Malaysian Management Review

TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICE IN MALAYSIA: HOW MUCH IS WRITTEN? School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia DR ZAINAL ARIFFIN AHMAD and School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia DR ZURAIDAH MOHD ZAIN

ABSTRACT Though widely practised in Malaysia as evidenced bythe Malaysian prestigious Prime Minister's QualityAward and the Ministry of International Trade andIndustry's Quality Award, not much has been writteninternationally about Total Quality Management aspractised in Malaysia. Though prevalent in thepopular literature, much of the research andacademic writings about TOM are still in the form ofPhD theses/dissertations and MBA theses in the localMalaysian universities and several universities inthe UK. This paper will elaborate on the review ofthe literature on Malaysian quality-related writingsby both Malaysians and non-Malaysians ininternational publications. The findings suggestthat there is a dearth of information about TOMpractice in Malaysia, even though there is evidenceto suggest that there is an adequate "pool ofexpertise" locally. Several explanations arediscussed. One of the ways to rectify this appallingstate of reporting is to intensify efforts forMalaysian PhD candidates and master's students (andtheir supervisors) to publish their quality relatedresearch in international refereed journals tofacilitate the sharing of information. INTRODUCTION There is little doubt that the study and applicationof TOM has been widespread the world over. Anevidence of this can be noted from the increasingproduction of TQM-related literature, as recorded byBlack (1994). In the English-speaking domain, it hasbeen seen that the bulk of this has been generatedin the West (Mohd Zain, et al., 1999), even thoughthere are also contributions from other parts of theworld. A brief search of the Malaysian quality-relatedliterature in several international journals did notshow that much has been published. Hence, widelypractised in Malaysia as evidenced by theprestigious Prime Minister's Quality Award (PMQA)and Ministry of International Trade and Industry's(MITI) Quality Award, not much has been writteninternationally about Total Quality Management aspractised in Malaysia. It surely cannot be disputed

that the accessibility of information plays aninvaluable role for many, especially local scholarsand industrialists, to identify and prioritize theirareas of concern. In addition, the global sharing ofwisdom and understanding will no doubt promote andfacilitate the growth of new areas where worldwidecollaboration and partnership can be fostered. As isthe case everywhere else in the world, Malaysianshave their share of usage in the advances ofinformation technology, which promises an infinitesource of knowledge given the void in documentedquality-related efforts in Malaysia. In attempting to fill this void, several sources ofknowledge were consulted. "Popular" and "generallyaccepted" writings on TOM can be found very easilyin Malaysia be it in local newspapers or popularmagazines. Apart from news and writings that are of foreignorigin, local newspapers and magazines carry manyquality-related articles. As such, it is observedthat the works of TQM gurus such as Deming, Juran,Crosby, and Ishikawa are rather well-known,especially within the industrial community. Inaddition, there are numerous local colleges anduniversities that offer at least one quality-relatedcourse in their academic programmes. In short, it isdifficult to dispute the notion that many Malaysiansare well-equipped in their knowledge of quality(Hamzah and Ho, 1994). However, how much of this knowledge is, reallyunderstood and appropriately applied? Save embarkingon an investigation that specifically looks into theapplication of TQM in Malaysia, the literatureprovides an excellent starting point in this quest.Given the scenario of the finite publishedliterature of academic and international stature, itis indeed a concern that perhaps quality in Malaysiais not as well researched and reported as it shouldbe. THE STUDY The main objective of the study is to amass thestate of quality known and practised in Malaysia, asindicated in published materials. As stated above,it is seen that there is no shortage of availableliterature in the popular literature domain. It isin the area of quality-related research thatcoverage seems to be lacking. Hence, in this paper,we focus first on the PhD theses and internationaljournal publications in the UK that are written byMalaysian authors since 1990. In addition, articlesby non-Malaysian authors who wrote on the Malaysianquality state of affairs in Malaysia are also

examined. In order to provide a comprehensivepicture, locally published literature is alsoreviewed. In the course of undertaking the study, it was foundthat unpublished materials (for example, MBA projectdissertations and final-year undergraduate studentreports) contain a wealth of insights into TOMpractices in local organizations, albeit not beingsubjected to as much academic rigour as their PhDcounterparts. Despite this, an in- depth study onthe said information source is very much relevant inthe context of our quest to uncover Malaysia's"quality position". Because it warrants an extensivereview, we devote discussion of material that fallsinto that category in another paper (Ahmad and MohdZain, 1999). It is hoped that from this review, a repertoire ofMalaysian authors, and their contributions andpotential, can be gauged. This review can assist inthe formulation of a strategy to expand theknowledge and research bases of quality in Malaysia- one that takes into consideration its past,present and future propensity. This is especiallyimportant in the wake of the economic changes thecountry is facing. The PhD theses selected have been restricted tothose written in the UK, which have been reviewed inpart in another report (Mohd Zain, et al. 1999).The present study is in fact a follow-up of thatinvestigation, which looked into qualitymanagement-oriented academic researches in the UK.As for the source of database of published papersthat are of international status, the EmeraldInternational Library (1999) was selected. TheEmerald International Library is an immensestorehouse of knowledge in this field with more thana hundred journals, which contain more than 24,000articles (Emerald, 1999). Furthermore, in comparisonto other databases of publications, we found thatthe Emerald library proved to be the most accessibleduring the course of this study. Table I fists thejournals in the library from the Quality Managementsuite. In addition to the journals listed below, theentire Emerald library was also searched for otherrelevant materials. TABLE 1 Quality Management-related journals from the EmeraldLibrary Benchmarking for Quality Management & Technology Business Process Management Journal

International Journal of Health Care QualityAssurance International Journal of Quality & Reliability International Journal of Quality Science Journal of Quality in Maintenance & Engineering Leadership in Health Services Managing Service Quality The TQM Magazine Training for Quality AREAS OF COVERAGE In discussing quality, the authors included in thestudy covered quite an extensive area. Of the fourPhD theses examined, two researchers (MohamadZailani, 1998 and Thiagarajan, 1996) attempted tocomprehend the complexities of the numerous qualityideas, concepts and theories. This condition is alsoreferred to as the "how" of quality implementation.Thiagarajan proposed a framework of genericapplication of TOM after studying its implementationin UK manufacturing industries, while MohamadZailani investigated the factors that influence theimplementation approaches of quality improvementpractices. She carried out her study entirely in theMalaysian electrical and electronics sectors. On the other hand, the other two researchers (MohdZain, 1993 and Abdul Rahman, 1993) looked into thegaps in the body of knowledge and attempted to fillthe gap by developing new guidelines and procedures.Mohd Zain proposed a "quality position" measurementsystem, while Abdul Rahman developed a systemwhereby the cost of quality for civil engineeringprojects can be captured and managed. In this typeof research, the "what" of quality is looked at. Hence, in the sample of the four PhD theses thathave been written, to a large extent from theMalaysian perspective, both the "how" and "what" ofquality have been addressed. Utilizing the search facility in Emerald, and usingthe keyword "Malaysia", five articles emanated -only one of which (Osman, Goon and Wan Aris, 1998)was written wholly by local authors. Three werejointly written by both foreign and local authors(Simpson, et al., 1998; Idris, McEwan andBelavendram, 1996; and Hamzah and Ho, 1994), while

one was written wholly by foreign authors (Cooper,Leung and Matthews, 1996). All of the papers lookedinto the "how" of quality, with one of them(Simpson, et al., 1998) almost getting into the"what" of quality. In that paper, the authors, afteranalysing the introduction of JIT practice in anorganization in Malaysia, described the developmentof a strategic approach to facilitate itseffectiveness in the future. In terms of the categorization of the areas ofcoverage, the framework proposed by Oakland (1991)is used. The framework consists of the peopleaspect, systems aspect, and tools aspect (see Figure1). This grouping method is selected due to Itsbeing one of the most widely accepted approach inthis field (Kehoe, 1996). As observed in Figure 1, four articles pertained tothe tools aspect, two in the systems aspect, whilethree are a combination of all three aspects oftools, people, and system. In other words, usingOakland's framework, all three areas are adequatelyexplored in the articles reviewed. THE STATE OF QUALITY IN MALAYSIA If the state of quality in Malaysia is to beestimated strictly from the above writings and theirreferences, it can be commented that indeed, notvery much has been researched and reported. One ofthe most relevant papers that portrayed the TQMpicture is written by Idris, et al. (1996), whichattempted to cover a wide range of related issuesincluding "the status of TQM and ISO 9000implementation, the benefits and difficulties,quality activities most frequently used, and thefuture trend of Malaysian quality improvementactivities". Another is the more recent paper byAziz and Chan (1998), which describes the use ofquality practices in manufacturing industries inMalaysia. Idris, et al. (1996) claimed in their paper thattheir article can be "considered the first surveyever conducted for Malaysian companies regarding ISO9000 and TQM implementation". In their samplepopulation, more than 90 per cent were ISD9000registered companies, and many were mainlymedium-sized (100-500 employees) organizations. Of atotal of 650 questionnaires sent out, 247 responseswere received and subsequently used. All weremanufacturing companies. In summary, the Idris'spaper reported that only one third of the companiesconsidered themselves to be "TQM-companies".However, TQM in these companies was very much in itsinfancy having been implemented less than five

years. The major motivation for implementing ISO9000 was to improve performance. In addition, it was also observed that TQM was moreprevalent in larger organizations, especially in theelectrical and electronics sectors. Many of thecompanies implemented quality activities like 5S,problem-solving techniques, and statistical samplingbefore adopting quality systems. Quality initiativescontinued after the ISO 9000 registration, withactivities like quality awareness programmes andquality audit being most frequently used. For thefuture, the companies planned to use quality costingtechniques, customer surveys, Statistical ProcessControl, and Total Productive Maintenance. Therespondents noted several benefits of TQM, includingimproved customer satisfaction, teamwork,productivity, communication, and efficiency. Whenasked about the difficulty in implementing TQM, itwas reported that attitude, leadership commitment,lack of understanding and lack of resources were thecommon hindrances. Some of the Idris findings were confirmed by Azizand Chan approximately two years later. In theirstudy, Aziz and Chan found that quality techniqueswere more likely to be practised by larger,non-resource-based companies. (Non-resource-basedcompanies were those in electrical, electronic,textile, chemical, machinery, transport equipmentand plastic manufacturing sub-sectors). The authorsalso observed that the percentage of companies thathad adopted a more advanced form of qualitypractices was lower in Malaysia than in the UnitedKingdom. In an earlier paper,. Hamzah and Ho (1994) attemptedto capture the "current thinking and development ofTQM". Among the highlights were that, whilemultinationals from Europe and the USA applied TotalQuality Control in accordance with their ownstandard manuals, there were many problems of TQMimplementation in the other categories oforganizations. Some recognized the importance ofquality management but their effort was limited tothat of line inspection activities only. There werealso companies that recognized the importance, butwere unable to implement TQM due to "insufficientfacilities". Hamzah and Ho also outlined what theycalled the "SIRIMEX model", which provided a"step-by-step improvement opportunity for firmswhich are committed to better satisfying customersthrough TQM". However, the result of the SIRIMEXimplementation on organizations was not reported. Osman, et al. (1998) reported on quality from aservice perspective. Although the discussion focused

only on quality issues in the Malaysian libraries,it can be taken as indicative of the qualityconcerns in other service sectors in Malaysia, i.e.quality initiatives are being actively pursued.Indeed, Osman, et al. (1998) accounted, "librariesin Malaysia are part of the Civil Service, (which)have their own institutional qualityinfra-structures, inbuilt into managementprocedures, and used mainly to defend budgets."Although the authors did not expand much on thestate and progress of quality per se, the articleindicated that there are various issues that neededto be addressed if quality is to be implemented andpractised successfully in the future. The study by Cooper, et al. (1996) looked into thepractice of internal audit in three countries,namely, Australia, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. Theauthors did not specifically state that "internalaudit" mean "inb0nal quality audit", which is one ofthe requirements of the ISO 9000 Quality System.However, it was described in the paper that, "themain areas of audit activity are financial auditingand the auditing of operational areas", and that "inMalaysia, the audit of operational areas is also thearea of greatest audit activity, with 67.5 per centspending the bulk of their time in this area".Assuming that the "internal audit" referred to iscompatible to that of "internal quality audit",then, according to this report, internal auditing inMalaysia played an increasingly important role, asan agent in organizational change. Another relevant paper reviewed was written bySimpson, et al. (1998), which examined the "means ofintroducing JIT" and assessed "the relevance of someexisting models of JIT to the Malaysian experience".Indeed, it has to be stated that the practice ofmanufacturing techniques like JIT is carried outwidely, especially in foreign-based multinationals.In the paper, Simpson, et al. described the use oftransitory JIT as a means of mobilizing Malaysia'snational strategy to be ,,impressive". Indeed, theorganization studied, Proton Cars Malaysia, is oneof the few organizations whereby the governmentattempts to achieve its desired national policies.The policy included the increase of locallymanufactured components, the increased Bumiputra(translated "Sons of the Soil") participation, thereduction of costs, the transfer of technology, andthe participation of Malaysia in the globalcompetition, to name a few. Higher education is another area where TQM has beenintroduced. In 1997, data was collected toinvestigate quality practices in local universitiesand colleges (Kanji, et al., 1999). Among its many

findings, it was reported that 50 per cent of theinstitutions surveyed "implemented TQM". However,the details of what constituted implementation wasnot discussed at length. Kanji, et al. (1999) alsoreported that there were barriers to TOMimplementation, and they included "lack ofcommitment, insufficient knowledge and fear offailure ". On the whole, the authors believed thatquality culture was "embedded in (the Malaysianinstitution's) everyday organizational activities.This is indeed very interesting, although theprecise aspect of "quality culture" put forth by theauthors was not specified. On the totally local front, quite a lot is writtenabout TQM in the Bulletin, the newsletter for SIRIM(Standards and Industrial Research Institute ofMalaysia) which serves as quality standard bearerfor Malaysia including the areas of ISO 9000 and ISO14000. SIRIM even came up with the SIRIMEX model asdescribed by Hamzah and Ho (1994). The SIRIMEX is anintegrated model of quality management and assurancefor use by the private and public institutionsalike. In the public service, Buletin MAMPU(Manpower Planning Unit) serves as another avenuefor writings on quality-related efforts, especiallyin the public sector and government service. Onesection of MAMPU now handles the implementation andcertification for MS ISO 9002 in all the governmentagencies. It also serves as the secretariat for thePMQA awards and MAMPU Quality awards. To date, theMalaysian Government as the largest employer inMalaysia (800,000 staff) has authorized a total of15 General Orders related to quality improvementsefforts since 1984 covering vast areas such asQuality Circles, Total Quality Management, and themost recent on the implementation of MS ISO 9000.Quality Control Circles (QCC) has been in existencefor many years in Malaysia, as evidenced by a longstanding tradition of QCC Convention programmes anddocuments organized by the National ProductivityCouncil, Malaysia (NPC, 1997). Yet, internationallyand academically, not much has been written aboutthese efforts beyond the official newsletters andpublications. DISCUSSION From the summary of findings presented above, it isobserved that while it is acknowledged and shownthat quality is not new in Malaysia, specificresearches on various components within the fieldhas not been carried out. For example, QualityControl Circles (QCC) has been in existence for manyyears here, as evidenced by numerous QCC Conventionprogrammes and documents organized by the NationalProductivity Council. However, there is not a single

academic publication of international standing thatexamines its suitability and success in theMalaysian context. Likewise, Quality-relatedactivities such as Benchmarking, Business ProcessRe- engineering, Total Productive Maintenance, andStatistical Process Control to name a few - do notmake their mark in international publications. Evenin the "popular" domain of ISO9000, there is nopaper that discusses specifically factors leading toits success and/or failure locally, if at all ISO9000 is "successful" or otherwise. "Gaps" in the local body of knowledge aside, thequantity of publication calls for further scrutiny.Utilizing the Emerald library, it is obvious thatvery little has been written and published regardingthe state of quality in Malaysia, and indeed in theAsia Pacific region. Save for a few articles (forexample, Hurd, 1992, Krasachol, Willey and Tannock,1998, and Goh and Lim, 1996), there are hardly anyother articles that describe quality managementpractices in the region. It is also observed thatmany of these writers are of nonlocal origin, andfor those who are, they are likely to be associatedwith foreign writers. This perhaps implies thattheir writing is part of some educational project ofsome sort, which is done in conjunction withnon-local (mostly Western) partners. In this study,of the five international journal articles reviewed,three belong in this "foreign-local" category, whileone is totally foreign. It is indeed a concern thatperhaps the motivation for writing does not liebeyond that of getting an academically-requiredpublication. Does the interest begin to decline oncethis requirement has been fulfilled? From the breadth of coverage and the qualitystate-of-affairs in Malaysia (as described in thisstudy) it can be gauged that Malaysians possess therelevant expertise to carry out further researchesin this field. As it is, judging from the variousinitiatives it has taken over the years, thegovernment places very high importance on quality.Part of the National Development Plan focuses on themanufacturing sector, which has been identified toplay a major role in effecting the country's GDPgrowth target. No doubt, quality-related issuescontribute substantially to the success of thisindustry sector. Given this scenario, it is imperative to examine thereason for the seemingly low-profile condition ofMalaysian-originated researches. It may be thatlocal circumstances lead researchers to abandontheir research interest in favour of more pressingmatters, or that, local authors prefer to confinetheir writings to the local audience only. Whatever

the reason and explanation, it is known that variousquality-related researches and undertakings arepursued at many levels and places. The question is,how much can be pulled together so that anexhaustive master plan for future researches in thisfield can be produced? CONCLUDING REMARKS This paper has shown that there is a dearth ofacademically-published articles about qualitypractices in Malaysia in international journals,despite the fact that there is no shortage of "poolof expertise" as well as industrial cases that canserve as excellent base materials for writing. Areview of the available published articles indicatesthat the Malaysian authors tend to collaborate withforeign partners, and this leads to the presumptionthat the articles have been written to fulfil or asan outcome of academic exercise (for example, a PhDthesis). After the publication of some of thesepapers, not much more can be heard from the(Malaysian) authors. This further leads to yetanother postulation that there is a lack of drive tokeep researching and publishing amongst Malaysianauthors. This may be due to the emergence of more"pressing" matters that they have to attend to afterthe end of their academic exercise, thus and hencemaking their publishable research endeavours becomelower in their priority list. This premise, while itappears likely, is contradictory to the "publish orperish" culture apparent in academic institutions inthis country. Still, it is not accurate to proclaim that localauthors do not write at all. They do, as seen fromthe availability of locally-written and publishedarticles. However, this is where it ends - thearticles are written, published and read locally.Despite the lack of academic rigour, TQM is seen tobe alive and well in Malaysia, with minimal exposureinternationally. This paper, apart from reviewing the relevantmaterials that show the state of quality inMalaysia, also aim to serve as the base line forfuture quality- related researches and theirpublication strategies to~ be formulated andexecuted. Already, the authors have drawn outseveral potential areas that could reduce the gapidentified in this paper. Malaysian PhD candidatesand master students studying locally and abroad mustbe encouraged to publish their quality-relatedresearch in international refereed journals. It isalso hoped that more local authors will come forwardand initiate collaborative writing projects gearedtowards international publications. This will ensure

that knowledge building in the local front willproceed beyond national boundaries and into theinternational arena. REFERENCES Abdul Rahman, H (1993). "The Management and Cost ofQuality for Civil Engineering Project", PhD Thesis,UMIST. Ahmad, Z and Mohd Zain, Z (1999). Quality inMalaysia: A Review of Research, to be published. Aziz, Zalina Abdul and Chan, Fat-Lam. "Use OfQuality Practices in Malaysia's Manufacturing",Total Quality Management, Vol 9, Issue 4/5, p. 13 Black, S A (1994). "Measuring the Critical Factorsof Total Quality Management", PhD Thesis, Universityof Bradford. Cooper, B J, Leung, P and Mathews, C M H (1996).Benchmarking - a Comparison of Internal Audit inAustralia, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Emerald Library, online collection of academic andprofessional journals from MCB University Press,http://www.mcb.co.uk/database. Goh, M and Lim, F S (1996). "Implementing TQM in anAerospace Maintenance Company", Journal of Qualityin Maintenance Engineering, Vol. 2, Issue 2. Hamzah, A & Ho, S (1994). "TQM Training for Smalland Medium Industries in Malaysia", Training forQuality, Vol. 2, Issue 2. Hurd, W L (1992). "Quality in the Asia-PacificRegion", International Journal of Quality &Reliability Management, 9, p. 3. Idris, M A, McEwan, W and Belavendram, N (1996)."The Adoption of IS09000 and Total QualityManagement in Malaysia", The TQM Magazine, Vol. 8,Issue 5. Kanji, G K, Tambi, A Malek, and Wallace, W (1999)."A Comparative Study of Quality Practices In HigherEducation Institution in the US and Malaysia", TotalQuality Management, Vol. 10, Issue 3, p. 357. Kehoe, D (1996). "The Parametric Modelling of theQuality Development Within ManufacturingOrganisations", PhD Thesis, University of Liverpool. Krasachol, L, Willey, P C T and Tannock, J D T(1998). "The Progress of Quality Management in

Thailand", The TQM Magazine, Volume 10, Issue 1. Mohamad Zailani, S H (1998). "The Implementation ofQuality Improvement Practices in the MalaysianElectrical and Electronics Industries", PhD Thesis,Lancaster University. Mohd Zain, Z (1993). "A Proposal for the Measurementof Quality Position in the UK ManufacturingIndustries", PhD Thesis, University of Liverpool. Mohd Zain, Z, Kehoe, D and Dale, B. QualityManagement - Orientated Academic Research in the UK:Themes, Directions and Trends, to be published. National Productivity Corporation, 1997. Series ofpamphlets, calls to conventions, and launches tovarious programmes. Oakland, J S (1991). Total Quality Management,Heinemann. Osman, Z, Goon, C A and Wan Aris, W H (1998)."Quality Services: Policies and Practices inMalaysia", Library Management, Vol. 19, Issue 7. Thiagarajan, T (1996). "An Empirical Study of TotalQuality Management in Malaysia: A Proposed Frameworkof Generic Application", PhD Thesis, University ofBradford.