Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh (U.P.) 3

Proceedings of SOM 2014 December 12-14, 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roorkee pp.834-839 Assessing the Awareness of Total Quality Management and Information Technology in the Indian Information and Communication Technology Industry: An Empirical Analysis Suby Khanam 1, Jamshed Siddiqui 2, Faisal Talib 3 1,2 Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh (U.P.) 1 subykhan@ymail.com, 2 jamshed_faiza@rediffmail 3 Mechanical Engineering Section, University Polytechnic, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh (U.P.) 3 ftalib77@yahoo.co.in Abstract: Total Quality Management (TQM) is a managerial approach which is highly influenced by the national business system and is widely seen as a revolution in any type industry whether manufacturing or service. Quality of products and services is one of the major issues in the Indian information and communication technology (ICT) industry. By introducing information technology (IT) with the TQM helped enhancing quality within the business environment. IT has been used to increase productivity, improve quality services, enhance the organizational performance and reduce cost. Now a day, IT is widely accepted as an essential tool to gain organizational effectiveness and therefore its relationship to the organization's competitiveness has been an area of interest to the researchers. Presently, TQM and IT together fulfill the customer needs and therefore many organizations are trying hard to incorporate them. For this purpose, this research work has been undertaken to investigate the awareness of TQM and IT if integrated together and adopted in Indian ICT industry. The objective of this paper is to understand the integration of TQM and IT in the Indian ICT industry. A literature review and statistical analyses were adopted to accomplish this objective. A total of 90 usable responses was included for final analysis. The study sample consists of ICT industry, which includes software development, business process outsourcing (BPO), telecommunication and information system (IS). The data obtained was analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson's Correlation analyses. The results revealed that TQM and IT if integrated and adopted together have a greater significance and impact on the performance Indian ICT industry. Further, the practical implications of this study show higher familiarity with TQM and IT concepts which is a way of getting high quality products and services. The results also depicts that how many Indian ICT industries are well aware of the integrated TQM and IT program and furthermore, these results will be used to complete the researcher s main study issues, which is examining the TQM and IT implementation in the Indian ICT industry. This study is limited only in Indian ICT industry and therefore, it could be extended to different service areas like healthcare, banking, transportation, tourism and many others. Finally, the conclusions of this research could help the researchers, practitioners and academicians in better understanding the integration of TQM and IT which may result in enhanced business performance of the Indian ICT industry. Keywords: Information Technology (IT); Information Communication and Technology; Indian; Total Quality Management (TQM). 1. INTRODUCTION Total Quality Management (TQM) has received much attention over the past two decades since they offer management approach for affordable and long lasting profitability. TQM is an organizational wide effort to continuously enhance the organization'sability to deliver high quality products and services to customers. TQM was a revolution in management and turns into major trends to influence business system in the 1990 s. TQM has focus autonomy, creativiteness among employees and demands a strong instead of mere compliance. More recently, the quality 834

of product and services are facing challenges and major issues with the adoption of internationality recognition can improve in terms of quality products and services.the internal and external information about TQM should be equally shared among all employees to encourage them to become liable for quality improvement. According to Prajogo and Sohal (2006) TQM has a vital role in the development of management practices in the organization. Many author s state that TQM as an approach to enhance performance of the business world.tqm is not a merely a management perception, however a culture of an organization devoted to total customer satisfaction via Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) programs (Talib et al., 2011; Vouzas and Psychogios, 2007). TQM is aculturally oriented approach that is maintained by an organization is devoted to customer satisfaction with the aid of a continuous improvement technique. It has aims to achieve the performance of the system for instance design, planning, production, customer satisfaction and quality tools and techniques involvement (Talib, 2013).Godfey (2000) found that TQM has four goals such as satisfying customers, satisfying employees, increasing profit and decreasing cost. TQM style effectively executes the organizational change and spreads organizational goal, culture development and fulfillment of the industries (Talib et al., 2011 a). TQM can be applied every section and level of the organization with a priority an integrated into business practices via balance between technical, managerial and people issues (Oakland, 2003). Since one decade, IT introduced as the most important factors in increasing productivity and reducing costs. IT investment has a positive impact on gross domestic product (GDP) of developingcountries, hence IT gets focused by business and start to integrate with TQM. From the many studies it is concluded that IT might be used to enhance TQM (Dewhusrt et al., 2003; Khanam et al., 2013; Sanchez-Rodriguez et al., 2006, 2011; Siam et al., 2012). IT act as a feedback mechanism to measure productivity and get more accurate information, improve communication links and facilitate the implementation of advanced tools, systems and modelling techniques. Also, IT work as a technology and support managerial decision making process in organizations. IT is used to increase productivity, improve quality, reduce cost and enhance competition of industries (Talib et al., 2013 a).tqm and IT updating the knowledge, developing skills, changes attitude and behavior and improving the ability of the person to perform tasks effectively. It is the basic responsibility of organization to teach the managers about the integration of TQM and IT so that they can be implemented together successfully. IT is a new approachfor TQM, it is essential that all participants must have knowledge and awareness of values, objectives and concepts of TQM and IT. Previously, many authors demonstrated the awareness of TQM by different quality experts as well as quality practitioners (Siddiqui, et al., 2007; Talib et al., 2011; Vouzas and Psychogios 2007). Whereas in the present study authors going to present understanding, the awareness of integration of TQM and IT in the Indian ICT industry. The combination of TQM practices and IT resources has conceived another necessity, which is to effectively consolidate TQM and IT in any organization (Talib and Rahman, 2012). TQM and IT are the combination of techniques and strategies in order to obtain the business excellence. According to Brah and Lim (2006) TQM and IT plays as important role in improving performance quality management. This research is particularly focusing on the TQM and IT in the Indian ICT industry, previously there is no evidence of TQM and IT in the particular within the ICT industry. It was expected that top managers TQM and IT concepts, then they have a positive reaction towards quality improvement as well as customer satisfaction. The rest of the paper is organized as follows: section 2presents the literature review of TQM and IT. In the adjacent section describes the research methodology, then measure the awareness of integration of TQM and IT to develop a measurement construct to necessary tested the hypothesis, next explored result and discussion section and finally conclusion is discussed. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW Many researchers have been undertaken study on TQM philosophies and methods. Past studies revealed the manager s awareness of those aspects are essential to the success of TQM (Ooi et al., 2008; Vouzas and Psychogios, 2007). Talib et al., (2011) assess the awareness of a TQM program in the Indian service industries. The analysis revealed the significance and usage of TQM in the service industries. Also, Vouzas and Psychogios (2007) analyzed the rationale and development of a measure that can be used in assessing managerial awareness of TQM in the Greek service industry. The analysis provided a distinctive and consistent statistical measurement of the soft side of TQM. Moreover, TQM aspect and employee attitude, relationships also investigated in the Malaysian industries and found employees perception of TQM significantly relate to employees attitudes(ooi et al., 2007). Sajjad and Amjad (2011) determine the various benefits an organization can drive from the application of TQM practice or the relationship between TQM and quality outcomes/benefits in the service sector of the telecom industry of Pakistan. Al- Rawashdeh (2014) identified the middle management s awareness and understanding the concepts and importance of applying TQM in commercial bank operating in Jordan.Moreover, Krittanathip et al., (2013) focuses on shop owner respondents by using the implementation of self assessment evaluation for TQM. Woon (2000)assesses the TQM implementation level of Singapore s production leaders, which comprised the pioneer batch of 240 organizations in the Singapore Quality Award program. Miller (2009) showed that a valid and reliable instrument was developed and used to assess quality 835

management practices in hospitals throughout the largest U.S state. Siddiqui and Rahman (2007) examines the readiness of managers in India for TQM and analyzed to quantify the extent of top management support for TQM in IS, the extent of benefits realized by TQM and the relationship between IS- TQM realized benefits and TQM principle implemented.there are oodles of studies on awareness of TQM but few attempts have been made to the TQM and IT together in ICT industry. So, that author demonstrating assessing the awareness of TQM and IT in the Indian ICT industry. 3. RESEARCH QUESTION AND HYPOTHESIS In order to carry out this objective a research question was proposed as follows: RQ1: Are Indian ICT industry aware of integration of TQM and IT? The corresponding hypotheses of this research question is; H 1: Indian ICT industry are aware of integration of TQM and IT. Hypothesis was formulated to assess the awareness of integration of TQM and IT. 3.1.Research Methodology: The objective of this study is to understand the awareness of TQM and IT together in the Indian ICT industry. The extensive literature review, methodology was adopted and found TQM and IT for the present study.the data on these TQM and IT were obtained from questionnaire survey on self administrated in 5-point scale (1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree). A stratified sampling method has been used to collect data through a well structured questionnaire. Primarily questionnaire was created on the Google drive and then this questionnaire was sent by email to the recipient. The sampling frame for the study is a list of certified Indian ICT industry, including software development, information technology, telecommunication, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). The target population was selected from published BT-500 (2013), Nasscom (2013), BS-1000 (2013) ICT Indian companies. The top manager s are target the respondent s to ensure the accuracy ofthe result. A total of 1564 was the target population and this study is conducted between March 2014- to Sep 2014. The minimum sample size 303 comes out of the study on the basis of GDP contribution in each sector. Here, ICT industry divided were into four startum namely; software development, information technology, BPO, telecommunication; 104, 124, 58 and 21 respectively were selected by random sampling technique.the final questionnaire was e-mail to respondent s and wait for 8 weeks and another follow up questionnaire was sent after no reply for 12 weeks. We received a total of 91 usable completed questionnaire rate of 330.The data collected on various aspects of TQM and IT resources have analyzed using SPSS, SPSS test like mean, correlation analysis have been used to assess the awareness of TQM and IT in the ICT industry of India. TABLE 1: Sample characteristics of respondents. Characteristics Respondents Percentage Gender Male 76% Female 24% Qualification Diploma 5% Graduate 18% Postgraduate 65% Others 25% Job position Managers 5% Length Services Industry Scope of General managers 21% Senior managers 37% Engineers 30% Others 6% 0-years 6% 1-3years 35% 3-5years 24% More than 40 years 35% Information Technology Business Outsourcing Process 31% 30% Telecommunication 15% Software Development 24% 4. ANALYSIS ANDDISCUSSION Table 1, shows the characteristics of respondent s were divided into five variables such as; gender, qualification, job position, length of services and industry scope. It has been observedregrading to gender, 76 % respondents were male, whereas 24% female, it indicates male respondents were dominated. Of the Respondents 5% have the job title managers, 21% are general managers, 37% are senior managers, 30% are engineers and 6% are other. A total of 35% respondents having more than five years and remaining 70% respondents have less than five years experience. Here we can see that overall involvement of top managers is more than engineers and others. Information technology companies respondent s dominated by 31%, 30% BPO sector respondent s, 24% software development and 15 % respondent s were from telecommunication. 836

TABLE 2: Descriptive statistics of TQM and IT in the ICT industry. Statement Mean SD H 1 1.Awareness of importance of TQM & IT in the 2. TQM is a management philosophy and practice to invite effective and efficient use of available resources. 3. IT is act as the feedback mechanism to facilitate communication tools & techniques for the 4. Integration of TQM & IT program practiced throughout the 5. TQM & IT are successful in the 6. TQM & IT together makes customer satisfaction as the focus of a 7. IT investment with TQM raised the productivity and reduce cost. 8. TQM & IT together has the potential to help company attain a new level of competitive strength. 9. IT provides suitable resources to implement program. 10. TQM & IT can help to solve the managerial problem in the 3.61 1.34 2.65 1.43 2.92 1.13 4.04 1.09 4.39 1.09 3.36 1.32 2.72 1.08 3.05 1.22 2.72 1.2 3.42 1.27 11. There are relationships 2.95 1.51 between, IT concepts and the success of the 12. Would you consider to implement TQM & IT in the future. 3.30 1.46 From the above Table 2, shows the every statement of mean score, SD (Standard Deviation), and Cronbach alpha regarding to awareness of TQM and IT in the ICT industry. All the test was based on a five point scale, statement 5 (TQM and IT are successful in the company) has higher mean score value 4.39 while another hand statement 2 (TQM is a management philosophy and practice to invite effective and efficient use of available resources) have the lowest mean score value 2.65. Table 2, is evidence that the ICT industry hasan awareness of integration of TQM and IT because all statements have mean score is >2.5. 4.1. Pearson s Correlation analysis: A correlation analysis was conducted in this study for the two purposes. 1) To check the relationships between two variables 2) To find out the strength between variable, means they are highly correlated or linearly related.in the above Table 3, statement 12 (would you consider to implement TQM & IT in the future) and statement 10 TQM & IT can help to solve the managerial problem in the company) have highest correlation value 0.951. Also, statement 3 (IT is act as the feedback mechanism to facilitate communication tools & techniques for the company) and statement 8 (TQM & IT together has the potential to help company attain a new level of competitive strength) have the second highest correlation value 0.944. Similarly, statement 10 (TQM & It can help to solve the managerial problem in the company) and statement 1 (awareness of importance of TQM and IT in the company) also have same correlation value 0.94 TABLE 3: Correlation matrix of awareness of TQM and IT in the Indian ICT industry. Statement 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1. Awareness of importance of TQM& IT in the 2. TQM is a management philosophy and practice to invite effective and efficient use of available resources. 3. IT is act as the feedback mechanism to facilitate communication tools & techniques for the 1 0.824 1 0.915 0.898 1 4. Integration of TQM & IT 0.915 0.797 0.859 1 837

Statement 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 program practiced throughout the 5. TQM & IT are successful in the 6. TQM & IT together makes customer satisfaction as the focus of a 7. IT investment with TQM raised the productivity and reduce cost. 8. TQM & IT together has the potential to help company attain a new level of competitive strength. 9. IT provides suitable resources to implement program. 10. TQM & IT can help to solve the managerial problem in the 11. There are relationships between, IT concepts and the success of the 12. Would you consider to implement TQM & IT in the future. 0.888 0.598 0.783 0.894 1 0.903 0.883 0.908 0.894 0.802 1 0.808 0.868 0.900 0.786 0.682 0.847 1 0.875 0.924 0.945 0.828 0.706 0.889 0.915 1 0.802 0.934 0.907 0.832 0.640 0.885 0.908 0.911 1 0.944 0.866 0.919 0.918 0.825 0.923 0.897 0.918 0.879 1 0.849 0.933 0.819 0.856 0.659 0.932 0.861 0.904 0.937 0.916 0.949 0.887 0.924 0.892 0.796 0.940 0.849 0.907 0.885 0.951 0.944 1 5. CONCLUSION It is evident from the analysis conducted above in Tables 1 & 2, it has been found that managers are well aware of the integration of TQM and IT in the ICT sector. Therefore, the hypothesis H 1 is accepted. A total of 12 statements was consideredin the survey instrument which has been shown in Tables reliable and valid. Adopting TQM and IT together have significantly impacted on the most business organizations (Dewhusrt et al., 2003). Sanchez- Rodriguez et al., (2003) indicatedin their study IT support the TQM initiatives and that overall such efforts generate significant positive gains on operational and quality performance. The research paper assessed the awareness of TQM and IT in the Indian ICT industry by examined of 12 statements on a 5-point Likert scale. The major finding of this study revealed that awareness of TQM and IT are highly correlated. With the help of this study consciousness of TQM and IT together raise in the Indian ICT industry. Statements identified in this study have been used as a guiding philosophy for the success of the industry. This paper has some major statement related to TQM and IT which will improve the company performances and accomplish the better result. This study recommends that managers take an element approach towards consciousness of TQM and IT so that organizations turned more effectively in the market.with the help of this study, managers update their insight and capabilities regularlyto assess the position and approaches of system that could benefit their organization.to sum up, it has been revealed and indicated that Indian mangers hold a positive view on TQM and IT together. This research only focused on the ICT industry, further it can be expanded into other sectors for e.g. service, manufacturing, real e-state, education extra. Furthermore, the managerial implications of this study shows higher familiarity with TQM and IT concepts which is a way of getting high quality products and services. Finally, a new research comes out where manager test has been taken on TQM and IT study instead of employees of the business environment. REFERENCES [1] Al-Rawashdeh F.M. (2014), Assessment of middle administrative ledearships awareness of the implementation of the concept of TQM in commercial Banks operating in Jordan, Arab economic and business journal, 9, pp.81-92. [2] Brah, S.A. & Lim, H.Y. (2006), The effects of technology and TQM on the performance of logistics companies, International 838

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