Total quality management (TQM) in construction firm: a case study

Abstract

The construction industry is being viewed as one with poor quality emphasis compared to other sectors like the manufacturing and service sectors. At present 28% of the population of Bangladesh live in urban areas, which will be 34% in 2015. Real estate business started in Dhaka in late seventies. Now in 2013 there are about 1300 companies with REHAB membership engaged in this business. So Quality Management is very important to control the loss & defects of the construction business and to achieve stakeholders‟ satisfaction. For this reason it is the time to implement TQM in construction firms of Bangladesh. Very few construction firms are practicing TQM in this country and the top-down approach is commonly used here. To implement TQM in the firms‟ top management must be committed to practice “bottom-up” approach by forming “Quality Circle” like Japan. In this research it is identified clearly that the first and foremost condition for implementing TQM in construction firms is top management commitment. Some other barriers those have to face by the firms are lack of education, lack of motivation, lack of mutual trust, lack of trained workers, competitive markets, poor plans and specifications, bad attitudes, lack of competent field managers etc. In this paper one case study is reviewed how Total Quality Management (TQM) is successfully implemented by following Japanese “bottom-up” approach and making quality circles in a construction firm of Bangladesh. Experience is implemented into another company to implement TQM after some analysis of Pareto chart, Cause Effect diagram, Process analysis and finally identified root causes by using Root Cause analysis. Then a framework for implementing TQM in construction firm is recommended.