PARADIGM ISSUES IN TQM IMPLEMENTATION

Yonatan Reshef
School of Business
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta

 

1. TQM ADVOCATES FAIL TO RECOGNIZE THAT EACH OF THE DIFFERENT WORKPLACE GROUPS OPERATES OUT OF ITS OWN PARADIGM REGARDING THE TQM INTERVENTION.

2. PEOPLE OFTEN TRY TO FIT AMBIGUOUS INFORMATION INTO THEIR PRE-EXISTING PARADIGMS TO PRESERVE THEIR EXISTING COGNITIVE STRUCTURES. CONSEQUENTLY, EACH OF THE DIFFERENT WORKPLACE GROUPS OPERATES OUT OF ITS OWN UNDERSTANDING OF THE LIKELY SEQUENCE OF EVENTS ONCE TQM IS INITIATED.

3. MULTIPLE PARADIGMS, DUE TO DIFFERENT HORIZONTAL (E.G., SKILLED/NON-SKILLED, FULL/PART TIMERS, WHITE/BLUE COLLAR) AND VERTICAL POSITIONS, ARE LIKELY TO GENERATE ONGOING CONFLICTS.  OF COURSE, MULTIPLE PARADIGMS CAN CO-EXIST IN THE WORKPLACE DUE TO DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES AND LIFE EXPERIENCES.

4. WHEN A PARADIGMATIC CONFLICT OCCURS, A COMPARATIVELY POWERFUL PERSPECTIVE, LIKELY THE ONE HELD BY TOP MANAGEMENT, IS LIKELY TO DOMINATE.

5. THE TQM CHAMPIONS SHOULD INITIATE NEW WAYS OF HANDLING CONFLICTS THAT ARE CONSISTENT WITH THE NEW PARADIGM.