Implementing Total Quality Management in the Airline Industry Report

This report investigates different models of Total Quality Management (TQM) implementation within the airline industry, analyzing TQM features, measurements, enablers, and barriers through a literature review of peer-reviewed journal articles. It highlights the importance of various quality measures for improving business performance, including Deming's seven factors model for measuring TQM performance and the SERVQUAL model for assessing passenger satisfaction. The report discusses TQM enabling factors such as leadership, training, knowledge management, teamwork, communication, customer focus, and employee involvement, while also identifying barriers like lack of top management commitment, high turnover, negative employee attitudes, and poor coordination. It emphasizes the role of continuous improvement and business process re-engineering in enhancing service quality and concludes by underscoring the value of TQM and the importance of SERVQUAL application in the airline industry.

Implementation of total quality management in the airline industry
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Abstract
Purpose - this report aims at investigating different models of TQM implementation with an
application on the airlines industry through analyzing TQM features, measurements, enablers
and barriers.
Design/methodology/approach - TQM literature review and its application in the airline
industry is approached. The literature review is conducted based on peer-reviewed journal
articles published in Emerald insight, Science direct, EBSCO.
Findings – Organizations in the airline industry are advised to implement several quality
measures that are likely to affect business performance. These measures are discussed for their
importance in assuring quality across the organizational departments by discussing Deming
seven factors model to measure TQM performance. Also, measuring the passenger satisfaction
level by applying the SERVQUL model is commonly used by service organizations and should
be conducted.
Research limitation/implications – The review of the literature was mainly conducted
depending on secondary resources of information.
Originality/value – TQM has a great value to organizations, including service organizations like
airline companies. It has been investigated since the early 1990s and continues to be applied
within organizations nowadays. Also, this report concerns with the importance of SERVEQUAL
application in the airline industry.
Keywords – Total quality management, airline industry, SERVQUAL, The interpretive
structural modeling (TISM)
Paper category – Literature review

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Table of Contents
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................3
Literature review.......................................................................................................................................3
First: Importance of total quality management for the airlines industry.............................................3
Second: Quality management models......................................................................................................4
2.1 Deming vs Juran vs Ishikawa models of quality management..............................................4
2.2 The interpretive structural modeling (TISM).........................................................................5
2.3 The conceptual model of TQM measurement........................................................................5
Third: TQM enablers................................................................................................................................5
3.1 TQM enabling factors............................................................................................................5
Fourth: Identification of TQM barriers..................................................................................................7
Fifth: TQM performance measures.........................................................................................................8
Sixths: Continuous improvement (CI).....................................................................................................9
Seventh: Business process re-engineering................................................................................................9
Eighth: Service quality............................................................................................................................10
Ninth: The SERVQUAL instrument......................................................................................................11
Tenth: Evaluating airline service quality...............................................................................................12
Conclusions..............................................................................................................................................13
Implications of the Study........................................................................................................................13
Scope for future research........................................................................................................................13
References................................................................................................................................................15

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Introduction
Researchers used to believe that regulations are the key driver for market competition based on
service quality rather than price or operational flexibility. In the USA, regulations did not
provide any incentives for efficiency improvement in the airline industry. Despite this, the
financial collapse in the early 1980s drove the airline industry to consolidate and create a hub-
and-spoke system that eliminated the sources of competition. The 1990s financial crisis
contributed to lowering the average prices and cost cut that resulted in customer dissatisfaction.
Accordingly, the airline industry devoted much efforts to enhance its quality and rating
(Rhoades, et al., 1998).
Total service quality management (TSQM) is very important for business success that should be
considered and critically applied. Quality is what the consumer admits it is. Service quality
should be observed from customer satisfaction and recommendation to others. The roots of
quality management go for two main ideas about the better running of the business; the first is
customer satisfaction that leads to reliability and replicability and the second is efficiency
through stop wasting resources and delivering unsatisfactory services (Peters, 1999; Sumathi, et
al., 2018).
Literature review
First: Importance of total quality management for the airlines industry
Globalization and technology advancement have obligated organizations to transform their
methods of operations to yield faster and better outcomes that satisfies customers. The airline
companies were among the early ones to promptly respond to the changing global environment.
The global competitive market conditions force airline organizations to build networks with

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governments and investors. TQM has introduced a new way of constant improvement for
offering luxury and comfort services to customers. Accordingly, Boeing has incorporated major
improvements in its aircraft and engines designs by implementing innovative ideas. The
introduction of the jet engines has shortened the time of journey that also reduced the cost per
seat (Ahmed, et al., 2006; Roy, 2017).
Second: Quality management models
The systems of quality management were influenced by the experts from Japan and the USA,
like Deming, Juran, Feigenbaum, Crosby and Ishikawa.
2.1 Deming vs Juran vs Ishikawa models of quality management
Deming management model was empirically applied in industries, weather service or product
industries, where it was admitted to be a universal model. The contemporary service industries
are devoted by nature to introduce excellent services to effectively compete in the local and
global markets. Accordingly, their focus is concentrated on satisfying customer and how the
results could be attained through the delivery of quality service (Gupta, et al., 2005).
Deming philosophy is represented in the "System of profound knowledge (SPK)'' that involves
four parts; appreciation for a system, knowledge of the theory of variation, the theory of
knowledge and psychology. SPK is a philosophy that enables individuals and organizations to
transform (Hasan & Kerr, 2003).
Juran argued that delegating the quality control to subordinates led to negative results. That is
why quality control is a shared responsibility among all of the workers, including the different
managerial levels and the staff members as well. Also, he stressed the importance of
incorporating quality control in the managerial function and organizational culture. Ishikawa
introduced four aspects of TQM; quality circles continuous training, the quality tool and the

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quality chain. Ishikawa argued that a business organization can practice quality control by
developing, designing and producing service quality products, which are satisfactory to the
consumer. Accordingly, TQM should be involved across all the departments within the business
organization (Gupta, et al., 2005).
2.2 The interpretive structural modeling (TISM)
The TISM model is a process of transforming unclear mental models of systems into well-
defined ones that are useful for multiple purposes. The interpretive structural modeling (TISM)
model could be applied in the airline quality management by stressing on the factors that help
organizations to improve their performance and competitiveness (Singh & Sushil, 2013).
2.3 The conceptual model of TQM measurement
TQM application in the service industry degree of success depends on the organization ability to
measure the various dimensions of its TQM effectiveness. According to Lakhe & Mohanty
(1995), TQM conceptual model of measurements, includes evaluation of the success of the
service quality program according to its ability to meet certain objectives, identifying areas that
need development, providing self-analysis of problems, reviewing the competitive position and
providing alternative policies and allocating resources accordingly.
Third: TQM enablers
Managing quality in airline operations requires the incorporation of sophisticated approaches to
improve service, like TQM, six sigma and process management reengineering. These methods if
effectively implemented by service organizations would increase efficiency, customer
satisfaction and competitiveness of the airline operations (Prakash, et al., 2015).

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3.1 TQM enabling factors
These factors are considered to be the main factors that affect TQM in organizations, including
airline organizations. They are discussed according to Al Nahyan & Abdel All (2017), Baidoun
(2003) and Kumar, et al. (2009), as follows:
 Leadership: It is considered a major driver for TQM implementation; managers are devoted to
motivate employees and become leaders to ensure effective TQM implementation.
Communicating the importance of TQM with all staff levels enables in ensuring that values,
goals and strategies are clearly recognized by the staff that share a common acceptance of
TQM (Laszlo, 1999).
 Training and education: Effective TQM implementation requires that employees gain
important skills and knowledge through training. First of all, employees should be readied by
understanding the importance of training, then training should be implemented and TQM
knowledge should be transferred to others to create a learning organization.
 Knowledge management: TQM is considered to be a radical improvement on the contrary to
knowledge management that considered to be continuous improvement. Both of them have
shared features and should be implemented within organizations.
 Teamwork: It plays a vital role in fulfilling the organizational goals that makes teamwork an
integral part in implementing TQM. It enables in providing efficient solutions to problems and
facilitates the work.
 Communication: Establishing effective communication channels between management and
the employees is an important factor. Feedback is a good process to know the management
remarks and work on them.

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 Customer focus: It reflects the organization orientation towards customers. Successful firms
understand that customer satisfaction should be considered as a first priority that should be
fulfilled.
 Employees' involvement and participation: All of the staff levels should be involved in the
process of TQM, they should be motivated to take the responsibility and effectively
communicate to assure quality improvement at all the stages of the process (Thiagarajan &
Zairi, 1997; Vouzas & Psychogios, 2007).
 Perception of quality: Perception of the service quality influences satisfaction level.
Satisfaction of customers and quality of service are positively related in the airline industry.
 Quality control in the organization: The airline organizations are required to implement TQM
to increase their competitiveness and increase customer satisfaction by incorporating the
concepts of 6 sigma (Psychogios, et al., 2012).
Fourth: Identification of TQM barriers
There is quite number of research-based evidence that argued unsuccessful TQM implementation
as a result of barriers that hinder the TQM implementation. Accordingly, many TQM
implementations were abandoned (Antony, et al., 2002).
TQM implementation barriers in organizations, including the airline organizations are discussed
according to Talib, et al. (2011) and Bhat & Rajashekhar (2009), as follows:
 The lack of top management commitment: According to Brigham (1993), as cited in Talib, et
al. (2011), assumes that the rareness of leadership represents a major barrier to implementing
TQM in organizations.
 High turnover at management level: This reason has negatively affected many organizations
and hindered their efforts to effectively implement TQM. Structural problems caused by lack

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of reward and training and absenteeism are the reasons for failure to manage work as
scheduled.
 The attitude of employees towards quality: Employees negative attitude towards TQM
implementation is considered to be a hindering factor. In some organizations, resistance to
change is high and changing the employees and management mindsets are high.
 Lack of coordination and communication between departments: The employees' relations
and coordination between different organizational departments are likely to influence the
organizational performance system and determines the ability to implement TQM. For
example, the lack of coordination between the production and quality departments represent a
major barrier to TQM implementation.
Fifth: TQM performance measures
Researchers have proposed several quality measures that are likely to affect business
performance. Deming argued that applying high-quality standards leads to less rework, cost
reduction, higher productivity, price reduction and better market share. Deming proposed the
seven factors model to measure TQM performance, according to Motwani (2001) and Hasan &
Kerr (2003), as follows:
Factor 1: Top management commitment: It could be measured by the budget and resources
allocated to TQM implementation, progress monitoring and evaluation, control through visibility
and planning change.
Factor 2: Quality measurement and benchmarking: Devoting efforts to the maintenance of
quality measurements that could be achieved through zero defect and do it right from the first
time.

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Factor 3: Process management: It ensures adding value to the process, high-quality levels and
increased quality per person. Quality loss occurs when a unit of production fails to reach the pre-
defined target value.
Factor 4: Product design: Organizations should exactly understand the customer needs and
clarify certain product and service specification and involve the related departments in the
process of design review.
Factor 5: Employee training and empowerment: Good training programs enable the employees
to understand all of the company operations and quality standards. A specific measure of
employee empowerment should consider cross-department cooperation, teamwork and
communication and the degree of independence allowed to the employees.
Factor 6: Vendor quality management: The quality of vendors should be defined according to
agreed quality standards and vendors' progress in the process of continues improvement.
Factor 7: Customer involvement and satisfaction: It should be measured on a regular basis to
ensure satisfying customers and gain their loyalty and to eliminate any source of failure to
achieve the customer pre-defined needs.
Sixths: Continuous improvement (CI)
Continuous improvement (CI) is an organizational philosophy that Deming developed to ensure
the improvement of organizational initiatives that contribute to reduce failures and increase
success. According to Kossoff (1993), as cited in Bhuiyan & Baghel (2005), argue that involving
people from different organizational departments and levels leads to total quality. CI reflects a
culture of improvement sustainability that ensures waste elimination across all of the
organizational systems and processes. According to Bessant and Francis (1999), as cited in
Sweis (et al., 2019), CI is created from three factors; paths, position, and process. It has been

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considered by the researchers among the critical variables that contribute to quality management
and result in straight to organizational performance.
Seventh: Business process re-engineering
Business process re-engineering (BPR) refers to implementing change radically that
organizations could apply to achieve quick and necessary changes. BRP is different from TQM;
it enables organizations to leapfrog the market competition by focusing on the process
management rather than organizational departments and their interrelations. BPR aims to
implement solution of a certain problem that spans the process as a whole. It is devoted to radical
change rather than CI (Peters, 1999). Although, Grover and Malhotra (1997), as cited in Lorente,
et al. (n.d.), argued that BPR idea was relaxed and a new field of business process management
has emerged to provide an analysis of process regardless of the level of improvement.
Accordingly, BPR represents a philosophy rather than a method for change. It enables
organizations to think of the current processes from a different perspective and introduce a better
process design to achieve total value (Prasad, 1998). Common stages of BPR could be stated
according to Grover and Malhotra (1997), as cited in Lorente, et al. (n.d.) to be; commitment of
the top management, forming teams, environmental evaluation, organization assessment,
defining the changes needed to take place, defining the needed resources, testing, implementing
changes and evaluating the results.
TQM and BPR are complement to each other; according to De Bruyn and Gelders (1997), as
cited in Lorente, et al. (n.d.), TQM is an enabler for BPR, it acts as a building block for BPR
efforts. On the other hand Leach (1996), as cited in Lorente, et al. (n.d.), assumes that CI is better
than BPR and less risky and it also maintains stability.

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Eighth: Service quality
The service system refers to the integration of employees working together to satisfy the
customers' varying needs. Quality transportation service, including airlines, should consider
effectiveness in providing protection to customers and estimating the charges for the service,
efficiency of packaging, storage and delivery and accuracy of paperwork. Assessment of the
transportation service quality is conducted depending on the information reporting system,
customer feedback, surveillance of the processes and customer recommendations and rating.
Airline companies are required to continuously examine their strategies to ensure customer
satisfaction and sustain their loyalty. Various types of flight services and their impact on
customer satisfaction are discussed according to Namukasa (2013) Sultan & Simpson (2000), as
follows:
 Effect of pre-flight service quality on passenger satisfaction: Airline companies should be
able to create and sustain long-term customer relationships by fulfilling their diverse needs
 Effect of in-flight service quality on passenger satisfaction: Passengers could face various
service encounters during the flight. Customers usually make comparisons between the quality
of their past flight experiences and their expectations for the offered service.
 Effect of post-flight service quality on passenger satisfaction: The after-sale service aims to
fulfill the extra needs of customers that act to be a driver for customer retention.
Ninth: The SERVQUAL instrument
Quality of service is empirically measured by using the gap model of service that is also known
of SERVQUAL. Parasuraman et al. (1985), as cited in Gupta, et al. (2005), developed the
SERVQUAL model conceptual framework to measure the customers perception of the quality of
service. Researchers support the use of SERVQUAL as a satisfaction measurement tool. They