An evaluation of total quality management practices among manufacturing companies in Kumasi
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Date
2021-06-23
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Abstract
Customers and consumers have often criticized firms in Kumasi, and Ghana as whole for not
meeting quality standards. Both the manufacturing and the service companies are no exception.
The need for quality assurance from both the local and international perspective cannot be overemphasized, as there have been massive attempts by authorities of Ghana to curb the proliferation
of fake and non-standardized products onto the Ghanaian market. This study was conducted to
evaluate Total Quality Management (TQM) practices in the manufacturing firms in Kumasi. Three
(3) objectives were outlined to help in achieving the aim of this study thus: to identify TQM
practices implemented in manufacturing companies in Kumasi, to identify the key obstacles to the
implementation of TQM in manufacturing companies in Kumasi and to identify strategies to avert
the difficulties encountered in the implementation of TQM practices among manufacturing
companies in Kumasi. By using the quantitative research method thus through a questionnaire
survey, the study adopted the positivist approach in making an objective analysis. A total of onehundred and forty-four (144) questionnaires were administered and one hundred (100) were
retrieved from purchasing officers, maintenance technicians, operators, production managers,
leading hands, factory hands and supervisors in the manufacturing firms visited. The analysis of
the data gathered was done using descriptive statistics (percentages, frequencies), relative
importance index (RII) and mean score ranking. Findings from the study indicated that exactly 12
respondents representing 12% were much aware or had adequate knowledge of the existence of
total quality management (TQM) practices whiles 31 respondents had a fairly adequate knowledge
of TQM practices in the manufacturing industry. The study revealed that the widely known TQM
Practice among respondents was Customer Focus (CF) which had the highest RII of 0.602. A
major challenge in the effective implementation of TQM practices was lack of training with a
mean value of 4.59 and RII of 0.918. Other equally critical barriers were ineffective internal
communication between management and employees, employee resistance as well as lack of
strong leadership. Adequate training and experience of managers was therefore seen as the better
of all the strategies needed for the successful implementation of TQM practices. It was
recommended that firms restructure their organization to include a Quality Department manned by
Quality Professionals for proper Quality Management to be practiced and benefits derived
Description
A thesis submitted to the Department of Construction Technology and Management, College of Art and Built Environment, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science.
Keywords
Total quality management, Manufacturing industry, Implementation, Challenges and Strategies