With ever‐increasing competition in today's business environment, organizations are
seeking every opportunity to improve their business results. Attaining continuous
performance improvement and business excellence is the common goal that ties with the
concepts of total quality management (TQM). This paper presents a review of the literature
concerning the difficulties regarding TQM implementation. It is followed by a description of
the UMIST‐TQM implementation framework. Further primary research has attempted to …

Discusses various research into total quality management implementation (TQM). Touches
on associated issues in relation to Chinese culture. Tables the 28 elements of the non-
prescriptive TQM implementation framework developed by UMIST in the 1980s (UMIST-
TQM) that draws from TQM approaches mentioned. Takes a Hong Kong focus in explicating
a five-level scoring system aligning with the UMIST-TQM elements, which characterizes
firms regarding their organizational state prior to TQM implementation, ie unaware …