There are several obstacles to implementing total quality management (TQM) in the banking, healthcare, and education sectors. Some of the key obstacles include lack of management commitment, lack of proper training and education for employees, incompatible organizational structures, lack of employee involvement, lack of access to necessary data, and inadequate attention to internal customers. Overcoming these obstacles requires strong leadership from management and organizational changes to empower employees and improve communication and processes.

1. Assignment on:
Obstacles to implement TQM
Submitted to:
Mam Saba Sattar
Submitted by:
Fahad Sattar
Roll No:
06
Class:
BBA(HONS) 7th
R1
Date:
14-04-2014

2. Obstacles to implement TQM
Banking:
There are many obstacles to implement TQM in banking sector. The main
factors that effect as obstacle to implement TQM are given below.
 Lack Of Management Commitment:
Mostly in this sector management is not too much committed to
implement TQM. Because this is a time consuming work and requires more
time to implement it and also to monitor it. Management has many other
tasks to perform and the goals to achieve that’s why they cannot pay too
much intention on it. A primary reason for TQM failure in organization is
due to half-heartedly implemented TQM. Other often-cited problems include
getting everyone in the organization to move in the same direction, the lack
Of goals, insufficient knowledge, poor planning, lack of management
commitment. Many companies have failed at TQM initiatives because CEOs
do not know which quality strategy is best for their company and their
choices have been a gamble and there was a laissez-fair attitude, that is,
managers were not trained in the process of managing for quality. Critics of
TQM have suggested that TQM entails excessive retraining costs, consumes
huge amounts of management time, increases paperwork and
documentation, demands unrealistic employee commitments levels,
emphasizes process over results, and fails to address the needs of small firms
or service firms.
 Lack Of Proper Training and Education:
As Mary Walton observes in The Deming Management Method: It
is not enough to have good people in your organization. They must be
continually acquiring the new knowledge and the new skills that are required
to deal with new materials and new methods of production. Education and
retraining are an investment in people that is required for long term

3. Planning. Training employees is an expensive work and is also time
consuming. Mostly the employees working in the banking sector are aged
and also don’t have the proper education related to this field. That why there
is need to give them proper training and to encourage them to gain the key
skills that are required to perform the tasks that are related to their job.
Mostly these employees are reluctant to the new things and cannot satisfy
the customers in a good way.
 IncompatibleOrganization Structure:
The different branches of banks are located in different cities of
the country and are far apart from each other. Therefore it is difficult to
manage all the branches in the same way and to implement this program.
The specialists of this program are not available in each branch. That’s why
it is not necessary that each employee is satisfying the customer.
 Lack Of Employee Involvement:
In banking sector the management has to take the key important
key decision that’s why it is not possible to involve each employee in
process improvement. Mostly it is not possible to take the opinion of each
employee and also these employees don’t have to proper information so that
they cannot take part in the important decisions that are required for the
process improvement.
 Lack Of Access To Data and Results:
The main problem is that the proper data that is required for
decision making is not available in time to take the proper decision. The
information that is required is not available in time and is the most difficult
to gather to take decision immediately. A proper system to collect the
information should be available to measure the key characteristics so that
they would be in access when they are required.

4.  Inadequateattentionto internal Customers:
Mostly banks pay more intention to their external customers and
don’t care much about their internal customers. This is the main reason to
implement the TQM program in the banks. Mostly the banks don’t insist on
continuously measurement of consumer satisfaction. Ineffective internal
Communication between management and employees, and low engagement
of other levels of management within the organizations also are the great
hurdles to implement the TQM program.
Health Care System:
Numerous barriers to successful implementation of TQM in the health care
services organizations have been identified. According to the survey of health care
organizations, a substantial number of barriers were identified.
 Lack of senior management commitment:
TQM has to be introduced and led by the top management. A strong
management support and commitment should be shown through various
activities such as creating and setting clear quality vision and values that are
aligned to the organization mission and vision. It is important that top
leaders communicate with their employees and explain the reasons and the
value of adopting and integrating TQM to the mission and the vision of the
organization. In most cases where TQM initiatives have failed it has been
due to the lack of management involvement or top management doesn’t lead
or get committed, and in these cases management only pays a lip service and
Not act on the initiative. Therefore lack of management commitment is seen
as the most and the biggest barrier in implementing TQM.

5.  Organizational structureand culture:
Many hospitals are structured in elements of the functional-
hierarchical fashion. Successful TQM program fits perfectly in an
Organization that exhibits a structure that is more flat and with minimum
layers of management. When organizations are structured along strict
departmental lines problem identification and solutions are
departmentalized. This leads to poor communication rivalry among
functional and professional groups, and partial problem identification and
solution. If the hospital culture is refusing to embrace the change needed for
TQM implementation, these initiatives will not succeed regardless of the
desire and effort of the people involved. The change in the structure is
required to improve quality of health care services.
 Lack of educationand training of employees about
TQM:
Education and training are fundamental for the successful
implementation of TQM. TQM requires employee’s participation, each
employee needs to learn and understand the underlying principles of TQM.
Employees in a medical care environment must receive education
and training in error prevention techniques as part of TQM implementation
to carry out new approaches to patient safety effectively. Extensive training
in using computerized medication order-entry systems has resulted in a
reduction in medication errors. Education has been used extensively in
aviation to enhance safety and security it could also be used in TQM
hospitals to enhance patient safety. It is illustrated that health-care workers
in many instances are speaking about TQM without knowing it. This is
highly indicative of the need for continuing medical education and training
programs that will be part of the overall quality strategy and aiming at
improving the necessary skills for continuous quality improvement.

6.  Lack of employee empowerment:
Employee empowerment is defined as the voluntary transfer of
ownership of a task or situation to an individual or a group. The empowered
individual or the groups need to have the will and the ability to act in an
appropriate manner in that situation. Another empirical part of
empowerment is an enabling environment that allows people to be able to
take ownership of the process and commit to its continuous development.
In health care mostly the employees are not too much powerful.
Mostly the higher management is reluctant to shift the power to the lower
level because that they don’t want to take any type of risk. They don’t
involve the lower employees in the decision making this in total reduces the
efficiency of the whole organization.
Reward and recognition:
For organizations to implement a successful TQM initiative, they
need to develop a formal reward and recognition system that encourages
employee involvement, and supports teamwork. In most cases, leaders have
the tendency to forget to motivate their staff. Recognition of employee’s
achievements is one of the most important factors to motivate
Employees. In cases where employees exhibit outstanding perforce, they
expect that their contributions will be recognized or the top management will
appreciate them. When they are recognized for the effort that they have put
in TQM initiative, they become more involved and take ownership of the
quality improvement initiative.
As a result, they become motivated to work at and further improve
the quality of the service they provide to patients. Hence, increased patient
satisfaction ought to be the barometer for the reward and recognition of the
employee’s performance. Failure to recognize employees and their efforts
can be a barrier in successful implementation of TQM. It is evident that
barriers to implementing successful TQM exist in hospitals and they are a
cause for concern.

7. Individual vs. collective responsibility:
The professional model places the responsibility for performance
squarely on the individual professional. [I' the professional makes a mistake.
then that professional is primarily liable for damages. The TQM model
focuses on the system. If errors or problems occur, TQM model focuses on
the process, not the individual provider. To correct problems and errors, a
group of individuals in the organization is asked to assume ownership of
each process and joint responsibility for its improvement.
Education sector:
Education sector is a major sector which requires improvements to remove
the flaws and to increase the quality of the services provided. This can only be
done by implementing the TQM program in this sector. But there are some
obstacles to implement this program in this sector which are discussed in the
paragraphs given below.
 Lack Of Management Commitment:
The main issue faced by any organization in implementing the TQM
program is the lack of the management commitment. Mostly the higher
management is not too much committed to the thing that they say. There are
gaps between what they say and what they do in actually. Management may
not be sincere to implement this program because by doing so they have to
involve the lower management in the decision making process, which they
don’t think good for themselves. And mostly the manager just thinks about
their own performance not the performance of whole organization.
Management leadership is an important factor in TQM
implementation because it improves performance through influencing other
TQM practices. The lack of commitment in the top management levels may
lead to some problems in the process of implementing TQM. Top
management is completely involved in implementing and stimulating the
TQM approach.

8.  Inability To Change Culture:
The culture of the education sector is very much strong. Every
person in this sector is doing the things in the common popular way and is
stuck with it. There are numerous research papers where organizational
culture is seen to be one of the major causes of failure in a TQM program.
Workers may not resist change: they may resist the specific type of change
that seems to bring in the wrong type of underlying cultural values and
assumptions. Culture is the most difficult organizational attribute to change,
outlasting organizational products, services, founders and leadership and all
other physical attributes of the organization. Administrators wishing to
introduce TQM will have to find ways of ensuring that a positive culture
exists. Cultural change is the most effective way to manage TQM within an
organization. Organizations have individual and unique dominant cultures
that are fundamental to all actions, operations and relationships in the
organization.
 Improper Planning:
Proper planning is needed everywhere to bring any type of change.
If any project is started without any proper planning than it is sure that you
are going to fully waste it because you don’t have any line of direction that
in which direction you are going and what do you want to do. The main
dilemma in education sector to implement TQM program is improper
planning. Mostly the management doesn’t have any specific plans that what
they want to do and what are their goals. They just make the short term plans
that just meet their short term goals not the long term.
Lack Of continuesTraining and Education:
The education sector is basically divided into two main sub
categories which are government sector and private sector. Both of these
sectors face some problems and obstacles to implement the TQM program.
E.g there is no proper arrangement for the training of the employees
according to the changing needs of the hour and mostly the highly qualified
staff is also not available in this sector. Employees need to have the right

9. skills and they should be granted a platform that enables them to implement
the principles of TQM. They need to have the right attitude for participating
in TQM and they also need to be able to apply this understanding and
attitude in their area of work so that the process of continuous improvement
can be achieved. All employees must be trained in quality improvement
techniques. Training is vital to the internal diffusion of quality ideas and
practices, as without it there is no solid foundation for a formal quality
program. TQM training is not a single effort, but should be conducted on a
continuous basis. Effective training pursuits must be planned systematically
and objectively.
Availability Of Resources:
The debate about the effectiveness of TQM in education has
largely revolved around issues of leadership, institutional mission,
teamwork, student satisfaction and empowerment. While these are clearly
key issues, without linking them to appropriate budgetary strategies they
leave out a vital element in total quality. Without an appropriate and
empowering budgetary process many of the TQM objectives are difficult to
realize as they lack a relevant driving mechanism. In particular, the success
of teamwork and empowerment so central to TQM is inextricably linked to
the budgetary process. If we are about liberating staff in our institutions and
providing them with professional responsibility, then we have to
decentralize budgets and the control over them. As a result, the internal
financial management of our institutions becomes a key element in any
TQM Program and an important adjunct to any work carried out on building
self-motivated teams.
 Employee empowerment:
When employees are empowered, they acquire skills, experience,
and understanding of the task requirements. This leads to increased
motivation and confidence. In addition, the commitment and a willing
attitude increase. This can only take place in an environment that does not
hinder the transfer of ownership.

10. Failure To Continuallyimprove:
If once the TQM program is implemented than it is necessary that
the steps should be taken to continually improve the work procedure and the
system. If the management fails to continually improve than it can be
disastrous for the whole organization. Changes are necessary to made
according to the changing priorities of the system. In education sector
mostly the employees are reluctant to the change and are stuck with the old
procedure that’s why it is necessary that they should change with the
passage of the time and they also should enhance their skills.
Resistance of Work Force:
In education sector most of the employees are aged and used to of
doing the working in the old fashion and they feel comfortable with this
procedure. So they resist if any change in made in the procedure. This
resistance is the main hurdle to implement the TQM program in the
education sector. To remove the resistance form the workforce against the
new procedure training should be provided to the employees. And
employees should learn the new skills that are needed to perform the job in
the better way.
Departmental Stores:
Departmental stores face many problems while implementing TQM program.
Some of them are given below in detail.
Low Specialization:
The manager who has to implement the TQM program requires
special specialties and skill to implement it. But in departmental stores most
of the managers do not have such specialties to implement this program.
They lack the skills which are required for its implementation and to also
require for continues improvement. They also don’t have the typical

11. expertise which provides the guarantee of its successful implication.
Managers of such stores also have little exposer about this program that’s
why they cannot implement it successfully.
Lack of Training:
Employees of departmental stores don’t have too much skill to
solve the problems that are associated to this program. Training is required
to make those managers experts to solve such kind of issues. But in
departmental store there is no proper arrangement for such kind of the
training and development. There should be arrangement of training for the
employees on continual basis to produce the right skill in them according to
the needs of the market. And the main issue faced by the organizations is
lack of funds that are required for the training.
Resistance To Change:
Mostly the employees in the departmental stores are reluctant to
change and are satisfied with the old methods of doing the work. So they
don’t adopt the changes too quickly. To finish the resistance from the
employees we have to create trust instead of fear among the employees. We
should make them understand that the new system is for their easiness and it
will assist them in their work and also will increase their performance during
the job.
Employee Empowerment:
Power of decision making should be shifted from the higher level to
the lower level to motivate the employees and it will also increase their
performance. But in the departmental stores case is different the managers of
higher level don’t shift the authority of decision making to the lower level.
The employees of the lower level understand the operations closely. They
can handle the problems effectively and can satisfy the customers in a good
way.