Effectiveness of TQM Practices in SMEs

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In this section researcher has talked about the overview of research methodology in the form of qualitative and quantitative research technique. Researcher has taken case study approach, which enables him to talk in brief about the topic and implementing it on a particular company and analyse the result. Moreover, with the help of a case study the applicability of a subject in a working example that is tested and tried by researchers is easily understandable. However, since different situations demand different solutions, a case study example helps is highlighting the known issues faced by various researchers.

As described by Robert K. Yin, “the case study research method as an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context; when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which multiple sources of evidence are used” [Yin, 1984].

Furthermore, the case study method helps researches in understanding the complexities of decision-making by managers face on a daily basis. This in turn helps the student to bridge the gaps between the theoretical knowledge they have gained and the practical implication of a particular subject faced by working managers in real life situations. The Harvard Business review describes the case method as “the case method creates a classroom in which students succeed not by simply absorbing facts and theories, but also by exercising the skills of leadership and teamwork in the face of real problems” [Hbs Education, 2007]

According to Saunders (2003) information collected for purposes other than for the specific research in hand but which offers an insight into the field being investigated.

Secondary data was collected first and then primary data so that the researcher can understand the information given by secondary data and if there is any missing information that creating any gaps that researcher can complete with the help of primary data collection.

3.1 Research Philosophy

This study includes TQM and its application with Small Medium-sized Enterprises that justify the growth of the TQM concept and its implementation procedure. The research then considers the relation between SMEs and TQM for which researcher has taken a specific case study of TMD Technologies Limited, U.K.

The main purpose of TQM research by TMD should be to understand its latent use in order to improve their business activities and to help it to direct its quality standards. TMD's case study has been taken into deep consideration including all various departments, manager's notes, key personal of the company have been interviewed and researcher has done the SWOT analyses of the information obtained.

3.2 Secondary Data

In this research, it was felt that secondary data composed was most appropriate to the task at hand. The secondary data consisted of material available in literature on TQM and SMEs (articles etc):

• Articles from various online databases and online Library Resources
• Books by various authors on TQM and SMEs

Information that the researcher has taken from online was to explain and understand the concept of TQM and SMEs and to measure and manage their performance. Also, it helps in understanding the need for a performance measurement tool such as Six Sigma This tool was mostly discussed in the literature review of this research, Therefore; the secondary research was undertaken ahead of the primary research. Other various performance tools were used to evaluate the actions of the firm used in the case study i.e. TMD Technologies Ltd.

Data included in a Case Study is important to evaluate to the research topic as TMD Technologies Ltd, a Small and Medium-sized Enterprises that implemented TQM approach to manage and measure their quality performance. The Secondary data was collected mainly with the help of balance sheet, annual reports, management reviews of TMD Technologies Ltd and articles from books, journal, magazines and internet based resources on the subject of TQM and their measurement process, which would further help in evaluating the suitability of various tools to manage multiple strategies.

3.3 Primary Data

Primary data is best used to supplement secondary data by giving a recent and live example. The Researcher contacted TMD and has gathered information from the heads of Quality Department of TMD to understand how TMD is implementing TQM and discover their predictions for the future. Interviews help the researcher in experiencing the actual working of a TMD. It enables him to develop the experience of evaluating the use of TQM at TMD. TMD was involved in using previous year data and evaluated the future targets and then measuring their performance.

Moreover, while interviewing them on various issues of TMD's performance, researcher faced a situation where managers are managing and measuring multiple strategies in a single framework. This case was based on TMD and highlights their approach towards TQM. To reach a conclusion for this, practical case study was taken in this research as primary data to identify the possible routes where TQM can be used to manage multiple and improve their quality issues. TMD Technologies Ltd - a practical example was undertaken by the researcher to identify the relevancy of TQM approaches taken in SMEs and its benefits.

3.4 Qualitative versus Quantitative Research

Data can be collected in two ways i.e. Qualitative and Quantitative. Both the methods are effective in their own way; both have their own strength and weaknesses.

Quantitative method utilizes the standardised techniques so that the changing perspectives and experiences of individuals can put together in a restricted number of set categories, to which information are assigned (Maanen, 1983) where as qualitative method enables the researcher to look in detail for various issues related to the research. Quality decisions can be made without being affected by predetermined activities of the research, which contributes in detail (Silverman, D. 1995)

Quantitative method is much broader and easy to understand and can give more accurate results than qualitative method. It measures the reactions of different people for a particular set of questions which help the researcher in comparison process and come to the conclusion which is more accurate where as qualitative method provides detailed information about a less number of people and helps in understanding the various cases and situations with less generalization (Patton, 1986).

3.5 Semi-Structured and In-Depth Interviews

Interviews are very important for researcher for his research, with the help of which he can produce the outcome of the particular topic in more detail and can link it with practical situations. This is the discussion between more than two people. The person who is taking the interview has to lay down a set of questions that he will ask in the interview in advance. In the short period of time researcher can get the information quickly with the help of interview, which in turn motivates the interviewees to promote their respective quality system of their companies.

To build the framework of TQM many researchers used these interviews as a tool and their intentions are to carry out their research in exposed manner. While conducting these interviews, researcher has to establish some quality issues and should make sure that if there is lack of standardisation in these interviews it may lead to concerns about reliability (Robson, 1993). Researcher collects all the information provided by the interviewees about their TQM implementation practices, since the interviewees did not allow to record any interviews, the information provided by the key personal are used in building a case on TMD is analysed and are highlighted throughout the chapter 4 of this research paper.

The main issues faced by the researcher in undertaking and scheduling the interviews with key personnel at TMD as sources of primary data are as follows:

• Due to limited time available to the managers, the interviews were time-bound, hence not being able to undertake extensive conversations.
• As TMD is a listed entity, the managers were unable to provide key facts as the information might be sensitive to financial markets.
• The Interviewee's neither allowed the researcher to record any details.
• Due to non-availability of key personnel, the researcher only interviewed personnel pre-selected by TMD.

TMD Technologies LTD Case Study and Data Analysis

4. TMD Technologies Limited

Company Profile:

TMD Technologies Limited formerly Thorn Microwave Devices Limited) is based in Hayes, Middlesex, England and has a turnover of approximately £12 million which shows that TMD represents small business sector. TMD has an experience of six decades in the sophisticated field of microwave amplifier technology with the good quality reputation. TMD has extensive experience and capability in all aspects of the design and some of the world's top engineers on the board who are specialist in manufacturing of Microwave Tubes, Microwave Amplifiers, Power Supplies and Microwave Receivers for the following main applications:

• Radar,
• Electronic Warfare,
• EMC/RF testing,
• Communications,
• Laboratory and Medical.

TMD Company was formed in 1969 under the name of EMI Varian. Following there was the merger between EMI and THORN in the early 1980s and the Company name becomes THORN EMI Varian. TMD has all the in-house skills and resources to bring their customer an impressive range of product and services. In 1989 the joint venture with Varian was terminated and the Company was renamed Thorn Microwave Devices. In 1995 the Company completed a management buyout from THORN EMI plc and in 1996 moved to its new headquarters in Hayes. It is now ideally positioned to exploit its considerable technological advantages. In June 2000 TMD officially changed its name from Thorn Microwave Devices to TMD (TMD Quality Manual, 2006).

In order to fulfil the complex requirements of manufacturing these highly sophisticated products. TMD has available a wide range of specialist skills, processing techniques and they strongly committed to the following principles:

• Teamwork to achieve a common goal: They know that teamwork inspires individuals to achieve higher levels of performance through sharing knowledge and experience and working in teams provide greater support for the company to achieve their common objectives.
• Quality in everything they do: TMD Technologies Limited is approved to the rigorous quality standard BS EN ISO9001: 2000. Their quality philosophy is seeking to install quality awareness and continuous improvement in all departments and at all levels of the organization [TMD, 2007].
• Constantly innovating: They value innovation and actively encourage new ideas. Their commitment towards innovation help them to improve continuously the way they work, the products they make and the standard of service they offer to their customers.
• Customer comes first: Any company in this world doesn't matter how big or small is the company they all exist on their customers so TMD also exist on their customers. Their survival and growth depends solely on how well they meet their needs of the customers. They believe in behaving in the highest level of professionalism, honesty and integrity and thus create a feeling of mutual respect.

TMD Technologies is regularly audited against, and approved to the rigorous quality standard BS EN ISO9001: 2000. However their quality philosophy goes beyond this seeking to install quality awareness and continuous improvement in all departments. The following are some of the most important aspects: [TMD, 2007]

• Expert design of products at the outset, achieves optimum performance and reliability.
• Development of 5S Initiatives taken from the Japanese approach to quality - (Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardise and Sustain).
• Inspection and quality control during production and test.
• Photo flow quality control systems to reduce ambiguity and improve consistency.
• Systematic cause & effect failure analysis to enable problems to be solved quickly.
• Supplier improvement initiatives and ship to stock policies.
• TMD operates a continual product and process improvement policy using customer feedback and live, regularly updated quality databases.

In chapter 2 we discussed about TQM, its principles and how its work in the organization. In TQM implementation process first of all company's present position has to be assessed and look at history of the organization for the relevant preconditions and precipitating events leading to TQM. Its very unlikely TQM will succeed if the present figure does not include the vital preconditions. TQM is easier to operate if the firm keep verifying their work in the market.

4.1 TMD's Quality Management System

Interviewing key personnel at TMD, researcher found out that Quality Management System followed by TMD is fully documented and all the legal procedures and process are recorded and maintained by the quality department. There are few Programmes and systems like the Problem Reporting System, the Internal Audit and External Assessment Programmes, Monthly Reports which followed by the company to continuously review their quality management system and quality are discussed at the TMD Board meeting, which is held once a month (TMD Quality Manual, 2006)

TMD's Documents within the Quality Management System are divided into four general levels:

In this stage quality manager is responsible for all the prescribed and legal policies are followed before going to the next stage and most importantly considering the health and safety and environmental policies. The documents are mostly in soft format and if the company has to make any change in them they have to use of the Change Note that is filled in the Configuration Control Administration process. The entire quality files are recorded so that successful activities from the quality department can be achieved, to make sure that the actual plans are in line with the laid plans so that the company can produce good quality product and services which an meet the needs of their customers. In the TMD Board meeting they also laid down few Health & Safety rules and regulations and Health & Safety representative has to devolve all these policy in the Health & Safety System of the company.

TMD uses Quality procedures and process diagrams, where practicable, as the branch of improvement process. This is an ongoing process. To support the quality objective, all the employees in the quality department are busy in developing the database for the company and reports produced from the quality database are first analyzed and then they are forwarded to the Senior Management team. This is an ongoing process of feedback of information for the company towards continuous improvement and in turn will lead to the definition of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time).

As we have seen in chapter 2 Principle of TQM, let's relate them with the case study and lets see how TMD utilize these principles to produce better quality product and services in order to achieve their desired objectives. We know that there are three principles of TQM i.e. Management Commitment, Continuous Improvement and Customer Focus. TMD are committed to the development and implementation of the quality management system and are continually improving its effectiveness by communicating to the company the importance of meeting the customer's requirements, establishing a quality policy and quality objectives (TMD Quality Manual, 2006).

4.2 TMD's Point of view in accordance in following the Principles of TQM

TMD's management team at the top level is committed to maintain the standards of the quality of the product and services and make sure that there is continual improvement of the quality management system to achieve the desired targets. In the TMD's Management support aims in laying down the management policies, procedures and objectives of the company by conducting Management Reviews and making sure that there is required amount of available of resources so that it is possible to meet the requirements of the production department which in turn delivers the high quality products and services which will satisfy the customer needs (TMD's Management Review Aug, 2006).

TMD's management sometimes referred to as ‘quality at source', which shows the impact that, each individual in the TMD's management team or any staff member has on quality as well as the idea that it is each person's personal responsibility to get the quality right. They believe that some staff can affect quality directly but the staff who physically make the products and the staff who serve the customers face to face all have the capability to make the mistakes, which will be immediately obvious to the customers. Other staffs that are not directly involved in producing the goods and services can also create problem like product designer who fails to investigate thoroughly the conditions under which products will be used in practice.

Therefore TMD believes that if everyone has the ability to impair the quality then he or she also has the ability to improve the quality. It is the philosophy of TQM, which is followed by the company, which emphasizes on the amount of contribution made by an individual staff of the company towards the quality of the product. TMD operates on a policy of continual improvement, which helps in the identification of errors and failures and making sure they take the corrective action to ensure that the errors do not re-occur.

In the interview Quality manger specifies that it's his duty to act on the behalf of the company when it comes to quality of the product. He is solely responsible for the quality of the product and has the authority and responsibility to identify and evaluate and to make sure to find the suitable solutions of the problems throughout the company. Each employee in all the departments must support the company and should legally follow the Company's policies and procedures so that there is consistency at all levels and standard of high quality of product and services can be maintained which meets the required needs of the customer and which in turn help the company to achieve its desired objectives within the budget.

In the TMD continuous improvement is like chain that operates at all levels of the organization. There is an Improvement Reporting System which analysis all the information like audits, returns, database and always aims towards continuous improvement which helps the people at senior level to solve the problem more effectively and to plan a corrective action (TMD's Management Review Aug, 2006).

4.3 Assessing the Status of Six Sigma Implementation in the TMD Technologies Limited

In the UK SME sector, TMD played a very important and crucial role; in fact, we all know that SMEs are the blood of economies. In today's modern world we have seen that small medium-sized enterprises are often contracted with larger companies for supplying products and services and due to the cut throat competition or comprise in quality of product or service can adversely affect to their business. Companies like Motorola, Texas; GE and so on has successfully shown how important Six Sigma is to their business. Here researcher has examines the status of Six Sigma's implementation in the TMD technologies Ltd (Caledonian, 2007) [Online].

Six Sigma helps TMD technology in building long-term business strategy so that they can gain advantage over their competitors and it's quite obvious that for successful Six Sigma a company must take into consideration Critical Success Factors (CSF) while building the strategic business plans. From mixture of the manager's views from the interviews and the TMD available literature the researcher arrived at the following CSFs to ensure the success of Six Sigma:

• Promising Management Commitment: TMD's Management focuses on establishing policies and objectives, conducting Management Reviews, ensuring the availability of resources and to make sure that these resources are utilized properly so that it is possible to deliver high quality products and services which will meet the customer's requirements. TMD believes in continuous improvement and they believe in prevention is better than cure, so it's the duty of the manager to identify any errors or mistakes as soon a possible and to implement a suitable plan to rectify these mistakes. In TMD management each employee knows about their responsibility towards the company's objective and to support the company's policies and procedures so that customer's requirements can be fulfilled with good quality products within the budget.
• Customers come first: In TMD a review is always conducted of the Customer requirements before accepting any order. Managers make sure that they fully understand the customer's requirements and if the contract differs from the tender quote then they take it seriously and resolve it appropriately. As in TMD there is always change of technology so they make sure that the risks with the new technology should be properly identified and any changes with the product should be resolved with the customer. Customer needs to resubmit the document or order in English if the contract made is supplied in non English language or sales director has to arrange for the document to be translated in English (TMD's Management Review Jan, 2007).
• Measurement System: TMD uses the routing information and physical records for the identification of the statues of the projects which enables the manager regarding the effective or non-effective quality of the product and this inspection of the project is maintained and monitored throughout the production process to make sure that the product passes through all required stages and tests.
• Training & Growth: It's the responsibility of the particular Line manager in TMD to make an assessment of the individual in concerned of the required skills and then employ the person for the particular job. There is an Induction training program that includes the overview of quality management system and it is the duty of Line manager to ensure the right level of training that includes the Health and Safety and General Training requirements. TMD is committed to continual improvement in its skills base by active encouragement of staff through personal development and training and Line manager identifies the inputs to the General Training plan and can request from the employees for new ideas and skills to be identified. Manager should maintain the records of the training program and also keep in consideration that the personnel should aware of their roles and responsibilities and contribute to the quality of the product so that business objectives can be achieved and employees can also grow with the company (TMD's Management Review Aug, 2006).

4.4 TMD's ISO Accreditation

The organization is compliant with all clauses of ISO 9001:2000 (Quality Manual of TMD, 2006). TMD managers have to make sure that all the activities in the company are working according to the rules and regulations laid down in ISO standard so that the company can enjoy the maximum benefits and which will lead to further growth. This meant that the Company had to comply with the standards laid down by the ISO 9001:2000 and the AQAP1 which was the heritage for BS5750, from which the BS EN ISO 9001 standard was derived. TMD has been successfully audited against all of these standards and transitioned smoothly to BS EN ISO 9001:2000. They have completed the process of transitioning to ISO 9001:2000 [TMD, 2007]

As in chapter 2 we are aware about the concepts of principles of TQM, Senior Management in TMD believes in continuous improvement at all levels so that it will help in the improving the efficiency of the company, they always look for improvements in their Quality Management system which will leads to the production of better quality of products so that they can satisfy their customers. Management Review meetings are held on quarterly basis to learn from the past mistakes and value the feedback given by customers externally and employees internally and establish effective plans that can be implemented for further improvement.

4.5 Implementation of TQM and Integration into strategy in TMD

Here in this section of the research paper will reflects the situation that existed in TMD Technologies Ltd in Hayes, U.K. The Region has a chairman who is responsible for the management of the business and the team of Quality Manager and his subordinates who are responsible for the specific areas of activities. The introduction of TQM into the small and medium-sized enterprise like this can show highly effective results if all the steps in implementing of TQM process has planted properly.

TMD has shown a proactive approach while taking the decision of introducing TQM process in the company. Their main plan was to make an effective brand name in the eyes of people who all came into the contact. The Chairman and Quality manager and his team of TMD had a meeting to formulate Total Quality Strategy that will motivate the employees and help the company to move towards its desired goals. The strategy had three basic objectives i.e.:

• Customers comes First
• First for Employees
• First within TMD Technologies Ltd

TMD has to identify their financial measures first to become the leading enterprise in their field and this can only be done if the objectives related to customers and employees can be achieved. To become the best enterprise they have to glance severely into the way in which they manage their business. As we know with the formulation of TOM strategy their will be lots of changes in the company including the cultural changes, not only internally in all the levels of management but also externally with the customers and suppliers in the related activities.

This total quality strategy was established with few key elements, first TQM will be the most important factor of this strategy which will fasten all the related activities collectively in the process of achieving targets. Secondly there has to be development of all the employees in their personal level as well as in respect of the profit for the company. Thirdly a proper and effective communication is required in the company in oral and as well as in writing to explain the employees all the required information related to policies, programmes and actions allied to TQM process. Lastly, as we all know that information technology in TMD plays a major part in all the activities so the latest technology and support system is required in order to achieve the utmost improvement from presented technology.

Before inducting the TQM process, principles of TQM that we have studied in chapter 2 was established by TMD and they are listed below:

• TQM is not just concerned with the quality of products of the company but also hold every characteristic of business activity.
• TQM is an on-going process which helps in the continuous improvement
• TQM involves all workers in getting solutions for the difficulties.
• TQM presents a well-organized teamwork approach in finding solutions.
• TQM is ‘getting it right first time, every time, in everything done'.

4.5.1 TMD's Quality Survey

The beginning point of total quality process was too laid down the present position of the TMD. Two extensive surveys were carried out by TMD in Jan 1999, the first survey (external) was related to customers and the second survey (internal) was concerned with employees within the organisation. These two surveys have to collect information internally within the company about the employees and externally regarding the activities related to the external customers. In order to gather information these surveys carried out-group discussions with both customers and employees. The data collected from these surveys and discussions enabled the management with lots of feedback and help them in taking effective steps in all the areas that are important in achievement of the organisational goals.

4.5.2 TMD's Customer Survey

TMD took a random survey with 3000 customers to collect information regarding the company's image, product quality and customers future requirements. The results of the survey showed that most of the customers were satisfied with service provided by the company but still there is lots of work to do to meet the future requirements of the customers. At the Management Review meeting customer issues are discussed. In particular focus is put on to any customer complaints received and the remedial action being taken to address the issues (TMD's Management Review Apr, 2007).

4.5.3 TMD's Employee Survey

There was a survey carried out within the TMD among all the employees to gather information regarding their view of the organisation, their style of working, communication process, involving them in the process of quality and employee incentives. This survey gave valuable information to the top management and shows that half of the employees of the company recommend that TMD don't have a good communication system that has now been improved with the help of the feedback from this survey. The most important was getting the views from the employees regarding the quality awareness which enables the company in structuring the TQM contents and after this survey carry's out on regular basis so that it helps in continuous improvement (TMD's Management Review Apr, 2007).

4.6 TMD's final Steps in the process of TQM implementation

TMD recognized their present position in this implementation process and now the resources implications in achieving the goals have to put down. Chairman's view was to introduce the TQM process consistently throughout the company so that this process can be successful, to work on this they established TMD's Quality Control Department which would be liable for introduction and smooth working of TQM process. One of the top managers was heading this department and has to report directly to the head of engineering department so that all the actual activities are in line with the planned ones. Finally TQM was introduced in the company; they believe that everybody in the company should be aware of something important is happening and they making their full contribution for the success of this project. TMD organized few workshops from top level to the lower level for educating all the employees in the company in connection of TQM process. In this workshop they talk about TQM and its concepts, cultural change, threats and opportunities for TMD, employee's benefits and awards and understanding tools and techniques of TQM process.

Everyone in TMD should be dedicated towards their work doesn't matter the employee is working at lower level or top level if the company needs to improve and attain their desired goals then commitment is required from each individual at all levels in each departments. Leadership is the quality that influences the teammates to work in the right direction in a right way so that the desired goals of the organization can be achieved. It is one of the qualities of the Senior Manager to act as a leader in front of his subordinates and to make sure that all his subordinates should understand the polices, goals and strategies of the company then only a company can have successful TQM system. Top Management played a vital role in the launch of TQM system and their personal involvement in each step of TQM process with maintaining the quality and having the clear objectives helps to motivate their subordinates to work effectively so that the desired goals can be achieved.

Senior Managers in TMD always makes sure that they divide the work in their department in the most effective way and delegate the authorities to their subordinates. TMD has laid down their training programs like an intensive induction training program for starters and an on going learning program for experience staffs. TMD believes in teamwork and top management always promote working in groups in their department like quality department in TMD has their team that they called Quality Improvement Team. This is one of the most important elements of TQM. A team is a small number of people with complimentary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable (John Katzenbach and Douglas Smith, 1996)

4.7 TMD's Approach for measuring the performance

It is important to identify of how TQM approaches help SMEs especially on their performance. Therefore researcher investigates if TMD has any specific tool to measure the performance of the organisation in special reference to TQM so he asked this question from the managers in their interviews and he came to the conclusion that they have recently taken Balance Scorecard approach to identify the performance levels.

According to managers, Balanced Scorecard is a narrow concept to measure the company's performance rather then manage the business in a new style but the measurement system in the Balanced Scorecard should help the company in establishing a strategic management system which helps in getting a valuable feedback which in turn help in improving the performance on TMD.

The balanced Scorecard was first developed in 1992. It is the concept of the collision between the irresistible force to build a long-range competitive capabilities and the immovable object of the historical cost financial accounting model has created a new synthesis (Kaplan & Norton, 1996).

It is the scorecard that measures the past financial performance with the future financial performance and its goals can be viewed with company's objectives and vision. It measures the company's performance on the on the basis of following categories:

• Financial
• Customer
• Internal Business Processes
• Learning and Growth

Balanced Scorecard enables the managers to measures the performance of the business in the way in which they can see how much value their business is creating for their present and future customers and necessary investment should be made to improve the future in terms of internal business processes. Balanced Scorecard is more than an operational management system that is used by companies for long period of time to develop a strategic management system which will helps in clearing the objectives and strategic view of the company and create a link between them. It mainly emphasises on strategic feedback that help in the development of business internally through training and educating employees and externally through improving the quality of the product and getting more information regarding the change in customer's requirements.

Balanced Scorecard can be described as a carefully selected set of quantifiable measures derived from an organizations strategy. The measures selected for the scorecard represent a tool for leaders to use in communicating to employees and external stakeholders the outcomes and performance drivers by which the organization will achieve its mission and strategic objectives (Kaplan and Norton, 1996).

After going through the concept of Balanced Scorecard (BSC) let's see how TMD has implemented the approach of Balanced Scorecard in their organisation, TMD which has already implemented BSC successfully in their organisation and was struggling with their fundamental questions, it is noted that BSC can be effective if the quality manager make sure that he manage only single strategy in a single scorecard. This is because, in a small and medium-sized enterprise such as TMD, the missions of this company is fixed and cannot be altered, and to achieve these missions, the company is required to implement various initiatives and strategies to satisfy their customers, to understand the four perspectives let's look into the following:

4.7.1 Balanced Scorecard approach's in TMD's

In TMD, Senior Managers with the help of Balanced Scorecard are able to manage financial data accurately, maintaining the records are always the first priority in the company. After the implementation of this tool TMD approach's become more centralised in processing the data (Value Based Management.net, 2007). This financial data ensures the managers with the progress chart of the company and provides the shareholders with current and future opportunities. TMD was interested in reducing the costs of funding request management which leads in evaluating the organisation is efficient and effective regarding its ROI (i.e. return on investment) (A Balanced Scorecard experiment for business process, 2005)

TMD is committed to fully understanding the Customers issues and to ensuring the agreed requirements are fulfilled. This is accomplished through the establishment of regular contact with the Customers via TMD's sales force, and through the dialogue achieved via the TMD and Customers technical and programme management channels (Quality Manual of TMD, 2006). In TMD customers are always comes first, if there is any complaints from the customers which cannot be satisfied with the current suppliers then it is the duty of the purchasing manager to find the other supplier and fulfil the needs of that customer. TMD believes that doesn't matter if the company's financial performance is good or not, in terms of customer's perspective the company should always maintain good reputation.

The Senior Management of the Company determines the level of resources it needs to provide in order to implement, maintain and continually assure the quality of products and services. In doing so, the requirements of the customer are continuously under review to ensure that customer satisfaction is maintained (Quality Manual of TMD, 2006).

Senior Manager in TMD makes sure that before taking any order from the customer, it is the company policy to understand clearly all the customer's requirements. Following is the basic assessment which company follows in regards to meet the customer's needs:

• Fully understand the Customer's requirement.
• Order has to be properly resolved if it differs from quote
• Company has enough resources to fulfil the order made by the client
• TMD keeps on updating their technology and if there is any change in activities because of this change then it should be resolved quickly.
• If there is any change in the order that should be clear between the supplier and customer and should be taken as new order thereafter.
• Purchasing department has to identify any standard requirements and has to fulfil it.
• If the order is made in some other language then English then it is the duty of the Sales Director to arrange the translated version in English of the order.

TMD only accepts the order if it is clear with its requirements and objectives and if they sufficient resources to fulfil it and during the production process if the manager identifies any problem then the company will contact the customer either by letter, e-mail, fax or phone to solve the problem and finish the task in given period of time. All the changes and feedback given by the customer is recorded and maintained by the Quality Manager. Once an order has been validated through the Contract Review process, an order acknowledgement is sent to the customer (Quality Manual of TMD, 2006).

As we can see in the above figure, TMD measure their customer's performance by warranty performance i.e. number of goods return by the customer and it also explains the corrective actions taken by the company in regards to meet those complaints. As we can see that in year 2004 the percentage of warranty returns was 12.7%, TMD has followed a certain procedure as they have introduced X point in the figure which shows the improvement from the returned goods in the year 2003, TMD has introduced new technology to deal with these complaints in the 2004 i.e. automated potting process, with introduction of production expertise and improvement in quality services has leads to the fall in the percentage of warranty returns in the year 2005 to 5.48% and utilising the change in technology effectively with the guidance of production team and taking corrective actions after going through the feedback from the warranty return goods of the previous year, the percentage of warranty return goods even declined more in year 2006 to 3.05%.

Figure above shows the repair flowchart of TMD technologies, this is the measurement system which is adopted by TMD to utilise their resources in the most efficient way so that they can process each and every order and measure the progress and meets the customer requirement which will leads to fall in the percentage of warranty returned goods. This process is divided into various departments like sales, stores and others which functions and provides a complete evaluation report. In this process there are few crucial stages where the managers have to take important decisions regarding the evaluation and performance of the goods i.e. manager has to make sure that all the parts or components which are needed in manufacturing stage have been ordered and the delivery is received in time and forward all the necessary specification of these components to the Quality Manager regarding the quality issue. This stage is very important because there have been number of recent instances where suppliers have supplied components which do not meet the required standard of quality and Quality Manager has to make sure that he records all the necessary changes in this production process.

Balanced Scorecard's third perspective i.e. internal-business process, In TMD, managers has to identify the critical processes which they have to make sure is accurate if they have to meet the objectives of their targeted customer segments. This performance measurement system focuses only on monitoring and improving cost, quality and time-based measures of existing business process (Kaplan & Norton, 1996). There should be an efficient internal communication system, which is required and essential for this perspective. In TMD the Directors and Divisional Heads use a combination of methods to relay information to other members of staff, ranging from ad hoc meetings, to weekly briefings, operations reviews and monthly meetings (Quality Manual of TMD, 2006).

TMD always encourage their employees so that all the employees can contribute their fullest in the achievement of the desired goals and help in the growth of the company. TMD concentrates on the personal growth of the employees as well with the company's growth. The enables for learning and growth come primarily from three sources: employees, systems and organizational alignment and we know that objectives and measures for these enables of employees performance in the future should be integral part of any organization's Balanced Scorecard (Kaplan & Norton, 1996).

In TMD, while going through the interview process the particular manager identify the different skills and the required ones of the individual and if that person works for TMD then that manager is responsible to make sure that the new starter goes through the training and learning process effectively and quality policy has to be explained by the Quality Department. In the figure above researcher has shown how TMD helps their employees in their personal growth by carry out number of internal and external courses.

TMD's training program is divided into two categories i.e. Health and Safety requirements and General Training requirements. The Health Safety Officer regularly reviews by the Senior Managers and the plans. Inputs to the General Training plan can come from training requirements identified by the Line Managers or through requests from staff as new skills or requirements are identified. TMD is committed to continual improvement in its skills base by active encouragement of staff through personal development and training (Quality Manual of TMD, 2006). Senior manager has to make sure that their subordinates understand and are clear with the quality objectives of the company, proper training records has to be maintained by them so that all the employees can help in achieving the aimed targets.

4.7.2 Control of Nonconforming Product

Manager should identify these products and then evaluate them and should be documented effectively so that all the departments which affected by these products can be informed. These products have to be stored separately from conforming product while they are going through the disposition stage. Nonconforming product is reviewed in accordance with documented procedures. It may be:

• Reworked to meet the specified requirements, or
• Accepted with or without repair by concession, or
• Re-graded for alternative applications, or
• Rejected or scrapped (Quality Manual of TMD, 2006).

4.8 TMD's Post Implementation Report

After implementing TQM in the company it's practically proved that Quality programme has played a significant role in satisfying the customers. TMD has made few modifications in the database and procedures. The change note form has;

• Been given a form number
• Authorities have been amended as required
• Change notes cannot be closed until all sign off have been authorised and relevant comment fields have been completed.
• Create Lotus notes databases for NMR, Corrective actions and Concessions/Deviations. The benefit of this is ease of access, no duplication and remote sign offs (TMD's Management Review Apr, 2007).

TMD measures the performance in different ways, their SWAN logistics tracking system is very effective and helps in tracking their yields, Improvements reporting system shown above in the figure has been developed to identify the problem and can deal with it in the most effective way. We have seen above how they measures the customer returns which helps the design review process in further continuous improvement. TMD believes in continuous improvement so keep looking for the best way to monitor the performance in the company as well as in the manufacturing department, Customer complaints are monitored through customer returns. TMD measured their order's performance at the Operations Review, where the internal audit is done to identify any mistakes that can be dealt with by taking corrective actions. The results of the audits are documented and brought to the attention of the personnel having responsibility in the area audited. The management personnel responsible for the area are required to take timely corrective action on the deficiencies found by the audit (Quality Manual of TMD, 2006).

4.9 Findings

Whenever researcher was involved with TQM initiatives the main short coming where people resistance to change, in essence when practitioners talk about TQM as a tool which small business like TMD implements researcher believe that this technically, is an incorrect interpretation of the meaning. Basically TQM is about establishing the right culture throughout the company from top level to lower level with the common goal of making money for the business. Small business firms like TMD can achieve this by continuously interrogating their processes with reducing their waste and improving the efficiencies throughout the company, from the interviews researcher has found the various useful tools used by TMD which sets as an example for other SMEs to use under the umbrella of TQM are:

• Recognised Standard i.e. BS. EN. ISO. 9001
• Training
• Right First Time mindset
• 5S initiatives (Seiri, Seiso, Seiton, Seiketsu, Shitsuke)
• 5 Why Analyses (Cause and Effect, Root Cause Analysis)
• Internal Customer/Supplier Relationships (Organisation charts, departmental policy objectives, job descriptions, targets)
• Six sigma
• Process mapping
• Ship to Stock

TMD has satisfied some of the above criteria and are looking forward for more in future as there is lots of work required in other targets but most importantly they want to make sure that they have cultivated the right culture in the company.

Researcher has taken evidence, which he came across in the interviews that the internal customer/ supplier relationships essentially exist, both within manufacturing and other related departments. Let's say Mr X presents a stores requisition to the stores department then X is the supplier in this context and stores department is the customer, till this requisition process is not completed correctly Mr X will be liable for this completion as he is the supplier and if there is any lack of information or any incorrect data then the store department cannot fulfil Mr X's request which leads to inefficiency of the transaction, then store department act as a supplier and Mr X become the customer and they make sure they provide exactly the same thing what he has requested for and if they fail again to do so because of any reason then they have troubled you as a customer. The above comparison can be applicable throughout the firm as an example of the importance of ensuring that the company understand internally their customer's demands and understand their suppliers.

In the interview Quality manager Mr Luca said, “ I feel that if we successfully achieve the example given above which can take 5- 10 years, we will be moving in the right direction. The above is not an exhaustive list because there are other variables that help in creating the right ethos”. (Luca Johnson, 2007)

5. Personal Development Plan

Belonging to families who have gained good heights in the heritage business, gave me the courage and eagerness to make my career within the business field. It was always an interest to know and collect facts about the requirements of how to incept a business and how an organization is able to buy and sell goods, make products, or provide services.

In order to do so, it was vital to knowledge myself with the basic methods of business strategies, which led me to learn and study Commerce with Maths at A Levels, which allowed me to understand the main procedures on trading in goods and services. The curiosity of learning more in depth about business allowed me to study further within the business field, which led me to do B.Com (Hons) in Business Studies, Diploma in Management Studies and MBA in International Business, as business studies is the study of the management of individuals organizing to maintain collective productivity toward accomplishing particular creative and productive goals is taught as an academic subject in many scholastics.

There are various types of businesses, and, as a result, businesses can be classified in numerous ways. The study of the well-organised and effective operation of a business (activities involved in the running of a business for the purpose of producing value for the stakeholders) is called management. This was one of the subjects that attentive my mind to explore more about the main branches of management, which included financial management, marketing management, production management, and business intelligence.

As business becomes more complex, firms are continually faced with new challenges. Companies increasingly rely on management analysts to help them remain competitive among these changes. Management analysts often referred to as management consultants in private industry, analyse and propose ways to improve an organisation's structure, efficiency, or profits. In another case, a large company that has recently acquired a new division may hire management analysts to help reorganise the corporate structure and eliminate duplicate or nonessential jobs. In recent years, information technology and electronic commerce have provided new opportunities for management consultants. Hence, my main future aim is to be a part of such organisation that will allow me to specialise within the management area and be successful in the business world, which would mean having a broad range of up-to-date business skills.

6. Conclusions and Recommendations

This section of the research paper will talk about the conclusion that the researcher has obtained after researching the topic and data collected from the interviews, along with it researcher will emphasis on the most important part of methodology i.e. recommendations which researcher has proposed. Further this part of the paper will focus on the evaluation of the research through limitations and future perspectives. Researcher has approached in general giving recommendation to the company he has used in his case study i.e. TMD Technologies Ltd and as well as all the SMEs in UK in the manufacturing sector.

6.1 Conclusion

Implementation of TQM in the UK market can easily be measured according to the extent to which a customer is satisfied and this is modernized through the certified companies endorsing ISO-9001 and Six Sigma processes which helps in meeting customer's requirements. It is important for the companies to have TQM system and quality certifications in order to have long-term commitment towards their customers (Choi & Eboch, 1988). We have seen in the companies which are non-certified and having problems in meeting the customer's requirements which proves this statement right companies like this have to change their attitude towards work and develop a new strategy to improve their quality which helps them in long run (Cronin & Taylor, 1992). After following the above statement will help the company in continuous improvement which cannot be achieved without strong management commitment that in turn will enables the company in satisfying customers with good quality of products.

A company can only implement a strategy successfully if the managers of the company have the good knowledge of the task assigned, so the company and the managers should make sure that they must acquire new skills and learning and right attitude towards their work (Juran, 1995). Quality of the product is largely affected by quality system improvement, vision, continuous improvement and right approach towards customer's requirements.

6.2 Recommendations

Based on the literature review of the research, all the training techniques and tools laid down in this research which shows the outcome of the companies in manufacturing sector in UK proves that all the practises adopted by the companies have much broader view then development of employees.

6.2.1 Management

A company has to deal with various financial and operational activities which are interrelated so the most important point which a company require is commitment from Senior Management without which all the activities performed would be treated as loss and all the training efforts will be wasted. Senior Management has to make sure that company always focus on quality as its first preference and never compromise with it. If the organizational culture does not embody quality, any quality improvement effort is probably shallow and short-lived (Dale, 1999; Juran and Gryna, 1993).

Senior Management laid down the structure, plans and polices of TQM which has to be followed by each and everyone in the organisation but they also have to make sure that all the Line Managers are properly trained in their work as they are the one's who are solely responsible for implementing TQM in their particular department. They should have full knowledge of polices and procedures, they should have the ability to work with teams, they can take their own decisions and can become effective employees of the company.

Senior Management should identified skills which required by the employees and them laid down the training plans. A company should always believe in continuous improvement and should make sure that they have clean relation with the suppliers and as well as with the customers. Deming (1986) proposed improvement, which should be constant and forever in the system of product and service provided to the customer. It is the responsibility of the Senior Management to leads the company always for continuous improvement

TQM becomes very popular in late 90s and most of the small and large organisation started adopting it as it is the process that helps the organisation for continuous improvement and enables them to produce good quality products with right attitude and culture so that they can satisfy their customers. TQM can only work in the atmosphere where there is honesty, fairness, moral values and uprightness. There should be an absence of improper systems. Integrity is what customers expect when they are purchasing the product and without this trust between seller and buyer TQM can never be successful in that organisation.

6.2.2 Customer Focus

An organisation can be called a successful organisation only if it emphasises on putting the customer first always in all the decisions (Philips Quality, 1995). TQM can only be successful if there is a close relation between the company and their customers so that companies are able to satisfy their customers and can gain the valuable feedback from them for future change in needs of customers. Customer focus can be defined as the degree to which a firm continuously satisfies customer needs and expectations. Deming (1986) suggested that the customer is the crucial part for the production line; if the customer's feedback is involved closely in the production process then there are more chances of meeting the customers' requirements and there are fewer chances of quality problems in the production process.

In order to get rid of quality problems, customer's feedback in the production process is very important as we all know different actions are required for different quality problems. This feedback will help in identifying those serious problems whose demands are high but company is struggling because of the quality (Juran and Gryna, 1993).

Senior managers should make sure that customer's complaints are deal with top priority and they should maintain the records of customer's complaints for production process. Such actions will help the company to take corrective actions in order to deal with the quality problems and can meet all the customer requirements.

6.2.3 Empowerment

Empowerment, this term at once reminds of the key word participative management. Research has shown that there is a positive link between participation and satisfaction, motivation and performance (Holander, Offerman, 1990). Many authors have talked about empowerment, one of them has said that if there is any chance of feedback and autonomy is available in the companies' culture then empowerment can be successful (Mahoney, McMillan 1994). Empowered personnel have "responsibility, a sense of ownership, satisfaction in accomplishments, power over what and how things are done, recognition for their ideas, and the knowledge that they are important to the organization" (Turney 1993: 30).

6.2.4 Formulation of TQM Implementation Team

Senior management should establish a TQM implementation team which should contain the people from top management to ground level so that this department should know all the various operational functions that operates in the company and all these members should be selected on the basis of their attitudes towards their work, their commitment, their contribution in implementing TQM in the company.

TQM implementation team will ensures to evaluate the company's present TQM processes as well as its overall business performance and then formulate a strategy for improvement after evaluating the change in technology and customer's requirements. General Manager of the company should head this team so that he himself supports the team and they all together make this project successful.

6.3 Data gathered from the Interview

For analysing the information collected by interviewing key personnel at TMD technologies Ltd, the researcher has used SWOT framework to identify the implementation of TQM at the said organisation.

6.4 Research Limitations

Here researcher emphasises on the offering made by this study by evaluating it with its limitations together with the findings of the research.

When we are talking about the impact of implementing TQM in small and medium-sized sector, it's quite doubtful because SMEs will first have the problem of large investment and then have the problem of latest technology. Companies will have to invest in their employees in training and educating them with the change of technology for which need large investments. So it's very difficult for most of the SMEs to adopt TQM process.

Information, which is obtained from the interviews of clients of the companies, and customers perspectives were not approved can be regarded as unfair view point and the request made for the above information was confidential with the clients that's why it was denied. Therefore research could be conceded after reviewing the customer perceptions and experiences while outsourcing their activities. Research was mainly emphasising on the manager's responsibility and their business activities of a particular department where as other managers from various departments like information technology, research and development department were not approached, so their valuable suggestions and experience were not included in this research that could be useful.

6.5 Further Reading and Research Approaches

Future Researcher can take face to face interview from all levels of employees i.e. from ground level to top level plus can compare other UK manufacturing companies work with the company used in case study in this paper to arrive on more appropriate results. In this research researcher has used Six Sigma as a model which is used by many companies to improve their quality which in turn lead to customer's satisfaction, where as it can be talk in more details by using other TQM tools. This can be studied in detail in the form of expanding the existing research.