Current health of quality management practices in service sector SME: A case study of Pakistan

A preliminary framework for assessing lean implementation in higher education

Purpose

This study aims to develop and implement an initial framework for assessing progress in lean implementation within an higher education institution (HEI). It includes developing preliminary findings regarding the impacts of lean implementation in the HEI case organization and comparing outcomes from this assessment to outcomes from other published sources.

Design/methodology/approach

Existing literature on lean, particularly in an HEI context, was used to develop a preliminary lean assessment framework for HEIs. Quality and continuous improvement literature were also compared to the proposed assessment framework to further validate the approach. This assessment framework was then utilized to evaluate lean implementation at a large public university (LPU) in the U.S.

Findings

The paper presents the framework as well as the major findings from the Large Public University (LPU)’s assessment. The assessment findings are further compared to other HEI quality measures and lean assessments done in other industries. Overall, the findings suggest that the assessment framework provides valuable insight to HEI organizations implementing lean.

Originality/value

The research intends to support lean assessment standardization efforts by proposing a preliminary lean assessment framework for the HEI, grounded in research trends, research findings, identified gaps in the research, and case study outcomes. To the research team's knowledge, this is the first lean assessment framework proposed for HEIs and also contributes to research gaps related to service industry frameworks and those containing both practices and outcomes. The framework can be used by other researchers as a foundation for additional conceptual and empirical developments on the topic and by researchers and practitioners seeking to understand and assess lean implementation progress in the HEI.

An empirical investigation of maintenance practices for enhancing manufacturing performance in small and medium enterprises of northern India

Purpose

This paper aims to assess the contributions of maintenance practices and extract various significant factors that influence the implementation of maintenance practices in northern Indian small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) business performance.

Design/methodology/approach

In the current study, 216 north Indian SMEs have been extensively surveyed to assess the contributions of different maintenance practices implementation dimensions and manufacturing performance attributes through different statistical techniques. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to statistically validate the hypotheses, while Levene’s experiment and Wilk–Shapiro tests were used to confirm ANOVA’s assumptions. Finally, the discriminating validity test extracts highly successful and moderately successful organizations.

Findings

The present research aims to evaluate the contributions of different maintenance practices implementation dimensions on SMEs’ manufacturing performance attributes. The study highlights that strategic maintenance practices such as corrective maintenance (CM), general maintenance issues, preventive maintenance (PM) issues and predictive maintenance (Pd.M) initiatives have enhanced overall equipment effectiveness, overall business performance, quality, cost optimization, safety, delivery and morale in SMEs.

Originality/value

The study validates the capabilities of maintenance practices toward significant improvements of various implementation dimensions such as breakdown maintenance issues, general maintenance issues, PM issues, Pd.M issues, CM issues, computer maintenance management system issues, maintenance scheduling issues and total productive maintenance issues. The study reveals significant implications for SMEs for realizing significantly improved manufacturing performance through strategic maintenance initiatives.

Factors for improving performance in ISO 9001 certified small- and medium-sized service enterprises

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that are important for improving the performance of ISO 9001 certified small- and medium-sized service enterprises (SMSEs).

Design/methodology/approach

Preliminary research questions were set on the basis of a literature review and then submitted to a Delphi panel of experts. The results from the Delphi panel were transformed into hypotheses in the form of a survey. A sample comprising 115 Italian SMSEs answered the survey, which also included specific fields for qualitative notes. The hypothesis tests used 95% confidence intervals, and notes and suggestions from the respondents were also collected.

Findings

The findings relate to the role and responsibilities of the quality manager, as well the entrepreneur and partners, the quality of the enterprise culture, training, awareness concerning process key performance indicators, visual management and modern digitised documentation and communication. Furthermore, criticisms emerged regarding the ISO 9001 standard in terms of cost of quality measurement, day-to-day improvement and problem-solving.

Research limitations/implications

This research is limited to SMSEs. The limitations of this research open avenues for further research. In particular, many suggestions from the respondents seem generalisable to other industries and also to large manufacturing firms.

Practical implications

The findings of this research could be used as a guideline for implementing ISO 9001 in the SMSE sector. Moreover, some of the criticisms could be taken into account for the next revision of the ISO 9001 standard.

Originality/value

This is one of the first papers to discuss important factors for improving the performance of ISO 9001 in the SMSE sector.

Integrated quality environmental management implementation in food processing SMEs

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) of integrated quality environmental management (IQEM) and analyze their impact on operational performance (OP) and environmental performance (EP) in food processing Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on collecting data using a survey questionnaire through snowball sampling technique. A total of 302 food processing SMEs operating in Punjab, Pakistan, responded to the survey. SPSS version-23 and SmartPLS-3 were used for data analysis.

Findings

The literature review identified leadership (LS), employee management (EM), strategic planning (SP), information management (IM), process management (PM), supplier management (SM) and customer focus (CF) as CSFs of IQEM. The results of this study found a significant relationship of all identified CSFs with operational performance in food processing SMEs whereas EM, IM, PM and SM were insignificant with the EP in the food processing SMEs.

Research limitations/implications

Although this study has collected data from one province, the Punjab province, it still relevant in identifying the CSFs for IQEM implementation within food processing SMEs to improve performance.

Originality/value

Despite the wide spread of integrated systems practices in the developed countries, little attention has been placed to implement and assess the IQEM initiatives by organizations in the developing countries. Thus, this study identified CSFs of IQEM based on empirical studies and analyzed their impact on OP and EP of food processing SMEs.

TQM practices and its performance effects – an integrated model

Purpose

Total quality management practices have been embraced by many quality-oriented firms around the world in order to improve performance in terms of quality, productivity, customer satisfaction and profitability. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the direct and indirect effects of TQM practices on various performance indicators specifically in the Indian manufacturing context. This paper focuses on developing an integrated model encompassing significant structural relations showing the linkage between TQM practices and multiple performance indicators – quality performance, customer satisfaction level, operating performance, employee performance, innovation performance, society results and financial performance. Apart from analyzing the direct relationship between constructs, the main purpose of this work is also to identify all the possible mediation effects of performance indicators on others using structural equation modeling (SEM).

Design/methodology/approach

An in-depth literature review was conducted to identify the key practices for the successful implementation of TQM in an organization as well as to explore TQM-performance effects. As a result, four TQM practices and seven performance indicators were identified. The data were collected from 260 Indian manufacturing organizations. After confirming the reliability and validity using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the proposed hypotheses were tested using SEM.

Findings

Through testing the proposed hypothesized structural model, the direct and indirect effects of TQM practices have been examined. Moreover, this work developed an integrated model showing the interrelationships between TQM practices and performance indicators identified. The findings gave an insight that the effective implementation of TQM practices assists in reaping benefits in the every facet of an organization. By implementing these practices effectively, managers can expect to realize improvement in all these performance areas.

Research limitations/implications

This study is subject to certain limitations. Even if all variables were found to be reliable, valid and satisfactory non-response bias test results, the remote possibility of bias in the data might not be fully ruled out. There is a probability of occurrence of common method variance and common method bias, since the data for both dependent and independent variables were collected from the same respondents in the organization. Additionally data on performance indicators were based on the respondent’s assessment and awareness only. The mediating relationship between individual TQM practice and performance indicators can be investigated in future studies. Since society results are a necessity in future, the direct and indirect practices focusing toward this can be explored. In addition, there is a research scope to identify the moderating effect of contextual factors such as degree of TQM implementation, scope of operation and type of organization.

Practical implications

The findings of the research offer some potentially valuable insights into the relevance of TQM practices and its strong linkage on various performance indicators, through which the overall organization performance can be enhanced. By implementing these practices effectively, managers can expect to realize improvement in all these performance areas. Hence, the managers can adopt this approach to assess their organization’s level in the quality path and as a guideline in implementing TQM practices. They can also measure the impacts of TQM practices on multiple performance measures in order to evaluate their TQM initiatives. Especially the deployment of quality culture is a requisite to excel in the every facet of performance. The positive relationship between TQM practices and various performance indicators can motivate the managers to allocate resources in time, effort and capital for TQM implementation in pursuing quality, leading to customer retention and competitiveness. The findings of the study strongly suggest the need for the holistic implementation of TQM practices for the survival of the organization.

Originality/value

While there is a considerable volume of researches carried out to investigate the linkage between TQM and organization’s performance across the globe, still little is evidenced regarding the mediating effect of performance indicators on others, especially in the Indian manufacturing context. The present paper attempts to extend and add knowledge to this line of research and to bridge the gap and provide sufficient empirical evidence specifically in the Indian scenario. Thereby helps the organization to follow a guideline to improve the overall performance.

V, Madhavan V, Gurumurthy A. Development of Lean Six Sigma training module: evidence from an emerging economy

Purpose

Nowadays, firms are keen on improving the quality culture in the organizations. The proven success of Lean and Six Sigma has given rise to the synergetic Lean Six Sigma (LSS) approach that has been catching fire in the past one decade. However, there exists a gap between the understanding and implementation of LSS in the organizations, especially in the emerging economies. Taking this as a valuable opportunity, the purpose of this paper is to present a development of LSS training module.

Design/methodology/approach

This study starts with a literature review of LSS to reinforce the understanding of the research subject in scope of manufacturing sector. Then, an online questionnaire was designed and used to collect responses from 181 companies located in the Indian sub-continent. Subsequently, the results obtained from the survey were analyzed using COARSE approach.

Findings

This study reveals two key findings and associated contributions. First, it was found that the overall awareness of LSS within the responded manufacturing firms is about 70.4 percent. Second, there is no single standard training module that exists in any of the sampled firms to cater to their quality programs. Hence, in order to improve the LSS awareness which could subsequently help managers as a resource for creating an efficient workplace, this paper presents a structured LSS training framework.

Research limitations/implications

Although this paper presents the importance of LSS and associated awareness level among the responded firms, more empirical evidence is required to generalize the model findings. Second, this study is scoped to firms that work out of the Indian sub-continent, and this provides a future opportunity to expand the scope of this research toward a global study for a comparison between emerging and developed economies. Third, this study is limited to manufacturing firms and hence paves an opportunity to research on a similar theme in services context as well.

Practical implications

Before embarking on an LSS journey, an organization can use the LSS training module proposed in this study to assess the employee awareness on LSS. Furthermore, organizations that already have a mature LSS practice can incorporate the LSS training module for periodic evaluation of the employees for effective change management.

Originality/value

The training module presented in this paper is the original contribution by the authors. This is no association to any single identifiable organization or associated funding. The direct practical implication of its application in real time is the value that managers could derive from the proposed LSS training framework.

Quality management practices in SMEs: a comparative study between India and Namibia

Purpose

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have now become an important part of economy for not only developed nations but also for emerging economies. Irrespective of the benefits that can be derived, SMEs in emerging economies still lack the will to implement quality management (QM) practices. Using a comparative study, the purpose of this paper is to understand the status of QM practices in SMEs of emerging economies.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey-based approach was adopted to understand the established QM practices in the SMEs. A survey instrument was designed by reviewing the literature on QM initiatives in SMEs. A sample of 270 SMEs across Southern India and 189 SMEs in Namibia was selected through stratified random sampling technique.

Findings

The overall response rate was 19.52 percent for India and 26.46 percent for Namibia, respectively. There were similarities and differences in responses from SMEs in both countries. Similarities are in terms of limited implementation of QM practices, and also less use of tools and techniques. Reasons for not implementing include unknown to the authors, and the high cost of training. Differences emerged in the type of market (Indian SMEs catering to one major customer), CSFs and business performance indicators. It was interesting to find that management commitment and involvement do not have a major influence as CSF for SMEs in both the countries.

Originality/value

The research is the first attempt in bringing a comparative study about QM practices in SMEs from developing countries. The insights will help emerging economies to develop policies for education and training, and thus facilitate implementation of QM practices in SMEs.

Six Sigma in healthcare: a systematic review of the literature

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the systematic role played by Six Sigma methodology in improving the quality of healthcare. The literature review identifies the relevant opportunities for successful introduction and development of Six Sigma approach in healthcare sector.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic methodology to identifying literature on Six Sigma in healthcare is presented. Web of Science, Medline, Emerald Insight, ASQ and ProQuest databases (1998-2016) were searched, and 68 papers of fair methodological quality were identified.

Findings

The findings of the systematic review reveal a growing interest in research on Six Sigma adoption in healthcare. The findings indicate that Six Sigma applications in healthcare have been focused on the entire hospital with no real focus on a particular department or function. The key findings on benefits, success factors, challenges and common tools of Six Sigma from the existing literature are also presented in the paper.

Research limitations/implications

The papers included in the systematic review were peer-reviewed papers available in English. Due to these limitations, relevant papers may have been excluded. Moreover, the authors have excluded all conference and white papers for their inclusion in this study.

Originality/value

This paper can serve as a guide on how Six Sigma approach can be applied to improve the quality of healthcare. The authors also believe that this is possibly the most comprehensive systematic literature review on the topic and will set the foundation for various research avenues based on the key findings of this study.

Identification and modeling of employee barriers while implementing lean manufacturing in small- and medium-scale enterprises

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present the factors associated with the employee barriers while implementing lean manufacturing within the small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs).

Design/methodology/approach

The structural equation modelling approach is employed to develop the initial model drawing a sample survey of 133 small and medium enterprises. The result of the study shows that the lack of well-trained and experienced staff, lack of knowledge about existing specialist, cultural resistance to change are acting as the employee barriers while implementing lean manufacturing in SMEs. Then, a further study has been conducted to develop the employee barrier model with these three factors and its contributing variables using specification search representing the sample of 117 small and medium enterprises using the following fit function criteria: Chi-square (C), Chi-square-df (C-df), Akaike information criteria, Browne-Cudeck criterion, Bayes information criterion, Chi-square divided by the degrees of freedom (C/df) and significance level (p).

Findings

The lack of well-trained and experienced staff, lack of knowledge about existing specialist, and cultural resistance to change with 19 associated elements were considered in the questionnaire. Specification search was carried out to build up the model on the collected data from 117 SMEs. The results of the specification search identified that these three factors with 15 key variables are significant to employee barrier while implementing lean manufacturing in SMEs.

Research limitations/implications

The limitation of the study was that the sample size of the study was relatively small for further research, large sample size more than 117 are to be expected.

Practical implications

The present study has explored an unfocused area of lean implementation in small and medium enterprises. The results obtained from the study are expected to help researchers, academics, and professionals for the further studies in the domain of lean manufacturing.

Social implications

To implement and understand the lean manufacturing system, government of the many countries around the world are helping and encouraging by providing financial assistance for training professionals and establishing professional associations. However, many industries are not successful in lean implementation. This research work provides to develop a strategy to tackle employee barriers for successful lean implementation.

Originality/value

Very little research has been carried out exploring employee barriers while implementing lean manufacturing in SMEs. This paper will provide value to academics, researchers and practitioners of lean by way of providing insight into significant employee barriers for lean implementation, especially in Indian industries.

An information sharing theory perspective on willingness to share information in supply chains

Purpose

The quality of information sharing is of the utmost importance for supply chains (SCs). The purpose of this paper is to improve understanding of the human attitude: willingness to share, its antecedents and its role in improving information sharing quality.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on information sharing theory, a theoretical model and research hypotheses are developed. Data from 387 respondents were collected to test the hypotheses and model fit using structural equation modelling and mediation analysis. The impact of social-psychological factors and information technology (IT) infrastructure capability on willingness to share information and, consequently, its effect on information sharing quality were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics, PROCESS and AMOS.

Findings

The statistical analysis showed a good model fit. Trust is the most important antecedent for willingness to share, while the impacts of commitment and reciprocity are also significant. Interestingly, power is not a significant antecedent of willingness. Life satisfaction is a significant precursor to willingness to share information, whereas surprisingly overall job satisfaction does not play a significant role.

Research limitations/implications

Cross-sectional data were used and the scope was limited to SCs.

Practical implications

Managers should be aware that trust, commitment and reciprocity with their SC partners influence the willingness to share information with varying effects. Access to proper IT capabilities increases willingness as does the life satisfaction. SC individuals who are happy with life are more willing. Interestingly, high power might get the sharer to share information albeit unwillingly.

Originality/value

The model provides a social-psychological understanding of the antecedents of human willingness to share information, which is crucial to sharing quality information. Overall, the social-psychological and IT factors model based on information sharing theory is statistically valid for the SC context.

Assessing the awareness of the agile manufacturing for organizational change in Indian small manufacturing firms

Purpose

Agile manufacturing (AM) has the new scenario in the business system and it is widely seen as a “New Revolution” in the manufacturing firms. AM, which continuously focusses on the adoption of new methodologies and quickly respond to the customer expectation. For this reason, many of the research studies are focussed on the AM environment and this system is mainly followed in large sector only and most of the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are not aware of it. Especially in the developing countries which are still lagging behind in the implementation of AM. Considering the above reason, the purpose of this paper is to assess the awareness of AM in Indian SMEs.

Design/methodology/approach

By means of researching many literature reviews and empirical data collected by using a self-administrated instrument distributed to the selected Indian SMEs and the awareness about the AM was investigated. The authors have selected 100 SMEs in Indian service sectors and sent the data sheets through by e-mail and also by directly visiting the company and collected the information. A total of 68 useable survey data’s were identified from the final analysis. The study data sample consists of a group of selected Indian SMEs, from different industries including the pump and foundry industries. The collected data were analyzed using the graphical representation method and by the statistical analysis.

Findings

The analysis revealed the significance and usage of AM in the Indian SMEs. The results also suggested that the Indian SMEs are well aware of the AM system, through more efforts need to be focussed on implementing this system properly and effectively to improve these standards. By the use of agile models and frameworks in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), would result in cost-effectiveness in their quality and services and can be continuously improving the ongoing agile practices.

Research limitations/implications

Indian SMEs managers seem to be stronger familiar with the agile concepts and practices and they believe that agile environment would guaranteeing in their services and high-quality products. Therefore, SMEs should concentrate and invest in agile practices that would help them to improve their competitiveness in the global market. Further, Indian SMEs managers and practitioners would concentrate more about this maintenance of standards and with this dynamic approach it takes toward the agile environment to meet the future challenges.

Practical implications

The data collected and the results provided in this paper will help in understanding, the awareness about the AM environment in Indian SMEs. Also, suggest some additional improvements in the knowledge of agile to the managers and practitioners in the Indian SMEs, which could enhance the level of agile implementation.

Originality/value

The assessment of agile awareness in Indian SMEs, along with the concepts of understanding the AM environment, has been explained in the literature on AM in the Indian SMEs.

Infrastructure and core quality practices in Indian manufacturing organizations

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a scale for infrastructure and core practices, including total quality management (TQM) and Six Sigma practices, in the Indian manufacturing organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

– In this study, a psychometric systematic scale development procedure has been adopted and executed, which includes three phases. Phase 1 includes item generation and selection through expert opinion. In Phase 2, scale refinement using item analysis, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and convergent and discriminant validity have been carried out. Finally, in Phase 3, scale validation through the replication of CFA and nomological validity assessment has been conducted. Also, a higher order measurement and structural model has been used to assess predictive validity of infrastructure and core practices.

Findings

– The findings of the empirical study resulted in a 45-item scale that measures Infrastructure practices (top management commitment, workforce management, supplier relationship, customer relationship management, Six Sigma role structure) and core practices (process management, product/service design, quality information and analysis, Six Sigma metric, Six Sigma structure), considering both TQM and Six Sigma practices. Also, the higher order predictive validity assessment model suggested that core practices have a higher impact on quality performance than infrastructure practices.

Research limitations/implications

– This study considered TQM and Six Sigma practices for defining infrastructure and core practices. However, future studies may include other quality tools in infrastructure and core quality practices such as Lean, Kaizen, and others in the measurement model to get more concrete results.

Practical implications

– This reliable and valid scale will help managers measure the level of QM in order to enhance business performance.

Originality/value

– This study symbolizes a first-time attempt for developing a validated tool to measure infrastructure and core practices in the Indian manufacturing organizations.