Total quality management adoption: revisiting the levels (2024)

Describes six levels of TQM adoption (or lack of it) which are termed uncommitted, drifters, tool pushers, improvers, award winners and world‐class. The levels are not necessarily the stages which organizations pass on their TQM journey, rather they are characteristics and behaviour which organizations display in relation to TQM at one point in time. Finds that the levels can be used as a positioning model to aid organizations in identifying their weaknesses and help them in taking the next steps forward in the continual challenge of continuous improvement. The characteristics underpinning the six levels are also helpful in highlighting different perceptions of progress at different levels of the organization, with respect to continuous improvement. Argues that the characteristics of the more advanced adoptions should provide the requisite inspiration to those less advanced to highlight the type of issues to which attention needs to be given.