Balancing The Gap Between The Hidden Contradictions In Tqm Implementation

ABSTRACT The signing of the European partnership agreement (EPA) between the ECOWAS economies and the European Union in April 2014 has facilitated trade agreement between the two economies. This coupled with increasing globalization and technology has contributed to the adoption and implementation of total quality management (TQM) by most organizations in West Africa to provide products which are consistent with the needs and expectations of all stakeholders and to enhance competitive advantage. However, TQM is seen to have inherent contradictions in its principles and if management of organizations do not prioritize and balance these contradictions, organizations will not benefit from TQM. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to confirm the existence of the contradictory principles and to provide a framework for balancing these contradictions in TQM implementation. This was done by collecting primary data from managers and employees of firms adopting TQM principles in Ghana using a set of questionnaires. Data was collected on six principles which are standardization, collectivism, empowerment, individualism, manipulation and innovation and other TQM achievement factors.The data was analyzed using the PLS-SEM technique and the Kruskal Wallis technique. The results showed that, the implementation of total quality management comes with inherent contradictions which may hinder the success of TQM if not checked. Three pairs of contradictions were established in this study which are “standardization versus innovation”, “Manipulation versus empowerment” and “collectivism versus individualism”. The study also found out that, these contradictions exist in equal proportions and they significantly affect the achievement of TQM which was represented by product quality, flexibility, responsiveness, employee satisfaction and cost reduction strategy. A framework is proposed in the study to balance these contradictions in other to ensure TQM success in organizations.