CONSTRUCTING CONTEXT IN QUALITY MANAGEMENT IMPLEMENTATION

Quality management implementation needs a supportive environment to enable a wellordered flow of change processes that leads to a framework involving three dimensions of change, i.e. content, process and context. As the content of quality management expands, quality management implementation introduces new ways of thinking that have to be congruent with related contexts. Such a relationship exists because quality management implementation represents construction of a set of values and behavior as the fundamental components of an organization. A case-study was performed at three exporting companies in Indonesia, i.e. microelectronic, health-equipment, and automotive. Participation of employee has an effect on the construction of influential context for quality management implementation. The variations in participation can be complementary, reinforcing, or cancel each other out in terms of the impacts on the desired effectiveness. From this case-study, two influencing contexts are found, i.e. (i) difficulties in investing in advanced and efficient technology, and (ii) limited experience in implementing advanced management methods. In addition to these elements, each Company also has its own specific context. The developed context leads to organizational formation, i.e. decentralized and formalized (at the first and second companies) and highly decentralized and mechanistic (at the third company), which thus implied to different implementation processes.

Keywords:

Quality Management Implementation , Content , Context , Process