful implementation of TQM programme in service industries. The second-ranked practice was Continuous improvement and innovation which implies that top management needs to set clear objectives and policies and communicates them for continuous improvement in the quality of product and services to meet the needs and

18 1346 F. Talib et al. expectations of the customers. Top management should understand that continuous improvement and innovation is a never-ending process. The third-ranked factor was Quality culture which implies that quality culture in the organisation creates an impression on the customer. It also affects the attitude of the employees. Strategic planning was ranked lowest, which may indicate that the evaluators emphasised immediate and short-term planning and ignored long-term strategy. With respect to tactical factors, the evaluators gave Training and education the greatest priority. This suggests that providing knowledge to employees about principles and practices of TQM as well as equipping them with quality tools and techniques would help service industries in achieving desired performance and customer satisfaction. Training and education helps to improve employees confidence and lead to his/her personal development. Teamwork was ranked second, which implies that it is beneficial for service industries to form teams and participate in the organisation s quality improvement activities. Teamwork is vital for TQM success as it helps in resolving quality issues quickly and effectively. Communication was ranked third which implies that good communication is a significant factor in creating and maintaining standards for successful TQM implementation. Communication freedom within the organisation could help employees to perform better and avoid misunderstanding. Employee involvement and Supplier management were ranked lowest which indicates that the evaluators prioritised these practices below as compared with others. The reason behind this may be that the role of these two practices in service industries is not so significant when compared with manufacturing industries, especially the supplier management which plays a significant role in manufacturing industries. With respect to operational factors, the evaluators ranked Product and service design as the highest implying that the sound and reliable product and service design is of utmost important to meet or exceed the needs and expectations of customers leading to improved organisational performance. Therefore, top management and supporting staff should consider all the relevant practices during product planning and service design by understanding the customer product and service requirements fully. Process management was ranked second, which shows that management relies on systematic approach for design and introduce product and service process in order to satisfy customers in a better way. The actual procedure, mechanism, and activities should be managed in order to deliver error-free services in the most efficient way. 7. Limitations This research is not without any limitations. Six out of 10 evaluators and experts, in this case, were drawn from four service industries and the remaining four evaluators were chosen from academia. Further studies should include greater number of experts and evaluators from other service industries such as hospitality, insurance, transportation, etc., who have substantial experience in the field of product and service quality, as well as quality implementation programmes. Also, a greater number of academicians who have been involved in various quality management-related subjects and research papers and have managed the implementation of TQM in their institutions may also be invited to overcome the limitations of this paper. This study was conducted in one country only. Future research may include more countries to make the study more applicable and generalisable.

19 Total Quality Management Conclusions Service industries play an essential role in a developing nation s survival and growth. In almost every type of service industry, TQM is being applied to gain competitive advantage. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate and categorise the TQM practices and prioritise them on the basis of their relative importance for TQM implementation so that service industries can evaluate their current practices and re-allocate reasonable resources to improve their TQM performance. As industries cannot allocate equal amounts of efforts or resources to each individual area of the TQM process due to limitations of human and monetary resources, the findings of this study are very important in providing insights to service providers regarding TQM practices. First, a set of 17 TQM practices were identified from the literature review and discussion with experts in the area. These were then divided into three factor categories each consisting of a number of TQM practices such as strategic factors (six TQM practices), tactical factors (seven TQM practices), and operational factors (four TQM practices). Second, the priority of the TQM practices was ranked by experts from the service industries and academia. These people understand the service quality aspects and have quality management experience. Service industries should focus on the factors and practices that these experts considered of highest priority in the initial stage of implementing TQM. After the implementation of the selected practices, service industries can review and evaluate the results to consider the other remaining practices. The TQM practices identified cover a wide range of activities from strategic, tactical factors to operational factors. The implementation of TQM in service industries requires the involvement of entire organisation. It is not only the responsibility of top management but also requires the involvement of all employees, i.e. teamwork. Management s role should be to establish an environment to facilitate the processes and encourage and involve employees in implementing TQM. In general, employees work under guidelines and directions from management. An effective strategic planning and quality systems can improve employee efficiency and performance. The implementation of the TQM programme requires many changes in the organisation, about which people may be reluctant. To effectively implement TQM, service industries should focus on the most important TQM practices and address the less important ones at a later stage. By doing so, they would gradually reduce employee resistance to change, especially if positive results are generated. From the managerial perspective, this study offers a number of managerial implications for service industries managers and decision-makers. First, the AHP model developed in this research will be very useful to decision-makers in service industries as a guideline for implementing TQM and in evaluating the effectiveness of their current TQM practices. Second, the strategic factors in TQM implementation require continuous top-management commitment and support for the effectiveness of TQM. They must set and communicate clear quality objectives and performance expectations to all levels. Encouraging quality culture to motivate and reward employees in the organisation facilitates collaboration across intra-organisational boundaries, thus helping to improve TQM performance. Further, it is necessary for the top management to plan for long-term gain and benchmark with respect to the leading competitors. Third, the tactical factors are crucial in order to get full advantage of TQM. It is necessary to train and educate people at all levels so that an environment of TQM awareness, interest, desire, and action could be developed. Thus, top-management attention might