The strategic process of a cultural change to implement total quality management: a case study

Abstract

The implementation of a total quality management (TQM) culture, with its implicit orientation towards the customer, is a complex matter and requires a long-term approach. Consequently, the firms that try to change from a bureaucratic culture to one oriented towards quality will have to design an appropriate strategy in order to succeed. This type of modification can only be achieved through an evolutionary process and not a reactionary or a revolutionary one, since we are dealing with individual and collective behaviours that can obtain customer satisfaction through continuous improvement. In this respect, we present the case of a transformation towards a TQM culture in the Division of Alicante (Alicante is a province in the East of Spain) of Telefonica Group (a Spanish telecommunications company which, in 1999, provided jobs for over 100000 people and had profits of more than 1780 million euros). Thus, we are going to study the stages the Division went through in the process and the problems they had to face, finally reflecting the results obtained after implementing a strategy that was formulated to achieve this purpose in the long run.