Key Factors required to Implement Total Quality Management within the Textile and Clothing Industry in India

Subhi Pradhan |09280571| BA (Hons) Business Studies | The University Of Northampton
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Submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Bachelors (HONS) Business Studies
An Empirical Study to Uncover the Key Factors
required to Implement Total Quality Management
within the Textile and Clothing Industry in India
By
Subhi Pradhan
Northampton Business School
University of Northampton
Supervisor: Dr Horacio Soriano-Meier
Submission Date: 24TH
April, 2012

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
During the completion of this present research, I have generously received
generous support from a large number of people who in different ways have
contributed to the completion of this dissertation.
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor
Dr. Horacio Soriano-Meier for his guidance, helpful advices and quick
responses to my emails and questions during the whole process. His support,
time, effort and his productive critical feedback have been inestimable value
throughout my work. Without his support, it would be impossible for me to
complete this project.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to the 45 Textiles and Clothing firms in
India who have cooperated and took out time to fill out my questionnaire during
their busy schedule. Their assistance has been invaluable throughout my work
as their quick responses have helped me in managing the fieldwork.
I also received excellent support from many people at the University of
Northampton, especially from Dawar Javad, who helped me prepare the initial
set-up and many times during the research.
Finally, I would like to show my thanks to my Dad, Mr. Satis Prasad Pradhan and
my Mum, Mrs. Bimala Pradhan and my sisters: Shriti Pradhan and Spriha
Pradhan for their support, love and encouragement during the research process.
_____________________
26th
April, 2012

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ABSTRACT
Purpose - the main purpose of this study is to identify the appropriate factors of
Total Quality Management (TQM) implementation within Textiles and Clothing
(T&C) sector in India and to understand the importance of TQM to improve the
capacity of the T&C sector in India while meeting the requirements related to
design, quality and standards and To identify the TQM barriers affecting the T&C
firms in India.
Design/Methodology/Approach – In order to achieve this objective, an
extensive Literature Review (LR) has been carried out to understand the
elements of the factors affecting TQM implementation in T&C firms in India.
Through, a thorough and detailed analysis of the literature, seven success
factors and eight barriers to TQM implementation were identified to develop a
questionnaire. These items were empirically tested by data collected from 45
T&C companies in India.
Findings - A total of 45 completed questionnaires were received and the overall
response rate was 75%. The findings of this survey suggest that there are seven
most important TQM factors that need considerations in T&C firms while
implementing TQM. A factor analysis was carried out that identified potential
TQM implementation factors affecting the T&C firms in India, which revealed the
key underlying constructs: Top Management Commitment, Employee
Empowerment, Supplier Quality Management, Continuous Improvement,
Training and Education, Communication and Customer Focus. These factors were
shown to be reliable and valid and offer new insights into the understanding of
TQM success factors in T&C industries in India.
Originality/ Value - The findings based on this empirical study presents the
key TQM factors faced by the T&C managers in India, while implementing TQM
effectively in their firms.
Keywords TQM Implementation, Critical Success Factors, Barriers, T&C Firms,
TQM Tools.

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Dedicated to
Dad, Mum and my two sisters (Shriti and Spriha)

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Table of Contents
Declaration
Acknowledgement....................................................................................i
Abstract ..................................................................................................ii
Dedication..............................................................................................iii
1. Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1. Background of the Study ................................................................1
1.2. Importance of Study ......................................................................2
1.3. Aims and Objectives.......................................................................2
1.4. Research Questions........................................................................3
1.5. Research Methodology....................................................................3
1.6. Limitation of the Study ...................................................................4
1.7. Organization of Study....................................................................4
2. Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1. Introduction ..................................................................................6
2.2. Conceptualization of Quality ............................................................7
2.3. Understanding of Total Quality Management (TQM)............................8
2.4. Critical Success Factors of TQM ..................................................... 10
2.4.1. Top-Management Commitment and Leadership ................. 10
2.4.2. Employee Involvement................................................... 10
2.4.3. Supplier Quality Management ......................................... 11
2.4.4. Continuous Improvement ............................................... 11
2.4.5. Customer Focus and Satisfaction ..................................... 11
2.4.6. Training and Education................................................... 11
2.5. Factors Influencing TQM Implementation ........................................ 12
2.5.1. Scope of Expertise......................................................... 12
2.5.2. Empowerment .............................................................. 12

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2.5.3. Motivation .................................................................... 13
2.5.4. Communication ............................................................. 13
2.5.5. Group Cohesiveness ...................................................... 14
2.5.6. Organizational Structure ................................................ 14
2.6. Barriers of TQM Implementation .................................................... 12
2.6.1. Cultural Barriers............................................................ 15
2.6.2. Management Barriers..................................................... 15
2.6.3. Language Barriers ......................................................... 15
2.6.4. Team Barriers ............................................................... 16
2.7. TQM Tools................................................................................... 17
2.7.1. Statistical Process Control (SPC) ..................................... 17
2.7.2. International Standard Organization (ISO 9000 Series) ...... 17
2.7.3. Pareto Analysis ............................................................. 17
2.7.4. Scatter Diagram............................................................ 18
2.7.5. Critical Path Analysis (CPA)............................................. 18
2.7.6. Ishikawa’s Fishbone Diagram.......................................... 18
2.8. Chapter Summary ....................................................................... 19
3. Chapter 3 Research Methodology
3.1. Introduction ................................................................................ 20
3.2.Research Philosophy: Realist .......................................................... 21
3.3. Research Approach: Deductive ...................................................... 21
3.4. Research Strategy: Quantitative .................................................... 22
3.5. Research Methods........................................................................ 22
3.5.1. Instrument: Questionnaire ............................................. 23
3.6. Sampling and Population Method ................................................... 24
3.7. Data Handling ............................................................................. 25
3.7.1. Reliability and Validity ................................................... 25
3.8. Ethical Consideration.................................................................... 26

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4. Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings
4.1. Introduction ................................................................................ 28
4.2. Measurements............................................................................. 28
4.2.1. Section One: General Information ................................... 28
4.2.2. Section Two: Critical Success Factors (CFSs) of TQM ......... 32
4.2.3. Section Three: Barriers of TQM Implementation ................ 38
4.3. Data Validity and Reliability........................................................... 40
4.3.1. Reliability Analysis......................................................... 40
4.3.2. Exploratory Factor Analysis............................................. 43
4.3.3. Correlation Analysis ....................................................... 44
5. Chapter 5: Discussion
5.1. Introduction ................................................................................ 48
5.2. Discussion of Findings .................................................................. 28
5.3. Chapter Summary........................................................................ 28
6. Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendations
6.1. Research Problem Revisited .......................................................... 53
6.2. Research Question Revisited ......................................................... 53
6.3. The Investigation Questions Revisited ............................................ 54
6.4. Recommendations ....................................................................... 56
6.5. Limitations of the Study................................................................ 56
6.6. Ideas for Future Research............................................................. 57
6.7. Contribution ................................................................................ 58
7. Chapter 7: References
8. Chapter 8: Appendices
8.1. Survey Questionnaire

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List of Tables
Exhibit 1: Flow Chart of the Dissertation......................................................5
Exhibit 2: Definitions for variables (Enablers and Results) ........................... 10
Exhibit 3: Objectives of the Research ........................................................ 24
Exhibit 4: Reliability Analysis.................................................................... 43
Exhibit 5: Item Total Statistics ................................................................. 43
Exhibit 6: Item Statistics ......................................................................... 44
Exhibit 7: Correlation Matrix .................................................................... 46
Exhibit 8: TQM factors Variance................................................................ 48
List of Figures
Figure 1.0: Sectors within T&C firms in India ............................................. 29
Figure 1.2: ISO 9000 certified T&C firms in India........................................ 30
Figure 1.3: Years of TQM implementation in T&C firms in India .................... 30
Figure 1.4: Managerial Quality Roles in the T&C firms in India...................... 31
Figure 1.5: Root anchored to the T&C businesses in India............................ 31
Figure 2.1: Top Management communication of quality goals to employees in
T&C firms in India .................................................................................... 33
Figure 2.2: Employee involvements in quality management and improvement
activities ................................................................................................. 34
Figure 2.7: T&C firms in India and suppliers’ close relation towards long term
partnership and quality improvement ......................................................... 35
Figure 2.8 Figure 2.8 Quality Learning opportunities to the employees to
engage in CI............................................................................................ 35
Figure 2.9: Employees trained on Quality Management System for Continuous
Learning ................................................................................................. 36

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Figure 2.13: Top down and bottom communication approach in T&C firms in
India ...................................................................................................... 37
Figure 2.16: Consideration of ISO 9000 certification as an opportunity for
improvement in T&C firms in India ............................................................. 38
Figure 3.1: Lack of Top Management Commitment in T&C organizations in India
............................................................................................................. 39
Figure 3.3: Lack of communication between top management and employees 40
Figure 3.5 Inadequate training and education on quality in T&C firms in India 41

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1. Background of the Study
In today’s globalized environment, new challenges have been brought into
companies, not only to satisfy their customers’ needs, but also to identify ways
to exceed them. Moreover, this challenge can be achieved through reducing
costs, improving product performances and delivering high quality goods and
services.
In developing country such as in India, it may be advantageous as the market
competes on quality, service and price, where the level of competition is clearly
defined. Out of many industries in India, the presence of the Textile and Clothing
(T&C) firms in India, particularly have a great impact on Indian economy.
According to the Ministry of Textiles (MIT) (2011) the T&C industry in India
contributes about 14% to industrial production, 4% to the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) and 17% to the export earnings and providing employment to
more than 35 million people.
The Indian textiles products vary, with hand-spun and hand-woven on one hand
and the mill sector on the other. However, the largest section of the textiles
sector is the decentralised powerloom and knitting sector. This sector assists the
industry in providing durable and non-durable goods. Durable goods comprises
of Readymade Garments, Cotton Textiles including Handlooms, Silk, Woollen,
Man-Made Textiles, Jute and Handicrafts including Carpets and Coir, whereas
non-durable goods consists of paper, chemicals and packaging (MIT, 2011).
Bhandari and Maiti (2007) highlight the fact that the main reason for the
increase in market size in India is because of the rise in demand for quality
products and services in India.
Although, the Indian T&C sector have abundant raw materials and low cost
labour, the inconsistency and insignificance of quality management system is
high. Therefore, the main issue of concern is whether the quality is assured
considering the mass production in T&C industry in India (MIT, 2011). Moreover,
the senior executives in T&C firms in India are taking an attempt to make quality
as the main competitive marketing strategy to compete in the market (Harjeev
et. al., 2007; Jha, 2009). Shetty (1993, 2001) proposes that the adoption of

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TQM system in T&C industry in India is considered to be slow. For this reason,
Textile Committee, a statutory body under the Ministry of Textiles, has been set
up to assist this industry in promoting quality and ensuring implementation of
quality certification standards (OTC, 2004).
1.2. Importance of Study
Total Quality Management (TQM) concept has been widely known and practiced
in T&C industry in India, little is known about what it actually means, despite
claims that “clear definitions are important”. Boaden (1997) verifies that it has
not been extensively discussed, though there are diverse views on TQM that
strengthens the topic area. Nofal et. al., (2010) mentions that TQM concept has
been generated from the developed world but the researcher believes that it is
not clear if it applicable in developing countries like in India. Therefore, it is
useful to T&C firms in India as a means of identifying and utilizing the
experiences gained in implementing TQM practices, with the aim of improving
the quality standards and embedding a culture of continuous improvement. The
findings may assist top management to determine the areas of improvements
and take adequate measures to improve standard by using TQM technique.
1.3. Aims and Objectives
The research aim of this study is to empirically analyze the key factors required
to implement TQM within the T&C industry in India. Furthermore, this study will
assess the significance of the practice that could be improved and implemented
successfully in the future.
The proposed research objectives were devised to realise the aim of this study:
a) To identify the appropriate factors of TQM implementation within T&C
sector in India
b) To understand the importance of TQM to improve the capacity of the T&C
sector in India while meeting the requirements related to design, quality
and standards.
c) To identify the TQM barriers affecting the T&C firms in India.

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d) To investigate the critical success factors (CSFs) in the T&C industry in
India.
1.4. Research Questions
The proposed research questions will be answered in this section to meet the
research aims and objectives. First, the researcher will aim to answer the
following key research question:
“An Empirical Study to Uncover the Key Factors required to Implement Total
Quality Management within the Textile and Clothing Industry in India”.
After that to answer that main key question, the researcher will investigate and
review the following sub questions:
RQ1: What are the major challenges that Indian clothing and textile
manufacturing industry is facing in today’s environment?
RQ2: Is TQM a key improvement tool on helping T&C Indian companies to
improve their competitive edge in this market?
RQ3: What TQM tools have been embraced the most in the Indian Textile and
Clothing?
1.5. Research Methodology
For this study, quantitative data will be used as the main research approach to
obtain primary data in the T&C industry in India. The main research tool will be
internet-survey-questionnaire. The researcher intends to send the questionnaire
to the top managers of forty five T&C firms in India. For this, the instrument will
be designed by the researcher and reviewed by four different lecturers from
Northampton Business School to assure the content validity.
A pre-test will be carried out in another sector or region to avoid data
contamination and validate the survey instrument. The researcher found this
method a useful method to collect credential evidence corresponding to the
literature review in Chapter 2 and the aims and objectives of this study in
Chapter 1, Section 1.3. The survey will be analyzed by using the SPSS 17.0
software tool to obtain a statistical analysis. In addition, for conformity the

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researcher could not conduct the interviews over the telephone due to busy
schedule stated by the managers of T&C firms in India. Keeping in mind these
factors, only internet-survey-questionnaire will be used for this research.
1.6. Limitation of the Study
Though the research was carefully plotted and prepared, there are few
limitations that are unavoidable. The main limitation of this study will be the
time provided to collect the response rate of the questionnaire. Since this study
requires a large sample size to represent the successful TQM implementation of
T&C firms in India, a low response rate could result in inaccurate findings and
conclusion.
As a limited time is given for the study to be conducted, the aspects of the
collected data will go within the time period allocated as the industry involves
manufacturing and production of textiles and garments in India. Therefore, in
this case, fieldwork will be resumed and will have to perform the analysis with
the limited amount of response rate at that point of time.
1.7 Organization of Study
The research will start with the analysis of the project specification, also shown
in Exhibit 1
Chapter One, involves the background of the study, importance of the study,
aims and objective of the study, research questions, research methodology,
limitations of the study and organization of study.
Chapter Two gives an introduction on the literature review on quality,
understanding of TQM, critical success factors of TQM, barriers to TQM
implementation and TQM tools.
In Chapter Three the researcher reviews the research methodology of the
present study, which involves the research philosophy and paradigm, research
strategy and approach, data collection tool or instrument, SPSS 17.0 software
tool to measure reliability and validity test.

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In Chapter Four, the researcher presents the data analysis and its findings of the
research corresponding to the primary and secondary data collected.
Chapter 5 reveals the comprehensive discussion of the results and findings that
are interpreted.
In Chapter 6, the researcher involves conclusions, recommendations, limitations
and managerial implications.
Exhibit 1: Flow Chart of the Dissertation

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Chapter 2: Literature Review
Introduction
In accordance with the newer demands in manufacturing sector by various
stakeholders, particularly in the textile and clothing industries (T&C) have made
effort to shift its main objectives and focus from quantitative expansion to the
emphasis on quality (Sahney et. al., 2004). They mention that such shift has not
only been witnessed in the developed countries but also in developing countries
of the world like India. The need to adapt to the responses and interests of the
stakeholders has caught attention in T&C sector, but most importantly it has
begun to realize the importance of total quality management (TQM).
As stated in chapter 1, the objectives of this study are:
a) To find out which are the appropriate TQM implementation factors
influencing the quality management system within Indian T&C sector
(Yusof, 2000; Wali, 2007; Nofal et. al., 2005).
b) To find out which TQM tools are required to improve and increase the
capacity of this industrial sector and at the same time meeting the
emerging requirement related to design, quality and standards (Dale,
1999; Pychogios and Priporas, 2007).
c) To find out which quality related issues and barriers are affecting Indian
T&C firms (Bardoel and Sohal, 1999; Kotelnikov, 2009; Masters, 1996;
Bhatt and Rajashekhar, 2009; Amar and Zain, 2002)
d) To find out which critical success factors are determinant in the T&C
industries in India (Garvin, 1983; Valmohammadi, 2011 and Oschman et.
al., 2006).

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2.2 Conceptualization of Quality
In order to answer the research question, the concept of quality needs to be
defined. Quality has been with us for decades, however, now it has become a
strategic issue for many businesses. Derived from the Latin word qualis, the
word “quality” has a wide variety of meanings and connotations attached to it
(Sahney et. al., 2004), thus refers quality as a “slippery concept”.
Consequently, amid the wide gamut of various definitions, Sahney et. al., (2004)
and Lozano (1997) emphasizes on having no single definition of quality;
however, it depends on the role of people defining it, either it deals with the
product or services or services producing these products and services. But many
experienced managers have witnessed that the failure to find and understand
the definition of quality may lead to difficulty in understanding the TQM
terminology leading to problems in its implementation. Hence, Sahney, et. al.,
(2004) reveal that the seminal contributions to this field many quality gurus
(Deming, 1982; Feigenbaum, 1983; Ishikawa, 1985; Juran, 1993) have given a
deeper insight into the definitions of quality.
The requirement for quality as a fundamental strategies to implement TQM is
clearly outlined by Juran and Gryna (1988:22) stating quality as a ‘fitness for
use or purpose’, which signifies the ability of a given product and service to meet
its purpose. According to Feigenbaum (1983:7) quality is ‘a Value and
Conformance to specification’ which translates to the ability of the product and
service, which will meet the expectations by the customers that is claimed to be
more comprehensive and effective than Juran’s. Ishikawa (1985:44) states that
quality is not only applied to the products and services, but also to the people,
processes and organizations environment and refers it as ‘Support service
provided’.
It is directly related to the quality products that are produced consistently by
quality organizations to satisfy the needs of the customers; hence Aksu
(2003:591) defines quality as “the conformance to a set of customer
requirements that is if met, result in a product or service that is fit for its
intended use”. Artistically, taking more systematic approach to quality regarding
in particular the customer, Dervitsiotus (2003:511) argues that quality is either
“meeting or exceeding the expectations of the business stakeholders”. However,

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critiques (Ackoff, 1992: Henshall, 1990) argue that the customer is not always
the customer because there are other uncovered chain of customers and
stakeholders who are equally considered important.
With reference to Figure 1, Dale (2003) asserts that quality thinking began with
the rise of quality inspection, followed by the development of powerful
mechanisms to statistically control quality, and ensured quality design and
quality delivery to the customers through an efficient procedure, hence enabling
quality assurance. Although, the product and service quality is considered as a
critical factor for institutional success, Selladurai (2002) claims that it is
important to comprehensively develop a plan for the implementation of
measurable quality standards and uncompromisingly design an approach to
achieve the performance objectives of TQM.
2.3. Understanding of Total Quality Management (TQM)
Most of the recognized quality gurus did not use the term TQM, although
Oschman et. al., (2006) reveal that most of their work was recognized for their
relevancy. TQM is the extended form of the traditional approach to quality. The
concept of TQM prevailed since 1940s and 1950s, when Feigenbaum first
devised and used the term TQM formally (Sahney et. al., 2004). Nevertheless,
today most of the quality gurus have firmly developed TQM through widely
known approaches. Oschman et. al., (2006) argue that despite the fact that the
emphasis is on various factors and aspects of TQM differ among the authorities,
the general thrust of the argument is similar.
Swift et. al., (1998) proclaim that Deming (1982) was the first quality pioneer to
teach statistical methods to achieve consistent quality productivity to the
Japanese, which was later adopted and adapted in a larger context. Feigenbaum
(1983:16) devised the term ‘Total Quality Control’ (TQC) and was later termed
as “Total Quality Management” (TQM), which translates as “total quality control’s
organization wide impact”. Therefore, Feigenbaum (1983) aims at teaching TQC
throughout the organization by applying statistical and engineering methods.
Juran’s (1993) philosophy on quality was best summed up as “quality does not
happen by accident, it has to be planned” (Tari, 2005), outlining the importance
of technical and managerial aspects and recognized the three basic elements of
TQM process: planning, organization and control. Crosby (1979) gives emphasis

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on the zero defects programme, whereas Ishikawa (1985) stresses on the
quality circles use.
There are many witnessed commonalities of TQM, despite the major differences
among these pioneers (Oschman et. al., 2006).
 Neither is inspection the answer of quality improvement nor the policing.
 The commitment to quality requires involvement of leadership by top
management.
 Improvement in quality programme requires long term commitment and
involvement of institution’s effort with the investment of effective training.
 Quality is considered as the first priority.
 Quality is a system of continuous improvement.
Steenkamp (2001) argues that TQM is not a technique that can be artificially
applied in order to improve organizational efficiency, but it can be witnessed as a
way of life; a culture and personal leadership, which should be practised by all
members of institutions. Therefore, before involving an organization in this
journey, an intense conceptual analysis of TQM is needed to obtain maximum
outcomes, which is the aim of this study as indicated by its objectives as shown
at the beginning of this chapter.
Though there are innumerable TQM articles in the business and trade press,
Korunka et. al., (2003) reveal that the concept of TQM is yet considered as a
hazy and ambiguous subject. Moreover, the different prescriptions proposed by
the total quality gurus have undoubtedly contributed to this confusion.
Many researchers (Boaden, 1997; Powell, 1995; Lee, 2004) states TQM is a
discourse element and classifies it as a new management paradigm. However,
Eng and Yusof (2003) points out that what differentiates TQM from other
managerial processes is the emphasis set on a discipline approach on continuous
improvement of individuals, of groups and of institutions. Drawing from the
recent literature and keeping in mind the objectives of the present study,
Valmohammadi (2011) mentions that the implementation of TQM can only be
accomplished successfully by integrating a set of fundamental set of principles or
success factors that support the philosophy of TQM.

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Additionally, this integration of TQM has proven to be effective over time
(Eriksson et, al., 2003). Though the existence of the diversity of views may
strengthen the subject area, Boaden (1997) confirms that it has not been
extensively discussed. With the objectives of the research being the appropriate
TQM implementation success factors influencing the quality management
system, Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award Model (MBNQA) of USA have
listed 12 TQM variables to support the objectives. Therefore, the diversity of
views and the development of causal relationship with different variables were
the result of enabling these principles into clusters as enablers and results
(Exhibit 2).
2.4. Critical Success Factors of TQM
The critical success factors (CSFs) is the most significant and apposite principles
of TQM that underpin the objectives of this study in Chapter 1. It mainly
explores the factors that lead to quality success, different benefits and barriers
associated with TQM success factors.
2.4.1. Top-Management Commitment and Leadership (TMCL):
TQM begins with effective TMCL, but not all leaders recognize the need for TMCL
within an organization (Garvin, 1983, 1991). Sakthivel (2007) suggests that not
only is the TMC in quality and productivity important, but also the knowing of
what it is that they are committed to be required. Companies need to preach
quality and company’s values, mission and vision statement to its employees to
create a significant paradigm shift from the traditional management role to a
new role that supports and enhances the total quality culture and environment
(Baidown, 2003).
2.4.2. Employee Involvement (EI):
Organizations require ideas, imagination, commitment and enthusiasm from all
the employees and managers to obtain the world class quality in today’s
competitive market (Oschman et. al, 2006). Consequently, not only the TMCL
alone are sufficient for TQM’s success, but also a long term commitment of the
EI in all functions at all levels is important. To unlock people potential is stated
to be one of the fundamental total quality principles described by Yusof (1999)

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that creates an environment to readily learn, flourish teamwork and grow self-
confident individuals in a long term.
2.4.3. Supplier Quality Management (SQM):
The involvement of suppliers as part of the quality chain in the improvement
process is required to complete the process of TQM (Norton, 2005). Mass quality
inspection cannot be compensated for useless materials, poor design or poor
process maintenance. As a result, time and efforts are wasted without
considering for better and requiring suppliers in quality improvement for
inspecting the goods and provide statistical evidence of the quality (Oschman et.
al, 2006).
2.4.4. Continuous Improvement (CI):
TQM forces many companies to move towards CI, also known as Kaizen- a
Japanese term proposed by Imai (1986). This CI is a fundamental philosophy
proposed by Deming (1982) simply describes it as an initiative taken to improve
techniques that increase successes and reduce failures (Bhuiyan and Baghel,
2005). Moreover, Juergensen (2000) mentions that pursuing CI through close
relationship with EI from all organizational levels leads to the achievement of
total quality and satisfying customers (Khan, 2011).
2.4.5. Customer Focus and Satisfaction (CFS):
The ability to put customers at the heart of an organization’s existence is vital
element in TQM process. Keeping in mind the Japanese phrase, ‘customer is
king’, it is necessary for an organization to actively participate in market
research to measure customer satisfaction. Thus, one of the principles of TQM is
seeking to satisfy the external customers with quality products and services and
internal customers with continuous improvement processes by using special
quality methods (Kurtus, 2001).
2.4.6. Training and Education (TE):
In this context, the participation and commitment of top management is
required to foster education on the philosophy of TQM (Khan, 2011). Senior
management must expose learning opportunities for all employees to engage
them in CI to compete in today’s business environment. This can be further done

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by equipping employees with planned training systems (training identification,
training provider selection and evaluation), where new skilled jobs, tools to
enhance teamwork and improving processes and tasks are provided
(Steenkamp, 2001).
2.5. Factors Influencing TQM Implementation
There has been a considerable increase in the publication of TQM research work;
however little is known on the relationship between factors and implementation
of TQM practices undertaken by various firms (Khan, 2011). Moreover, keeping
in mind the first objective of this study, which debates on the suitable TQM
implementation factors influencing the quality management system within Indian
T&C sector, this section elaborate on the degree of which it plays a major role in
influencing the readiness of employees to participate in TQM implementation.
2.5.1 Scope of Expertise:
The maintenance of appropriate and suitable knowledge and skills by the top
management that is relevant to TQM practices has been stressed in the
literature (Deming, 1986). Availability of knowledge is a variable that determines
the degree to which employees readily participate in the TQM practices and
change in the organization. Hence, top management support and commitment is
one of the contextual challenging factors that require dealing with employee
resistance to change to transform conventional management practices to the
adoption of contemporary management practices (Wali, 2007). For this reason,
it leads to create a hypothesis that is concerned with the relationship between
internal, external and structural factors and the extent to which TQM practices
are applied. Critics imply that TQM’s focus is mainly on internal matters, but
Nofal et. al., (2005) assert that the real growth element emerges from external
matters.
2.5.2. Empowerment
Waldman (1994) mentions that empowerment of employees have been a focus
in TQM settings. It is believed that the readiness of employees to take timely
actions and changes in quality problems highly depends on the employee
employment. Therefore, in TQM and work performance perspective, the role of
autonomy over tasks influences the large scale of quality changes in the

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organization. In context, Waldman (1994) defines autonomy as a ‘person
enhancer’ that initiates internal work motivation of employees. The significance
of empowerment and autonomy expects involvement of the approach that leads
to the input of knowledge workers more directly in the design, conceptualization
and analysis of the quality system. However, involvement without enthusiastic
participation in the quality system will lead to ineffective quality system change.
2.5.3. Motivation
Waldman’s (1994) study shows that the readiness of the employees to
participate in the TQM process is influenced by two factors; their perception
towards the relevance of TQM tools that enhances work performance and the
confidence of the employees that improves the performance resulting in
organizational rewards and recognition. There are three distinct sources of
employee motivation identified by Deming (1986) namely, the intrinsic
motivation that comes from satisfying the employees by providing a theorem;
the task motivation that emerges from seeing things in the organization and how
it actually works and the social motivation that comes from acknowledging one’s
contribution by others. Hence, Amabile (1990) finds it reasonable to purport that
the motivation of employees to participate in TQM practices appears from
believing that the adoption of TQM tools enhances the intrinsic satisfaction that
is associated with work content leading to possibility of enduring professional
consequences.
2.5.4. Communication
Top managers should be responsible for communicating the quality goals,
incorporating its mission and vision statement, quality policies and principles to
all levels (Wali, 2007). This enables employees to understand and commit to the
organization’s direction, individual’s effort and corporate expectations (Yusof,
and Aspinwall, 2000). However, in the Australian context, Kayis et. al., (2003)
signify that power communication may be considered as a barrier to TQM
implementation, but an honest and open based communication may make the
perquisite basis for the successful TQM implementation in firms, particularly, in
manufacturing firms (Jaafari, 1996).

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2.5.5. Group Cohesiveness
For T&C firms, group cohesiveness determines the willingness to adopt an
innovation and synergy in the workplace. However, Evans and Dion (1991)
believe that the meta-analysis study conducted on group cohesiveness shows no
indication of complexities associated with the quality implementation of a large
scale changes. Gully et. al., (1995) links group cohesiveness and adoption of
innovations in employees’ work settings as a factor that leads to a more positive
attitude towards the TQM implementation practices. The organizational
intervention demanding an innovative and cognitive orientation, demonstrating
an openness to change and continuous learning would exhibit higher willingness
to participate in TQM implementation. However, a high cohesive group that
displays an adaptive orientation may display a low level of employee readiness
for TQM implementation (Evans and Dion, 1991).
2.5.6 Organizational Structure
The most significant factors that may affect TQM implementation is the
Organizational Structure. Ron (1999) mentions that the existence of
organizational actors and processes are not in vacuum, but are set in a larger
organizational system having distinct structural characteristics. Dean and Bowen
(1994) reveal that with a wide range of structural options, organizations deal
with increased complexity, uncertainty and interdependence that accompany the
implementation of TQM program.
2.6 Barriers of TQM Implementation
According to Amar and Zain (2002) organizations taking on well-known quality
approaches include ISO 9000; TQM and Six Sigma have helped them to achieve
their goals and success. Despite the fact that TQM implementation contains
many success stories and experienced benefits, the real TQM impact
demonstrates few barriers and poor results, which cannot be disregarded. They
notify that neither does TQM provide a ‘cure-all’ outcome nor a single key to the
success of the organization. This section argues on the third objectives of the
present study that stresses on how issues and barriers to TQM implementation
affect the T&C Industries in India (Nofal et. al., 2005) for which the main

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barriers have been pinpointed by Rahman et. al., (2011) proposed few key
barriers of to help address this gap.
2.6.1. Cultural Barriers
Tamimi and Sebastianelli (1998) proclaim that if the organizational culture does
not appear to be beneficial and conducive to total quality, the culture is
necessitated to be changed before the implementation of TQM program.
Thiagarajan et. al., (1997) cites of Juran (1993) that redesigning an
organizational culture is not needed to introduce the quality improvements
disciplines. He emphasizes on the adherence of TQM principles, practices and
techniques to make TQM work. On Contrary, Kano (1993) states that it is
important to consider cultural background while implementing TQM, but
mentions that culture cannot be considered as a barrier to the implementation of
TQM.
2.6.2. Management Barriers
The extant objectives of this study could reflect on the management barriers,
Bhatt and Rajashekhar (2009) consider the lack of TMCL and its support or the
non involvement of the top managers in the day-to-day activities in the
organization may result in not knowing of the happenings that will affect the
rational decision making process and strategic planning for TQM implementation.
This barrier is seen in mostly all sectors especially T&C industries in India. Other
sectors include manufacturing, services, government and education (Goetsch
and Davis, 2010).
2.6.3. Language Barriers
Amar and Zain (2002) claim that improper planning barrier is created primarily
due to a lack of clarity in implementation plan in the organization and failed to
support open dialogue among the participants. Tannock et. al.,’s (2002) study
suggest that proper planning may assist organizations to overcome such
barriers. Hence, Amar and Zain (2002) suggest three major elements for
successful implementation of TQM in T&C organizations, which includes,
acquiring companywide commitment (Masters, 1996); communicating vision,
mission and goals of the company (Tannock et. al., 2002) and communicating
openly about the company’s new decisions and focus. Since culture evolves,

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senior managers are required to be involved from the beginning to develop a
flexible plan so that adjustments and improvements can be made.
2.6.4. Team Barriers
Bardoel and Sohal’s (1999) seminal work mentions that team complacency may
hinder TQM progress. Moreover, it has been found by Masters (1996) that teams
that failed to stay focused have shown inefficiency and considered as a big
expense to organizations. Nevertheless, in order to be effective, teams require
trained facilitators, a mission and purpose, a time frame such as a Gantt chart
for completing projects. Additionally, the mission statement should not be
overwhelming but needs to be broken down into few managerial phases. Hence,
Yusof and Aspinwall (2000) suggest that if possible, recommendations and
solutions of the teams should be implemented, which sends a powerful and
positive message to employees about the importance of empowerment and
team-work.
In conclusion, to avoid such barriers contemporary management practices it has
primarily been proven that traditional practices of measuring quality
performance is solely based on a universal managerial “tool kit” (Yusof, 1999).
In other words, undertaking TQM tools and techniques to encourage employees’
empowerment, customer satisfaction and especially understand how TQM works
in the organization, which will be elaborated in the next section.

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2.7 TQM Tools
To find out which TQM tools are required to improve and increase the capacity of
T&C industrial sector in India and at the same time meeting the emerging
requirement related to design, quality and standards, Fotopoulos and Psomas,
(2009) emphasizes on the composition of the “hard side” of TQM, which is the
significance of quality management tools and techniques for continuous
improvement within the organization.
2.7.1. Statistical Process Control (SPC)
Goetsch and Davi (1994) propose that SPC is a well known management method
to control the production and service delivery process for continuous
improvement. However, Mason and Antony (2000) argues that there have been
few identified practical barriers and difficulties such as lack of training and
education, commitment of management, unable to understand potential benefits
and failure to interpret control charts. SPC can be used in various areas in T&C
Industries, such as yarn-manufacturing products, woven-knitted, nonwoven
fabric manufacturing, dyeing and finishing, which could meet the emerging
requirement related to design, quality and standards.
2.7.2. International Standard Organization (ISO Series of Standards)
The ISO 9001 Series is considered as a significant worldwide phenomenon to
implement TQM implementation and has been used by most of the T&C
organizations in India (Srivastava, 2011) as stated in the objectives of this
research. It is a coherent management tool to start with quality by decreasing
the gap between environment of the quality management and TQM (Gotzamani
and Tsiotras, 2001). The T&C industry, especially in India, has recently begun to
use the ISO 9000 series of standards and is seen increasing tremendously as it
is a quality assurance system, as certification standard is acknowledged by all
but not implemented by all.
2.7.3. Pareto Analysis
Its major focus is on eliminating major problems that take place in the
operations processes. The Pareto principles advocate that ‘most effects come
from few causes’ (Dale, 1999). In terms of quantitative terms, 80 percent of the

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problems arise from 20 percent of the causes. Hence, effort can be made to
solve 80 percent of the problems by aiming right at 20 percent. However,
interpreting the Pareto Chart in T&C Industry, it defines problems such as
identifying defects as in finding causes for late arrivals of raw materials
(Karuppusami and Gandhinathan, 2006).
2.7.4. Scatter Diagram
It rates the relationship between two variables and helps in recognizing and
understanding causal relationships. Tari and Sabater (2004) illustrate an
example supposing that a company wants to know the value of conducting
preventive maintenance on its machinery. Keeping the objectives in mind, the
T&C organizations, particularly construct a scatter diagram on the basis of the
relevant information on two variables such as temperature of a reaction and the
colour of the product to determine if the cause and effect relationship exists
between those variables (Besterfield, 2001).
2.7.5. Critical Path Analysis (CPA)
Dale (1999) explains Critical Path Analysis (CPA) as an association with TQM
because project management is critical to the implementation of quality
programs within an organization. Moreover, he mentions that CPA’s
establishment created a logical order of activities on the basis of time and the
importance of the project completion (Bicheno, 1998).
2.7.6. Ishikawa’s Fishbone Diagram
It is a technique to identify a cause of a problem without the statistical methods
usage (Ishikawa, 1985), hence called cause-and-effect diagrams. Besterfield’s
(2001) study indicates that it is either taking actions to correct the causes of a
bad effect or to learn the causes of a good effect responsibly.

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2.8. Chapter Summary
In summarizing the allocated literature, on the presented research objectives,
this research has been designed to identify the current level of TQM
implementation, drive improvements, assessment of the quality barriers while
TQM practices and the main critical success factors of TQM among small and
large T&C firms in India. The in-depth study of the literature has given a broader
view that would assist in satisfying the research question. This research
acknowledges the TQM implementation principles and areas lacking in
implementation in TQM program, which is suitable for T&C organizations in
India. It is utmost important to choose a good quality textures, colour and
materials that are the three main factors in Indian T&C industry to serve the
specific purpose because consumers choose quality over price. Therefore, to
verify the literature and to take the study further, a primary research is
required, which is discussed in the next chapter.

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Chapter 3. Research Methodology
3.1. Introduction
The purpose of this chapter is to determine what key factors contribute to the
lack of total quality management and the extent of which these Total Quality
Management (TQM) factors affect implementation in Indian Textile and Clothing
Industries (T&C). In order to answer the research purpose, this chapter gives an
emphasis on the methods and instruments used to gather, interpret and
represent the data. This chapter also outlines the reasons why a particular
method has been chosen from various available methods. Moreover, the method
in which the research has been conducted is conceived in terms of research
philosophy subscribed to, the research strategy employed and the research
instruments utilized or perhaps developed in order to achieve the research
objective (s) and the research question (s) to get the solution of a problem as
defined in Chapter 1. To demonstrate the reliability and validity of the research,
the author highlights the problems that were encountered while attempting to
collect the data.
The main purpose of this chapter is as following:
 To test the framework from the literature and verify its validity.
 Discuss the related research philosophy in terms of other philosophies.
 Expand on the research strategy employed by the author and the
methods utilised to do so.
 To bring in light the research instruments developed by the author and
utilised in order to achieve the goals of this study.
3.2 Research Philosophy: Realist
According to Saunder et. al., (2007) Ontology, Epistemology and Axiology are
the three primary viewpoints of research. The first standpoint is Ontology, which
highlights the characteristics of pragmatism or being that has strong implications
for reality concept. The second standpoint is Epistemology that represents the
researcher’s view on the theory that encompasses knowledge. The final

21 | P a g e
standpoint is Axiology that is more concerned with the conscious quest for
‘values in research and purposive actions’ (Baranoski, 2011:19). These three
standpoints are combined together mainly to formulate the fundamental
philosophy of the research methodology that is originally believed to differ
between the two extremes of Interpretivist and Positivism (Saunder et. al.,
2007).
According to the ideological perspective(s) of the interpretivist, it is believed that
the world is a creation of society and therefore, it is considered it to be
subjective (Saunder et. al., 2007). Considerably, it affects the observer for being
a part of ‘what is observed’ by looking at the circumstances. For this reason,
assumptions made by the interpreters, in relation to the level of epistemology,
are the human interest that is the primary agent behind science. Hence, actions
taken are driven by social events and have subjective implications. In contrast,
positivist ideological perspective believes that since the world is external and can
be seen from an objective viewpoint, the observer is believed to be autonomous
from the observant (Baronov, 2004). According to the epistemology, positivists
suppose that those events that are noticeable can present realist data and
elucidated facts and findings.
Highly contrasting views of two extremes view the balancing philosophy called
‘Realistic’, as the reality that may exist regardless of the observation and
independence of human beliefs and individual perceptions. Therefore, those
recognized realities that are claimed to exist, whether it is proven or not, is
validated. Flowers (2009) argues that realistic theory takes aspects or unites
both positivist theory (as it observes facts and collect reliable data) with
interpretist theory (as it concentrates heavily on describing reality within the
perspective(s)). As this paper demands for reality under a specific framework,
the research question is devised from the existing re-evaluation of literature,
with the main purpose to strengthen the literature from different contexts.
Hence, the most suitable area to locate this research lies under the paradigm of
Realistic Research Philosophy.
3.3 Research Approach: Deductive
The research approach determines the theory used in Chapter 2 to design the
research work. Hyde (2000) mentions two types of research approaches to

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represent the reasoning process, which are inductive (building theory) and
deductive (testing theory). This study begins with a research question that is
followed by a comprehensive review of the literature, which is then followed by a
new theory or also termed as research hypothesis to test its validity. By
contrast, this research study falls under deductive research approach because
this study will test the established theory presented in Chapter 2 on TQM
implementation (Deming, 1986; Oschman et. al, 2006) considering the aims and
objectives reviewed in Chapter 1.
Moreover, the in-depth investigation of the study on TQM in Indian Textile
organizations is required to strengthen the scope of the research hypothesis and
since the sample population collected for this study is relatively bigger,
deductive research approach seems appropriate in this study.
The underpinning reasons behind such research design and the chosen data
collection methods are discussed in the following sections.
3.4 Research Strategy:
Altinay and Paraskevas (2008) recommend that both quantitative and qualitative
research strategy can be used, but the nature of the research matters when
determining and applying the methodology and data collection methods.
Reviewing the literature in Chapter 2 on factors affecting TQM implementation in
India, the effective research strategy that can be used for this study is a
questionnaire survey, mainly due to the Realist philosophy of study argued
above.
In order to test the practical validity of the study, quantitative analysis was the
tool selected in order to test the proposed hypotheses. For this reason, the
researcher has checked the relationships among variables with the use of the
SPSS statistical for this TQM implementation.
3.5. Research Methods
Since the reasoning has been explained in Section 3.4, the most appropriate
quantitative method for this study is the survey. Out of the five listed well-
known Bryman and Bell’s (2007) research designs, the author chose the survey

23 | P a g e
design as its research method, as this study envelops the importance of TQM
implementation in Indian Textile and Clothing Industries.
According to Pinsonneault and Kraemer (1993) survey is
“The means of gathering information about the characteristics, actions, or
opinions of a large group of people, referred to as a population".
The purpose of the survey research method can be used to generate statistics in
form of numerical and quantitative descriptions concerning the aspects and
features of a sample population (Fowler, 2002). Basically, this means that the
mean for collecting information is by asking questions, filling out the
questionnaire forms and analyzing the answers that constitute the data is
required.
3.5.1. Instrument: Questionnaire
According to Nonxuba (2010) there are three types of primary research for data
collection.
a) Personal Interviewing: The interviewer gains an understanding of the
underlying reasons. Personal interviews can be based on one-to-one interaction
or in a group, where the respondents see the questionnaire and could be with
lengthy and complex questions (Emory and Cooper, 1995).
b) Telephone Interviewing: Telephone interviews can be based on one-to-one
interaction but the respondents do not see the questionnaire, which could limit
the type of questions with short and simple questions (Nonxuba, 2010).
c) Self administered Questionnaires: Mail or Internet based questionnaires
are self administered, where simple questions contain detailed associated
instructions (Nonxuba, 2010). However, it is difficult to design and require many
rewrites to produce an acceptable questionnaire.
Out of the three methods identified by Nonxuba (2010), the best applied method
for this study is the Self Administered Internet Survey-Questionnaire.

24 | P a g e
For this, a 6-point Likert scale was utilized to enable the respondents to select
the number of the appropriate responses that best represents their level of
agreement ranging from Scale 1: Strongly Disagree to Scale 6:Strongly Agree.
Mogey (1999) defines Liker Scale as:
“A psychometric response scale primarily used in questionnaires to obtain
participant’s preferences or degree of agreement with a statement or set of
statements”.
Hence, considering the questionnaire format, the researcher considered to send
the questionnaires via email as all the respondents in India were computer
literate. The questionnaire investigated the factors affecting TQM implementation
in Indian T&C industry in relation to the literature presented in Chapter 2 and
the main objectives of this research. The questions for the instrument were
devised into three main categories as listed below in Exhibit 3.
Categories Purpose
1. General Information To be familiar with the background of the
T&C organizations in India.
2. Critical Success Factors to
TQM Implementation
To determine how well the level of the
degree of compliance of TQM is practiced
and implemented in T&C organizations
3. Barriers to TQM
Implementation
To identify the barriers or difficulties faced
by T&C organizations in India while trying to
adopt TQM
3.6. Sampling and Population Method
The sampling method utilised in this study was a random online sample, where
the search engine provided an industry list. From this list, every other company
was selected until a sample of 45 companies was obtained. However, Saunders
et. al., (2007) suggested that it is not easy to produce a good quality

25 | P a g e
questionnaire the first time. Therefore, to ensure that the questionnaire
extracted the precise data with regards to the research questions and research
objectives, the questionnaire was reviewed by four different senior lecturers
from Northampton Business School (NBS) to assure the validity of its content
and ensure that any errors made during the design process were rectified and
improved before the full scale survey was developed. Then, a pilot study was
conducted by administering the questionnaires to 11 different manufacturing
companies in Nepal and India to avoid data contamination, validate the survey
instrument and ensure that the relevant topics and information to be received
were covered to address the purpose of this study. The survey was improved
four times, which was then accepted and permitted to produce the data from
T&C firms in India.
According to the nature of this study, the researcher randomly extracted 60 T&C
companies in India. The target population of the questionnaire designed was to
the senior managers and executives of the T&C firms in India, particularly to get
an insight of their practices of TQM in their organizations and if it is successful or
not. From 60 T&C companies, only 45 companies responded and the rest did not
respond. This categorizes the total target population of this study, who
participated in the survey. The time span for collecting the data was five weeks.
Follow up emails were sent to every company that responded.
3.7. Data Handling
The collected data from the questionnaire requires analyzing to answer the
present research aims and objectives for the established research questions.
Chapter 4 will quantify the gathered information by reviewing the results and
findings from the questionnaire.
3.7.1. Reliability and Validity
Sekaran (1992:173) defines reliability as “a measurable tool to determine the
concept that indicates the stability and consistency and helps to assess the
goodness of a measure”.
The sample that has been chosen to categorize the target population, for the
chosen location requires representing the reliability of the questionnaire
(Easterby-Smith, 2002) and therefore, reliability should depend on the rate of

26 | P a g e
the response of the questionnaire indicated in Chapter 4. In the case of the
present research, the researcher followed the framework conducted by Yin
(1994), as it is apposite for questionnaires. The researcher used SPSS 17.0
software to test the reliability of the content, which is useful for assumptions and
judgements, if required. It assists in resisting random errors such as Participant
errors, participant bias, observer error, observer bias, as proposed by Saunders
et al.,(2007). Since, the questionnaire has been piloted, these threats were
relatively reduced, also called a highly structured questionnaire, which makes
the observer error almost non-existent. The guaranteeing anonymity makes
respondents give more reliable and truthful answers.
Yin’s (1994) research highly stresses on the validity of the content that
measures accurate data collection method (s), for which they were intended to
measure. For this study, the questionnaire analysis must be accurate to measure
its validity; hence Chapter 4 will proceed with the data analysis that identifies
issues, which were previously sought in the research objectives.

27 | P a g e
Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings
4.1. Introduction
The main tool used to collect the data in this industry was a survey
questionnaire. After collecting the survey data, same was recorded in excel and
then transferred to SPSS 17.0. In this chapter, the researcher is going to
analyse and disclose the results of the data from the survey conducted in Indian
Textiles and Clothing Industry as discussed in chapter three. According to Vos
(2002) data analysis is the process that brings order, structure and important
meaning to the data obtained in the fieldwork.
In this study, sixty surveys were sent to the T&C firms in India, however only
forty-five surveys were considered to be legitimate for this study, as the
remaining fifteen surveys didn’t provide any reply. So, the response rate of this
survey was 45 out of 60, in other words 75%, which is an excellent response
rate for an internet survey.
The key elements to be analysed in this chapter will follow a similar order as the
one given in the survey questionnaire sections, which are: 1) General
Information; 2) Critical Success Factors of TQM implementation in this industry;
3) Barriers when implementing TQM. The first stage of this analysis is to find the
Cronbach’s Alpha test to check the reliability of the data collected in the survey.
It is applied to measure the internal consistency or average correlation of the
items in the survey. In the second stage, Pearson correlation is applied to
determine the strength of relationship between the dependant variable and
independent variable.
The data obtained from the questionnaire as indicated in Chapter 3 will be
presented and analyzed through various methods as it becomes applicable,
demonstrating its potentiality of merging theory and practice.

28 | P a g e
4.2. Measurements
a) Section One: General Information
In this section, the general information responses of the survey questions have
been interpreted, analysed and discussed.
In order to take a comprehensive picture, an attempt was made to include a
thorough picture of Indian T&C firms. The textiles and garments firms in India
consisting of a network of materials are wool, silk, cotton, fabric, polyester and
nylon, which constitutes the largest portion of textiles sector as indicated by
87% of the respondents. This result is shown in Figure 1 below indicates that
manufacturing firms having durable goods are the major sector incorporating
successful TQM programs in India.
Figure 1 Sectors within T&C firms in India
By keeping the same order as in the questionnaire, Figure 1.2 requested which
T&C organizations were ISO 9000 certified or not. The result shows that 48% of
the firms were ISO 9000 certified, so they have implemented TQM, which
ensures they have a dependable quality assurance system. However, 44% of the
respondents were non ISO 9000 certified. The rest 8% were identified as others.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Types of textiles and clothing firms with TQM system
87%
6.60%
2.20% 2.20% 2.20%
Textiles and Garments Home Textiles Chemicals
Paper Wooden and Furniture

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Figure 1.2 ISO 9000 certified T&C firms in India
To check the maturity of TQM in this industry, the survey requested the
respondents the number of years of TQM implementation in the organization.
The results are shown in Figure 1.3 that highlights that 31% of the firms had
implemented TQM for more than three years in their organizations, which
indicates that there is a strong link between top management commitment and
TQM implementation; whereas 69% of the respondents indicated that they have
less than three years of TQM implementation.
Figure 1.3 Years of TQM implementation in T&C firms in India
44%
48%
8%
Yes
No
Others
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Years of TQM implementation
31%
69%
More than 3 (three) years Less than 3 (three) years

30 | P a g e
It was essential to assess information about the role of top managers in the
organization, as they are the ones who are more aware of the need to have a
quality management system in their organizations. Therefore, Figure 1.4
indicates their role in implementing quality in their organization. The results
indicate 66.7% were identified as managers, 24% were Executive Directors and
9% were Quality Controllers of the T&C firms in India. This indicates that the
introduction of TQM may result in an increase of the operational effectiveness in
the organization (Salaheldin, 2009).
Figure 1.4 Managerial Quality Roles in the T&C firms in India
In addition to that, the respondents were asked about the root anchored of the
business. The findings in Figure 1.5 indicate that 56% of the T&C firms
implementing TQM program are family owned. This can be interpreted that
family businesses are the largest dominant sector in this industry. Then, 42% of
the respondents said that their T&C businesses were created by them, 1% said
that their businesses were franchised and purchased and the remaining 5% of
the respondents said the business anchored its roots due to other reasons.
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Production
Manager
General
Manager
Marketing
Manager
Quality
Controller
Other
13%
24%
18%
9%
42%
Production Manager General Manager Marketing Manager
Quality Controller Other

31 | P a g e
Figure 1.5 Root anchored to the T&C businesses in India
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Existence of the business
42%
2%
56%
2%
11%
The creation of a new business The result of a franchised business
A Family Business The Purchase of a Business
Other

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b) Section Two: Critical Success Factors (CFSs) of TQM
The second section comprises of the CSFs of TQM to determine how well the
level of TQM is practiced and implemented in T&C organizations in India. All the
TQM questions were close ended, where respondents were required to respond
along the Likert type continuum with 1= Strong Disagree to 6= Strongly Agree.
The total of six CFSs was identified and analyzed in the following section below:
Top management Commitment
TQM initiatives are highly dependent on consistent top management support and
ownership during and till the end of the process to ensure better results. To
evaluate the top management leadership commitment, a six item scale was used
to measure the degree of top management commitment in the process of quality
decision making and participating in the effective communication of quality
goals, mission and vision of the organization to the employees. Out of 45
responses, the 40% of respondents agreed that top management communicates
the goals to every employee in the organization as indicated in Figure 2.1 below.
Figure 2.1 Top Management communication of quality goals to employees in T&C firms
in India
Employee Empowerment
All the respondents were inquired about whether the top managers commit to
empower employees to participate in quality management decision-making and
0%
4%
4%
20%
41%
31%
Strongly Disagree Moderately Disagree Slightly Disagree
Slightly Agree Moderately Agree Strongly Agree

33 | P a g e
improvement activities. The results in Figure 2.2 shows that 29% strongly
agreed, the majority of the respondents that is 40% moderately agreed and
22% slightly agreed to the question. This can be indicated that T&C employees
would have positive link towards organizational objectives, improved quality,
increased productivity and reduced turnover. However about 7% of the
responding companies disagreed to it.
Figure 2.2 Employee involvements in quality management and improvement activities
Supplier Quality Management
All the respondents were further asked if the organization has a close
relationship with its suppliers toward long term partnership and quality
improvement. The results show that almost 47% of the respondents strongly
agreed, 31% of the respondents moderately agreed and 11 % slightly agreed to
the question. This indicates reduction of variations and improvement in quality
objectives. The remaining 7% disagreed and 4% moderately disagreed as
indicated in Figure 2.7.
Employee Involvement in quality management
0%
7%
2%
22%
40%
29%

34 | P a g e
Figure 2.7 T&C firms in India and suppliers’ close relation towards long term
partnership and quality improvement
Continuous Improvement
Respondents were asked if the quality learning opportunities were exposed by
the top managers to the employees to engage in CI in the organization. Figure
2.8 illustrates that almost 82% of the responding organizations agreed, which
indicates significant improvement in organizational outcome as giving learning
opportunities may support employees to close performance gaps enabling
organizations to reach its desired goals, while 16% slightly disagreed and
strongly agreed equally.
Figure 2.8 Quality Learning opportunities to the employees to engage in CI
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Company's and suppliers' long term partnership
0%
4%
7%
11%
31%
47%
Exposure of quality learning opportunties to the employees
0% 2%
16%
22%
44%
16%

35 | P a g e
Training and Education
Relating to the literature in Chapter 2, all the respondents were asked if the
employees were given training on TQM for continuous learning. The findings in
Figure 2.9 indicate that the majority being 42% of the responding organizations
slightly agreed to the question certifying that the performance improvement in
employee morale gives a significant value to the organizational strategic
effectiveness and provides employees with positive orientation of their work.
While 16% of the respondents strongly agreed and 36% moderately agreed to
the question.
Figure 2.9 Employees trained on Quality Management System for Continuous Learning
Customer Focus and Satisfaction
To rate the extent to which organizations participate in the market research to
satisfy customers with quality products and services, respondents were asked to
provide their agreements or disagreements on it. The results shown in Figure
2.10 indicate that 40% of the responding companies moderately agreed to the
question. This reflects that organizations conducting market research have the
capability to communicate effectively to customers in order to identify and
understand opportunities, pinpoint obstacles and evaluate the success. However,
36% strongly agreed, 11% slightly agreed and the rest disagreed on it.
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Training on Quality for Continuous Learning
2% 2% 2%
42%
36%
16%
Strongly Disagree
Moderately Disagree
Slightly Disagree
Slightly Agree
Moderately Agree
Strongly Agree

36 | P a g e
Figure 2.10 Organizations participate in the market research for quality products and
services in T&C firms in India
Communication
Communication was measured in the manner proposed by Wali (2007). Figure
2.13 was designed to ask the respondents whether the organizations have top-
down and bottom-up communication approach. The results show that 53% of
the respondents estimated the frequency of direct and indirect contact between
top management and the employees in every department and vice-versa in their
organizations. 16% strongly agreed and the rest disagreed to it.
Figure 2.13 Top down and bottom communication approach in T&C firms in India
0% 4%
9%
11%40%
36% Strongly Disagree
Moderately Disagree
Slightly Disagree
Slightly Agree
Moderately Agree
Strongly Agree
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Top down and bottom up communication
approach
2% 2%
11%
16%
53%
16%
Strongly Disagree
Moderately Disagree
Slightly Disagree
Slightly Agree
Moderately Agree
Strongly Agree

37 | P a g e
TQM Tool: ISO 9000 certification
Following on from the third research question, candidates were asked if their
organization considered ISO 9000 certification as the opportunity to improve
their internal quality processes and systems in order to create a competitive
edge in the market. Out of 45 returned responses, Figure 2.16 exhibits an
overall 28 responding companies, which is 62% strongly, moderately and slightly
agreed to the question. This indicates that ISO 9000 certification is the most
used TQM tool for continuous improvement. The rest 37% of the respondents
disagreed, which indicated that they had other TQM tools that measured their
internal processes and systems for success.
Figure 2.16 Consideration of ISO 9000 certification as an opportunity for improvement
in T&C firms in India
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
ISO 9000 certification creates opportuntity for
improvement
4%
13%
20%
27%
24%
11%
Strongly Disagree
Moderately Disagree
Slightly Disagree
Slightly Agree
Moderately Agree
Strongly Agree

38 | P a g e
c) Section Three: Barriers to TQM Implementation
In the third section, the author is trying to determine and identify barriers or
difficulties faced by organizations to adopt TQM.
Top Management Commitment
The question designed in Figure 3.1 examines whether the organizations face
inadequate commitment of the top management. The results show that the
majority of the responding organizations, 55% disagreed (24% moderately
disagreed and 4% strongly agreed) to the question. It reflects that top
management commitment in T&C firms in India have enabled employees to
follow the right way of working for TQM implementation in their organizations.
While the rest, 40% of the respondents admitted that they face lack of top
management commitment, which could affect the TQM implementation in those
firms.
Figure 3.1 Lack of Top Management Commitment in T&C organizations in India
Lack of top management commitment in T&C firms in
India
9%
24%
27%
20%
18%
2%
Strongly Disagree
Moderately Disagree
Slightly Disagree
Slightly Agree
Moderately Agree
Strongly Agree

39 | P a g e
Communication
The ultimate result from which TQM implementation initiative is successful in the
organization is overall excellence of communication approach. Upon asking all
the respondents about the existence of lack of communication between top
management and employees, overall of 54% of the respondents disagreed (9%
strongly disagreed, 16% moderately disagreed and 29% slightly disagreed) as
shown in Figure 3.3. This indicates that in order to contemplate the
implementation of employee empowerment, the management and employees
develops an open communication. The remaining 47% agreed that there is
existence of communication between top management and employees.
Figure 3.3 Lack of communication between top management and employees
Training and Education
Furthermore the respondents were also asked that if on the basis of the results
of their performance, were there an inadequate training and education on
quality. Majority of the respondents (16% strongly and moderately disagreed
and 26% slightly disagreed, which indicates that empowerment program for
TQM implementation and the capabilities required to have can be utilized to
9%
16%
28%22%
18%
7% Strongly Disagree
Moderately Disagree
Slightly Disagree
Slightly Agree
Moderately Agree
Strongly Agree

40 | P a g e
recognize problem and make improvements in the organization. However, 27%
of the respondents moderately agreed to the statement and 13% slightly
agreed.
Figure 3.5 Inadequate training and education on quality in T&C firms in India
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
Inadequate training and education
16% 16%
27%
13%
27%
2%

41 | P a g e
4.3. Data Validity and Reliability
4.3.1. Reliability Analysis
The results from the survey data was tested for reliability by using Cronbach’s
Alpha shown in Exhibit 4. Cronbach’s coefficient Alpha is used to measure the
inter-item reliability of the data with values which are 0.7 or higher. It indicates
the acceptable reliabilities for established scales (Meier and Forrester, 2002). For
this study, each scale of TQM and its factors affecting TQM implementation was
reviewed determining Cronbach’s by a, and most of the values of the scales
were dropped as it did not contribute Cronbach’s value.
For this study, reliability analysis was conducted through SPSS software. Exhibit
4 shows the values of Cronbach’s Alpha for independent variables that are
confirmed to be above 0.8, and the overall Cronbach’s alpha for dependant
variables is 0.839. It highly indicates that the variables are reliable to determine
the parameters of the performance. Furthermore, Exhibit 5 gives report on the
reliability analysis. The column labelled Corrected Item-Total Correlation
estimates its value measurability. The values in the second column labelled
Cronbach’s Alpha if item deleted indicate the overall value of α when an item in
the survey is removed. All the values in the column are shown in the close
approximation of one another and in the range of Cronbach’s value a, which is a
positive sign of a reliable date. Furthermore, none of the items in the column are
greater than overall Cronbach’s α.
However, an argument raised by Field (2000) states that by removing any item
at this stage may not significantly improve reliability, but the accuracy of the
factor analysis may be affected if there is further deletion of an item from the
survey. The Corrected Item-total Correlation column shows the correlations
between the values of each item and all the items are seen to be above 0.3
indicating that all the items correlate with each other.

42 | P a g e
Cronbach's Alpha
Cronbach's Alpha
Based on
Standardized Items N of Items
.839 .840 8
Exhibit 4 Reliability Analysis
Item-Total Statistics
Scale Mean if Item
Deleted
Scale Variance if
Item Deleted
Corrected Item-
Total Correlation
Squared Multiple
Correlation
Cronbach's
Alpha if Item
Deleted
TMCQG 32.96 29.953 .498 .366 .828
QIB 33.16 27.953 .522 .297 .828
STSQ 33.31 27.810 .652 .482 .809
CSLP 32.76 27.598 .669 .601 .806
LOEM 33.27 30.155 .489 .335 .829
TRCI 33.33 29.273 .607 .436 .816
MRQPS 32.91 27.310 .704 .640 .802
TDBU 33.22 30.359 .433 .245 .837
Exhibit 5: Item total Statistics
Note 1: Abbreviations
TMCQG: Top Management Communication of quality goals to employees
QIB: Quality Improvement coordinating body in the organization
STSQ: Suppliers maintain high technical standards for quality specification
CSLP: Company and Suppliers partnership for quality Improvement
LOEM: Top Management provides learning opportunities to employees’
TRCI: Employees training on total quality concept for continuous learning
MRQPS: Market Research to satisfy customers with quality products and services
TDBUC: Organizations follow top down and bottom up communication approach.

43 | P a g e
4.3.2. Exploratory Factor Analysis
According to Pezeshki et. al., (2009) factor analysis is a statistical technique that
identifies and explains the correlation among the selected variable that are
directly or indirectly connected. This technique has been used in this study to
understand the structure of the variables, to measure the underlying variable in
a constructed questionnaire presented in Chapter 4 and to construct a more
manageable size by reducing the data set. For this study, the first result of the
preliminary analysis is solely based on descriptive statistics. Exhibit 6 shows the
descriptive analytical statistics of each factor of TQM through the mean and
standard deviation to reveal the highest agreement between the responses.
Item Statistics
Mean Std. Deviation N
TMCQG* 4.89 1.049 45
QIB* 4.69 1.294 45
STSQ* 4.53 1.120 45
CSLP* 5.09 1.125 45
LOEM* 4.58 1.033 45
TRCI* 4.51 .991 45
MRQPS* 4.93 1.116 45
TDBU* 4.62 1.093 45
Exhibit 6 Item Statistics
Note 2: * refer back to Exhibit 5 Note 1
To test the multicollinearity within the response data set, the researcher has
used a Pearson’s correlation matrix to indicate the significance of the value of
each correlation with another by using SPSS 17.0 tool. This correlation
coefficient ranges from -1 to +1, where -1 signifies a perfect negative
correlation, + 1 represents a perfect positive correlation and 0 indicates no
correlation (Field, 2000). Table Exhibit 7 illustrates the relationship between the

44 | P a g e
eight critical factors of TQM as measured as the factors given in Note 1 in Exhibit
5.
4.3.3. Correlation Analysis
The results of the main factors affecting TQM implementation and their
correlation that produces the coefficients and significance value (p) are indicated
in Exhibit 7. This table contains the Pearson correlation coefficient between the
selected TQM CSFs and the second part contains the two-tailed significance of
these coefficients.
i. From the Exhibit 7, it can be observed that TMCQG is highly significantly
correlated to the following factors: STSQ, CSLP and MRQPS ((Note 1,
Exhibit 5) at a 0.01 level of significance (r=0.458, 0.471 and 0.440,
p<0.01). This relationship shows strong and positive relationship among
those variables. There is statistically significant correlation among TMCQG,
TDBU and TRCI, where r=0.359 and 0.318, p<0.05. However, TMCQG has
no statistically significant relationship with QIB and LOEM.
ii. Similarly, taking the second variable, it can also be observed QIB is highly
significantly correlated with variables STSQ, CSLP, LOEM and MRQPS, at a
0.01 level of significance, r=0.431, 0.410, 0.393 and 0.442. However, QIB
significantly correlates and has a positive relationship with TRCI (r=0.375)
at a 0.05 level of significance. It can be interpreted that the QIB
iii. The third variable shows that STSQ is highly significantly correlated with
the four variables: CSLP, LOEM, TRCI and MRQPS, where r=0.485, 0.395,
0.568 and 0.447, at a 0.01 level of significance, which is confirmed to be
acceptable. However, it STSQ significantly correlates with TDBU (r=0.354,
p= 0.05), which is statistically significant but has a weaker relationship
between STSQ and TDBU.
iv. The fourth variable, the correlation among CSLP, TRCI and MRQPS are
0.468 and 0.747, which is significantly highly correlated at a significance
level of 0.01. This coefficient shows a positive relationship between those
variable. However, CSLP significantly correlates with LOEM (r=0.346, p<
0.05), but contains weaker relationship. It certifies that that CSLP does
not correlate with TDBU, hence have no relationship at all.
v. The fifth variable that is LOEM highly significantly correlates with MRQPS
(r=0.428, p<0.01), indicating a strong positive relationship between these

45 | P a g e
variables, whereas LOEM is statistically significant with TDBU and TRCI
(r=0.359, 0.349, p= 0.05). This certifies that LOEM’s coefficient is fairly
weak but has a positive relationship with TDBU and TRCI.
vi. The sixth variable, TDBU has a statistically significant correlation with
TRCI and MRQPS (r= 0.308, 0.296, p=0.05). This verifies that it has
positive but weaker relationship between these two variables.
vii. Lastly, TRCI highly significantly correlates with MRQPS (r=0.545, p<
0.01). This indicates that there is a positive relationship between
employee training and market research for customer satisfaction.

46 | P a g e
Exhibit 7. Correlations Matrix
TMCQG* QIB* STSQ* CSLP* LOEM* TDBU* TRCI* MRQPS*
TMCQG*
Pearson Correlation 1 .275 .458
**
.471
**
.123 .359
*
.318
*
.440
**
Sig. (2-tailed) .067 .002 .001 .419 .015 .033 .002
N 45 45 45 45 45 45 45
QIB*
Pearson Correlation 1 .431
**
.410
**
.393
**
.236 .375
*
.442
**
Sig. (2-tailed) .003 .005 .008 .118 .011 .002
N 45 45 45 45 45 45
STSQ*
**
.395
**
.354
*
.568
**
.447
**
Sig. (2-tailed) .001 .007 .017 .000 .002
N 45 45 45 45 45
CSLP*
*
.268 .468
**
.747
**
Sig. (2-tailed) .020 .075 .001 .000
N 45 45 45 45
LOEM
*
.349
*
.428
**
Sig. (2-tailed) .016 .019 .003
N 45 45 45
TDBU*
*
.296
*
Sig. (2-tailed) .040 .049
N 45 45
TRCI*
**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 45
MRQPS* Pearson Correlation 1

47 | P a g e
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

48 | P a g e
Chapter 5: Discussion
Introduction
The purpose of the study was to determine the factors influencing the quality
management system within the Indian T&C industry. This chapter will give an
insight into the findings of the research, which is anticipated to satisfy the following
relevant research questions.
RQ1: What are the major challenges that Indian clothing and textile
manufacturing industry is facing in today’s environment?
RQ2: Is TQM a key improvement tool to help improve T&C Indian
companies’ competitive edge in this market?
RQ3: What TQM tools have been embraced the most in the Indian Textile
and Clothing?
On the basis of the literature review conducted in Chapter 2 and the data analysis
in Chapter 4, this section reviews the findings from the analysis giving an insight
into the major findings, recommendations and limitation of the research, which is
seen in Chapter 6.
5.1. Discussion of Findings
The argument of this research focuses on the need of success factors of TQM
implementation. In compliance with the analysis results and the first research
question, the seven key factors with their variances were identified as the main key
challenging factors that Indian T&C companies face in today’s environment.
Factors Variance (%)
Top Management Commitment 92%
Employee Empowerment 91%
Supplier Quality Management 89%
Continuous Improvement 82%
Training and Education 94%
Customer Focus an Satisfaction 87%
Communication 85%

49 | P a g e
Top Management Commitment: To begin with Sakthivel (2007) proposes that TQM
requires TMCL to preach quality and company values, mission and vision statement
to its employees to create a new role that supports the quality culture in the
organization. From the analytical results shown in Figure 2.1, it is evident that
majority of the senior managers have understood the importance of TMC and TQM
within their long term business plan, hence successful. It can be observed that
most of the Indian T&C organizations have accepted their quality responsibilities to
participate in the implementation program. Therefore, the participation of TMC in
the implementation of quality management program is 69% in T&C companies in
India, whereas the rest (31%) has been planning to install in their organizations.
The installation of TQM is highly dependent on constant top management support
and ownership during and till the end of the process to ensure better results, which
is ensured by Sakthivel (2007). The remaining 8% disagreed to the question, which
is due to the negligence and reluctance of top management.
Employee Empowerment: To empower employees is stated to be one of the
fundamental total quality principles described by Yusof (1999) that top
management creates an environment to readily learn, flourish teamwork and grow
self-confident individuals in a long term. The correlation in Table 1.4 indicates a
strong relationship between top management and employee empowerment. The
survey responses also specify that majority (91%) of the T&C companies agreed to
the question. This can be implied by saying that T&C employees would have
positive link towards organizational objectives, improved quality, increased
productivity and reduced turnover. In accordance with the theory presented by
Yusof (1999), it was found that there is recognition, teamwork and delegation in
Indian T&C companies that encourages employees to participate in quality
improvement practices, problem solving and decision making, but not provide
sufficient powers and authority in decision making process.
Supplier Quality Management: According to the literature review in Chapter 2,
Norton (2005) mentions that the involvement of suppliers as a part of the quality
implementation chain for improvement activities is a required process of TQM. It is
evident from Table 2.7 in Chapter 4 that 89% admitted that they have a close
relationship with suppliers, mainly to maintain their quality priorities in a long run.
It is found that that T&C firms in India emphasizes more on lower costs, higher
technical standards and reduction of wastes by adopting a close relationship with

50 | P a g e
their suppliers for quality improvements in manufactured products. Hence, it can be
concluded that suppliers and company’s close relationship is linked with
performance objectives of the company.
Continuous Improvement: In line with Imai (1986) and (Khan, 2011), the findings
indicate that quality learning has been embraced by responding companies as a key
competitive weapon to move towards CI and survive in the marketplace. As noted
by Bhuiyan and Baghel (2005), CI is an initiative that should be embodied within
the organizational strategy to achieve the desired outcome. Respondents identified
their organization to have focus on building such strategy by enabling quality
learning to meet the customer needs and business process improvement. The
findings shown in Figure 2.8 illustrates that overall of 82% agreed having quality
based learning for CI in the T&C firms in India have encouraged the organizations
to move towards continuous learning an improve their position in the market place.
Training and Education: Prior to the theory provided by Khan (2011), top
management participates in fostering planned training system and education on the
philosophy of TQM to every employee in the organization. It was identified that T&C
firms in India provide adequate training and education, indicating that Indian T&C
firms believes employees as an asset of the firm for greater success as these
companies have spent a huge amount of investment and effort in developing the
employees and maintaining the team work. Corresponding to Steenkamp’s (2001)
study, the findings review that these organizations have achieved or exceeded the
desired quality outcomes by providing adequate training and education to the
employees. Since 94% of the responding organizations admitted to it, the increased
efficiency of employees and the performance improvement in employee morale has
given a significant value to the organizational strategic effectiveness by providing
employees with positive orientation of their work.
Customer Focus: In line with Kurtus (2001), the findings evaluate that a wide
number of T&C organizations in India are knowledgeable in customer requirements
and responsive to customer demands by the means of extensive market research.
This method of obtaining information from the customers has been considered as
one of the most widely used TQM implementation practices to improve quality
management performance of T&C firms in India as making and buying of raw

Key Factors required to Implement Total Quality Management within the Textile and Clothing Industry in India

Key Factors required to Implement Total Quality Management within the Textile and Clothing Industry in India

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