QUALITY MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS, PRINCIPLES, TOOLS AND PHILOSOPHIES: A VALID METHODOLOGY FOR DEPLOYMENT WITHIN UK CONSTRUCTION-RELATED SMEs

Generally, there is confusion as to what constitutes TQM, though it can be regarded as a set of concepts and tools for getting all employees focused on continuous improvement, various schools of thought have defined or classified the critical success factors as constructs, concepts and principles. Therefore the main aim of this paper is to provide a practical approach for understanding the quality management terminology. Using the existing quality management measurement instruments available in literature, the terminology used is classified into constructs, practices and finally tools or techniques. Quality Management may then be viewed as a combination of the three sets of terminology. Drawing on the quantitative study which investigated the implementation of TQM within the SME, the critical factors of TQM as used in that study as used to demonstrate the practical approach or methodology for the understanding of the terms thus used. For the benefit of practitioners within the Construction Management field, a bit of clarity is required as regards the terminology used. This study contributes to clarifying the conflicting results being reported in the quality management literature which inevitably leads to having different levels of analysis of Quality Management. Accordingly, the strength of quality management compared with other business philosophies should then focus on the practical methodology, namely the practices and techniques.