Adoption and use of Quality Management Practices in Australian Organisations: Comparison of two Empirical Studies

This paper evaluates the findings of a survey of quality practices in Australian manufacturing firms.The results of two studies are compared in order to identify any differential improvements that may have taken place over a three year period in the adoption and use of modem quality management practices. The barriers to the implementation of these practices are also investigated. The analysis shows that significant improvements in the adoption and diffusion of quality management practices have taken place. A high proportion of organisations are using Total Quality Management (TQM) and preparing a corporate quality mission statement. There have been substantial increases in the use of ISO 9000 quality system certification and benchmarking. These are the dominant quality practices of the 1990s and are driving the implementation of TQM and quality improvement programs in Australian industry. However, quality management practices are still concentrated in the manufacturing function, with little increase in the use of these practices in other areas such as human resources, administration and marketing functions. Based on the two studies, we conclude that there is a clear shift towards making quality the responsibility of all employees of the organisation.