Literature Review: Total Quality Management and Six Sigma

This literature review provides support for a scholarly study that will investigate the effects on organizational productivity and profitability of the implementation and functioning of high-profile management systems. While there is a plethora of high-profile management systems, the study which this literature review supports will be concerned specifically with two high-profile management systems - Total Quality Management (TQM) and Six Sigma.

Literature is reviewed that develops relevant information on the history, development, applications, and effectiveness of the TQM and Six Sigma high-profile management systems. With respect to the effectiveness of the management systems in relation to organizational productivity and profitability, literature also is reviewed in relation to employee job satisfaction/dissatisfaction. Employee job satisfaction, as well as employee dissatisfaction, is a contributor to both organizational productivity and organizational profitability.

While the high-profile management systems of greatest relevance to the study which this literature review will support are TQM and Six Sigma, other high-profile management systems also are reviewed. As the development of most high-profile management systems tends to be interrelated with the development of other high-profile management systems, including other high-profile management systems when relevant in the review of TQM and Six Sig

ped or adopted, and that system must be incorporated into the organizational structure. Control procedures must be established at every stage of the production process (Ryan, 2004). Benchmarking requires the establishment of an agreed upon quality measurement, followed by a widespread search for the best performance to be measured against. Benchmarking, thus, is the establishment of standards. Considering the definition above, the process of benchmarking requires first a consensus agreement among stakeholders as to what phenomenon requires a standard. Assume the issue is the end product of a building construction process, and that the function of the facility is either direct production or materials handling. A specific desired outcome for the facility class must be defined (De Feo & Little, 2005). The second phase of the benchmarking process then is initiated, which according to the definition above is a search for the procedure that performs best in attaining the desired outcome. The procedures assessed would be evaluated first within the context of meeting the outcome standard, but the procedures also would be evaluated within the context of the organizational resources required to attain the desired outcome, along