TQM Practices, Performance, and Innovation in Small Hotels

This report examines the application of Total Quality Management (TQM) principles within small and medium-sized hotel enterprises, addressing key challenges such as communication gaps between management and employees and operational rigidity. It proposes a TQM approach emphasizing increased communication, clear roles, and the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program to foster customer-centric decisions. Expected achievements include enhanced customer loyalty, increased employee productivity through improved motivation, and greater workplace innovation leading to high-quality service delivery. The study highlights the importance of embracing change and decentralizing decision-making to understand employee needs, alongside the critical roles of communication and flexibility in driving service quality and innovation. The report provides a comprehensive overview of how TQM can be effectively implemented in the hotel industry to improve overall performance and customer satisfaction.

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Total Quality Management

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1. Application Background
Key challenges faced by small and medium hotel enterprises are lack of implication and
communication between the top-level management and the employees and rigidity in the
operations which make it difficult for them to deliver quality services for customers (Bon &
Mustafa, 2013). Employees are not able to provide their insight to the management to
improve customer services. Demotivation among employees also reduces the attention
received by customers, which reduce customers and employee satisfaction level and harm
the profitability of the organisation.
2. TQM approach to be used
Since customer requirements and organisations evolve continuously, the Total Quality
Management (TQM) systems should evolve as well to bring flexibility in operations. This can
be achieved by increasing communication between employees and the management to
collect insights about customers’ requirements from workers who engage with them (Lavia
Lopez & Hiebl, 2014). In the TQM system, roles and responsibilities of parties should be
clear, and managers should communicate with employees to address their challenges and
rewarding them to motivate them to improve their performance. The Baldrige Performance
Excellence Program can be used in order to bring customer-focused change by small and
medium hotel enterprises by complying with the criteria given by Malcolm Baldrige to make
sure that the management makes customer-centric decisions while focusing on factors such
as leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, measurements, workforce focus, process
management and results (Bouranta, Psomas & Pantouvakis, 2017).
3. Expected Achievements
The expected achievements include an increase in customer loyalty and satisfaction level of
small and medium hotel enterprises, which will increase their profitability. Improved
communication with employees will motivate them to improve their productivity, and the
flexibility in policies will fuel innovation in the workplace, which will allow these enterprises
in delivering high-quality services to customers.

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4. Learning Points
This study highlighted the importance of embracing change and decentralising decision
making in order to improve the quality of services of small and medium hotel enterprises
since it allows them to understand the requirements of their employees which deliver high-
quality services. The importance of communication and flexibility in increasing the quality of
services and innovation in the workplace is also highlighted by this study.

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References
Bon, A. T., & Mustafa, E. M. (2013). Impact of total quality management on innovation in
service organizations: Literature review and new conceptual framework. Procedia
Engineering, 53, 516-529.
Bouranta, N., Psomas, E. L., & Pantouvakis, A. (2017). Identifying the critical determinants of
TQM and their impact on company performance: Evidence from the hotel industry of
Greece. The TQM Journal, 29(1), 147-166.
Lavia López, O., & Hiebl, M. R. (2014). Management accounting in small and medium-sized
enterprises: current knowledge and avenues for further research. Journal of
Management Accounting Research, 27(1), 81-119.