While the function of organizational management may not be said to be in a state of crisis, the environment within which organizational management must be practiced in the early 1990s, along with the conditions extant within many organizations, may be fairly characterized as dynamic to the point of being turbulent (Bahls, 1992, pp. 16 20). This study examined the practice during conditions of environmental and organizational turbulence.
Being required to manage an organization during a period of dynamic environmental and organizational activity is a difficult proposition at best. The task of the manager is made more difficult, however, when environmental and organizational turbulence are accompanied by the introduction of a spate of new approaches to the practice of management, almost all of which promise to be a panacea (Knotts, 1992, pp. 44 46). In such a situation, it is difficult for a manager to know what road should be taken. This study examined the practice of management under such conditions.
The purpose of this study was to assess the adequacy of one of the most promoted contemporary approaches to management Total Quality Management (TQM) as an effective managerial concept for application during periods of environmental and organizational turbulence. This assessment was intended to provide organizational managers with an understanding of how TQM may be applied to assure the attainment of organizational objectives during periods of environmental and organizational turbulence.
Presentation of the Research Findings
The description of the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor accident, the effects of that accident on the responsible organization and external to the organization, and the exposure of the insurance industry with respect to the accident are presented in Chapter 2, as a review of the relevant literature. A description and explanation of TQM and its application are presented in Chapter 3, as the methodo...