Quality management practices and performance : an inter-industry comparison

This paper investigates similarities and differences in total quality management practices across different industry groups such as manufacturing, service and construction industries. The study also investigates the relationship between the quality management practices and business performance by industry category. A survey was conducted using Powell’s (1995) framework as a basis, and sent to Queensland businesses. One hundred and forty responses were received - 62 from the manufacturing sector, 58 from the service sector, and 20 from the construction sector. The results suggest that there are some common factors including value chain integration, efficiency and employee involvement, though the composition of quality management practices comprising these factors, and their relative importance differed somewhat between industries. The results reveal that value chain integration in particular appears to be of primary importance for quality management in each of the industries examined. The results of MANOVA analyses suggest evidence of an association between some of the quality management practices and performance for the manufacturing and service industries but not for the construction industry.