The Rhetoric and Reality of Total Quality Management
Item
Title
The Rhetoric and Reality of Total Quality Management
Abstract/Description
This article induces a model of the evolving rhetoric and reality of total quality management (TQM) in five organizations to show how institutional forces can distort the technical reality of TQM. Using interviews, organizational documents, and observation, I follow the social construction of TQM in these organizations to trace the relationship between the technical practices and rhetoric of TQM. The model shows that managers consume a rhetoric of success about TQM, use that rhetoric to develop their TQM program, and then filter their experiences to present their own rhetoric of success. Consequently, the discourse on TQM develops an overly optimistic view of TQM. The models demonstrate how individual actions and discourse shape TQM and fuel institutional forces.
Author/creator
Date
In publication
Volume
43
Issue
3
Pages
602-636
Resource type
Research/Scholarly Media
Resource status/form
Published Text
Scholarship genre
Empirical
Open access/full-text available
No
Peer reviewed
Yes
ISSN
0001-8392
DOI
Citation
Zbaracki, M. J. (1998). The Rhetoric and Reality of Total Quality Management. Administrative Science Quarterly, 43(3), 602–636. https://doi.org/10.2307/2393677
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