Total quality management in Thailand : a case study approach

Abstract

Total quality management (TQM) has been applied widely in developed countries. In contrast, in developing countries ISO 9000 series standards have been the focus of quality management and development, and TQM is a new and challenging concept. In Thailand, TQM companies are rare. Consequently, there have been few studies on TQM implementation in Thailand. The literature review suggests that Thai culture including high power distance, high uncertainty avoidance, and high Kreng- Chai negatively affect TQM implementation in Thai firms. This leads to an assumption that TQM implementation in Thailand can be impeded by Thai culture. However, since the time that those studies were conducted, there have been significant economical and structural changes in Thai culture and management system. Therefore, the purposes of this study are to examine how TQM in Thailand is implemented in this changing business environment which is different from the past.

This study was carried out using qualitative case-study analysis to investigate how a Thai company had adopted TQM. The research was conducted at a carbon black manufacturer in Thailand. Documentation, in-depth interview, and direct observation were used to collect data from the most management, and some employees of the case company. Also, Nvivo, qualitative analysis software, was used to organise, analyse, and make the linkage between all factors.

This study reveals an interesting emerging theme which is - the situation of TQM implementation in Thailand today is different from that in the past studies. For example, while the previous studies suggest that only national culture factors and organisational factors influence TQM outcomes, this study found more factors that need to be considered, namely leadership characteristic, age and education. The right mix of Theory Y leadership characteristics, younger ages and better education are less likely to be influenced by cultural factors, so Thai companies with these characteristics have more opportunity to be successful in TQM implementation than those without them. Moreover, the last chapter proposes the summary of the thesis, limitation and future research.