Southern Cross University

Doctor of Business Administration

Total Quality Management as the basis for organizational transformation of Indian Railways A Study in Action Research

Researcher: Madhu Ranjan Kumar

Student ID: 21231263

Table of Contents

Abstract.................................................................................................................. xiv

Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 1

1.1 Background to research.................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Research problem............................................................................................................................................ 2 1.2.1 Research pathway...................................................................................................................................... 3 1.2.2 Contribution............................................................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Justification for research ................................................................................................................................ 4 1.3.1 Need to change for Indian Railways.......................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Methodology .................................................................................................................................................... 6 1.5 Outline of this thesis........................................................................................................................................ 6 1.6 Limitations ....................................................................................................................................................... 8 1.7 My own value system as a researcher............................................................................................................ 8 2.0 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................... 10

Chapter 2 Literature Review .................................................................................. 11

2.1 Parent discipline ............................................................................................................................................ 13 2.1.1 Parent discipline 1-Organisational Change.............................................................................................. 13 2.1.2 Parent discipline 2 Total Quality Management ..................................................................................... 15 2.1.2.1 Historical background...................................................................................................................... 15 2.1.2.2 Commonalty among quality gurus:.................................................................................................. 18 2.1.3 TQM as a philosophy of change.............................................................................................................. 21 2.2 Immediate discipline ..................................................................................................................................... 23 2.2.1 Total Quality Management- a systems perspective ................................................................................. 23 2.2.1.1 TQM and System Dynamics............................................................................................................ 29 2.2.1.2 Systems theory, TQM and organisational learning.......................................................................... 31 2.2.1.3 Organisational knowledge creating process..................................................................................... 33 2.2.1.4 Learning and second order change .................................................................................................. 35 2.2.2 Critical success factors for TQM............................................................................................................. 36 2.2.3 Different International Quality Awards................................................................................................... 38 2.2.3.1 History of quality awards................................................................................................................. 39 2.2.3.2 Commonality and differences among different quality awards ....................................................... 41 2.2.3.3 Change in the criteria of quality awards over time .......................................................................... 42

2.2.3.4 Commonalities and differences between DP (2004) and MBNQA(2004)...................................... 45 2.2.3.5 TQM and awards in public sector.................................................................................................... 47 2.2.3.6 TQM in India and Indian quality awards ......................................................................................... 49 2.2.3.7 Indian quality awards vs. MBNQA & EQA .................................................................................... 53 2.2.4 Synthesis of system dynamics, CSFs and quality award criteria............................................................. 56 2.2.5 Total Quality Management and ISO........................................................................................................ 58 2.2.5.1 ISO 9000:2000 and TQM ................................................................................................................ 60 2.2.5.2 Factors affecting transition from ISO to TQM ................................................................................ 64 2.2.5.3 Quality movement in India and ISO ................................................................................................ 65 2.2.6 TQM and culture ..................................................................................................................................... 67 2.2.6.1 Indian work culture.......................................................................................................................... 70 2.2.6.2 Duality of traditionalism and modernism in Indian culture ............................................................. 73 2.2.6.3 Recent changes in Indian work culture ............................................................................................ 74 2.2.6.4 Nurturant task leadership ................................................................................................................. 76 2.2.6.5 Juxtaposition of culture for TQM and Indian culture ...................................................................... 77 2.2.6.6 Comparison between Japanese culture and Indian culture............................................................... 79 2.2.7 Indian Bureaucracy.................................................................................................................................. 80 2.2.7.1 Characteristics of Indian bureaucracy............................................................................................. 81 2.2.7.2 Changing the bureaucracy ............................................................................................................... 83 2.2.7.3 TQM and change in government bureaucracy and in public sector................................................. 86 2.2.7.4 Summary of TQM in bureaucracy .................................................................................................. 88 2.2.8 TQM and transformational leadership..................................................................................................... 89 2.2.8.1 Impact of cultural factors on transformational leadership ............................................................... 91 2.2.8.2 Transformational leadership in India ............................................................................................... 92 2.3.Summary of literature review and overview of the central problem........................................................ 93 2.4. Identification of the gaps which need investigation.................................................................................. 97

Chapter 3 Research questions and research methodology ............................... 98

3.1 Research questions ........................................................................................................................................ 98 3.2 Different research paradigms..................................................................................................................... 100 3.3 Development of research map .................................................................................................................... 106 3.4 Research Design for stage 1........................................................................................................................ 108 3.4.1 Survey A - Assessment of organisational policies and practices in the Indian Railways ...................... 108 3.4.2 Survey B - Assessment of cultural values of Indian Railway personnel .............................................. 109 3.5 Research design for stage 2......................................................................................................................... 111 3.5.1 Survey C Assessment of the impact of ISO 9000 in the Indian Railways .......................................... 112 3.5.1.1 Sampling plan for survey C ........................................................................................................... 112 3.5.2 Survey D - Development of scale to measure the transition of ISO certified organisations towards TQM ........................................................................................................................................................................ 124 3.6 Questionnaire design and administration for survey D ........................................................................... 124 3.6.1 Development and evaluation of questionnaire....................................................................................... 125 3.6.2 Development of measurement scale ...................................................................................................... 129 3.6.3 General issues in drafting the questionnaire .......................................................................................... 129 3.6.4 Pre-test, revision and final draft ............................................................................................................ 130 3.6.5 Reliability and validity of the instrument .............................................................................................. 130 3.6.6 Survey method....................................................................................................................................... 133 3.7 Research design for stage 3......................................................................................................................... 133 3.7.1 Development of research design for stage 3.......................................................................................... 133

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3.8 Ethical considerations ................................................................................................................................. 134 3.9 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................... 135

Chapter 4 Data collection and data analysis.......................................................136

4.1 Data collection and data analysis for survey A......................................................................................... 136 4.2 Data collection and data analysis for survey B ......................................................................................... 143 4.2.1 Data collection....................................................................................................................................... 143 4.2.2 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................................................ 144 4.3 Data collection and data analysis for survey C......................................................................................... 148 4.3.1 Understanding the impact of ISO implementation on railway units in terms of intervening variables . 149 4.4 Data collection and data analysis for survey D......................................................................................... 150

Chapter 5 The action research project ................................................................153

5.1 Situating Action Research in a Research Paradigm................................................................................. 153 5.2 Situating action research within systems theory ...................................................................................... 158 5.2.1 Soft System methodology...................................................................................................................... 158 5.2.2 Soft system methodology as action research ......................................................................................... 160 5.3 Justification of Action Research as the research methodology for this thesis........................................ 161 5.4 Research model for Action Research......................................................................................................... 164 5.5 Rigour and validity in the Action Research .............................................................................................. 167 5.5.1 Falsification ........................................................................................................................................... 170 5.5.2 Reflection and three levels of learning .................................................................................................. 171 5.5.3 Intervention ........................................................................................................................................... 175 5.5.4 General criteria for assessing rigour in AR ........................................................................................... 176 5.5.5 Rigour and validity in this Action Research.......................................................................................... 177 5.6 Action research at Jhansi Stores Depot..................................................................................................... 180 5.6.1 Selection of unit for action research ...................................................................................................... 180 5.6.2 About Jhansi Stores Depot .................................................................................................................... 180 5.6.3 The action research cycles..................................................................................................................... 182 5.6.4 Experiential learning during action research ......................................................................................... 198

Chapter 6 Reflection after action and development of TQM transition model ................................................................................................................................203
6.1 Reflection after action................................................................................................................................. 203 6.1.1 Reflection after action- 1 ....................................................................................................................... 203 6.1.2 Reflection after action- 2 ....................................................................................................................... 207 6.1.3 Reflection after action- 3 ....................................................................................................................... 209 6.1.4 Reflection after action- 4 ....................................................................................................................... 210 6.1.5 Development of TQM transition model ................................................................................................ 214 6.2 Jhansi revisited ............................................................................................................................................ 219

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6.2.1 The next action cycle............................................................................................................................. 223 6.2.2 Action Research revisited...................................................................................................................... 226 6.3 Validation of the TQM transition model................................................................................................... 227

Chapter 7 Conclusion ...........................................................................................231

7.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 231 7.2 Conclusions about research problems ....................................................................................................... 231 7.3 Conclusion about research issue ................................................................................................................ 234 7.4 Assessment of Rigour in this Action Research.......................................................................................... 237 7.5 Contribution to literature ........................................................................................................................... 238 7.5.1 Findings which support the existing literature...................................................................................... 238 7.5.2 Finding which is contrary to existing literature ..................................................................................... 239 7.5.3 Findings which are contribution to existing literature ........................................................................... 239 7.6 Contribution to policy and practice........................................................................................................... 240 7.6.1 Implications for Indian Railways .......................................................................................................... 240 7.6.2 Implications for Indian organisations .................................................................................................... 241 7.6.3 Implications for organisations in general .............................................................................................. 242 7.7 Contribution to methodology ..................................................................................................................... 242 7.8 Limitations ................................................................................................................................................... 243 7.9 Implications for future research ................................................................................................................ 244

Chapter 8 Researchers ruminations ...................................................................245 References .............................................................................................................254 Appendices ............................................................................................................281

Appendix 1. Tables and figures about quality awards................................................................................... 281 Appendix 2. Assessment of organisational policies......................................................................................... 301 Appendix 2A Summary of responses to question no.II to question no. VI of the questionnaire assessment of organisational policies (Survey A)................................................................................................................ 311 Appendix 3. Behaviour preference scale ( S 004) ........................................................................................... 321 Appendix 3A Data analysis for the questionnaire S004 (survey B) ............................................................... 328 Appendix 4. ISO 9000 Survey .......................................................................................................................... 338 Appendix 4A Summary of survey C in six ISO certified units of Indian Railways ....................................... 350 Appendix 5. TQM transition questionnaire.................................................................................................... 355 Appendix 6. Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire ...................................................................................... 369 Appendix 6.1 Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Leader Form................................................................ 372 Appendix 6.2 Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Rater Form .................................................................. 375 Appendix 6.3 Scores obtained on the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (rater form)............................. 384

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Appendix 7. Organization chart of Indian Railways...................................................................................... 385 Appendix 8. Intimation about co- action researchers .................................................................................... 386 Appendix 9. List of ISO certified units in the Indian Railways..................................................................... 389 Appendix 10. Organisational Chart of Jhansi workshop unit of Indian Railways...................................... 393

List of Figures

Figure 2. 1 Concept map for literature review......................................................................... 12 Figure 2. 2 The yin-yang of TQM ........................................................................................... 15 Figure 2. 3 Simplified example of an organization as a system .............................................. 26 Figure 2. 4 Milestones of organisational roots ........................................................................ 28 Figure 2. 5 Milestones of quality development ....................................................................... 28 Figure 2. 6 Quality and business results .................................................................................. 29 Figure 2. 7 Modes of knowledge creation in an organization ................................................. 34 Figure 2. 8 The four types of learning as polar opposites........................................................ 35 Figure 2. 9 European Quality Model ....................................................................................... 41 Figure 2. 10 Model of a process-based quality management system ...................................... 61 Figure 2. 11 Characteristics of internal work culture of organizations in developing countries in the context of their sociocultural environment ............................................................ 68 Figure 2. 12 Nurturant-Task leadership process leading to participative management........... 76 Figure 2. 13 Socio cultural factors in MBNQA and JQA....................................................... 78 Figure 2. 14 Summary of literature review and gaps in existing literature ............................ 96 Figure 3. 1 Different assumptions about nature of reality ..................................................... 101 Figure 3. 2 Research map ..................................................................................................... 107 Figure 3. 3 Existing functional silos in Indian Railways....................................................... 117 Figure 3. 4 Model of a process-based quality management system ...................................... 119 Figure 3. 5 Plan for development of TQM transition questionnaire .................................. 124 Figure 5. 1 The action research cycle .................................................................................... 153 Figure 5. 2 The experiential learning cycle ........................................................................... 154 Figure 5. 3 The oscillation between reflection and generalisation ........................................ 155 Figure 5. 4 Conceptual link between TQM and AR .............................................................. 164 Figure 5. 5 Two-project model for AR based thesis.............................................................. 165 Figure 5. 6 Research model used in stage 3 shown within the AR framework ..................... 166 Figure 5. 7 The ORJI within experiential learning cycle....................................................... 175 Figure 5. 8 Model for validation of learning which occurred in each cycle by using different methods, different sources of data and different types of data ...................................... 178 Figure 6. 1 Model for sequential development of TQM factors using the ISO framework .. 215 Figure 6. 2 Model for implementation of TQM in India using the ISO framework.............. 218 Figure 7. 1 Reproduction of Figure 2.14 showing gaps in existing literature ....................... 235 Figure 7. 2 Model for implementation of TQM in Indian Railways using the ISO framework thereby filling up the gap shown in Figure 7.1 .............................................................. 236 Figure 8. 1 The structure of an appreciative system .............................................................. 248

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Figure 8. 2 Unbundling of standards of fact and value into three components of time, person and ecology and their positioning along the Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft continuum. ....................................................................................................................................... 250 Figure 8. 3 Integration of mode 2 of SSM with context sensitivity and balancing ............... 252

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List of Tables Table 2. 1 Traditional change model vs. complex adaptive change model ............................. 14 Table 2. 2 Commonalities among seminal TQM work ........................................................... 19 Table 2. 3 Definition of variable for enablers.......................................................................... 30 Table 2. 4 Definition of variables for results ........................................................................... 31 Table 2. 5 Differences in checklists of Deming prize 1992 and Deming prize 2000.............. 43 Table 2. 6 Differences in the criteria of MBNQA 1992 and MBNQA 2004 .......................... 44 Table 2. 7 Major Indian National Quality Awards .................................................................. 52 Table 2. 8 Comparison of Indian Quality Awards with MBNQA & EQA ............................. 54 Table 2. 9 CSFs for TQM and CEBEA criteria....................................................................... 55 Table 2. 10 ISO 9000 and Demings system of profound knowledge.................................... 62 Table 2. 11 Comparison of MBNQA, EFQM and ISO 9000......................................................... 63 Table 2. 12 Societal values of Indian managers after liberalisation ........................................ 75 Table 2. 13 Comparison between vertical collectivism and horizontal collectivism .............. 79

Table 3. 1 Research questions for this work............................................................................ 99 Table 3. 2 Basic belief systems of alternative enquiry paradigms......................................... 102 Table 3. 3 Quality criteria for different research paradigm ................................................... 104 Table 3. 4 Typology of sampling strategies in qualitative inquiry ........................................ 113 Table 3. 5 Analysis of different categories of railway units on clauses of ISO 9000:2000 .. 120 Table 3. 6 Percentiles for individual scores, based on others ratings on MLQ.................... 123 Table 3. 7 Operationalisation of different factors of TQM transition questionnaire ......... 128 Table 3. 8 Summary of scores obtained on the TQM transition questionnaire by DP winners in India and ISO certified different units of Indian Railways........................................ 132 Table 4. 1 Respondent profile for survey A........................................................................... 136 Table 4. 2 Comparison of codes developed in survey A with the CSFs of TQM ................. 139
Table 4. 3 Existing and proposed organisational dimensions for Indian Railways by senior railway managers ......................................................................................................................... 142

Table 4. 4 Number of respondents in different categories for survey B................................ 144 Table 4. 5 Scores obtained on the three dimensions of status consciousness (S), personalised relationship (P) and dependency proneness (D) by different categories of employees of Indian Railways................................................................................... 145 Table 4. 6 List of short-listed railway units for survey C ...................................................... 148 Table 4. 7 Comparison of scores on TQM transition questionnaire of different units of Indian Railways and the juxtaposition of intervening factors ....................................... 151

Table 5. 1 Comparison between three paradigms of knowledge........................................... 156 Table 5. 2 Comparison between positivist science and action research ................................ 157 Table 5. 3 Dimensions of SSM types .................................................................................... 159 Table 5. 4 First order, second order and third order learning ................................................ 173 Table 5. 5 Skills of balancing inquiry and advocacy............................................................. 174 Table 5. 6 Types of intervention............................................................................................ 176 Table 5. 7 The AR cycles....................................................................................................... 183 Table 6. 1 Different types of power....................................................................................... 204

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Table 6. 2 Components of transformational leadership and their proposed Indian cultural equivalent....................................................................................................................... 210 Table 6. 3 Improvement steps identified in May 2004 and their status in December 2004 .. 221 Table 6. 4 Comparison of scores on TQM transition questionnaire of different units of Indian Railways and the juxtaposition of intervening factors including no. of CPA and no. of reward .................................................................................................................. 228 Table 7. 1 Assessment of rigour in this action research thesis .............................................. 237 Table 7. 2 Components of transformational leadership and their Indian cultural equivalent 240

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Abbreviations AL AMM AMV AR avg BEM BPL BPO CEBEA CEE CFA ckt CLW CME CPO COS CWM cert CII CII_EXIM coop CPA CSF CWM del DCW DLW DEE DME DMM doc DP DRM Dy CMM EFQM EQA EXIM FA&CAO GM HPO ICF info ISO JPY JUSE Lit M&M MBNQA Action Learning Assistant Materials Manager Alambagh Warehousing Unit Action Research average Business Excellence Model Bhopal Workshop Business Process Outsourcing Confederation of Indian Industries Exim Bank Excellence Award Chief Electrical Engineer Critical Factor Analysis circuit Chittaranjan Locomotive Works Chief Mechanical Engineer Chief Personnel Officer Controller Of Stores Chief Workshop Manager certificate Confederation of Indian Industries Confederation of Indian Industries Bank Excellence Award cooperation Corrective and Preventive Action Critical Success Factor Chief Workshop Manager delivery Diesel Components Works Diesel Locomotive Works Divisional Electrical Engineer Divisional Mechanical Engineer District Materials Manager document Deming Prize Divisional Railway Manager Deputy Chief Materials Manager European Foundation Quality management European Quality Award Export Import Bank Financial Advisor and Chief Account Officer General Manager High Performance Organisation Integral Coach Factory information International Standards Organisation Japanese Yen Union of Japanese Scientist and Engineers Literature Mahindra & Mahindra Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award

mgt MLQ M.R. NC n.d. NDDB NQA NT OHSAS perf plg PRL proc QC QMS RCF reduc resp ret rm RWF shop sp qual SQC SSM stat tech sup sys TOR TQM trg WAP

management Multi Factor Leadership Questionnaire Management Representative Non Conformance no date National Dairy Development Board National Quality Award Nurturant Task Occupational Health and Safety Management System performance planning Parel Workshop process Quality Control Quality Management System Rail Coach Factory reduction responsibility retiring room Rail Wheel Factory (the current name of WAP) workshop special quality Statistical Quality Control Soft System Methodology statistical technique supervisor system Turn Over Ratio Total Quality management training Wheel and Axle Plant

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Statement of original authorship

This is to certify that this research work titled Total Quality Management as the basis for organisational transformation of Indian Railways is an original work carried out by me. Research work of other authors have been reproduced with due credit.

Madhu Ranjan Kumar madhu_ranjan@yahoo.com

The author can be contacted at madhu_ranjan@yahoo.com for permission to take copies of this thesis.

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Acknowledgements At the outset, I wish to thank my research guide Prof. Shankar Sankaran whose guidance and incisive comments made this research work more rigorous. Southern Cross University and its support staff can be rated as the most helpful team for a research work. The library staff of SCU deserve a special thanks for their very prompt delivery of many research papers and book sections. My special thanks goes to Ms Sue White who, as the DBA administrator, was a constant source of support.

This is the perhaps the first ever doctoral level organisational study on Indian Railways. I wish to thank the Department of Personnel & Training and the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India for sponsoring this study. It is perhaps a measure of change in thinking within the Indian government that it sponsored an in-depth academic study of the largest bureaucracy in India with a view to bring about fundamental change in it.

A major part of the work involved collecting data at different railway units and conducting surveys with railway employees from supervisors to chairmen. This is an occasion to express my gratitude to hundreds of such respondents whose names cannot be individually mentioned here for want of space. My special thanks go to the action research team at the Jhansi warehousing unit for their illuminating insights and the desire to run AR cycles.

Mr. Arif Zama deserves a special mention here for his painstaking feeding of data collected into the computer and also for his enormous help in developing software which helped in organising the data. That made the quantitative data analysis much easier.

I am thankful to Prof P. Khandwalla, ex. Director, I.I.M. Ahemadabad, Prof U.H. Acharya of Indian Statistical Institute, Banglore, Prof J.B.P. Sinha of Assert Management Institute, Patna and Prof. S.G.Deshmukh of I.I.T Delhi for their permission to use their questionnaire in this thesis.

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Abstract
The basic objective of this research was to assess the suitability of Total Quality Management (TQM) via the International Standards Organization (ISO) 9000/2000 quality accreditation system route for bringing about organisational transformation in the Indian Railways and to develop an India specific model for taking an ISO certified organization towards TQM. The first part of the research aimed at getting the as is and should be status of Indian Railways from an organisational change point of view. Based on the work carried out by Khandwalla (1995), a series of open-ended and close-ended questions were asked to the senior members of Indian Railways. Analysis of their responses was undertaken. It indicated that the way they thought Indian Railways should change was in line with the TQM model of change. The culture-TQM fit was studied as a part of this research. Hierarchy (or power distance) and its related concept collectivism were identified as the two cultural constructs which affect the successful implementation of TQM. The second part of the research aimed at measuring the hierarchical orientation among the employees of Indian Railways. This was measured on three dimensions of dependency proneness, personalised relationship and status consciousness based on the work done by Sinha (1995). It was found that among the three dimensions, status consciousness and dependency proneness were more deeply entrenched cultural traits among Indian Railway employees as compared to personalised relationship. On the two dimensions of status consciousness and dependency proneness, the class 1 officers of Indian Railways were less hierarchy conscious than the class 2 officers who, in turn, were less hierarchy conscious than the supervisors. The tendency for personalised relationship did not vary significantly either across the class 1 officer, class 2 officer and supervisor categories or across different age groups. Further, employees less than 30 years old, from 31 years to 50 years old and more than 50 years old, demonstrated similar level of status consciousness and dependency proneness. This shows that at least in the Indian Railways, even among the younger generation, notwithstanding 15 years of liberalisation, hierarchical orientation continues to be a powerful cultural trait. The third part of the research aimed at understanding the impact of ISO 9000 implementation in the Indian Railway units. It was found that, contrary to the literature, there

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was no resistance to implementation of ISO based change in the Indian Railways. This research argues that because of their strong sense of identity with their work group, the employees of Indian Railways are more amenable to an internal leader initiated change. Hence there was no resistance to change. The fourth part of the research was an action research project aimed at ISO 9000:2000 certification of a warehousing unit in the Indian Railways. This was carried out to investigate the way organisational learning occurred during ISO certification. Three action cycles were conducted over a period of two months. Seven months later, one additional cycle was completed. Special care was taken to see that the conclusions arrived after one cycle were validated from other sources. It was found that departmentalism and lack of team spirit are major problems in Indian Railways. Both are ascribed to the caste system in India. It is hypothesised that since an Indian Railway employee remains in a department throughout his/her career, the department becomes his/her professional caste. The research then identifies an Indianised version of leadership in the context of organisational change. It hypothesises that hierarchical teacher-student (guru-shishya) relationship with the leader invokes personal bases of power which promotes change in India. The teacher-student (gurushishya) relationship with the leader is conceptually similar to intellectual stimulation factor of transformational leadership. The personalised relationship with a more equitable slant can be elevated to the status of individualised consideration factor of transformational leadership and the Nurturant Task (NT) leadership model of India is conceptually similar to the contingent reward factor of transformational leadership. In the context of TQM, this research hypothesises that there is a sequential relationship among the critical success factors (CSFs) of TQM. For this, one should begin by framing process-based quality procedures and quality objectives. Process based quality procedures and quality objectives lead to development of team orientation in the context of TQM implementation. Similarly, a multi-tier Corrective and Preventive Action (CPA) reinforced with a reward and recognition system, positively intervenes in the transition of an ISO certified organization towards TQM. The learning arrived at in different parts of the research was finally integrated into a model for transforming an ISO certified unit towards TQM. The model shows that propagation of customer satisfaction as a value and not just as a measurement- as in a customer satisfaction index is key for replacing some of the dysfunctional traditional Indian values which do not fit in a liberalised economy. More specifically, the compulsion of

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implementing a Corrective / Preventive Action makes a person come out of his/her traditional moorings and thus begins his/her socialisation outside his/her professional caste. The reinforcing effect of successive improvement inculcates a feeling of team spirit among members of different functional groups. Successive CPAs supported by a suitable reward system and an Indianised version of leadership mentioned earlier create a spiral vortex which continually pulls the organization towards achieving TQM. Finally, this research establishes a link between the soft system methodology and an India specific cultural dimension called context sensitivity. The researcher argues that it is because of context sensitivity of Indians that no resistance to change was found during ISO implementation in Indian Railways. This also explains why post liberalisation Indians have been able to make a mark in the world.

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Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Background to research

As a model of organisational change, TQM has been used in various forms for decades (Yong & Wilkinson 2002). However, its success rate has not been very impressive (Cao, Clarke & Lehany 2000; Tata & Prasad 1998). The reasons for its failures have variously been summarised as: (a) Improper understanding of the core concepts of TQM. (b) Implementation was based on a one-size-fits-all assumption that is, it was prescriptive and not participative (Boyne & Walker 2002; Korunka et al. 2003; Yusof & Aspinwall 2000). (c) Implementation of TQM ignored looking at different subsets of the organization that is, it did not treat organization as a system (Reed, Lemak & Mero 2002). TQM has also been criticised on the ground that it provides a rhetoric that is individually interpreted and therefore carries inconsistent meaning across contexts (DeCock 1998; Zbracki reported by Reed, Lemak & Mero 2002). The faltering success of TQM has led many researchers to establish relationships between TQM and contextual factors such as culture (Lakhe & Mohanty 1994; Pun 2001; Sahay & Walsham 1997), leadership (Rao, Raghunathan & Solis 1997; Zairi 2002), teamwork (Eisenhardt & Tabrizi 1995; Quazi, Hong & Meng 2002) and training (Palo & Padhi 2003). The personality profile of managers (Krumwiede & Lavelle 2000) and the host country culture have been found to have a bearing on the adoption or success of TQM (Yen, Krumwiede & Sheu 2002). Some researchers have looked at the specific problem of TQM implementation in the public sector (Moon & Swafin-Smith 1998; Robertson & Seneviratne 1995; Stringham 2004; Yosuf & Aspinwall 2000) and tried to analyse whether TQM implementation requires a different orientation in the public sector (Ehrenberg & Stupak 1994). Another stream of research has been conducted to arrive at empirically validated factors that influence successful implementation of TQM (Black & Porter1996; Wali, Deshmukh & Gupta 2003). At a systemic level, a formal integration of TQM principles in a model of quality management system has been attempted by ISO 9000: 2000 standard (Kartha 2002). Yet 1

there is a lack of reported research which establishes that ISO 9000:2000 certification enables an organization to proceed on the TQM path. However, there is reported research about the varying impact of ISO 9000: 1994 standard on an organization. It is both positive (Escanciano, Fernndez & Vzquez 2001; Sun 1999) and negative (Curry & Kadasah 2002). Some authors have tried to explain this varying impact on general factors such as country culture (Noronha 2002); organisational factors such as intention behind certification (Gotzamani & Tsiotras 2002; Poksinska, Dahlgaard & Antoni 2002); leadership (Hill, Hazlett & Meegan 2001) and operational factors such as adoption of more than one enablers of TQM. Therefore, there is a need to understand the implementation of TQM in terms of these intervening factors. Looking from this perspective, there seems to be a need to understand successful implementation of TQM for organisational change as a function of the intra-organisational parameters mentioned above.

1.2 Research problem

The above introductory background throws up the following broad research problem which this thesis will address

Can TQM be used as the basis for organisational transformation? If yes, how can it be effectively implemented in an Indian bureaucracy?

Within the Indian bureaucracy, this thesis will study the implementation related issues in the context of Indian Railways which is the largest Indian bureaucracy. The ISO 9000: 2000 model is the framework in which the study will be undertaken. This is because ISO 9000: 2000 provides a change mechanism and change-monitoring model which lends a holistic approach to change. The international standard organization claims that its eight underlying principles are also in consonance with the tenets of TQM (www.iso.org). Thus this thesis attempts to understand whether the revised ISO 9000 standard is designed for taking an organization on its TQM journey and how the intra-organisational intervening variables of culture, presence of enablers of TQM and managements intention behind certification affect this journey. 2

1.2.1 Research pathway The specific research pathways which have been used to seek answer to the research problem are now indicated. The first area to be explored pertains to TQM. It attempts to answer the following questionsWhat is the state of TQM today? That is, starting from the principles of the founding fathers of TQM, where does it stand today? What variations, if any, has it undergone? What factors contribute to and what factors impede its successful implementation. These are dealt with in section 2.2.1, 2.2.2 and 2.2.3. Since the focus of this thesis is India, this research looks at different aspects of Indian culture in their organisational context. How does Indian culture affect the organisational values of Indian Railway personnel in the context of TQM? These are dealt with in section 2.2.6. Since Indian Railways is a bureaucratic organization, section 2.2.7 tries to explore the core values of Indian bureaucracy and how it affects the organisational values and beliefs of railway personnel who are part of this bureaucracy. Other than establishing the status of TQM today and an understanding of the organisational values and beliefs of Indian Railway personnel, the research also focuses on the issues involved in the successful implementation, assimilation and continuance of TQM. The key issues in the implementation of TQM are taken up in sections 2.2.5, 2.2.6 and 2.2.8 wherein the relationships between TQM and ISO, TQM and culture and TQM and transformational leadership are dealt with. Understanding these issues leads to the development of specific research questions: What are and what should be the organisational policies and practices of Indian Railways and what are the culturally induced values of Indian Railway personnel. The thesis also assesses the general impact of ISO certification in Indian Railways. With TQM as the focus, this research then takes up a participative style towards TQM implementation via the ISO 9000: 2000 route using an action research (AR) methodology. A question arises: does this

participative style build a learning capacity among the railway personnel? Answer to this question is discussed at the end of the descriptions of the action research cycles.

1.2.2 Contribution (i) At present there are very few AR based ISO 9000 implementations in the

government sector. So this thesis is expected to contribute to the literature by showing the implementability of ISO 9000 in a government organization using a bottom-up approach. (ii) In India, there has been very little work in the area of change management

through AR. Thus, to the Indian academic community, this will be one of the first studies of systematic implementation of change using AR. (iii) The contribution of this research to practice will be to the Indian organizations, especially bureaucratic organizations. It will explain what flavour, if any, of TQM is suited for bureaucracy and how its members internalise and implement the basic tenets of TQM.

1.3 Justification for research

(i) The unimpressive success rate of TQM implementation in western countries, inspite of it being around for more than 30 years in the field of research, has brought into focus the contextual factors which mediate in the successful implementation of TQM and also the route selected for TQM implementation. From this point of view, the values and beliefs of the members of an organization provide a set of context for quality implementation. (ii) Though the factors which lead to TQM are now understood, the current state of research does not provide a synthesis of these factors. That is, there is little research carried out which can explain the success or failure of TQM oriented change initiative in the light of the totality of the understanding developed about TQM. (iii) There are relatively few reported studies of TQM implementation with organisational members as the focus that is, a bottom-up process involving the organisational members in planning, implementing and evaluating the quality management system. (iv) Internationally, TQM has generally been studied in the private sector environment. There is not much evidence of research about its implementation in a bureaucracy. 4

Another justification for the research comes from the need for change in the Indian Railways.

1.3.1 Need to change for Indian Railways The organisational justification for this study comes from the compelling need to change for the Indian Railways made time and again (Sondhi n.d.). It needs to change in order to survive. But given its history, how can a beginning be made for successful implementation of change in Indian Railways. One option is to make an ambitious change program, so ambitious, that it fundamentally alters the social system of Indian Railways. But can the Indian Railways accommodate such a change programme? If the change is going to fundamentally alter its social system, are the different stakeholders of Indian Railways the government, the railway personnel and indeed, the customers of Indian Railways- the Indian people - going to allow the implementation of such a radical change? It is worthwhile to point out in this connection that in 1998, the Government of India appointed the Rakesh Mohan committee to suggest ways for changing the Indian Railways. In its report, submitted in the year 2001, the committee has inter alia mentioned that the Indian Railways is the most studied organization in the world. However, hardly any one of the findings of those studies has been implemented (quoted by Sondhi n.d). Not surprisingly, the recommendations of the Rakesh Mohan committee too, were never implemented because it adversely affected all the stakeholders. This is a pointer to the fact that while the malaise of Indian Railways and its solutions from a purely large scale organisational transformation angle are well known, the different stake holders of Indian Railways have ensured that such solutions remain unimplemented. The second option for change is to keep it at the level of window dressing. In this case, the old systems remain untouched and they continue to generate the same behaviours. However, the researcher believes that it is possible to bring about a change in a manner and in such areas of Indian Railways which is acceptable to different stakeholders and therefore implementable. In the context of Indian Railways, action choices emanating from changes in such factors as ownership and structure have the risk of antagonising the three important stake holders - the government, the railway personnel and even the customers who would to see the Indian Railways more as a not-for-profit organization. Thus it can make them withdraw from or oppose the proposed change. However a change in such factors as system, culture, 5

leadership and industrial relations are not necessarily threatening to them and a beginning can be made to initiate change in these areas. Thus the intent of this research is to use TQM via the ISO 9000: 2000 route as the overarching method for bringing about change in the Indian Railways

1.4 Methodology
Since this is perhaps the first doctoral level study on the Indian Railways, the overall framework of research methodology is largely qualitative. Since the focus of the work is to improve the intra-organisational processes within the Indian Railways, the concept of customer here is that of an internal customer. Literature review is the prime source for understanding the impact of Indian bureaucracy and Indian culture on the values of Indian Railway personnel. The preliminary literature review indicated that enough literature is available to understand the cultural values of Indians. However, there is no direct study of the organisational values within the Indian Railways. Thus direct assessment of the organisational values of Indian Railway personnel is done. Established instruments are used for this assessment. The instruments have already been extensively tested for their reliability and validity. Literature review is the prime source for assessing the state of TQM and its status in India. A questionnaire-based survey of different units of Indian Railways is used to assess the impact of ISO 9000 certification in these units. It has been mentioned earlier that one of the weaknesses of TQM implementation has been the prescriptive style which ignores the tacit factors (Joseph et al. 1999) which could drive TQM success. Thus the emphasis of this research is to develop a bottom-up approach of quality implementation. Therefore, action research (AR) methodology is used to progressively implement the ISO 9000: 2000 quality system. For this purpose, an action research model proposed by Perry and Sankaran (2002) is used.

1.5 Outline of this thesis

Chapter 2 is a literature review about the parent and immediate disciplines of this research. It begins with organisational change and a historical account of TQM. In the

immediate discipline, the linkage between TQM and systems theory and identification of critical success factors of TQM are dealt with. This leads to a discussion on different TQM awards. Thereafter the linkage between TQM and ISO, and TQM and culture are discussed. The discussion on TQM and culture leads to a discussion on bureaucratic culture and status of TQM in bureaucratic organizations. A recurring theme in TQM implementation both in private sector and bureaucracy is that of transformational leadership. Thus the critical role of transformational leadership in TQM is the last part of literature review. The literature review leads to the identification of gaps which need investigation. Chapter 3 describes the research methodology used. It begins by framing the research questions which need investigation. It then develops the research map for the research questions. The research map divides the research in three stages. Stage one consists of two surveys. Survey A seeks to find answers to the first research question What are and what should be Indian Railways core values, style of management, growth strategies, competitive strategies and changes in organisational structure / management system so as to transform Indian Railways into an excellent organization? Survey B assesses the impact of Indian culture on the organisational values of the Indian Railway personnel by measuring their hierarchical tendencies. Section 3.4 discusses the specific surveys which are used. Stage two seeks to find answers to the second and third research questions. These research questions are Research question ii - What is the impact of ISO implementation in Indian Railways? Research question iiiTo what extent has the implementation of ISO 9000 brought

about a TQM orientation in Indian Railways? This involves development of a scale which can objectively measure the transition of an ISO certified organization towards TQM. Sections 3.5 and 3.6 discuss the specific surveys which were used to find answers to these two research questions. Chapter 4 deals with the data collection and data analysis for the above surveys. Stage three seeks to find answers to the fourth and fifth research questions: Research question iv - Will a bottom up methodology build learning capacity among the railway personnel? Research question v - How can the enablers of TQM be integrated in a model for attaining TQM via the ISO framework?

Chapter 5 and chapter 6 discuss the action research methodology which was used to find answer to the last two research questions. Chapter 7 synthesises the findings and draws conclusions from the research. Chapter 8 is the researchers reflection on the entire thesis.

1.6 Limitations
The focus of the work is in the context of Indian Railways. The results obtained from here can be applicable to the rest of the Indian Railways subject to further test. However, no claim of generalisability can be made beyond that. For an outside customer, Indian Railways is a service organization. But this study has been limited to the manufacturing section of Indian Railways. This was done because TQM started in manufacturing sector and in the Indian Railways also, its concept has largely been used in its manufacturing units via the ISO 9000 implementation.

1.7 My own value system as a researcher

When the researcher joined the Indian Railways, he found on the table of a railway engineer, underneath a transparent glass sheet, a chart which read as

Error Inspection not done Not reporting on time Jumping the signal Accident

Punishment Withhold annual increment in salary Decrease in grade of salary Demotion Dismissal from service

When he checked up, it was explained that since there were so many cases of these types of errors, to make the decision making simpler for the engineer, this chart came in handy in deciding what level of punishment was required for different categories of errors. Apparently the railway engineer was a robot who would mechanically hand over punishment! The researcher wondered what happened to the staff who had made an error of other than an accident? They obviously continued in the system, but at what level of efficiency?

Notwithstanding this managerial mind set, the researcher has always been impressed by the fact that though close to 50% of its staff are illiterate, and it has only one engineer for every 500 workers, Indian Railways manufactures, maintains and runs technologically advance locomotives and coaches. Further, during the last 18 years, Indian Railways has reduced its workforce by 300,000 without any formal voluntary retirement scheme or golden handshake and there has not been a murmur of protest in the job scarce India. Yet he used to hear You cannot do much in the Indian Railways. The politicians will not allow you to do. The staff is not interested in working. This made him wonder whether the tendency for external locus of control has been manifested in the working of Indian Railways. Thus in his professional work, the researcher tended to stretch his subordinates and his superiors beyond their conventional standard of working. To their credit, he did not find the subordinates shirking in meeting the stretched expectations or the superiors and peers shirking in their stretched assistance to him. This made the researcher undertake a formal study of Indian Railways to get an academically validated study of this organization. When the researcher started this research, the initial aim was to look for ways to bring about improvement in the Indian Railways which was by and large acceptable to its stakeholders and which was also implementable. TQM appeared to him one such way. He thought he would do this by juxtaposing the basics of TQM on to the ground realities of Indian Railways. As a student, his initial grounding has been in the field of mathematics. Therefore he has always tried to get an unbiased estimate of the reality out there. However after joining the service, as more and more varieties of reality began to unfold before him, he began to realize the shortcoming of trying to get an unbiased estimate of reality. The situation became more complex when he realized that in a social situation, even within one type of reality, there were so many variables which interacted with each other that it was impossible to isolate the impact of one variable from another. This showed to him the importance of context in decision making. The context in decision-making became the boundary condition within which a social system like an organization worked. This has been reflected in this research also. Until chapter 4, this research is largely defining the boundary conditions of Indian Railways. Another major way this research differs from other research is that data as it emerges during research has been compared with other emerging data or with existing literature. The data has not been kept in isolation till the end when they will be compared with other data or existing literature. This approach has made the research more focused without losing rigour in the context in which the research was done. Thus there are cross comparisons to other 9

parts of literature in the literature review itself and research data have been compared with earlier data as they emerge in later chapters of the thesis.

2.0 Conclusion
This chapter has provided an overview of the thesis. A synopsis of each chapter of the thesis has been dealt with. A detailed description of each chapter now follows.

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Chapter 2 Literature Review

Introduction

This research aims at studying TQM as a model for bringing about organisational transformation in Indian Railways and identifying ways for effective implementation of that. Thus the broad research question has been framed as follows:

Can TQM be used as a model for organisational transformation of Indian Railways? If yes, how can it be effectively implemented in Indian Railways?

The purpose of this chapter is to carry out a literature search on TQM as a model of change and understand the key issues involved in the implementation of TQM in Indian Railways.

Concept map

Based on this question, the concept map for literature review is shown in Figure 2.1. The two parent disciplines, organizational change and TQM are discussed in sections 2.1.1 and 2.1.2. Their interaction has been discussed in sections 2.1.3 (TQM as a philosophy of change). These form the basis for literature review of the immediate discipline wherein the focus is on the interaction between different aspects of TQM. Different immediate disciplines have been taken up as they naturally emerge during discussion. That is, the immediate disciplines have not been taken based on any given a-priori set or point of view or school of thought. Thus the flavour of the discussion is rather eclectic. Each major theme is also reviewed in the Indian context so that the focus remains on the research question mentioned earlier.

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Parent discipline 1 2.1.1Organisational change

Parent discipline 2 2.1.2 Total Quality Management

2.1.3 TQM as a philosophy of change

2.2 Immediate discipline

2.2.1 TQM- a systems perspective 2.2.2 Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for TQM 2.2.3 Different international quality awards 2.2.4 Synthesis of system dynamics, CSFs and quality award criteria 2.2.5 TQM and ISO 2.2.6 TQM and culture 2.2.7 Indian bureaucracy 2.2.8 TQM and transformational leadership

2.3 Summary of above and overview of central problem

2.4

Identification

of

the

gaps

which

need

investigation

Figure 2. 1 Concept map for literature review Source: developed for this research.

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2.1 Parent discipline

2.1.1 Parent discipline 1-Organisational Change Organisational change models closely parallel how organizations have been viewed over time. From scientific management to organisational development and organisational studies, the study of organization has moved from a study of mechanical functions from a closed system perspective to a study of complex adaptive functions from an open system perspective. Within open systems theory, contingency theory materialised as a means of accounting for change within an organization. Contingency theory states that depending on the level of turmoil within an organization, different systems theories should be adopted for facilitating change. Thus in a government organization where stability and bureaucracy cause change to occur slowly, a more mechanistic model should be adopted (McElyea 2003, p.63). Within the field of organisational change, a comparison of the traditional change model and complex adaptive model of organization change is shown in Table 2.1.

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Traditional Models of Organisational Complex Adaptive Model of Change Organisational Change Few variables determine outcome Innumerable variables determine outcome The whole is equal to the sum of its parts (reductionist) Direction is determined by design and power of a few leaders Individual or system behaviour is knowable, predictable and controllable The whole is different from the sum of its parts Direction is determined by emergence and the participation of many people Individual or system behaviour is unknowable, unpredictable and uncontrollable Causality is linear: every effect can be traced Causality is mutual: every cause is also an back to a specific cause effect and every effect is a cause Relationship are directive Relationship are empowering All systems are essentially the same Each system is unique

Efficiency and reliability are measures of Responsiveness to the environment is the value measure of value Decisions are based on facts and data Decisions are based on tensions and patterns Leaders are experts and authorities Leaders are facilitators and supporters

Table 2. 1 Traditional change model vs. complex adaptive change model Source: McElyea (2003, p. 63).

Mastenbroek (1996) looks upon organisational change in historical perspective and emphasises that organizational change is essentially a duality management, a balance between autonomy and interdependence, between steering and self-organization. From this perspective, strategies such as empowerment cannot be corrected without strong steering. Top-down reengineering cannot be balanced without the responsibility and creativity of work units. Mastenbroek says that TQM and continuous improvements often do not live up to their promises because the line organization is involved in rather awkward ways. All kinds of analysis and research, internal and external consultants obstruct the development of steering and self-organization in the line organization. This impedes the cultural change necessary to give continuous improvement momentum. Capacities for steering and self-organization are critical assets for such a culture. It is to be noted that this approach does not ask for an absolute participative management style, rather a balance between participative and directive style. A similar view has also been expressed by Cunha, Cunha and Dahab (2002). They have 14

called for a dialectic synthesis between the soft and hard (yin and yang) side of management to get a better look at TQM as shown in Figure 2.2.

Norm Standardization Control Methods Statistics Inspection Planning Top Down Leadership Quantity

Participation trust creativity Suggestions self-control bottom up leaders collaboration democratic leadership quality autonomy

Figure 2. 2 The yin-yang of TQM Source: Cunha, Cunha and Dahab (2002).

2.1.2 Parent discipline 2 Total Quality Management 2.1.2.1 Historical background Today, TQM has become a part of corporate management on a global scale (Lakhe & Mohanty 1994; Melan 1998; Yusof & Aspinwall 2000). Quality today is studied under the overall umbrella of Total Quality Management. The improvements brought about by TQM in the Japanese industry are too well known to merit repetition here. Quality as a concept has moved from being an attribute of the product or service to encompass all the activities of an organization. The core philosophy of TQM as it is understood today is that each step in a production process is seen as a relationship between a customer and a supplier (whether internal or external to the organization). The suppliers will have to meet the customers

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requirements, both stated and implied, at the lowest cost. Waste elimination and continuous improvement are ongoing activities. The early development of total quality management was influenced by a few quality gurus: Deming, Juran, Feigenbaum, Crosby and Ishikawa. Their key contribuitions to the quality movement will now be looked at. The work of Deming: The main thesis of Deming is that by improving quality, it is possible to increase productivity which results in improved competitiveness of a business enterprise. According to Deming, low quality results in high cost which will lead to loss of competitive position in the market. His approach can be summarised in his 14 point programme (Gaither & Frazier 1999, p. 634):
(i) Create constancy of purpose for improvement of product and service. (ii) Refuse to allow commonly accepted levels of delay for mistakes, defective material, defective workmanship. (iii) Cease dependence on mass inspection to achive quality. (iv) Reduce the number of suppliers. Buy on statistical evidence, not price. (v) Constantly and forever improve the system of costs, quality, productivity and service. (vi) Institute modern methods of training on the job. (vii) Focus supervision on helping people to do a better job. (viii) Drive out fear. (ix) Break down barriers between departments. Encourage problem solving through team work. (x) (xi) Eliminate numerical goals slogans, posters for the workforce. Use statistical methods for continuing improvement of quality and productivity and eliminate

work standards prescribing numerical quotas. (xii) Remove barriers to pride of workmanship. (xiii) Institute a vigorous program of education and training. (xiv) Clearly define managements permanent commitment to quality and productivity.

From these initial concepts, Deming later developed what he called the system of profound knowledge (Bauer, Reiner & Schamchale 2000, p.412). This means appreciation of a system, knowledge about variation, theory of knowledge and psychology. Deming said that only if the top management is able to understand the company as a complex system, are they able to successfully improve the structures of the system ( Bauer, Reiner & Schamschule 2000, p.412). The work of Juran : Unlike Deming whose approach was more process oriented, the ideas of Juran were having a managerial flavour (Kruger 2001). His main contribution was that

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quality control must be an integral part of the management function. This broadened the understanding of quality. Visible leadership and personal involvement of top management is important in inspiring quality across the organisation. According to Juran (1988), to demonstrate commitment to quality the management should establish a quality council which would coordinate the companys various activities regarding quality. Further, the management should establish a quality policy which should guide the managerial action. The management has to establish quality goals which should be expressed in numbers and should have a time frame. Once a specific goal has been established by the management, it is the responsibility of the management to provide the necessary resources to achive the quality goals. Juran developed the improvement spiral showing that quality improvement is a continuous process and not just a programme with start and end point (Bauer, Reiner & Schamschule 2000). Later these very concepts were incorporated in the ISO 9000: 2000 standard. The work of Ishikawa: He recognised that for TQM to be sucessful, the tools and

techniques of using data to make decisions must be understood by the workers and first-line supervisors /managers. Accordingly, his techniques and the explanation for application are simple and straightforward. For him, the ultimate purpose of data is to take action based on data. Thus data can be used for understanding the actual situation, analysis, process control and regulation as well as for the traditional acceptance and rejection decisions. The work of Crosby: While Deming and Juran described the TQM philosophy and

Ishikawa provided the tools and techniques, Crosby offered a detailed guide to implementation. He proposed a quality management grid that described the stages of TQM implementation relative to managements understanding and problem-solving techniques, the organisational approach, and the results achieved. Each stage of Crosbys matrix represents an increasingly mature implementation of the TQM philosophy (Crosby 1981). The work of Feigenbaum: He can be considered the originator of the concept of total

quality control. His main contributions are two: (i) Quality is the responsibility of everyone in an organisation. Quality is produced not only by the production department, but also by marketing, finance, purchasing, and any other department. It is the total participation of all employees and the total integration of all the companys technical and human resources that will lead to long term business success. Feigenbaum thus developed the concept of quality at source which means that every employee will have to do his/her work with perfect quality. In total quality control, where 17

product quality is more important than production rate, the worker is given the power to stop the production if a quality related problem occurs. (ii) He recognised the cost of non-quality which according to him consists of cost of control and cost of failure of control. Both have to be minimised. Cost of control should be measured by prevention cost (e.g. quality training of employee) which should keep defective part from occuring and appraisal cost (e.g. quality audit costs) which covers the costs of maintaining the quality level of the company. The cost of failure of control is also measured in two areas: internal failure cost (e.g. scrap) and external failure cost (e.g. customer complaints, reworked material). Thus the emphasis of Feigenbaum is not so much to create managerial awareness about quality as to assist an organisation to design its own quality system which involves every employee (Kruger 2001, p.152). 2.1.2.2 Commonalty among quality gurus:

Though the approach of each one of the quality gurus mentioned above has been different, there are commonalities in their work. A summary of their commonalities is shown in Table 2.2.

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Concept/ Author
Customer satisfaction

Crosby (1979,1996)

Deming 1986)

(1982,

Feigenbaum (1951, 1961, 1983, 1991) Quality is what the customer says it is; customer focus is embedded in the management of quality. Controlling quality costs less than correcting mistakes. Requires complete support of top management, who realize that it is not a temporary cost reduction project. Training (on-thejob, classroom, problem solving) and education are fundamental to achieving full commitment to quality.

Ishikawa (1985)

Maturity grid: from goodness and delighting the customer to satisfaction and conformance. The price of nonconformance means that quality is free. Leadership by examplecommitment is demonstrated by participation and attitude.

Customers define quality; consumers are the most important part of the production line. Doing it right first time means less waste, less rework, and lower costs. Managements job is leadership (to show constancy of purpose in their focus on quality).

Total quality control (TQC) means having a consumer orientation.

Cost reduction

TQC reduces cost over the long term, not the short term. Top management commitment should be shown by adopting the lead role in implementation.

Leadership and top management commitment

Juran (1951,1962, 1974, 1988, 1989, 1992) Customer satisfaction which drives market share and profits comes from product satisfaction. Costs of poor quality remain unknown, but they are very high. Top managements job is motivation, which includes participation in quality program.

Training and education

Use training in quality, from the CEO down, to internalise concepts; training and education should be continuous.

Vigorous, continuous program for (re) training employees in new knowledge and skills; statistical methods to check training efficacy. Cross-functional teams can create improvement in product, service, and quality and reduce costs.

TQC is a revolution in thinking, so training and education must be continuous for all employees (from CEO down).

Teams

Culture

Use management team for quality for internal communication, quality council for internal/external communication Quality commitmentgenuine belief by employees in importance of good quality, workmanship, good designs and service.

Quality control committees should have representatives from all functional areas.

Cross-functional management committees (teams) facilitate the responsible development of quality assurance. TQC requires organization wide participation; where there are no voluntary quality circle activities, there is no quality control.

To make quality happen, training should include the entire hierarchy, starting at the top: purpose of training is to create or update skills. Major quality improvement projects are multi- functional in nature, thus requiring multifunctional teams. Changing to a company-wide quality system means changing existing cultural patterns; there may well be cultural resistance

A new philosophy is required: drive out fear (of quotas, questioning accepted methods, etc.), and instil pride in quality

Quality control is a spirit of quality mindedness, from CEO to the shop floor; it is a communication channel and means of participation.

Table 2. 2 Commonalities among seminal TQM work Source: Reed, Lemak and Mero (2000, p. 8).

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Looking at the commonalities of concepts among different gurus of TQM, it can be noted that customer satisfaction and reducing costs are the two achievable- the two outcomes of TQM. On the other hand, leadership, training, use of teams and having the appropriate culture are the four processes by which the two outcomes can be achieved. A review of research related to each of the four processes of leadership, training, use of teams and culture is now done.

TQM and leadership:

Research on TQM has consistently found strong link between

successful TQM implementation and leadership (Ehrenberg & Stupak 1994; Rao, Raghunathan & Solis 1997; Zairi 2002). In general they have argued that top managements ability to create a vision and promote change is at the heart of successful implementation of TQM. In the specific context of a railway Mass Transit Railway Corporation, Hong Kong the importance of visionary leadership has been emphasized for successful implementation of TQM (Chan et al. 2002). Leaders must understand culture and recognise those elements that cannot be changed. They must be able to create an environment where they can empower others to act both independently and interdependently. They must provide a vision that focuses on quality and meeting customers expectations. In other words, top management need transformational leadership skill. On the other hand, the role of middle management in initiating and institutionalising small, incremental improvements has been noted by Frohman (1997).

TQM and culture: The aspect of culture has been emphasised by the founding fathers of TQM. TQM de-emphasises status distinctions and empowers employees to make decisions and use their own intelligence (Crosby 1981; Deming reported by Tata & Prasad 1998, p. 705). The aspect of culture has been emphasised by other authors also (Chin & Pun 2002; Lakhe & Mohanty 1994; Pun 2001; Sahay & Walsham 1997). Tata and Prasad (1998) have reasoned that one of the reasons for failure of TQM implementation is that culturally many organizations were unprepared to change. In a similar vein, it been reported that implementation of TQM is one of the most complex activities that any company can attempt, due to the fact that it involves a change in the working culture and impacts on people (Mani, Murgan & Rajendran 2003). In the Chinese context, the successful adoption of TQM depended largely on the management of cultural dynamics and organisational complexities of the enterprise (Pun 2001).

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Emphasising the need of cultural change during TQM implementation, it has been argued that TQM calls for a new way of managing business, requiring a new thinking style- the thinking for quality (Yusof & Aspinwall 2000). According to them this is the basic reason for the success of TQM in Japan. Culture has been found to be an important factor in empirically validated studies which aimed at arriving at critical success factors (CSF) for successful implementation of TQM (Black & Porter 1996). It has also been corroborated by another empirical study of CSF for TQM in the Indian context (Wali, Deshmukh & Gupta 2003).

TQM and training: The review of literature corroborates the importance of training as an important factor for successful TQM implementation (Palo & Padhi 2003; Quazi, Hong & Meng 2002). Training is considered a vehicle for implementing and reinforcing quality practice (Reed, Lemak & Mero 2002). Effective training and employee involvement have also been found to be important for initiating quality management practice in Indian context (Joseph et al 1999).

TQM and (cross functional) team: Teams are appropriate when there is a need for coordination of activity, when major breakthroughs in performance are required. Research has corroborated the importance given to team by the founding fathers of TQM (Black & Porter 1996; Gupta 2000; Mandal et al. 2000). It has been reported that teams are very useful for integration of activities, generating production efficiencies (Quazi, Hong & Meng 2002) and for providing innovative approaches to production issues (Eisenhardt & Tabrizi 1995). In the specific context of a railway unit Mass Transit Railway Corporation, Hong Kong - the importance of team has been highlighted for successful implementation of TQM (Chan et al. 2002, p.294). Above, the literature in the area of organisational change and TQM has been briefly gone through. Now the literature dealing with the interrelationship between organisational change and TQM will be reviewed.

2.1.3 TQM as a philosophy of change In the context of organisational change, TQM has been an important and popular management innovation and change programme in the 1990s (Reed, Lemak & Mero

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2002;Yong & Wilkinson 2002). Notwithstanding its popularity, there has also been criticism of TQM. TQM works better in the manufacturing sector than in service sector (Boyne & Walker 2002, p.119). The implementation of TQM has not been an easy task for many organizations (Yusof & Aspinwall 2000, p.291). Thus the success rate of TQM implementation has been around 25% to 30% (Umesh, Bhusi & Kumar 2000). It has been said that the TQM model provides a self-assessment protocol outlining the criteria for business excellence, but without solid guidance on how to achieve it (Chan et al. 2002). Only about half of organizations have experienced improvements through TQM (Tata & Prasad 1998). The same authors go on to suggest that this is because of the failure to pay sufficient attention to the cultural and structural variables that influence TQM implementation. However, others have considered TQM as a long term journey with substantial hardship at the beginning which Juran calls sporadic spikes (Noronha 2002, p.215). Noronha further says that this positive view towards uncertainty provides the basis for a healthy attitude towards TQM. At a more ideological level, TQM has been dismissed as a managerial control mechanism loosely disguised as a method of worker empowerment (Boje & Windsor quoted by Reed, Lemak & Mero 2002). Another criticism of TQM has been that it provides a rhetoric that is individually interpreted and therefore carries inconsistent meaning across contexts (Reed, Lemak & Mero 2002). Cao, Clarke and Lehany (2000) studied TQM based organisational change programmes. According to them, the approaches to organisational change can be classified into four categories: (i) Changes in process (ii) Changes in functions (structural changes) (iii) Changes in values (cultural changes) (iv) Changes in power within the organization

They contend that for TQM to be successful, an approach which addresses all the above types of change is required. However, since TQM as an approach, focuses almost entirely on the changes in process, a systemic approach is needed for successful implementation of TQM or its application needs to be restricted to those contexts where process dominates (Cao, Clarke & Lehany 2000, p.5). Thus, Cao, Clarke and Lehany concluded that the success of TQM programmes is in sharp contrast to its popularity.

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In view of this criticism and given the multi attribute characteristics of TQM as emphasised by the founding fathers of TQM and supported by later research mentioned in section 2.1.2, a question arises that what are the different parameters or organisational attributes which are required for an effective implementation of TQM as it is understood today. Three approaches have been used by different researchers to answer this question. The approaches are (i) TQM from a systems perspective. (ii) Understanding the critical success factors (CSF) of TQM. (iii) TQM as understood from different quality award models. The basic thrust of this research is to understand whether TQM can be used for organisational transformation of Indian Railways. Thus understanding the parameters which account for the success or failure of TQM implementation will be useful for this research. Therefore at first, each approach will be looked at in a global context and then focus will shift to Indian context. The global context will help understand TQM from the three approaches more generally and then their Indian context will explain their specific application in India. This focuses the attention to the immediate discipline of this literature review.

2.2 Immediate discipline

2.2.1 Total Quality Management- a systems perspective The first approach to the understanding of TQM is from a systems perspective. System thinking developed in the 1950s as an alternative to traditional management thinking (McElyea 2003, p.59). The systems school grew out of the general systems theory developed by the biologist Bertalanffy (McElyea 2003, Mirvis 1996) and the quantitative techniques- operations research and systems analysisthat were developed during the second world war. Further, Simons contributions on bounded rationality, satisficing, and incremental decision making recognised the complex environment in which post-war managers made decisions (Ehrenberg & Stupak, 1994, p. 77). System thinking school is aware that traditional management thinking does not have a full picture of situations in organizations. The system school views organizations as complex interrelationships amongst input, throughput (process), output, and feedback. From a systems point of view, an organization is an open and complex system with varying degrees of process flexibility and

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many feedback loops which are used adaptively by an organization for its survival. In the context of organisational change, Harrington, Carr and Reid (1999) have explained three interrelated concepts of system, emergent properties and complexity. It is briefly explained now. System is a set of different elements which together can perform a function which the constituent elements cannot perform alone. Emergent properties are those functions, good or bad, which would not exist except for the operation of the system. Complexity is something that is composed of interconnected elements that function as a system to produce emergent properties. In the context of system, Deming gave the example of automobile a collection of wheels, engine and transmission do not make them a system. To become a system they must possess the complexity of having been designed in a particular way and then be interconnected in a particular way. Then they become a system called automobile which provides the emergent property called transportation and thereby makes it valuable. Thus it is the complexity which gives rise to the emergent properties which define a system and make it valuable. But complexity is also the source of problem. Complexity is on the cusp between stability and chaos and a small amount of perturbation can push the system one way or the other. Systems with the order of complexity as small as three elements with two interconnections per element can produce chaotic behaviour. Lack of chaos is not always desirable. Bankruptcy and death are examples of stable but undesirable states. Thus more the complexity more is the chance that the system will degenerate into a chaotic state or a stable but undesirable state. An interface is a point where two elements come together and exchange something. Interface is the key to design an effective system. The interfaces should be clear and defined and should not be complex. A complex interface results in people developing means to work around the complexity. Thus in an organization, a complex inter departmental interface results in people developing a personal relationship to manage the poor inter departmental interface. Interfaces which are ambiguous, grey and subject to interpretation will result in variations in behaviour. High inter-element complexity and ill-defined interfaces will result in disaster. An ideal organization is one in which the elements have a high order of internal and a low order of external complexity. Thus each element must be as independent as possible. Most good systems have good feedback control mechanisms. Feedback is used to maintain and improve the system. But feedback is also a source of complexity and thus has 24

advantages and risks. A good system is one that manages perturbation and change as a system. If feedback results in a perturbation which does not die out before the next perturbation, the system will result in chaos or a stable but undesirable state. The systems view of organization is shown in Figure 2.3. It shows an organization in which the main sub-systems are marketing management, operations / production and finance. It is an example of open system where the customer gives feedback to the marketing sub system of the organization about his/her product choice and its quality requirement. It also gives feedback to the operation / production sub system about the quality of output. The more effective the feedback loops are in a system, the softer the system (i.e. the more flexible and response-able to change). According to Cusins (1994) the quality management system (QMS) can be thought of as the servomechanism for the organization. It runs in the reverse direction to the operational systems. Information on outputs from operations form input to QMS and outputs from QMS form inputs to operations. Total quality management consists in making effective boundary judgement at every system interface within the organization and between the organisational system and the user system.

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The business environment

Supplier systems (peri-organizational environment) Customer systems

Environment information Marketing information Competitor information

Marketing system

Customer requirements Product specification

feedback about quality / product requirement

Marketing information People Contracts

Management system

Goals and targets Decisions Plans Schedules

Management information People Machinery Materials Energy

Operation/ production system

Product Services (Waste) Feedback about quality of output

Cash out Value of (inputs)

Financial System

Cash in Value of (outputs)

Figure 2. 3 Simplified example of an organization as a system Source: Cusins (1994, p. 23).

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Thus from the point of view of system theorists, the quality judgement is a judgement made at the boundary between the supplier system and the user system about what passes across it. Further, whether an output is a product or waste is a judgement on its quality. A satisfactory output is a product. An output which cannot be used by the user system is a waste. Waste can collect in the production system, or in the user system or both. Nature often
becomes the user system of the waste. Cusins further defines dynamic quality factors and

static quality factors. The dynamic quality factors are individual and unique and situation dependent. Their addition will create an image of high quality. The static quality factors are general and common to all customers. They are not situation dependent. Their absence will create an image of poor quality. (Cusine 1994, p. 27) In the context of TQM, systems approach has made a lasting impact. According to McElyea (2003) the birth of most management models like TQM, HPO (High Performance Organization), etc stems from a systems view of organization. Deming who is the father of TQM, also developed what he called the system of profound knowledge (Bauer, Reiner & Schamschule 2000, p. 412). System thinking suggests that instead of reductionist approaches to management, a holistic view should be adopted (Taiwo 2001). Taiwo adds that while there is no single model which can capture an organisational situation fully, some of the methodologies which can be used to capture the inter-relationship and intra relationship of an organization are classified as hard, soft, cybernetic or emanicipatory depending on the effectiveness of their feedback loop. These methodologies, if used adequately, complement the customer focus, process improvement and employee involvement principles of TQM. From the point of view of systems theory, TQM fits within the open and the rational systems perspective. Thus TQM process is a system with interactive components. Committing to just one part of the system is unlikely to produce the desired effects. Therefore, from systems theory point of view, TQM is more than leadership; it is more than culture, or training or teams. It is all of these factors together. Further, successful implementation means that effort and perseverance are required to find the right balance for each organization. Thus it is desirable that each firm explores its own needs for leadership, education and training, the use of teams, and the culture development to fit its own particular brand of TQM (Reed, Lemak & Mero 2000). As per the system theorists, implementing a complex system like quality management, with all its serial interactions, is a difficult task and many of the TQM failures can be

27

attributed more to the failure to implement and manage them as a system. It is not because of any inherent weakness or fundamental flaws in the system or its components (Reed, Lemak & Mero 2002). Bauer, Reiner and Schamschule (2000) parallel the systems thinking with the growth of quality systems as shown in Figure 2.4 and Figure 2.5.
Business excellence 1990 TQM 1980 Quality assurance 1970 System thinking 1960 System Dynamics 1950 Operations Research 1940 Human Relations 1924 Taylor 1913

Figure 2. 4 Milestones of organisational roots Source: Bauer, Reiner and Schamschule (2000).

Knowledge management Value management Customer focus Customer orientation Business excellence Management systems Process quality Product quality

1970

1980

1990

2000

Figure 2. 5 Milestones of quality development Source: Bauer, Reiner and Schamschule (2000).

Bauer, Reiner and Schamschule (2000, p.412) say that today, what was earlier known as TQM has morphed into business excellence. All the quality awards are today known as models of business excellence. It really makes the two conceptually the same. Both are dominated by a comprehensive systems approach which includes a systemic control of all resources including social and cultural ones.

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2.2.1.1 TQM and System Dynamics The understanding of TQM from the point of view of systems thinking led Bauer, Reiner and Schamschule (2000) to develop a model of quality from the point of view of system dynamics. System dynamics is a tool which can capture the interactions among a range of system variables and predict the implication of each over a period of time (Khanna, 2003). Khanna et al. (2002) have quoted a study by Forrester wherein he used system dynamics to investigate how strategy, decision-making, structure and delay influence the growth and stability of organizations. In the context of quality, through the use of system dynamics software, Bauer, Reiner and Schamschule (2000) showed the interdependence of different organisational sub systems for quality. This is shown in Figure 2.6.

Processes

Leadership

Customer Satisfaction

People People Management (The arrows indicate the information flow) Figure 2. 6 Quality and business results

Business Result

Source: Bauer, Reiner and Schamschule (2000).

Taking the study of TQM through system dynamics further, Khanna et al. (2002) have studied the dynamic interactions among TQM subsystems in the Indian automobile sector. Using the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award Model (MBNQA) of USA and modifying it to suit Indian socio-cultural conditions, they identified 12 TQM variables which help in implementing the TQM philosophy. They developed causal relationships among

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different variables and clustered seven of them as enablers and five of them as results. The definitions of the full set of variables are given in Table 2.3 and Table 2.4. The table also links the variables with the emphasis given by the founding fathers of TQM and with the ISO quality management system.

TQM variables: enablers Variables Leadership Definition Reference

Senior managers who provide clear vision and Crosby, 1981; values that promote total quality. It is the most Deming, 1993 important enabler for driving a total quality management culture

Strategic planning

Business strategies incorporate long-term and short- Ishikawa, 1985 term goals based on customer and market

expectations Information management Human resource focus Effective information and communication systems Ishikawa, 1985 for continuous improvement of all work Maximize opportunities for all employees to realize Juran, 1995 their full potential (internal and external customer) ISO 9000 -

Customer and Customer market focus

relationships must be managed to secure clear 2000, understanding of requirements

Supplier focus

Suppliers are treated as partners in the process of ISO improvement 2000

9000-

Process management

Systems approach to quality control of all operations ISO including appropriate use of quality tools 2000

9000-

Table 2. 3 Definition of variable for enablers Source: Khanna et al. (2002, p. 367).

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TQM variables: results Variables Impact on society Definition Societal responsibilities/environmental management Human satisfaction resource All employees are motivated and ISO dedicated to 9000/2000, References ISO 14001/ OHSAS 18001

continuous ISO/TS 16949/2002

improvement feeling empowered and valued Customer satisfaction Internal and external customers ISO/9000-2000,

know that their needs are important ISO/TS 16949-2002 and addressed Supplier satisfaction Suppliers want to do repeat business ISO/9000-2000, as partners Company specific business Do results the companys ISO/TS 16949-2002 results Mody, 1996

demonstrate effective performance

Table 2. 4 Definition of variables for results Source: Khanna et al. (2002, 368).

2.2.1.2 Systems theory, TQM and organisational learning Organisational learning is another concept which is rooted in systems theory and which is linked to TQM. One definition of organisational learning is that it is the capacity or processes within an organization to maintain or improve performance based on experience (Nevis, DiBella & Gould 1995, p.73). Since implementing TQM involves substantial organisational change (Ehrenberg & Stupak 1994, p. 81), a TQM organization has been defined as an organization that has developed the continuous capacity to adapt and change. Therefore quality movement has been considered the forerunner in creating learning organizations (Elkjaer 1999; Senge 1994, p.61; Zhao & Bryar n.d.) and organisational learning has been considered a necessary outcome of a TQM initiative (Barrow 1993, p.39; Sohal & Morrison 1995). A learning organization adopts TQM commitment to continuous improvement (Garvin 1993, p.78). In the American context, Robbins (1997, p. 735) has dealt 31

with different aspect of learning organization. He says that a learning organization among other things supports the importance of disagreements, constructive criticism and other forms of functional conflict. However, there is some evidence that the way organization learns also depends on the culture of that organization. For example, Kumar (2000), Snell & Chak (1998) and Tsang (1997, p. 83) have shown Indian, Singaporean and Chinese theories of organisational learning respectively which are dependent on the specific culture of the country. Thus Easterby-Smith and Araujo (1999, p.14) advocated a culture and institution based theory of organisational learning. One important way to understand organisational learning is through a theory of action. Argyris and Schn have described organisational learning as a theory of action (Elkhaer 1999, p.79). Action learning postulates that people learn most effectively when working on real time problems occurring in their own setting (Raelin 1997, p.21). Burgoyne, Pedler and Boydell (1994) have shown culture based differences in organisational learning between the US and UK models of action learning. Zimmer (2001) says that using a systemic

action-learning cycle at the level of second-order cybernetics, it is possible to reduce conflict in the organization and maintain autonomy. According to Zimmer, first order cybernetics is about first order feedback system I plan and do, I sense and I check. Second order cybernetics is about second order feedback system wherein I share my reflection and feedback with those from another person you. Zimmer further says that respect for autonomy is a powerful tool to manage complexity. It lets mutually supportive order emerge. In western culture though, much order is imposed. This causes conflict, which only adds to the complexity. Another approach to organisational change is through innovation. Innovation is a specialised kind of change wherein a new idea is applied to initiating or improving a product, process or service (Kanter quoted in Robbins 1997, p. 732). Bart (2004) has studied the link between innovative practices and organisational learning. Innovative organizations have a culture that rewards both successes and failures (Robbins 1997). Schein (1993) identifies three types of learning: (i) knowledge acquisition and insight, (ii) habit and skill learning and (iii) emotional conditioning and learned anxieties. Most organisational learning theories focus on knowledge acquisition and insight (Schein 1993, p.2). Schein (1996) has also identified three cultures in an organization the operator culture, the engineering culture and the executive culture. According to him, organizations will not learn effectively unless they recognise and confront the implications of these three

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occupational cultures. For example, he views the executive culture and the engineer culture as major problems because they do not sufficiently consider human factors. This brings into focus the aspects of the content and process of organisational learning. However, organisational learning has not so much been defined in terms of processes (Nonaka 1994, p.16). It has more been identified in terms of outcomes (Huysman 1999). Prange (1999) has therefore argued for a linkage between the content and process of organisational learning. 2.2.1.3 Organisational knowledge creating process Within organisational learning, Nonaka (1994) has dealt with the organisational knowledge creating process. He argues that organisational knowledge is created by continuous dialogue between two types of knowledge tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. Explicit knowledge is the codified knowledge which is transmittable in formal, systematic knowledge. It is captured in the records of the past such as libraries, databases and archives and is assessed on sequential basis. Tacit knowledge has a personal quality which makes it hard to formalize and communicate. It involves both cognitive and technical elements. The cognitive element comes from the mental models which includes schemata, beliefs, paradigms that help individuals to perceive and define the world. The technical element of tacit knowledge covers skills, concrete know-hows and crafts that apply to specific contexts. Sharing of tacit knowledge involves parallel processing of the complexities of current issues. Organisational knowledge is created, enlarged and enriched by the individuals of an organization. It is carried out by the interactive amplification of tacit and explicit knowledge held by individuals, organizations and societies in a spiral fashion. Organization plays the role of a forum where the spiral of knowledge creation takes place through socialisation, externalisation, combination and internalisation (SECI). The SECI model is shown in Figure 2.7.

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Tacit Knowledge To Socialisation

Explicit Knowledge

Tacit knowledge From Explicit Knowledge

Externalisation

Internalisation

Combination

Figure 2. 7 Modes of knowledge creation in an organization Source: Nonaka (1994).

For parallel processing of knowledge, Nonaka emphasises middle-up-down management where all members work together both horizontally and vertically. He deemphasises the charismatic role of top management or the entrepreneurial role of lower management. He looks upon the middle managers as the knowledge engineers who synthesise the tacit knowledge of top managers and frontline employees into new knowledge and new learning. He disagrees with Argyris and Schn that double loop learning is difficult. He argues that double loop learning is in-built in his knowledge-creating model because organization constantly creates new knowledge by reconstructing existing practices, perspective or frameworks on a day-to-day basis (Nonaka 1994, p.19). In the context of learning, Reason (2001, p.185) has identified four levels of knowledge: (i) Experiential knowing is through direct face- to-face encounter with person, place or thing; it is knowing through empathy and resonance, and is almost impossible to put in words. (ii) Presentational knowing emerges from experiential knowing, and provides its first expression through forms of imagery such as poetry, drawing, sculpture, movement, dance and so on. (iii) Practical knowing is knowing how to do something and is expressed in a skill, knack or competence. (iv) Propositional knowing is knowledge about something and is expressed through ideas and theories a. It is expressed in abstract language or mathematics. Bawden (1991, p.17) has considered these four dimensions of learning as opposites yet integrated to each other as shown in Figure 2.8.

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Experiential learning for praxis

Propositional learning for knowing

Practical learning for doing

Intuitive learning for fitting in

Figure 2. 8 The four types of learning as polar opposites Source: Bawden (1991).

According to Reason, knowing will be more valid richer, deeper, more true to life and more useful if these four ways of knowing are congruent with each other; that is if our knowing is grounded in our experience, expressed through our stories and images, understood through theories which make sense to us, and expressed in worthwhile action in our lives. There is much in common between Reasons concept and the concept of action learning referred earlier.

2.2.1.4 Learning and second order change In a different approach to organisational change, Torbert (1989) has said that first order change is like changing the efficiencies and effectiveness within the existing assumptions. It is akin to the single loop learning of Argyris, Putnam and Smith (1985).

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Second order change involves change in assumptions, change in structure and strategy and change in goals. First order changes are those that occur in a stable system that itself remains unchanged while second order change occurs when fundamental properties or states of the system are changed (Hersey, Blanchard & Johnson 2002, p.388). According to Torbert, second order change is very rare. But it is the second order change which is truly transformational. Also it can rarely be planned. Most of the planned changes are first order change. Torbert (1989, p.89) thus doubts the transformational changes which have been documented by many authors such Bass and Tichy and Devanna.

2.2.2 Critical success factors for TQM The second approach which has been used to assess the organisational requirements for successful implementation of TQM is through the identification of critical success factors (CSF). In an attempt to establish empirically validated factors that influence successful implementation of TQM, Black and Porter (1996) have identified ten factors which affect successful implementation of TQM. They are:

(i) (ii)

Corporate quality culture Strategic quality management

(iii) Quality improvement measurement system (iv) People and customer management (v) Operational quality planning

(vi) External interface management (vii) Suppliers partnerships (viii) Teamwork structures (ix) Customer satisfaction orientation (x) Communication of improvement information

An early exploratory attempt to arrive at CSF in the Indian context was made by Motwani, Mahmoud and Rice (1994) wherein they arrived at nine critical factors for effective management of quality in Indian manufacturing industry. As the TQM literature in India moved from introductory level discussion on TQM (Lakhe & Mohanty 1994) to more robust research work, the emphasis also shifted from a mere duplicating of western models of quality to trying to develop indigenous models. Wali, Deshmukh and Gupta (2003) made a 36

review of various critical success factors which different authors including the founding fathers of TQM like Deming, Juran, Ishikawa, Crosby, Feigenbaum, and Garvin had recommended. Wali, Deshmukh and Gupta started from the early work of identification of the critical success factors (CSF) by Saraph, Benson and Schroeder (1989) to the more recent one by Ahire, Golhar and Waller (1996). From there, they attempted to identify the critical success factors (CSF) for adoption of TQM in the Indian context. Their study claims that these CSFs are derived based on actual practices followed by Indian organizations and it was based on a statistically validated instrument and factor analysis. It was not based on constructing a priori set of pre-defined CSFs and then matching it with actual practice (Wali, Deshmukh & Gupta 2003, p. 12). The study by Wali, Deshmukh and Gupta (2003) is perhaps the first comprehensive empirical study of quality practices in the Indian context. Thus it is worthwhile to look in detail at the twelve factors identified by them. They are listed below in decreasing order of importance.

(i) Leadership, Creativity and quality strategy: Successful quality performance requires that the leadership is dedicated to quality. It must also provide initiative and resource support. It must enable creativity to be nurtured and accordingly chalk out the strategy. Given the importance of leadership, it is not surprising to find that, in all quality awards, leadership issues are placed at the top of the list of criteria. Such leadership will drive quality strategy in an organisation and nurture creativity. (ii) Worker Manager interaction : This means that healthy interaction between worker and manager is important from quality point of view. The manager provides the direction for improvement and accordingly, workers are motivated to take initiative. In case of any difficulty, the worker interacts with the manager to improve the situation. (iii) Results and Recognition : Crosby (1979) considers recognition as one of the most important steps of the quality improvement process. The organisation should reward their employees for their contribution to quality. There should be a quick recognition system for outstanding performance by the employees. These rewards may not be purely financial. (iv) Work culture : The work culture must be very conducive. There should be an active interaction amongst the peers and support from supervisors. The critical importance of the employees involvement in the quality process of an organisation should be based on the belief that the best process innovation idea comes from the people actually doing the job.

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(v) Information and Data management : Information is the critical enabler of TQM. This factor emphasises that the key processes are regulary measured and quantified. There should be focus on benchmarking which provides a stimilus for improvement. The facts and information should be made available to all. This is mainly relevant for managing quality costs. (vi) Customer Focus : Quality should be customer driven. . Employees should be well aware of the concept of internal and external customers. They should care about meeting and exceeding the customer expectations. There must be a focus on customer feedback and accordingly the process should be driven. (vii) Value and ethics : It is important for the people in an organisation to live up to the highest ethical standards. There should be perception of fair treatment to all. The organisation must be guided by the value and ethical standards. (viii) Communication across the organization: Effective communication channels must exist in the organization between various work units. With the help of information technology, comunication can be made effective. Effective comunication is vital in aligning the workforce towards corporate expectations. (ix) Team working: According to Crosby (1979), team work is a critical element of TQM. Teamwork delivers synergistic enhancement of quality efforts. Employees must demonstrate cooperative behaviour and positive attitude towards working in a team. (x) Congenial inter personal relations : The atmposphere in the organisation must be highly congenial to promote active interaction. There must be mutual respect and faith among employees. (xi) Delegation and empowerment: In a TQM setting, both delegation and empowerment are required. People must share responsibility for the success or failure of their work. (xii) Process improvement: Employees must identify opportunities for continuous improvement. If employee involvement is key to the attainment of customer satisfaction, managing the process is key to engaging an organisations employees to take responsibilites for what they are doing in relation to satisfying the customers.

2.2.3 Different International Quality Awards The third approach towards the understanding of TQM is through different quality awards. As TQM became popular around the world, the concepts of TQM were embodied in 38

various national quality awards. Thus a comparison of different quality awards can provide insight into the similarities and differences in the understanding of TQM across the world. Bauer, Reiner and Schamschule (2000) have said that these quality awards are today looked upon as models of excellence. The basis for considering a quality award framework as a model of business excellence is that now it usually contains a set of quality criteria that encompass all areas of an organizations operation.

2.2.3.1 History of quality awards The Deming Prize (DP) is the oldest quality award instituted in 1951 by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE). It is awarded to both individuals and groups that have made significant contributions to quality control (QC) research and to companies that have excelled in applying QC programs. When the TQM concept was brought to the US, the Malcolm Baldridge award was established in 1987 in the U.S. It is awarded in the categories of manufacturing, small business and service. In 1991, the European Quality Award was instituted for European companies, almost on the same lines as the Baldridge award. In 1992, the Australian quality award was instituted. Since these are the earlier awards, a comparative analysis of them is now set out. Vokurka, Stading and Brazeal (2000) have compared the Deming Prize and the western models of quality awards on the basis of their objectives, quality principles and criteria. It is shown in Table A1.1 at Appendix 1. The comparison shows the commonalities among different quality awards. The commonality is that they all use a minimum of seven criteria (i) Leadership (ii) Strategic planning (iii) Customer and market focus (iv) Information and analysis (v) Human resource focus (vi) Process management (vii)Business results. They all emphasize customer driven quality control through streamlining processes, product design, leadership, human resource development and customer focused strategic plans. In all the models, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and community satisfaction are emphasized. However the criteria differ on what they understand by the 39

seven quality areas leadership, planning, customers, suppliers, employees, processes and results. The same is shown in Table A1.2 at Appendix 1. In addition they also differ on the weightage they assign to each criteria (see Figure A1.1a to Figure A1.1e at Appendix 1). A comparison of these quality criteria show that except for the Deming Prize, all other award models have common factors. They all assign considerable weightage to the results. However, the researcher is of the opinion that if the enabling factors are robust, the results should automatically follow. In this sense, the result is a dependent variable and the enablers are the independent variables. The researcher considers it a weakness of the quality award models except the Deming Prize that they consider the independent variables and dependent variables on a uni-dimensional additive scale. Coming back to the quality awards, since other award models, except the Deming Prize are based on MBNQA, Vokurka, Stading and Brazeal (2000) have also mapped the different award criteria onto MBNQA categories. It is shown in Table A1.3 at Appendix 1. The mapping shows that in the year 2000, as compared to the Baldridge award, the Deming Prize accorded more emphasis to process control which is perhaps expected, given the strong statistical background which TQM has in Demings teaching. However, customer and market knowledge were accorded little consideration in the Deming Prize. The Baldridge award criteria assigned about half of its weightage to business results. But business result as a criteria was missing in the Deming Prize. Over time other countries, notably from the non-developed and developing belt, also instituted national quality awards. The commonalities and differences among quality awards of both developed and developing countries are compared with the early quality awards viz Deming award, MBNQA and EQA. Hui and Chuan (2002) made a comparison of the national quality awards of nine countries. Their criteria are indicated in Table A1.4 at Appendix 1. The CII_EXIM award of India is also shown for the sake of quick comparison. It is noteworthy that all the criteria in Table A1.4 can be grouped into two classes of enablers and results as envisaged in the European Quality Award model shown in Figure 2.9. This is perhaps a pointer to certain consistency in the selection of criteria of quality awards by different countries. Different countries have however, given different emphasis to the above-mentioned criteria. The differences in emphasis have been shown in Table A1.5 at Appendix 1.

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People management

People satisfaction Customer satisfaction

Policy & strategy Leadership Resources

Processes

Business results

Impact on society

Enablers Figure 2. 9 European Quality Model Source: Sankaran (1993, p. 98).

Results

2.2.3.2 Commonality and differences among different quality awards The matrix in Table A1.5 compares the different emphases laid down by different quality awards on 39 aspects. U.S., Europe, Canada and Australia can be said to represent similar cultural and political systems. Together, they occupy 39*4 = 156 matrix points in Table A1.5. Out of these 156 matrix points, there are differences only on 20 matrix points amongst them. That is, only on 13% of the matrix points, these four countries lay different emphasis. However, if these four countries are compared as a group with a significantly different country like Japan, there are 11 aspects out of 39 aspects (i.e. 28%) on which this group has a significantly different orientation in comparison with Japan. The thesis now looks at some of the aspects where there are significant differences between them. From Table A1.5, it is seen that staff empowerment is strongly emphasized by the Baldridge award, Canadian, European and Australian awards. But the same is not addressed in the other countries award model including that of Japan. However, innovation, a concept complementary to empowerment (Hui & Chuan 2002, p.58) finds mention in all the award models. Leadership by example is strongly emphasized in the Japanese award model, but it is not mentioned in other award models. Ethical decision making is strongly emphasized in Japan, Singapore and Australian award model, but not in the rest. All the models have 41

customer focus, but the Japanese and the Singapore models strongly emphasize personalized service for enhanced customer satisfaction. E-technology and other high-tech activities are strongly emphasized only in the Baldridge model. Good working relation between the boss and subordinate is strongly emphasized in the Japanese, Singaporean and the South African model, but is not directly described in the Baldridge, Canadian, European or Australian framework- maybe because most western society do not emphasize power structure in managing boss-subordinate relationship. These are pointers to the possibility that different countries may use overlapping as well as different criteria to measure their country-specific conception of total quality and organizational excellence (Hui & Chuan, 2002, p.62). Tan et al. (2003) have studied the differences in the modelling of 53 National Quality Awards (NQA). They found that in most of the NQA models, the economic structure, social characteristics and the total quality maturity level have been taken into account. Their study has shown that most of the European countries have modelled their NQA on the EQA. ISO 9000:2000 and ISO 14000 have also been used as a framework for NQA especially by developing countries. 12 out of 53 NQAs studied by Tan et al. (2003) were of Asian countries and 10 of these 12 Asian NQAs were having their own distinctive framework. That is, they were not based on the MBNQA, EQA, ISO 9000 or ISO 14000. Tan et al. (2003) therefore concluded that the cultural and demographic background of a country should be taken into account in designing a NQA. Tan and Khoo (2002) have found Confucianism relevant for effective implementation of NQAs in the Southeast Asian countries. Thus, it needs to be seen that in the context of India, what factors have been identified for successful implementation of TQM.

2.2.3.3 Change in the criteria of quality awards over time In section 2.2.3.2, a comparison among quality awards of different countries was made as they were in the year 2000. However, it may be worthwhile to see how these criteria have evolved over time. Maybe, this will give some indication of the changing understanding of TQM over the last many years. Since the literature, till now, had shown that the Deming Prize was the pioneer and most of the western award models are based on the Baldridge award, the changes brought in these two awards since 1992 is now compared. Then the two awards are compared as they were in the year 2004. The viewpoints of Deming Prize as in 1992 and in 2000 are compared in Table A1.6 at Appendix 1. In making the comparison, checklists of 1992 are shown in 42

column 1 and its conceptually similar checklist in 2000 (rephrased as viewpoint since 2000 by the Deming committee) is shown in column 2. The differences between them are shown in column 3. The differences between them are reproduced in Table 2.5 for ready reference.

Differences in the set of viewpoints for 2000 with respect to those in 1992. The following were either new viewpoints or there were significant changes in them ( significant changes shown in italics) (i)The entire policy viewpoint of 1992 becomes a part of the policy management under TQM framework in 2000. (ii)2.4 Relationship to ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 finds a place in 2000. (iii)2.5 Relationship to other management improvement programs finds a place in 2000. (iv) 2.6 TQM promotion and operation gets emphasised as a long lasting activity in 2000. (v) 5. The emphasis shifts from a mere quality oriented training to HRD which gets recognised in its own right in 2000. (vi) 5.3 Respect for peoples dignity is an important culture based addition in 2000. (vii) 6.2 Information system is a reflection of the systemic orientation in the current Deming model. (viii) The concept of control of systems gets subsumed in many other viewpoints in 2000. However, Management system for business elements can be said to be the conceptual successor to what was perhaps intended by control in 1992. Also, management systems gets recognised as an important viewpoint in its own right which is a measure of the increased emphasis which DP gives to organisational management in 2000 as compared to operational management in 1992. (ix) Cross-functional management, environment management, safety, hygiene and work cost management

are individualised entries in 2000 which were not there in 1992. (x) The scope of results is enlarged more in line with the MBNQA (xi) 1.1 The concept of leadership finds a place. (xii) 1.2 The aspect of vision and strategies gets more emphasis in 2000. The overall emphasis shifts from operational management to organisational management. Both these changes are in line with MBNQA. Note: The numbers given in the above table correspond to the section number in DP criteria 2000.

Table 2. 5 Differences in checklists of Deming Prize 1992 and Deming Prize 2000 Source: developed for this research.

Now it will be seen how the other prominent quality award the MBNQA has changed during the last 12 years. The set of criteria for MBNQA in 1992 and in 2004 are compared in Table A1.7 at Appendix 1. Their differences are reproduced in Table 2.6 for ready reference.

43

Differences in MBNQA (1992) and MBNQA (2004) (i) Leadership gets more weightage. Also, management for quality of 1992 gets subsumed in a more general

management (ii) Information recognised as an asset which need to be managed. (iii) In 2004, strategic quality planning of 1992 gets subsumed in the overall strategic plan. (iv) In 2004, quality plan of 1992 gets subsumed in over all action plan. In fact in place of an exclusive quality and performance plan in 1992, there is the mention of human resource plan and of benchmarking of performance in 2004. (v) There is less weightage on human resource focus in 2004. (vi)Process, the core of quality management in 1992, gets much less weightage in 2004. (vii) In 2004, Business results as against mere quality result becomes the hallmark of success. In 2004, financial results and HRD gets recognised as a necessary component of organisational excellence. (viii) There is substantial increase in weightage on business results (ix) Customer, who was the king in 1992 with 30% weightage, gets much less weightage.

Table 2. 6 Differences in the criteria of MBNQA 1992 and MBNQA 2004 Source: developed for this research.

Review of literature till 2003 indicates that, in general, there has been a lack of clear understanding of how the Deming Prize is awarded and its marking criteria. JUSE which administers the award also recognised it (What is the Deming Prize n.d., p.6). In recognition of this, in 2003 in its The guide for the Deming Application Prize 2003 JUSE for the first time elaborated its marking criteria and how the Deming Prize is awarded to make the examination process more transparent and to make the intentions of the Deming Prize more clear (What is the Deming Prize n.d., p.6). Yet it cautions that the committees basic stance on the examination criteria remains unchanged that is the criteria should reflect each applicant organizations circumstances (What is the Deming Prize n.d., p.6). Thus there is no model which a company is supposed to conform to. Rather, the applicants are expected to understand their current situation, establish their own themes and objectives and improve and transform themselves company-wide. The DP committees view the examination process as an opportunity for mutual development rather than examination. (What is the Deming Prize n.d., p.6). Therefore it can be seen that the approach of DP is entirely different from those of other quality awards. Considering that it is the oldest quality award, and after all its mutations over the last 50 years, the Deming Committee still finds it worthwhile to retain an altogether different approach, the researcher considers it desirable to highlight its difference with that of MBNQA which, as the literature review has shown, is the source of most other awards (Tan et al. 2003). 44

2.2.3.4 Commonalities and differences between DP (2004) and MBNQA(2004) The major differences between them in 2004 are indicted below. (a) The examination of an organization under DP is conducted under evaluation criteria and judgement criteria. The evaluation criteria itself consists of basic categories, unique activities and role of top management. Thus, DP assesses an organization on three different dimensions of basic categories, unique activities and role of top management while MBNQA assesses the organization on the single additive dimension of a composite score. This makes DP a more detailed examination. (b) As per the judgement criteria of DP, an organization will have to achieve 70% in each of the three evaluation criteria. But in MBNQA, the overall points obtained is the sum of the points obtained in each of the seven criteria and two organisations which secure the highest and the second highest overall points get the award. So while MBNQA is more competitive, DP can be taken as more benchmarking oriented. Little wonder the DP committee views the examination process as mutual development and TQM diagnosis in the preceding year is a precondition for applying in the subsequent year. (c) Except for leadership, all other criteria of MBNQA are reflected in the basic categories criteria of DP. The relationship among different constituents of basic categories was, for the first time made public by JUSE in its Deming Application Guide 2003 (www.juse.or.jp). However, the set of interrelationships among different constituents of MBNQA were known since the beginning of MBNQA. (d) In case of the Deming Prize, even within basic categories, the examination subcommittee can make changes in its items and points which are not there in MBNQA. Thus unlike other quality awards, DP fully recognises that an organization can have, for its development, its unique set of quality related activities. In fact the emphasis of the examination is on whether or not the company has developed a unique brand of TQM suitable for its business and scale (What is the Deming Prize n.d, p.5) For any company, the shortest way to win the DP is to manage its business in the most appropriate manner to the company (What is the Deming Prize n.d, p.5). DP also gives full recognition to organization specific TQM by examining unique activities of an organization as a separate dimension. The existence of unique activities indicates that DP allows different flavours of quality management to grow and get institutionalised in different organizations. But the MBNQA criteria are fixed.. 45

(e) Unlike what some literature on the Deming Prize indicate ( Vokurka, Stading & Brazeal 2000, Khoo & Tan 2003), role of top management is very strongly emphasized in the Deming Prize. In fact it is one of the three dimensions for examination in DP while it is just one criterion in MBNQA. Further, a deeper look at the points which are examined in role of top management in DP, indicates that now there is a good deal of congruence in the role of leadership as postulated by DP and by MBNQA. However, DP talks about leaderships enthusiasm about TQM, as it talks about the enthusiasm of every one else in basic

categories (The guide for Deming Application Prize 2004, p.34) which perhaps points to an attitudinal slant of DP examination. (f) In MBNQA 45% of the weightage is given to result, but in DP, result as a category is only seen to have been alluded to in the list of viewpoints as Contribution to Realization of Corporate Objectives. (g) Unlike what has been reported in some research (Izadi, Kashef & Stadt, 1996, Lee 2002, p.144) DP does not require advanced statistical methods to be used in an organization (What is the Deming Prize? n.d, p.5). (h) The DP committee members undertake the examination free. However JUSE charges JPY 500,000 (US $ 5000) as the administrative fee. The MBNQA charges US$ 5000 as application fee and between US $ 10000 to US $ 35000 for site visit. (i) What is most noteworthy about DP is that in spite of all the mutations it has undergone in the last 12 years, it has retained its basic congruence with the philosophy of Deming the Deming 14 points (see section 2.1.2.1). It also continues to pay attention to whether the organization is free from the seven deadly diseases (Deming 1993) which are listed below: (i) Lack of constancy of purpose. (ii) Emphasis on short-term profit. (iii) Evaluation of performance, merit rating, or annual review. (iv) Mobility of management, job-hopping. (v) Management by use of visible figures, with little consideration of figures that cannot be made visible. (vi) Excessive medical costs (peculiar to US industry only) (vii) Excessive cost of liability That DP still calls its process challenging and developmental indicates that one needs to have constancy of purpose for this. It still insists that it will take three years or more to be ready to win the prize- so one does not expect a short term jump in profit by quickly going for DP. It still insists that one year before, the organization will have submit to TQM 46

diagnosis so that the organization receives a diagnosis - a recommendation for the introductory or promotional stage of TQM (Deming Application Guide 2003, p. 36). It still insists on a on site visit the core of the examination (Deming Application Guide 2004, p.19) so that it can get information beyond visible figures. Thus from among many TQM award models, the researcher decided to use the Deming Prize as the preferred model in this research. A question arises: In spite of the differences, are there any commonalities between the DP and the MBNQA ? A look at the changes which have come about in these two awards between 1992 and 2004, shows that in 1992, the emphasis in both was on excellence in product/ service quality. But by 2004, the emphasis shifted from a mere technical quality to emphasis on quality of all organisational processes. That is, quality had now acquired a strategic dimension. That is, by the year 2004, TQM award had come to mean organisational excellence and long-term business success. In fact almost all the national awards now look upon their award model as a model of organisational excellence (Tan et al. 2003, Lee 2002). Thus today, TQM is considered a set of business strategy which aims at harnessing the full capacity of all organisational resources (Kruger 2001). From this point of view, TQM can be accepted as a model of organisational excellence. The researcher considers it an important understanding, arrived at from literature review, that today, TQM is akin to organisational excellence.

2.2.3.5 TQM and awards in public sector All the awards that have been looked at, started with private sector organizations in mind. A question arises whether these awards need to look different in the context of public sector. In recognition of the different framework which public sector may require, the Federal Quality Institute (FQI) was established in U.S.A. (Research Results Digest 1994, p.4). FQI also administers the Presidents award for Quality for the public sector in the US. However, there is no equivalent of FQI in India. The Presidents Award was instituted in 1988 for the top federal public sector performer in the USA. The President award, though based on the Baldridge Award, was governed by a briefer and less stringent set of criteria. (Harwick & Russell 1993, p.34). Also, the Baldridge section on public responsibility was not included in the President award 47

(Harwick & Russell 1993, p. 36). The contenders for the President Award must qualify by first winning a prototype award - the President Prototype Award (Harwick & Russell 1993, p.34). The President Prototype Award was instituted to encourage departments into the quality process. Outside the U.S.A., awards like the National Quality Award for the Public Transportation and Traffic Industry was instituted by the Brazilian National Public Transport association (www.antp.otrg.br). This quality award is also an adaptation of the MBNQA model. ( International Awards n.d.). Thus, the answer to the question whether there are separate set of yardsticks in quality awards for public sector appears to be no. Even in the Indian context, though the Indian Peacock award is divided into three categories, one of them being for government organizations, the criteria for all the three categories are the same.. However, beyond the limited ambit of quality awards, another approach which governments across the world used for better public management in the 1980s and 1990s was the reform movement. Realising the importance of quality in government, there has been instances of innovation in different government departments across the world (Kamarck 2003, p.26). For example, the United States adopted Customer Service standards for its federal agencies. In Europe, Citizen Charters were the response of the British government for the introduction of a quality movement in the public sector. These charters articulated explicit performance for everything from waiting times at the National Health Service to expectations for the punctuality of the railway system. Portugal established Quality Charters for public services and Ireland established Northern Ireland Quality Awards for excellence in Northern Ireland public sector organization. This award model was based on the European Foundation Quality Managements (EFQM) Business Excellence Model (McQuillan 2003). In 1998, the Australian government embarked upon a major reorganisation of 78 different social service programs affecting 7 million customers. It was called centrelink and it has been reported to be one of the most studied instances of quality and customer driven government in the world (Kamarck 2003, p.24). It flattened hierarchies, put the most experienced people in the front, instituted performance pay. All this helped in creating a customer culture. A more detailed review of the infusion of quality consciousness in government working will be undertaken in the study of bureaucracy. The literature review till now focussed on the development of TQM in Japan and in the western countries. An attempt was then made to understand TQM through the lens of less developed

48

TQM awards. The growth and status of TQM in India and the Indian quality awards are now reviewed.

2.2.3.6 TQM in India and Indian quality awards

The literature review, till now, shows that in the western literature, TQM has been an important field of study for the last two to three decades. In the Indian context however, the TQM initiative was first set up by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in the early 1980s. In 1987 and 1988, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) invited the Juran Institute to India to conduct workshops and in 1989 a team from India attended the Deming seminar in London. Because of the strategic tie-up between many Japanese automobile manufacturers and Indian automobile manufacturers, there have been TQM implementations in some Indian automobile companies such as Maruti and TVS Suzuki. It has been reported that some Indian companies - mostly ancillary suppliers to large automobile manufacturers in India had tied up with Japanese consultants to implement total quality (Business Today reported by Jagadeesh 1999). Jagadeesh further adds that, in general, the manufacturing sector in India is well aware of the importance of quality but the service sector, mostly government owned, lags behind the manufacturing sector in all aspects that imply quality. Also, there are large variations in the depth and the spread of quality culture among Indian organizations. Some are comparable to the best in the world, but the bulk of Indian companies are yet to make use of the various techniques for continuous improvement. In what is perhaps one of the few studies of TQM in the Indian public sector, Gyani (1995) talks about implementation of TQM in Indian Oil wherein all the workers were involved through small group activities at the shop floor. The special point about this TQM attempt was that the TQM project began at the shop - floor level involving workers and then moved onto the middle management levels. Blythe and Shahani (1997) have described a continuous improvement initiative at Glaxo which has been successfully implemented. In this report, in order to give TQM the right organisational connotation, they named their initiative as 'Glaxo Excellence Process'. They cited commitment from the top as one of the key enablers (Blythe & Shahani 1997, p.16). Blythe, Rao and Shahani (1997, p.104) further add that the simpler the process used, the better it works. The basic rules are to determine the starting point, define the destination, map the route, put in place a structured and organized training 49

programme for all staff, set goals and measurables and launch the recognition system. Gondhalekar and Karamchandani (1994) have described a kaizen improvement system started at Godrej. They identified the variables which affected this improvement system and further classified them into two categories: (i) Attributes of individuals (a) organisational level (higher the better) (b) age (middle age 30-50, better than extreme age) (c) recognition, (d) communication ability (e) type of work (shopfloor better than desk) (ii) attributes pertaining to design of the system (a) visible top management commitment (b) mandatory participation. In a countrywide survey of competitiveness of Indian manufacturing industry, it has been reported that quality is the topmost competitive priority of Indian firms (Chandra & Sastry 2001). In a study of propagation of quality management practices among Indian manufacturing companies since 1985, Mandal et al. (2000) have stressed the improvement of organisational culture in the direction of team working, harmony and participation. The same study also reports that there were a small number of companies which have started using SQC techniques but the bulk of the focus continued to be on inspection as a means of achieving quality. In fact, it has been remarked (Harrington reported by Jagadeesh 1999) that companies with poor performance went bankrupt in other parts of the world but were still surviving in India. This means there is still scope for bad products in India. As the concept of quality began to be internalised by the Indian industry, spurred to a great extent by competition, quality awards were instituted on the lines of Malcolm

Baldridge award and European Quality award. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) was introduced in 1987, and the European Quality Award was introduced in 1991. In comparison, the first Indian quality award - Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award (RGNQA) - was instituted in 1991. Thereafter a number of quality awards were also announced. This was a measure of the maturing of quality related concepts in India. In Table 2.7, different Indian quality awards and their criteria have been compared. In order to understand the philosophy behind these awards, a quote from CII-EXIM award is reproduced: The purpose of creating this award was to set a challenge for industry to scale new heights of quality and leadership. It does this in part by creating role model 50

organizations, which exemplify the application of the TQM approach to the achievement of business success - this is business excellence(Wali, Gupta & Deshmukh, 2000, p. 287). It is thus noted that in the Indian quality awards also, TQM is considered as the equivalent to business excellence.

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Awards

Golden Peacock Award 2003

CII-EXIM Award

IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj Award

Rajiv National Award (1999) Bureau of

Gandhi Quality

Organizations

Institute New Delhi

of

Directors,

Confederation of Indian and Industry Export-

Indian Merchants Chamber Bombay

Indian

Standards, New Delhi

Import Bank of India, New Delhi Criteria Organisational leadership Strategic planning Human resource Management 100 100 Policy and strategy People management 90 80 120 Leadership 100

Leadership 100

Leadership 100 Policies and strategies

Strategic planning Human resource

80

100

100

Human

resource

management 50

development and management Enablers Information analysis 60 Information analysis Resources 90 Resources 100 80

Process Management

120

Processes

140

Process management

140

Processes

150

Sub total 500 Customer Satisfaction Employee Satisfaction Results Impact on society 100 100 150

Sub total 500 Customer satisfaction People satisfaction Impact on society 60 90 200

Sub total 500 Customer satisfaction 100

Sub total 500 Customer satisfaction Employee satisfaction Impact on environment society 100 and 50 200

Business results

150

Business Results

150

Business Focus

400

Business results Sub total 500 Total

150

Sub total 500 Total 1000

Sub total 500 Total 1000

Sub total 500 Total 1000

1000

Table 2. 7 Major Indian National Quality Awards Source: developed for this research.

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It is seen from the table that all the four Indian awards have given almost the same weightage to different quality criteria.

2.2.3.7 Indian quality awards vs. MBNQA & EQA When these quality awards were instituted, they were generally based on western quality models of MBNQA and EQA ( Chandra & Adur 1999). Even now, the comparison of Indian quality awards with MBNQA and EQA show that there are striking similarities among the enablers and the results of the Indian quality awards vis--vis the corresponding enablers and results of the western quality awards. The relative weightage given by Indian quality awards on different criteria are also similar to those given by EQA and MBNQA as shown in Table 2.8.

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Golden Peacock Award 2003 Organisational leadership 12% Strategic quality planning 10% Human resource utilization 10%

CII-EXIM Award

IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj Award

Rajiv National

Gandhi

MBNQA

EQA

Quality Award Leadership 10% Policies and 10% Leadership 11% Strategic planning 8% Leadership 10% Policy & strategy 8%

Leadership 10%

Leadership 10%

Policy and strategy People management

8%

Strategic planning

8%

strategies

9%

Human resource

10%

Human resource management 5%

Human resource focus 10%

People management 9%

development and management Information 6% management Resources 9% Information analysis 8% Resources 10% Customer & Information analysis & 8% Resources 9%

market focus 8% Process 12% Processes 14% Process management Sub total 50% Sub total 50% Customer 15% Satisfaction Employee 10% Satisfaction Impact on 10% society Customer satisfaction People satisfaction Impact on society 6% 9% 20% Customer satisfaction 10% Customer satisfaction Employee satisfaction Impact on 10% 5% 20% (customer focused result, human resources result, organisational effectiveness result, supplier partner result, Business results 15% Sub total 50% Total 100% Business Results Sub total 50% Total 100% 15% Business Focus Sub total 50% Total 100% 40% Business results Sub total 50% Total 100% 15% fin & market 45% Business Result Sub total 50% Total 100% 15% & Customer satisfaction 20% People satisfaction 9% Impact on Society 6% Sub total 50% Sub total 50% 14% Processes 15% Process management Sub total 55% Sub total 50% 10% Processes 14%

management

environment and society

result)

Sub total 45% Total 100%

Table 2. 8 Comparison of Indian Quality Awards with MBNQA & EQA Source : developed for this research.

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Since these Indian awards are based on western award models, a question arises that how do these Indian quality awards compare with the critical success factors referred to earlier in this research. Wali, Deshmukh and Gupta (2003, p. 9) in their study have compared the CSFs with one of the Indian quality awards - CII EXIM Business Excellence Award (CEBEA). The same are indicated in Table 2.9.

Factors proposed

Corresponding CEBEA criteria

Leadership, Creativity and Quality Strategy Worker Manager Interactions Results and recognition Work culture Information and Data Management Customer Focus Values and Ethics Communication across the organization Team Working Congenial inter-personal relations Delegation and Empowerment Process Improvement

Leadership/Policy & Strategy * Business Result/Impact on society * * Customer satisfaction * People Satisfaction People Management People Management/ People Satisfaction People Management /People Satisfaction Processes

Table 2. 9 CSFs for TQM and CEBEA criteria Source: Wali, Deshmukh and Gupta (2003, p. 9).

It is worthwhile to compare the commonalities between the CSFs discovered by Wali, Deshmukh and Gupta with the TQM implementation at Glaxo and the Kaizen improvement at Godrej mentioned earlier. Training, communication, top management commitment and recognition are common among them which perhaps pointed to the universality of these factors. It was noted in section 2.2.3.3 that in the case of Deming Prize, the very approach to quality award was different. It was also noted in section 2.2.3.2 that studies have shown that the South Asian awards have a different flavour which takes into account the specific culture and demography of this region. Viewed in this background, the similarities between the Indian quality awards and the western quality award indicate that in designing the Indian 55

awards, perhaps, no specific care of the Indian context was taken. A comparison of CSFs of Wali, Deshmukh and Gupta and CII-EXIM award criteria (see Table 2.9) also shows critical success factors for which there are no corresponding criteria in the CII EXIM model. Thus the researcher takes a stand that while the Indian quality award models may be taken as a measure of reasonable prevalence of TQM in an Indian organization, but from a developmental point of view, for the implementation of TQM in the Indian Railways, the Indian or for that matter, international quality award models need not be taken as the starting point.

2.2.4 Synthesis of system dynamics, CSFs and quality award criteria Since the survey of the Western, Japanese and Indian studies for the identification of factors for successful implementation of TQM is now completed, it is worthwhile to compare these factors to understand their commonalities and the differences. The commonalities are that across the world, leadership, policy and strategy, human resource management, process management, information and data management, customer and market focus and supplier focus are the factors or enablers which contribute to the success of TQM. This is confirmed by the three sources of studies: (a) the study of different award models (Hui & Chuan 2002; Tan et al. 2003; Vokurka, Stading & Brazeal 2000); (b) by empirical research done in arriving at CSF for TQM (Black & Porter 1995 in the European context; Motwani, Mahmoud and Rice 1994 in the Indian context; Saraph et al. 1989 in the American context; Wali, Deshmukh and Gupta 2003 in the Indian context) and (c) by the modelling of TQM on the lines of system dynamics (Bauer, Reiner & Schamschule 2000; Khanna et al. 2002). However, different countries tend to look at these factors differently. For example, the cultural pattern of a country and within a country the organisational values of different companies have been found to be variables which affect TQM implementation. Another difference is with respect to the path followed by organizations of these countries in their pursuit of TQM. Given the birth of TQM in Japan, it is not surprising that the Japanese organizations have readily gone for TQM implementation. But the western countries have in general used ISO as the first tentative step towards TQM. Indian organizations too, have in general used ISO as their first step towards development of a quality consciousness. Thus Melan (1998) has suggested a contingency approach for the implementation of TQM in an organization. Chin and Pun (2002, p.274) have quoted Lewis and Smith who have identified 56

six common approaches which have been used to develop and/or to implement TQM. They are: (a) Guru approach. Here the writings of Demings 14-point model, Crosbys 14 steps and Jurans triology are used for analysis and implementation. (b) Japanese model approach. This uses the writings of Japanese writers such as Ishikawa and the educational guidelines (e.g. Kaizen, 5S, etc) of the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers. (c) Total quality element approach. This uses elements (e.g. quality circles, statistical process control and quality function deployment) of continuous improvement rather than full implementation. (d) Hoshin planning approach. This focuses on successful planning, deployment and execution and diagnosis of quality practices and performance measurement. (e) Quality awards/ business excellence criteria approach. This includes MBNQA, EQA, Australia Quality Award and similar quality awards to identify areas of improvement. (f) Industrial company/leader model approach. This is where leaders from one organization visit an organization using TQM, identify its system and integrate this information with their own to create a customised approach. Visiting and learning from the quality/excellence award winners is an example of this approach. While all these approaches work, the most useful TQM implementation plan is an integrated blend of them (Lindsay & Petrick 1997). The moderating influence of culture on TQM implementation and the adoption of ISO path by many western organizations as the first step towards adoption of TQM indicate that the worked done in these areas need to be studied in detail. Thus another set of immediate disciplines which need to be studied for implementation of TQM in the Indian Railways are (i) TQM and ISO.

(ii) TQM and culture. (iii)The Indian cultural values. (iv) The organisational values of Indian Railways. Since Indian Railways is part of Indian government our study of organisational values of Indian Railways should begin with the study of Indian bureaucracy and then shift to Indian Railways. First the work done in the areas of TQM and ISO will be reviewed.

57

2.2.5 Total Quality Management and ISO Starting as a management and quality assurance guidelines in 1987, today ISO 9000: 2000 standard is a structured basis to develop systematic programs for quality improvement. ISO certification has been one of the popular routes for organizations across the world in their quest for quality. In a cross-country study to assess the impact of ISO 9000: 1994 on quality management, Rao, Raghunathan and Solis (1997) studied firms in the USA, Mexico, India and China which were then consolidated to form a global perspective. This study found significant differences between ISO 9000 registered and non-registered firms in terms of quality management practices. The ISO 9000 registered companies exhibited higher levels of quality leadership, information and analysis, strategic quality planning, human resource development, quality assurance, supplier relationships, customer orientation and quality results. Hill, Hazlett and Meegan (2001, p.153) have reported that in the UK organizations seek ISO 9000 certification first, and then move towards TQM. Agus and Abdullah (2000) in their study of Malaysian manufacturing companies found that companies with ISO certification and long-term TQM adoption were better quality implementers which could give them an edge over their competitors. Escanciano, Fernndez and Vzquez (2001) found in their study of Spanish companies that ISO 9000 certification contributes to a companys progress towards total quality. They also found that companies which went for certification mainly for internal reasons progressed well towards TQM (Escanciano, Fernndez and Vzquez 2001, p.492). Gotzamani and Tsiotras (2002) have found compelling evidence in a study of ISO certified companies in Greece that when a companys true motive behind ISO certification was only advertisement or external pressure, there was no significant correlation with TQM based performance improvement. But when the true motive was to improve their internal operations and product, it was significantly correlated with TQM base performance improvement (Gotzamani and Tsiotras 2002, p.165). Similar result has been reported by Poksinska, Dahlgaard and Antoni (2002) for Swedish companies. A study by Sun (1999) found that among Norwegian firms, ISO certification was significantly correlated with quality results especially the reduction of defective products and customer complaint. However, it had little influence on market position and competitiveness. They concluded that it seems as if there is a tendency for the ISO 9000 standards to be taken as part of a TQM programme in the futureYet it will be long journey for the Norwegian companies to continue the TQM implementation(Sun 1999, p.901). A study in North America found that

58

ISO 9000: 1994 was being adopted as one tool in a larger strategy of achieving competitive advantage through quality management and in this sense, it complemented rather than substituted TQM (Anderson, Daly & Johnson 1999). On the other hand, in a review of the effects of ISO 9000: 1994 certification on small Singaporean firms, Quazi, Hong and Meng (2002) found that ISO certification did not affect quality management practices and quality results. However, they qualified their conclusion with the observation that the composition and characteristics of the firms in the sample may be the reason for such differences in findings. Lack of relationship between ISO 9000: 1994 and TQM implementation was also found by Sun and Cheng (2002) in their study of Norwegian firms. According to them, ISO 9000 aims to standardize certain process and maintain the quality level while TQM aims to establish a quality culture and continuously improve quality level (Sun and Cheng 2002, p. 437). However they also qualified that in order to incorporate the two, ISO 9000: 1994 may be required to be updated to the new version. Curry and Kadasah (2002) found that in Saudi Arabia, ISO 9000 was in itself not sufficient in establishing an effective quality management system nor was it sufficient to produce quality product. They also found that to achieve registration merely to have the certificate with little in the way of supporting infrastructure often causes more problems than it solves(Curry & Kadasah 2002, p.214). In the context of railways, Lee and Lam (1997) have reported a study on KowloonCanton Railway Corp where starting from ISO 9001:1994 they progressed to a TQM programme called quest for excellence through which they reported significant improvement in their working. Two of its activities are worth reporting: (i) The quality procedures and the work instructions were prepared by persons who were directly responsible for, and therefore most clear about, the work processes covered by them. An important part was that the persons were required to consult their staff during the preparation process to ensure that the resultant procedures and instructions were practicable. It created a sense of ownership. This was very much like hoshin planning. (ii) There was no separate quality audit team. The duties of internal audit were assigned to the section managers and line officers selected from different sections. This avoided a conflict of interest with the additional benefit of better understanding of other sections and the exchange of best practices. It is to be noted that all the studies referred above were based on firms which complied with the ISO 9000: 1994 version. In fact during the literature review the researcher could not come across any study made about the impact of ISO 9000: 2000 on the quality 59

management system. This could be because the latest version of ISO came only in December 2000 and it gave a three-year time frame to companies to shift from old standard to the new standard. Therefore, the conceptual similarities between ISO 9000: 2000 and TQM are now assessed.

2.2.5.1 ISO 9000:2000 and TQM

The ISO 9000 version 2000 published in December 2000 is based on eight principles listed below (www.iso.org ): Principle 1: Principle 2: Principle 3: Principle 4: Principle 5: Principle 6: Principle 7: Principle 8: Customer Focus Leadership Involvement of People Process Approach System Approach to Management Continuous Improvement Factual Approach to Decision Making Mutually Beneficial Supplier Relationships

It is to be noted that principle 5 of ISO 9000:2000 does recognise the systems approach to management. Not only this, the eight principles mentioned above also closely resemble the enablers for TQM implementation as synthesised in section 2.2.4. Thus it has been argued that ISO 9000:2000 closely reflects the basic principles of TQM (Kartha 2002). The ISO 9000:2000 family of standards consists of three documents: ISO 9000:2000, Quality Management System Fundamentals and Vocabulary; ISO 9001:2000, Quality Management Systems Requirements; and ISO 9004:2000, Quality Management Systems Guidelines for Performance Improvement. ISO 9004:2000 is a business management tool which companies can use to go above and beyond the foundational elements of ISO 9001. It includes information from different national quality awards such as MBNQA, EQA and JQA (Babicz 2001). Thus ISO 9000:2000 is conceptually closer to the TQM model of excellence. Pheng (2001) have shown the similarities between ISO 9000:2000 and the Japanese 5S principles. All these show the coherence of concepts between ISO 9000:2000 and TQM. In

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fact continuous improvement is the focus of the process based model of ISO 9000:2000 shown in Figure 2.10.

Continual improvement of the quality management system

Management Responsibility

Customers Customers Resource management Measurement, analysis and improvement

Satisfaction

Requirements

Product realization

Product

Value-adding activities

Information flow

Figure 2. 10 Model of a process-based quality management system Source : ISO 9001:2000 standard.

Another similarity between TQM and ISO 9000:2000 has been attempted by Magd and Curry (2003). They have mapped the Demings system of profound knowledge with the components of ISO 9000:2000. The same is shown in Table 2.10.

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ISO 9000 Process

9000 assessment The initial assessment is a detailed review of the companys quality systems and procedures compared with ISO 9000 requirements. This process defines the scope of the ISO project. Quality manual assurance While ISO 9000 standards do not require a quality assurance and policy manual, they do require the company to document everything it does and every system that affects the quality of the finished product. The quality manual is often used because it is a good way to get all the necessary documentation together in one place. Training Everyone, from top to bottom, needs training in two areas. First, they need an overall understanding of ISO 9000 vocabulary, requirements , role of the quality manual, and benefits that will be derived from the system. Second, they need to be aware of the actual day-to-day process of upgrading and improving procedures. Documentations work instructions of Processes that have been improved will need new documentation. Once completed, this manual should outline every process a company undertakes that affects the quality of a finished product. Registration audit The final step in ISO 9000 program is an audit by company-chosen register to see that the system is working as described in the quality manual and that the system meets ISO 9000 requirements.

Demings system of profound knowledge

Knowledge the system about The system contains inter-related components working together in harmony. Managers should ensure communication and co-operation among the different parts of the system and each component has a duty to contribute to the whole system. Therefore, it is not important if any of the components is losing money as long as it contributes to the success of the other components. Knowledge variation about Deming emphasises the need to understand variations between people, processes, products, and outcomes; nothing remains constant. Managers should consider variations in process capability and control charts, and most importantly, variations in people. Theory Knowledge of Practice based on past experience is a very important element for managers. Deming claimed that there is no true value of any conditions; any experience might yield different results when different procedures are used. Knowledge psychology of Management should understand the human side of organization and the human interaction of employees. People differ, and management should use these differences for optimisation providing incentives and motivation to succeed.

Table 2. 10 ISO 9000 and Demings system of profound knowledge Source: Magd and Curry (2003). 62

Magd and Curry (2003) have said that the first three elements of Demings profound knowledge and the ISO 9000:2000 process/system approach complement each other. However, Demings Knowledge of Psychology is not evident in ISO 9000 because ISO 9000 does not focus on human interactions (Magd & Curry 2003, p. 248). They concluded that ISO 9000 can be implemented first to create stability and consistency in the organizations work, then the implementation of TQM can enhance employee motivation and operational efficiency, and achieve overall organisational success and performance(Magd & Curry 2003, p.252). Biazzo and Bernardi (2003) have compared the ISO 9000:2000 with MBNQA and EFQM to assess their conceptual convergence. It is shown in Table 2.11.

MBNQA (2001)

Model

EFQM Model (1999)

ISO 9000 (2000)

Visionary leadership

Principle developed in the same way

Principle developed in the same way

Customer-driven excellence Organisational personal learning and

Principle developed in the same way Principle developed in the same way

Principle developed in the same way

Principle developed in the same way (focus on continuous performance) improvement of company

Valuing

employees

Principle developed in the same way

Principle developed partially in the same way (focus on both personnel and supplier

and partners

development) Agility Focus on the future Managing innovation Management by facts Principle developed in a Principle developed in a similar way, but with more emphasis on processes and on their interconnections Principle not developed for Principle not developed Principle not developed Principle given less emphasis Principle not developed Principle not developed Principle not developed

similar way, but with more emphasis on processes Public responsibility and citizenship Focus on result and creating values Principle developed in the same way Principle developed in the same way

Principle developed in the same way

Table 2. 11 Comparison of MBNQA, EFQM and ISO 9000 Source: Biazzo & Bernardi (2003).

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The above studies indicate that it is reasonable to conclude that ISO 9000:2000, unlike ISO 9000:1994 has embodied many concepts of TQM. If ISO 9000 and TQM are so interrelated, what are the key factors which facilitate a successful transition from ISO 9000 to TQM?

2.2.5.2 Factors affecting transition from ISO to TQM Hill, Hazlett and Meegan (2001) studied more than 100 ISO registered companies over a period of time and concluded that the key factors affecting transition from ISO to TQM are:

(i) Transformational leadership Hill, Hazlett and Meegan (2001) said that visionary or transformational leadership is of key importance throughout the transition process. They also quote Smith (Hill, Hazlett and Meegan 2001, p.153) who has highlighted the need for the leader to enrol others as co-creators of the vision arguing that people who are enrolled or committed, identify themselves with the vision and apply themselves to effecting its realisation. Bass (1990) also emphasised the need for more transformational leaders at higher levels in an organization as then lower level employee will emulate transformational behaviour. (ii) A capacity and willingness to learn ISO 9000 certification facilitates in learning how to learn(Hill, Hazlett & Meegan 2001). Organisational learning is, again related to visionary leadership(Hill, Hazlett & Meegan 2001, p. 153) because major influences on the motivation to learn includes leader behaviour (Bass & Avolio quoted in Hill, Hazlett & Meegan 2001, p.153). Innovative thinking reinforced through a tolerance of risk and error and teamwork can be effective in organisational learning (Schein 1993). Thus the willingness to learn is seen to be dependent on visionary or transformational leadership. Hackman (1990, p.84) found that learning from experience leads to performance enhancement of a team. He also found that that capacity to learn depends on the amount of trust among team members (Hackman 1990, p.84). (iii) Executive mind set. This depends on three parameters: (a) Understanding quality concepts, why the transition is being attempted, what it will entail and the potential benefit derived from the effort.

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(b) Executive motivation It is what drives the underlying behaviour. If the senior managements primary behaviour in pursuing ISO 9000 is to have a badge of competence., then the drive to move beyond the standard will be weak ( Hill, Hazlett & Meegan, 2001, p. 150). One aspect of motivation is goal setting both personal goals and goals for others. Once again the role of transformational leaders comes to the fore because they articulate goals, build an image and arouse motivation ( Hill, Hazlett & Meegan 2001, p.152). (c) Executive intent This refers to the difference between espoused theory (what they say) and theories-in-use (the implied theory in what they do). Thus it is a measure of the difference between what managers say about TQM and what they actually do. This is also in consonance with the observations by Gotzamani and Tsiotras (2002) and Curry and Kadasah (2002) referred in section 2.2.5 that the true reason behind ISO certification has an impact on an organizations transition to TQM. Hill, Hazlett and Meegan (2001) have concluded that the obsession for winning and/or commitment to a compelling vision have the potential to strengthen intentions and to increase behavioural control at both individual and corporate levels. This discussion about factors which affect transition from ISO to TQM shows that a transformational leadership has substantial bearing on the other two factors. This makes transformational leadership a crucial area to study. This has been done in section 2.2.8. Till now the impact of ISO on quality orientation of companies outside India has been reviewed. What has been the impact of ISO on quality management of Indian companies? The same is now reviewed.

2.2.5.3 Quality movement in India and ISO Mandal et al. (2000) made a study of the propagation of quality management practice since 1985 and concluded that with the opening up of the Indian economy and subsequent increased competition, Indian companies are becoming more quality conscious. In February 1991, an Indian company obtained the first ISO 9000 certificate in India (Jagadeesh 1999). By December 1998, about 3500 companies were certified in India (Mehta 1999, p.649). In 1996, the Government of India set up the Quality Council of India (QCI) which acts as national agency for quality certification and it also administers the National Quality Campaign.

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Gupta (2000), in what is perhaps the first study to assess the differences between the ISO and non-ISO organizations in India, found that the following four statistically significant differences do exist between them: (i) Product design (ii) Training (iii) Use of quality in strategic planning (iv) Team building ISO 9000 is now generally recognised as a launching pad for implementation of TQM. (Khanna et al. 2002; Umesh, Bhusi & Kumar 2000). Acharya and Ray (2000) did a study of about 1200 ISO 9000 certified organizations in India. They have found that ISO implementation has benefited these companies in the following three areas: (i) Better understanding of process/ activities being performed. (ii) Better understanding of responsibilities/ authorities. (iii) Better linkage to other functions across the organization. The study also found that quantitative techniques are rarely used in analysis of noncompliance, customer complaints and control of processes and find and fix it approach is still in usage rather than a disciplined problem-solving approach(Acharya & Ray 2000, p.266). Rao, Raghunathan and Solis (1997) also found that the level of training in basic and advanced statistical techniques is low. They also reported that the effectiveness of employee involvement and the level of employee participation were low. This is perhaps a pointer that the Indian industry is still in its infancy as far as complete assimilation of tools and techniques of TQM are concerned. Similar opinion has been echoed by Umesh, Bhusi and Kumar (2000) wherein they have indicated that unless our society becomes quality

conscious, TQM/ISO will be only bandwagons ( In Japan quality started from society and came to industry). As long as quality does not become a way of life, (entire society adopts it), TQM will only be in books (Umesh, Bhusi and Kumar 2000, p.170). Acharya and Ray (2000) go on to add that the three most important lessons learnt by the organizations in the process of ISO certification are (i) Teamwork is essential. (ii) People make the system work. (iii)Cooperation and information sharing are needed. The researcher believes that the aspects mentioned above can be called the soft side of an organization, which emanate largely from the culture of an organization. Thus now another major immediate discipline - TQM and culture will be reviewed. 66

2.2.6 TQM and culture The review of quality awards and critical success factors for TQM has shown that culture influences the definition of TQM in a country and it also affects the operationalisation of TQM in a country. Deming also has said that TQM is a management philosophy that requires a radical cultural change from traditional management to continuous improvement management (Yen, Krumwiede & Sheu 2002). However, there has been less attention to how the principles of TQM have been adapted to existing cultures (Chin & Pun 2002, p.274).This necessitates that the impact of a countrys culture and organizations own culture on the implementation of TQM is studied. Noronha (2002) has studied the impact of Chinese culture on TQM. He concludes that whether a TQM program will sustain or fail will depend upon how TQM itself fuses with the quality climate, which is in turn influenced by the national culture setting (Noronha 2002, p.221). Triandis and Bhawuk (1997) have referred to a pioneering study by Hofstede who identified four factors on which culture of different countries differ. The four factors are collectivism-individualism, power distance, masculinity-feminity and uncertainty avoidance. Kanungo and Mendonca (1996) have provided a model to explain the internal work culture of organizations in developing countries based on these four dimensions and one additional dimension of associative thinking-abstractive thinking. The model is shown in Figure 2.11.

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INTERNAL WORK CULTURE

Descriptive assumption about human nature External Locus of control Limited and fixed potential Past & Present orientation Short-Term perspective

Prescriptive assumption about the principles that ought to govern human conduct Passive and reactive stand Moralism Authoritarian & paternalistic Context dependent

Figure 2. 11 Characteristics of internal work culture of organizations in developing countries in the context of their sociocultural environment Source: Kanungo and Mendonca (1996). High power distance cultural dimension means the less powerful members of society accept unequal distribution of power and rewards. A high uncertainty avoidance culture means the extent to which people feel the need to avoid ambiguous situations, and the extent 68

to which they try to manage such situations by providing explicit rules and regulations. In a high uncertainty avoidance culture, people feel uncomfortable without the structure of policies and procedures and employee do not desire a great deal of discretion. Low

masculinity in work setting implies that the orientation of the employees is towards personalised relationship rather than towards performance (Kanungo & Mendonca 1996, p.70).The dimension of high associative thinking and low abstractive thinking implies that people are guided less by abstract rules and principles ( as they apply uniformly to every situation) and more by the existing contextual and historical considerations (Kanungo & Mendonca 1996, p.71).It is akin to context sensitiveness proposed by Sinha and Kanungo (1997). Collectivistic culture refers to societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, which throughout their lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty (Hofstede quoted in Walumbwa & Lawler 2003, p.1087). Tata and Prasad (1998) have assessed the impact of two cultural constructs - power distance and uncertainty avoidance- on TQM implementation. According to Tata and Prasad (1998) high power distance and high uncertainty avoidance culture give rise to control oriented organisational culture and mechanistic organisational structure. However, since TQM introduces significant changes in the distribution of power and status . it may result in failure of TQM implementation (Tata & Prasad 1998, p. 706). Companies which have flexibility-oriented cultures and organic structures are more likely to implement TQM successfully. Similar views have been expressed by Chin and Pun (2002, p.275) that individuals dominated by high power distance and /or a strong uncertainty avoidance do not necessarily want the responsibilities that come with TQM. Aycan et al. (2000) assessed the way in which socio-cultural environment influences internal work culture and human

resource management practice. They found that managers who perceived paternalism and high power distance in their socio-cultural environment did not provide job enrichment and empowerment. Robert et al. (2000) studied the fit of empowerment and continuous improvement with national culture using the theoretical construct of individualismcollectivism and power distance. Collectivism here means societies where group interests supersede individual interest (Hofstede quoted in Walumbwa & Lawler 2003, p. 1084). Robert et al. (2000) found that empowerment was negatively associated with satisfaction in India, but positively associated in US, Mexico and Poland. Continuous improvement was positively associated with satisfaction in all the four countries. Since Indians are high on collectivism (Chhokar 2000; Hofstede quoted in Sinha 1995, p. 100; Sinha et al. 2002), 69

Robert et al. (2000) concluded that a very high power distance country like India, may give rise to negative attitudes in response to empowerment or participation types of practice. On the other hand, individualistic cultural dimension may not fit into the group orientation aspects of TQM. Yen, Krumwiede and Sheu (2002) used the MBTI instrument and found that a top manager personality who had a long-range perspective and was possibility driven, was crucial for TQM practice. This personality dimension was not affected by cultural factors. In line with the studies made by western researchers, cultural change has been found to be a major problem in implementing quality improvement program in India (Mandal et al. 2000). Crosby has said that complacency is a major problem with the Indian management system (Jagadeesh 1999). This necessitates that the a review of Indian work culture be carried out. 2.2.6.1 Indian work culture Sinha and Sinha (1990) and Sinha (1991) have tried to assess the impact of Indian social values on Indian organizations. They identified five social values which affect organisational effectiveness in India:

(i)

Power play in terms of affection (sneh)and deference (shradha): This means those

who yield to power are treated with due and undue favour and those who do not yield to power are discriminated. This has been also termed as affective reciprocity an intense emotionality in caring and being cared for without asking. Affective reciprocity means those who are close to the superior are bestowed with all kinds of and including undue favours, while those who are not, tend to be distanced and discriminated against (Sahay & Walsham 1997, p. 421) (ii) Preference for personalised relationship. This is akin to low masculinity of

Kanungo and Mendonca (1996). (iii) Group imbeddedness: The members of in-group are owned and bound by

personalised relationship while others are strangers and must be distanced (Sinha & Sinha 1990, p. 710). Thus social networking is through own(apane)-other(paraye) dichotomy. (iv) Duty and obligation over hedonism: The emphasis in Hindu religion is on self-

control and containing of impulses. Hence duty consists of appropriate role behaviour which includes protecting in-group members and favouring them over others (Sinha 1997, p.59).

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(v)

Hierarchical perspective: Indians tend to arrange things, persons, relationships, ideas

and almost everything hierarchically. Even the Indian Gods are hierarchised. The high power distance, status consciousness, centralisation of decision making, need to depend upon a patron and so on are manifestation of this preference for hierarchy ( Sinha 1997, p.58). These five social values have been called vertical collectivism by Triandas and Bhawuk (Sinha 1997, p.59) i.e. collectivism where every one within a collective group is put in a hierarchy. How do these social values affect Indian work culture? Research on Indian work culture indicates that high power distance, collectivism and affective reciprocity are major cultural values of Indian managers (Chhokar 2000, Sinha 1997). With respect to uncertainty avoidance earlier studies (Hofstede 1980, quoted by Sinha 1997, p.61) have said Indians are high on uncertainty avoidance but a more recent study (Chhokar 2000, p.22) found Indians to be moderate on uncertainty avoidance. In a cross-cultural study covering 61 countries, Chhokar (2000) found Indians to be midway on uncertainty avoidance. It is generally agreed that successful TQM implementation requires participatory management style in organizations (Ishikawa 1985; Korunka et al. 2003; MBNQA 2000). However, Kanungo and Mendonca (1996) have contended that because of the above dimensions of work culture, the sociocultural environment of developing countries is not conducive to participative management. They postulated that the sociocultural dimensions of high uncertainty avoidance, low individualism, high power distance, low masculinity, and high context-sensitive thinking are incompatible with participative management (Kanungo & Mendonca 1996, p.276). Thus according to them participative leadership becomes a viable option for developing countries only to the extent and degree to which its implementation modalities address the cultural constraints and build on the cultural facilitators. Kanungo and Mendonca (1996, p.283) mention that the environment of developing countries are characterised by high complexity due to presence of heterogeneous elements, low predictability due to presence of unstable and turbulent elements and low munificence due to the scarcity of needed resources. Monetory form of compensation and job security are therefore highly valued by Indian employees (Gopalan & Rivera 1997). Faced with instability and uncertainty, the leader cannot rely on well-defined rules and regulations or established procedures, but must resort to rather flexible and unconventional strategies and courses of action. On the same lines, Sinha and Kanungo (1997) explain the Indian organisational behaviour on the basis of context sensitivity and balancing. Context sensitivity pertains to 71

beliefs about person (patra), time (kal) and ecological (desh) components of environment. Context sensitivity is basically a thinking principle or a mind-set that is cognitive in nature and it determines the adaptive nature of an idea or behaviour in context (Sinha & Kanungo 1997, p.96). Balancing is a behavioural disposition to avoid extremes and to integrate or accommodate diverse considerations. It refers to a tendency to accommodate, integrate or tolerate while coping with the environmental context. The preference for accommodation rather than confrontation leads to few open conflicts, but can result in a state of cold war. Context sensitivity and balancing are related, because the persons who are sensitive to their contexts are also aware of their diverse demands and therefore, have to balance them by adapting their behaviour in order to cope with the environment (Sinha & Kanungo 1997, p.96).They say that traditional systems such as Hindu religion, caste as a form of social stratification, and agricultural mode of production have interacted with foreign invasions and alien rules to give rise to several sociocultural characteristics such as: (i) Group embeddedness and hierarchy while relating to people (patra). (ii) Uncertainty about future and the resultant short term perspective while relating to time (kal), and (iii) Scarcity of resources, deficient infrastructural facilities and poverty syndrome related to ecology (desh).

Sinha et al. (2004) have identified the impact of societal culture on organisational culture in India. They found four major pan Indian societal dimensions: hypocrisy,

corruption, inaction and respect for power. Three dimensions : quick rich disposition, nonwork orientation and face keeping were differently endorsed at different location. Infrastructural facilities had sweeping impact on societal, organisational and managerial dimensions of beliefs, preferences and practices. People from infra-structurally adequate place rated themselves, the people and the organization more positively. Sinha et al. (2004) say that Hofstedes dimension of power distance emerged as a dominant theme in this study. However, collectivism, masculinity and uncertainty avoidance did not appear at the top of managers mind (Sinha et al. 2004, p.7) while these were considered as a part of Indian culture in an earlier study by Kanungo and Mendonka (1996). Triandis and Bhawuk (1997) have said that Indians are shifting towards individualism. These studies bring up the possibility that the cultural values are gradually changing in India. The next section focuses on that.

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2.2.6.2 Duality of traditionalism and modernism in Indian culture It was mentioned earlier that Sinha and Kanungo (1997) have explained the duality of traditionalism and modernism in Indian culture on the three components of the environment person (patra), time (kal) and ecology (desh). They explain that people exhibit both a primary expressive mode that is traditional in nature and a secondary expressive mode that is acquired as a result of the transplantation of the western management system onto the traditional core. Superior-subordinate relationships, work behaviour, and management practices reflect both the primary and secondary modes in varying degree. Based on these two concepts, Sinha and Kanungo (1997) contend that Indian managers have the potential to integrate, blend and accommodate traditional values with western management practice in order to render their organization effective in the face of increasing competition (Sinha & Kanungo 1997, p.103). The aspect of affective reciprocity and a personalised superior- subordinate relationship against contractual relationship has also been noted by Sahay and Walsham (1997). They also refer to own-other syndrome which manifests in social networking. They also say that managers internalise two set of values: those drawn from the traditional moorings of the family and community, particularly values related to affiliation, security, dependency and social obligations; and those drawn from modern education, professional training and the imperatives of modern technology, such as those relating to personal growth, efficiency and collaborative work (Sahay & Walsham 1997, p. 424). Sinha(1997, p.60) has said that two set of values -vertical collectivism and individualism- coexist in Indian organization. Khandwalla (1992) in his study of corporate turnaround also notes that societies which are transiting from the traditional to modernity, internalise two different identities, one passive and dependent, rooted in childhood upbringing, and the other proactive, learnt through exposure to modern institutions, ideas and mores. Which set of behaviours is evoked at work will depend on what cues are emitted at work: to conform and obey, or to take initiative and be dynamic (Khandwalla 1992, p.255). Public enterprises being centralised and rule bound, generally tend to evoke feudal and servile behaviour. This leads him to hypothesize that in collectivities whose members are socialised into both passivity and proactivity, the more bureaucratic and/or authoritarian the top leadership, the sicker will the collectivity become, and the more dynamic and participatory the top leadership, the faster will be its regeneration(Khandwalla 1992, p. 255). In these environments charismatic

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leaders who, by definition are more proactive, entrepreneurial, and change-oriented would seem to provide a better fit for the needs of organizations than leaders who are more inclined to maintain the status quo. Today, charismatic leadership is considered a part of transformational leadership (Srivastava 2003). Earlier transformational leadership was noted as an important mediating factor for transiting an organization from ISO to TQM orientation. Thus the concept of transformational leadership is required to be reviewed in more detail. As mentioned earlier, this will be done in section 2.2.8.

2.2.6.3 Recent changes in Indian work culture The review of Indian work culture in section 2.2.6.1 has continuously emphasised the hierarchical nature, personalised relationship, affective reciprocity as the dominant work culture of Indians. However, section 2.2.6.2 also shows the duality in the Indian work culture on account of the impact of modernisation. It has been said that the political equality experienced since independence has resulted in a desire to effect a decrease in power distance (Chhokar 2000). This means that though the Indians are high power distance persons, they exhibit a preference for reduction in the power distance if possible. Similarly the collectivistic orientation is also under going a change (Chhokar 2000, p.22; Sinha et al. 2002, p. 318) and people have expressed a preference towards decrease in collectivistic orientation (Chhokar 2000, p.22). Gupta et al. (2002) have said that India and much of South Asia aspire for much stronger future orientation and performance orientation. They also value charismatic, team oriented and humane leadership. These call in question: In view of the liberalisation of Indian economy since 1991, what changes have come in the organisational values of Indian managers. Pearson and Chaterjee (2001) have attempted to answer this question. Through their study on 421 Indian managers, they have concluded that in a relatively short time, the fundamental attributes of a competitive market economy have subjugated societal qualities reinforced over hundreds of years and thought to be unchangeable. Among the respondents, 46% were from organizations owned by the government, 56% were holding masters degree or above, 61.8% of them had spent their childhood in joint (extended) family. More than 75% of them were above 40 years of age and were holding senior positions. In this respondent profile, Pearson and Chaterjee found that such deep-rooted Indian cultural values as respect for seniority, valuing tradition over change were perceived to be less important and such 74

new concepts as quality, team work and customer service were rated to be more important. Their result is shown in Table 2.12.

Variable Quality in all work activity Personal integrity Team Work Customer service Social responsibility Workplace harmony Organisational learning Respect for seniority Innovation and creativity Valuing tradition over change Ordered relationship structure Wealth and material possession Note: The lower the mean, the higher level of the perceived importance.

Mean 3.61 3.86 4.37 4.90 5.12 6.57 7.16 7.17 7.29 8.82 8.94 10.21

Std. Dev. 2.40 3.10 2.33 2.98 3.00 2.59 2.45 2.75 3.56 2.72 3.83 2.31

Table 2. 12 Societal values of Indian managers after liberalisation Source: Pearson and Chatterjee (2001).

Pearson and Chatterjee (1999, p.144) therefore concluded that within the context of organizations, Indian employee can embrace global work values while retaining deep connection to their societal culture. The final work goals held by the managers were shaped both by the forces of the economic transformation as well as their indigenous cultural values (Pearson & Chatterjee 1999, p. 144). Similarly, Sinha et al. (2002) found evidence that though the core of Indians continue to be collectivist, the changing socio-economic scenario of the country is creating a shift towards individualism. Khandwalla (1999) has also found that the change in corporate culture seems distinctly compatible with a free, more competitive market environment. A question arises that if India is transiting from its traditional cultural values to more modern cultural values, what is the appropriate leadership intervention in such a situation. Kanungo and Mendonca (1996) claim that the nurturant-task leadership proposed by Sinha (1995) is an appropriate leadership style which can reduce the dysfunctional effects of traditional values such as power distance, uncertainty avoidance, low individualism and low masculinity. 75

2.2.6.4 Nurturant task leadership Relationship orientation as against task or performance orientation has been a central characteristics of effective Indian leaders (Chhokar 2000, p.28). Sinha (1995) has recognised the importance of relationship and has developed a nurturant-task (NT) leadership model. As per this model, the NT leader cares for his subordinates, shows affection, takes personal interest in their well being, and above all is committed to their growth, but provides this nurturance only after subordinates perform the agreed job tasks (Sinha 1990). As per Sinha (1990), from a state of dependency on the leader and constraints of high power distance and authoritarian and paternalistic norms, subordinates can be developed to a state of

preparedness for participative management so that they function as autonomous work groups. This is schematically shown in Figure 2.12. It shows that a subordinate has a bi-directional relationship with his leader who displays a NT leadership style. With time, as the dependence of the subordinate decreases on the leader, the leader can display a combination of NT and participative leadership style and then a participative leadership style. Finally once the subordinate ceases to have any dependence on the leader, both become part of an autonomous group.

NT

NT/P

P Autonomous groups

S1

S2

S3 time

NT= nurturant-task leadership style NT/P = combination of nurturant-task and participative style, P= participative leadership style S1, S2, S3=subordinates, arrow=direction of relationship,

Figure 2. 12 Nurturant-Task leadership process leading to participative management Source: Sinha (1990).

Sinha (1995, p.117) defines nurturance as benevolent paternalism while people orientation in the West is primarily fraternal in nature. Fraternalism assumes equality among members (including the leader). In the West, the members have different resources which 76

they need to share by maintaining a supporting relationship. But in India, nurturance assumes a hierarchical relationship where unequals are bound by affective reciprocity between a senior or superior and a junior or subordinate who needs affection, guidance and direction (Sinha 1995, p.117). Thus, the superior is seen to be kind and the subordinate submissive. Sekhar (2001) considers NT leadership style a modern variation of the leadership style of the legend of Ram. Kanungo and Mendonca (1996, p.74) said that NT leadership promotes the

relationship or people orientation by placing job objectives and recognition of successful performance in a personalised context; and enhances the social achievement orientation through opportunities to experience significant personal achievement for the collective good. This gives rise to the possibility that even though the traditional Indian culture may not be conducive to TQM, it is not an invariant, and it is possible to modulate it towards modern management values required for TQM. Therefore in the next section, Indian culture is compared with culture for TQM.

2.2.6.5 Juxtaposition of culture for TQM and Indian culture Both Tata and Prasad (1998) and Tan and Khoo (2002) have mentioned that a culture of high power distance and/or a strong uncertainty avoidance are not conducive for TQM. It has been seen in section 2.2.6.1 that Indian culture shows high power distance and strong uncertainty avoidance which promotes hierarchical relationship, dependency on superiors and a preference for rules and regulations for every situation rather than having to deal with uncertain situations where discretionary decision making is called for. Also there is a preference for personalised relationship as against professional relationship (Sinha 1995). Does it mean that the Indian culture is not conducive for TQM implementation? The existing literature is silent on this issue. However, there are other Asian cultures which are similar to Indian culture and where the moderating influences of culture on TQM have been studied. Khoo and Tan (2003) have compared the western approach to TQM and the Japanese approach to TQM . The same is shown in Figure 2.13.

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-Employee development -Customer Focus -Social Responsibilities - High emphasis on leadership Overlapping Concepts - Breakthrough Improvements - Autonomy - Workforce Diversity -Employee Empowerment -Leaders Driving Creativity/ Innovation MBNQA Model Western Culture and Management JQA Model Japanese Culture and Management - Kaizen -Keiretsu -Group Learning - Harmony and Respect - Leadership by example/ethics - Shintoism /Buddhism

Figure 2. 13 Socio cultural factors in MBNQA and JQA Source: adapted from Khoo & Tan (2003, p. 22). The Japan specific cultural concepts which have influenced the TQM concept there are dealt now. In a Japanese firm, planning is a task for all members of the company. The top management policy (hoshin) is more than a planning system. It is an organization development process throughout the company. It is recalled that the Deming Prize also looks upon the journey to the award as a developmental process (section 2.2.3.3). Hoshin promotes nemawashi (consensus building), ringi (shared decisions), commitment and loyalty. The effective top down and bottom up communication encourages all employees to act collectively in achieving shared organisational objectives (Khoo & Tan 2003). Japanese Shintoism and Buddhism advocate respect for everyone. Keiretsu are large conglomerates of financially linked group of companies. Owing to the cooperative nature of the Keiretsu

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network, part produced by companies within the group fit together so well that the result is better quality (Khoo & Tan 2003, p.21). 2.2.6.6 Comparison between Japanese culture and Indian culture Are there similarities between these Japanese cultural norms and the Indian culture? Sinha(1995, p.100) says there is significant overlap between Indian and Japanese cultures. He found dependence proneness in both cultures. Hierarchical and personalised relationships are typical in both cultures. However, there are differences as well. Indians are much less group embedded than the Japanese are. Further, Indian work group is internally fragmented in terms of own (apana) and others (paraya). The concept of own is based on ethnic, caste and religious similarities. But the Japanese linkages for own are based on seniority and personal loyalty. Second, work is central to the life of the Japanese, but Indians value work if it is part of a positive personalised relationship (Sinha 1995). Still, if it is possible to change the collective orientation of Indians from the primordial own others to work groups, the so called dysfunctional Indian social values can play a facilitating role in developing a

synergetic work culture (Sinha & Sinha 1990, p. 712). Another difference between Indian culture and Japanese culture is that though both are collectivist in nature, Indian collectivisim is vertical collectivism, where members of a group try to differentiate among each other while Japanese collectivism is more like horizontal collectivism where members of a group do not tend to differentiate among each other (Triandis & Bhawuk 1997, p. 16). A comparison between vertical collectivism and horizontal collectivism is given in Table 2.13.

Dimension Kind of self

Vertical collectivism

Horizontal collectivism

Emphasises difference from Emphasises sameness with others within the in-group others within the in-group Communal sharing Equality matching High equality Low freedom Values harmony

Sociality

Communal sharing Authority ranking

Political system

Low equality Low freedom

Universal value

Values hierarchy

Table 2. 13 Comparison between vertical collectivism and horizontal collectivism Source: Triandis and Bhawuk (1997, p. 27).

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Horizontal collectivism displays a sense of oneness with members of the in-group. Vertical collectivism also displays a sense of serving the in-group and sacrificing for the benefit of the in-group (Triandis & Bhawuk 1997, p. 17). The difference between them lie in the orientation that the vertical collectivism emphasises on how an in-group members are different on certain aspects, the horizontal collectivism emphasises how an in-group members are having the same self. There is equality of status in a horizontal collectivist society, but in a vertical collectivist society, hierarchy is emphasised within a social in-group. Therefore vertical relations are more common in societies high on power distance and horizontal relations are most common on societies low on power distance (Triandis & Bhawuk 1997, p. 17). It has been reported that in the collectivist culture of Japan, harmony is taken to be more important than fairness (Sinha 1997, p.60). In the context of leadership, leadership theorists in both the countries have given a major role to context as a determinant of what will be good leadership and what will be not (Earley & Erez 1997, p. 631).Thus given these comparisons, it is possible to postulate that TQM can be successfully implemented in a government organization like Indian Railways, provided, the Railway specific organisational values are identified and is modulated to suit the tenets of TQM. This begs the question: What are the Railways in the context of TQM? The existing literature is silent on this. In fact, there has not been any study on the Indian Railways from the organisational point of view. However, there are some studies on Indian bureaucracy of which Indian Railways is a part. Therefore studies on bureaucracy will now be reviewed. Indian organisational values of Indian

2.2.7 Indian Bureaucracy Collective decision-making in the form of Panchayat has survived to this date in India. It has now evolved into a democratic government. Today, the policies made by the elected representative are implemented by bureaucracy. A bureaucracy is supposed to be a rational organisational system. Some regard it as the best way to deal with the masses (Ball 1999). However in practice, many bureaucracies do not work efficiently. Myrdal (1968) has differentiated the bureaucracy in terms of soft state and hard state. In hard states, administration is based on the basis of rational bureaucratic principles as propounded by Weber. In a soft state, as in India, administrators habitually circumvent law and regulations. 80

In the soft state political accountability of the rulers to the people, the accountability of the bureaucrats to his/ her boss, . and the rule of law which enables individuals or groups to seek redressal against each other or the state, all get eroded (Khandwalla, 1999, p.126). Taking this logic further, Chhokar (n.d.) and Kumar (2000, p. 60) have said that the Indian state is neither coercive nor enabling. Whatever be the nature of Indian bureaucracy, people have generally been losing their confidence in bureaucracy (Chhokar 2000, p.7). Sinha and Sinha(1990, p. 706) have ascribed the soft work culture to the socially determined work forms.

2.2.7.1 Characteristics of Indian bureaucracy Some of the characteristics of Indian bureaucracy are given below. The first three have been summarised from Khandwalla (1999, chapter 2). (a) Tunnel vision They tend to stress the perspective afforded by their own speciality and ignore other perspective that may be relevant in a situation. Thus, conflicts between specialist departments flare up. They tend to solve the problem of coordination by bringing in other specialists which worsens the problem. Thus teamwork is not the hallmark of a bureaucratic culture (McHugh & Bennett 1999). In fact a movement towards teamwork constitutes a major cultural change in bureaucratic set-up (McHugh & Bennett 1999, p.89). (b) Rule orientation- Rule orientation cues the staff to minimum acceptable behaviour that satisfies rules. Related to rules and regulations is the unintended consequence of creating a culture of mistrust whereby people try to shirk risky work, and that justifies layers and layers of rules and regulations that further chokes collaboration and initiative taking. Since people in bureaucracy are rewarded for following rules and standard procedures, it tends to invert goals and means. That is, adherence to the means the rules and regulations becomes the goal. Thus bureaucracy finds it difficult to adapt to change and generally resists it. (c) Monolithic- At the structural level Indian bureaucracy is quite monolithic. It has standardized recruitment procedures, salary structure, rules for conducting business and audits and accounting procedures. At the functional level, there are powers delegated to make routine decisions, but power to make discretionary decision tends to be centralised (Narain 1990). There are many checks and balances which slow down decision-making, discourage initiative taking and adaptation to local circumstances (Narain 1990). Monolithic systems tend to be rigid and inertial, and often exhibit the phenomenon of punctuated equilibrium: a 81

long period of relative inflexibility during which the perception of inadequacy of the system in coping with changes and challenges accumulates, until a situation arises when the system falls into disrepute (Orton & Weick 1990). Orton and Weick maintain that the cost of punctuated equilibrium system is the long delay in introducing large as well as local innovations and therefore long periods of declining performance of the state. The challenge therefore is to minimize the monolithic features of bureaucracy (Khandwalla 1999, p. 257). (d) Hierarchical The Indian bureaucracy is deeply hierarchical. It a deeply ingrained value in the Indian government. In fact Pai Panandiker & Kshirsagar (1978, p.161) have said that the steeply hierarchical propensities and traditions of Indian bureaucracy need to be curbed. (e) Poor in implementation The Indian bureaucracy is considered weak in

implementing policies (Kumar 2000, p. 58). This is partly because of emphasis given by traditional Indian ethos to thought over action. Another reason is that Indians are prone to idealistic thinking as against pragmatic thinking which makes one seek perfect solutions. This either results in no action or very delayed action (Kumar 2000, p.61). However, this gap between thought and action, instead of leading to dissonance are balanced, accommodated, integrated and allowed to coexist (Marriott quoted in Sinha 1997, p.61 emphasis in original). There are diverse conclusions on the managerial style of Indian bureaucrats. A few studies have found the managerial style to be directive or manipulative rather than participatory (Pai Panandiker & Kshirsagar 1978; Mehta 1988; Sharma 1992). However Ramamurti (1987) has said that when Indian managers in the public sector are free to act independently, they can be expected to follow strategies which increase profit and resist those that seek to reduce profit. But, when they are not free to act independently, their decision depend on more complex factors. Sahay and Walsham (1997, p. 419) have linked the Indian social system and Indian bureaucracy and said that the Indian bureaucracy rigidly adheres to rules yet there is personal alliance between businessmen and bureaucrats leading to personal gratification (we again see here the Indian tendency of personalised relationship cropping up researchers note). Little wonder, the Indian government has been rated as one the most corrupt in the world (Khandwalla 1999, p.219). Gupta (1995), Myrdal (1968) and Sinha et al. (2004) have dealt with different aspects of corruption in Indian bureaucracy. Though there have been many reports about how to make the Indian bureaucracy more responsive, it is felt that only cosmetic changes have been achieved (Pai Panadiker & Kshirsagar 1978, p. 158).

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2.2.7.2 Changing the bureaucracy Resistance to change is well documented (Hersey, Blanchard & Johnson 2002, p. 376; Robbins 1997, p. 723). In the context of the public sector, Kamarck (2003) reports that there is little incentive to innovate in the public sector. Yet, there have been many attempts to reform bureaucracy the world over. Some of them have failed and some have succeeded. Caiden (1991) has identified several reasons why reforming the bureaucracy fails: (a) Imposed implementation often does not work. Cooperation and participation of the affected staff is important. (b) Recipes applied without taking into account local culture and activities often do not work. (c) Unattainable objectives- they are abstract or too ambitious. (d) Obstructive structure, such as excessive or inadequate hierarchy, poor communication mechanisms and poor conflict resolution mechanism. (e) Indecisiveness (f) Narrow vision- There is wide choice of instrumentalities for the reform process, such as public enquiries, changes in law, scientific management, budgeting, automation, decentralisation, privatisation, debureaucratisation and so forth. Often, reforms fail because the reformer may over rely on just one or two instrumentalities such as change in law or changes at the top. (g) Poor monitoring

Notwithstanding the failure of public sector reform, there have been instances of successful reforms in the public sector including some in the third world countries. Campos and Root (1996) have examined how the bureaucracy was made growth oriented in east Asian economies. They found that one crucial institutional innovation was the creation of competent, powerful but accountable bureaucrats. This was achieved by taking the following steps: (a) The politicians were able to convince officials that economic growth was the overriding national objective as in Taiwan. In South Korea, there was close interaction between the top political executives and the bureaucracy. The President would visit each ministry to discuss goals and strategies and review the performance during the next visit. 83

(b) Institutionalising a meritocracy in bureaucracy. Non-performance and corruption were punished. (c) Relatively low differential in public and private sector compensation. Government compensation in Singapore was about 15% higher than in the private sector. (d) Most states framed service rules to protect officials from their seniors and from politicians as in Japan. This shows that it is possible to make significant change in bureaucracy notwithstanding its many shortcomings. An example of changing the working style of bureaucracy in a third world country comes from Malaysia. TQM was required to be implemented in different government agencies (Hamid 1995; Khandwalla 1999, p.63). In 1989, the Malaysian government launched a countrywide Excellent Work Culture programme. Different state agencies reviewed their operations with full participation of its employees. Quality awards ranging from national level- called Prime Minister Quality Award to district and local level were instituted. Fundamental values like productivity, quality of service, innovativeness, customer orientation, discipline, integrity and accountability, and professionalism were stressed. Three important factors which contributed the most in adoption of these values were: consensus building for change, support from top most political leadership and keen monitoring by it, and a reward structure which reinforced excellence In the context of railways, Japanese National Railways (JNR) was a public sector unit. Much like Indian Railways, it had about 200,000 surplus employees, and it had to invest in unprofitable, remote routes. However, it was able to convert a loss of US$ 4 billion in 1986 to a profit of US$ 3.6 billion in 1990 without raising freight and passenger fare. This was achieved by reorganising JNR into smaller units, reducing the staff and giving these units freedom from parliamentary approval of budget and also permission to diversify into other businesses (Khandwalla 1999, p.133). JNR was subsequently privatised. However it has been reported that application of TQM in railway corporations is slow due to their traditional management style and emphasis on operational safety (Gaffney & Chan quoted in Chan et al. 1998). In the Indian context, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) brought about increase in milk production and distribution. Its operation flood has been hailed as a massive achievement by the UN. It has been reported that NDDB staff demonstrated high commitment and morale, despite absence of financial incentives for individuals (Khandwalla 1999). The charismatic leadership of its chairman Mr. Kurien has been reported to be one of the major reasons behind the success of this government organization (Srivastava 2003). 84

Khandwalla(1999, p. 119) has reported that developing a mission participatively about the kind of contribution a government unit can make to the quality of life and then brainstorming to find ways to pursue it under an empowering and participative leadership was critical for the success of NDDB. Similar significant changes in bureaucracy have been reported in Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore (Khandwalla 1999). Different countries have used different methods to make the bureaucracy more effective. In South Korea, the development commitment of the political masters was made credible to the bureaucracy. In Singapore, the state was fragmented into relatively autonomous entities with clear mandate and professional management, and in UK and Malaysia, the bureaucratic organization was made more customer friendly through citizen charters and customer councils. In a study of bureaucratic reform in government sector Kaul and Collins(1995) have listed several supporting conditions for successful reforms: (i) Political commitment for change is critical. This was also noted by Campos and Root (1996) in their study of east Asian countries quoted earlier. (ii) Reform has to be paced appropriately. Where reform has been held up for a long time because of the defensiveness and rigidity of the system, and a political consensus for reform has finally emerged, administrative reforms can be swift and radical. This process has been called punctuated equilibrium, meaning spurts of major change within long period of stability. Where a culture of change has been institutionalised, reforms and innovations can be gradual based on continuous trial and error learning so that changes are gradual and time tested, but over a period of time amount to a revolution. (iii) The successful reform of a bureaucratic system requires involving the staff in the change process from the beginning. (iv) There has to be a balance between the increasing service expectation by

consumers and bureaucracys internal drive for change. (v) There should be a system that recognises and rewards good performance and penalizes poor performance. Remuneration needs to be merit based. (vi) It has been suggested that the large organisations should be managed as if they are made up of smaller organisations ( Peter &Waterman quoted by Khandwalla 1999, p. 96). This way the strength of the small organization fresh thinking, flexibility, teamwork is yoked to the strength of the large organization large resources, risk-bearing ability, management systems and market clout (Khandwalla 1999, p. 96). Fragmentation of

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bureaucracy into smaller autonomous bodies has shown good result in England, Canada and Malaysia (Khandwalla 1999).

2.2.7.3 TQM and change in government bureaucracy and in public sector Since Indian Railways is a public sector, it will be instructive to look at the state of TQM in government bureaucracies and in the public sector. Deming had no doubt about the importance of TQM in government services:
In most governmental services, there is no market to capture. In place of capture of the market, a governmental agency should deliver economically the service prescribed by law or regulation. The aim should be distinction in service. Continual improvement in government service would earn appreciation of the American public and would hold jobs in the service and help industry to create more jobs (quoted in Ehrenberg & Stupak 1994, p. 88).

Though the service sector and the public sector have direct interaction with customers, yet, innovative practices like TQM have been practiced more in manufacturing rather than in service and public sector (Yasin & Wafa 2002, p. 596). It has been postulated that implementation of TQM in a public sector may require a different orientation (Ehrenberg & Stupak 1994). It has also been reported that it is difficult to implement and institutionalise TQM in public service organization (Moon & Swafin-Smith 1998; Robertson & Seneviratne 1995; Stringham 2004; Yusof & Aspinwall 2000). Some works have tried to identify some of the impediments which require special attention in implementing TQM in public sector. These impediments have been variously described as emphasis on procedure over efficiency, a layered structure, a short-term perspective due to frequent change of the top leadership, separation of power which necessitates negotiation and consensus building in decision making(A SCANS report for America 2000, p.20). Ehrenberg and Stupak(1994, p. 89), in an early study of TQM in the public sector have said that the public sector has less incentive to reduce costs, they have a near-term focus, external constraints, and complex, diverse, interand intra-organisational relationships. Thus a different kind of quality management may be required for public services (Yong & Wilkinson 2002). Boyne and Walker (2002, p.127) said that a significant difference between public and private firms is the role of government program of management reforms. Whereas private sector firms largely choose their own

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approach to management, a government may require a program of public sector TQM to be adopted by its agencies. However against this theoretical observation, a study of TQM implementation in Malaysian government agencies found that there was no need to modify TQM for public sector (Fei & Rainey 2003).Similarly McAdam, Reid and Saulters (2002) found that in the UK the Business Excellence Model (BEM) was found to be the preferred model for implementation of TQM. It is in keeping with the earlier observation made during the review of quality awards in section 2.2.3.5 that TQM is invariant across public sector and private sector. In the critical success factors for TQM, teamwork and empowerment have been identified as two critical success factors (section 2.2.2 of this thesis). However, studies have found that the hierarchical orientation of bureaucratic organization does not facilitate teamwork or empowerment (Garland 1995; Kanter 1997; McHugh & Bennett 1999). In such a situation, the organization ends up trying to improve its performance within its old structure, norms and culture (McHugh & Bennett 1999). Team appraisal in place of individual appraisal and group recognition will facilitate team working because individualist culture and emphasis on individual achievement is not conducive for teamwork (Hackman 1990). With this qualifying remark, some implementation of TQM in bureaucracy will now be seen.

TQM in western government bureaucracies In Europe, the concept of TQM has spread among the public sector organisations under the name New Public Management (NPM) (Scharitzer & Korunka 2000). NPM is more in the nature of reforming government working through TQM concepts. Korunka et al. (2003) found that employee participation, highquality training and professional change management are key for successful NPM implementation. In England, a Citizen Charter was launched that aimed to improve the quality of services provided by the government to the citizens (Khandwalla 1999, p. 72). A total of 38 charters, including one for rail passengers were published. Quality systems were established which aimed at assessment of quality performance and continual monitoring of customer satisfaction. In the USA, President Clinton established the National Performance Review and introduced a government-wide TQM programme. At a micro level, there are reports of TQM being applied by government sectors in West. For example in municipal councils in U.S. (Berman & West 1995) and in New York department of Parks and Recreation (Cohen & Eimicke 1994), TQM has been used with good results. Ehrenberg and Stupak(1994, p. 95) have postulated that because government culture may be difficult to 87

change, it may be necessary to start with smaller organisations or sub-elements of a large organization in order to establish TQM as a useful template for organisational success in the years ahead. This is in line with the observation made in section 2.2.7.2.

TQM in Asian government bureaucracies A TQM approach was established in the Hong Kong government (Chan et al. 1998). In a study of implementation of TQM in Malaysian government agencies, Fei and Rainey (2003) found that though Malaysian organisational culture tends to emphasise hierarchical authority, organisations with more successful TQM implementation showed leadership patterns and organisational cultural features similar to those espoused by TQM experts. Also award winning TQM organisations in the Malaysian government reported higher levels of organicity in organisational structure ( Fei & Rainey 2003, p. 161). An organic management system is characterised by promotion of cross-functional teams, crosshierarchical teams, free flow of information, decentralisation and low formalisation and wide spans of control (Robbins 1997, p.568). The managers there scored higher on the cultural dimensions of job challenge, communication, trust, and innovation with particularly large difference on communication and innovation. It is to be noted that Khandwalla (1999) has also found organicity a precondition for organisational excellence in Indian organisations. Tata and Prasad (1998) also recommended organic structure for TQM implementation.

2.2.7.4 Summary of TQM in bureaucracy In a recent review of innovations in government around the world, quality in government working has been recognised as one of the six universal components of government reform ( Kamarck 2003, p. 15). It also identified the following problems in creation of quality culture in the public sector around the world. (i) Public sector has difficulty competing with the private sector for the talent needed to run the government. (ii) Public sector faces a severe skill shortage. (iii) Public sector employees are in general paid less. (iv) The civil service is so bound up in rules and regulations that people are not rewarded for performance. (v) Excessive political patronage undercuts merit principles. 88

(vi) Public servants do not always operate under the rule of law. These are in line with the findings of Campos and Root (1996) mentioned in section 2.2.7.2 in the context of his study of east Asian bureaucracies. In a review of quality movement adaptation to the public sector, Campos and Root (1996) identified the following themes: (i) Set up of one-stop shop or places where a person, usually a business owner, can conduct all their transactions with the government at once. (ii) Attempt to find out from citizens what they want and expect from government services. (iii) Allow citizen inputs to shape bureaucratic organization and behaviour. (iv) Measure performance and publish whether or not the standards were met. (v) Involve employees in the redesign of the organization. (vi) Train government employees in customer service and organise internal incentives around the accomplishment of quality standards.

2.2.8 TQM and transformational leadership In section 2.2.5.2, it was seen that transformational leadership is one of the factors that influence successful transition from ISO to TQM (Hill, Hazlett & Meegan 2001). Transformational leadership has supported implementation of TQM (Reed, Lemak & Mero 2002). Robbins(1997, p.735) says that transformational leadership is needed in a learning organization to implement a shared vision. In his study of organisational turnaround, Khandwalla (1992, p.262) also has noted that organisational turnaround requires transformational leadership skills. He says that change through a new mission and vision of excellence is possible. A vivid, superior, inspiring but credible alternative to the status quo needs to be identified and communicated to the rank and file and other stakeholders, not once but again and again, affirmed in small acts and decisions as in large, until that social mission and/or vision of collective excellence seizes peoples imagination and pushes them to strive for glory. The process is one of restructuring the Freudian superego (Khandwalla 1992, p.262). In the context of TQM, TQM award winning government agencies in Malaysia had leaders who demonstrated transformational leadership behaviour (Fei &

Rainey 2003). These leaders demonstrated higher vision, staff development, trust, cooperation, thinking in new ways, adherence to clear value, pride and respect (Fei & Rainey 2003, p.161). These studies show the importance of transformational leadership skills for 89

successful implementation of TQM based change. Thus, this thesis looks at transformational leadership in more detail. Krishnan (2002) says transformational leadership has four components: charisma, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualised consideration. In contrast, tools used in transactional leadership are power brokering, withholding favours, and quid pro quo. It is always tied to position power. Transactional leaders take the values, needs, motivation and purposes of followers as given and unchanging, but transformational leaders do not (Krishnan 2002, p.20). A transformational leader looks for potential motives in followers, seeks to satisfy higher needs, and engages the full person of the follower (Banerji & Krishnan, 2000, p.407) It has been suggested that the display of determination and persistence by a transformational leader demonstrates courage and conviction in the vision and mission, and thus inspires, empowers and motivates followers. Other studies (Project Globe n.d.; Chhokar n.d.) have shown that transformational leaders are team builders. Bass (1990, p.25) has suggested that transformational leaders through intellectual stimulation are likely to build cohesion among team members. Bass and Avolio (2000) have now developed a full range leadership model called Multi Factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ 5X). Bass and Avolio have divided leadership on a continuum of nine factors. Based on Bass and Avolio (1997), the nine components of MLQ are explained now:

(i) Idealised influence (Charisma) attributes: Idealised influence is defined with respect to associates reaction to the leader. Associates identify with and want to emulate their leader. Such leaders are thoroughly respected and have much referent power. A sample item to assess this component is The leader reassures others that obstacle will be overcome. (ii) Idealised influence (Charisma)behaviour: It is also a part of charisma. However, here the associates react more to the leaders behaviour. They have complete faith in their

charismatic leader, who is seen as having attainable mission and vision. A sample item to assess this component is The leader emphasises the importance of having a collective sense of mission (iii) Inspirational leadership: It involves the arousal and heightening of motivation among followers. The leader here provides symbols, metaphors and simplified emotional appeals to increase awareness and understanding of mutually desired goals. A sample item to assess this component is The leader articulates a compelling vision of future. (iv) Intellectual stimulation: Intellectual stimulation arouses in followers the awareness of problems and how they may be solved, and stirs the imagination and generates thoughts and 90

insights. A sample item to assess this component is The leaders gets others to look at problems from many angles. (v) Individualised consideration: It means leader treats individuals differently but equitably on one to one basis. The leader recognises associates needs and raises their perspectives. With individualised consideration, assignments are delegated to associates to provide learning opportunity. A sample item to assess this component is The leader spends time teaching and coaching. (vi) Contingent reward: Clarifies what is expected from followers and what they will receive if they meet expected levels of performance. A sample item to assess this component is The leader makes clear what one can expect to receive when performance goals are achieved. (vii) Active management by exception: The leader monitors to make sure mistakes are not made and allows status quo to exist without being addressed. A sample item to assess this component is The leader directs attention towards failure to achieve standard. (viii) Passive management by exception: Tends to react only after problems have become serious to take corrective action. A sample item to assess this component is The leader takes no action until complaints are received. (ix) Laissez-faire: It indicates absence of leadership or the avoidance of intervention or both. A sample item to assess this component is The leader avoids getting involved when important issues arise. Bass considers the first five factors as transformational, the next three factors as transactional and the ninth factor as abdication of leadership (Block 2003, p. 321). Krishnan (2002, p.30) in an empirical study on American subjects further found that subordinates whose terminal value systems match their leaders value system are likely to see their leader as more transformational irrespective of whether the leaders terminal value system is congruent with the organizations or not. One of the managerial implications of this is that one should pay attention to terminal values of subordinates if a change is contemplated. This brings the issue of impact of cultural factors on transformational leadership.

2.2.8.1 Impact of cultural factors on transformational leadership From a study spanning 60 cultures, Globe Research Project (2002) developed the hypothesis that certain aspect of transformational leadership are universally endorsed across 91

cultures. These aspects are motive arouser, foresight, encouraging, communicative, trustworthy, dynamic, positive, confidence builder and motivational. Certain aspects were cultural specific like risk taking, ambitious, self-effacing, compassionate, sincere and sensitive. Walumbwa and Lawler (2003) examined the impact of cultural factors like collectivism in moderating the influence of transformational leadership on work related outcomes. He used a field survey of 577 employees from banking and financial sectors of emerging economies, namely: China, India and Kenya. He found that collectivism supports the relationship between transformational leadership and work related outcomes such as organisational commitment, job satisfaction and perceptions of organisational withdrawal behaviour. The study also supported the view that transformational leadership might be effective across cultures. Here the importance of collectivism lies in the fact that collectivism can be argued to be positively related to TQM implementation. In collectivistic culture, achievement motivation is socially oriented. That is, it does not matter who chooses the task within the ingroup; it is just as satisfying and motivating as it is if any of the in-group chooses the task. The meaning of work is different in collectivistic cultures. Collectivists emphasize cooperation, endurance, persistence and obedience. They tend to have long-term orientation , leading to long-term commitment to the organization (Bass quoted by Walumbwa & Lawler 2003, p.1087), - a requirement critical for success of TQM in an organization (Yen, Krumwiede & Sheu 2002). Further, studies have shown that collectivism and power distance are highly correlated (Sinha 1995). However, collectivistic society tends to be more

hierarchical ( Walumbwa & Lawler 2003, p.1084) which is not conducive for TQM implementation.

2.2.8.2 Transformational leadership in India In the western context, work on transformational leadership has been done by Bass(1990), Tichy and Devanna (1986) and Globe Research Project (2002) . Singh and Bhandarkar (1990) and Srivastava (2003) have studied transformational leadership in the Indian context. The following attributes have been found in the Indian transformational leaders: (i) They are change agents.

(ii) They are visionary. (iii) They are courageous. 92

(iv) They do things differently. (v) They are passionate in their commitment to task and people.

(vi) They involve and empower people. (vii) They are interactive. (viii) They set personal examples. (ix) They are very ambitious. (x) They are future oriented.

(xi) They inspire employees to meet new challenges. (xii) They focus on long-term goals rather than short-term goals without compromising the core values and principles.

There are many similarities between the above and the five transformational factors postulated by Bass and mentioned in section 2.2.8. However, an important addition by Srivastava (2003) is that transformational leaders are change agents. Chhokar (2000) supports this when he says that action orientation and charisma are most important characteristics for effective leadership in India. Srivastava further found that Indian transformational leaders exhibit consultative leadership style. A consultative leader listens to everyone but finally makes his own decision (Kalra 2002). Kalra considers consultative leadership more participative that NT leadership (see section 2.2.6.4) and suitable for

followers less dependent and less hierarchical than the traditional Indian followers.

2.3.Summary of literature review and overview of the central problem

It is recalled that the basic focus of this research is Can TQM be used as the basis for organisational transformation of Indian Railways? If yes, how can it be effectively implemented in Indian Railways? A review of the literature showed the following: (i) TQM , as it is understood today, is akin to organisational excellence. It has come out

clearly both in the context of private organisations and in the context of government bureaucracies where TQM has been successfully implemented. Thus it can be said with reasonable certainty that TQM can be used for organisational transformation of Indian Railways. Therefore what needs to be focused now is that implemented. how it can be effectively

93

(ii)

On a global scale, TQM is a well-established field of study. But notwithstanding its

popularity, the success rate of TQM implementation is not very high. In general, the implementational emphasis of TQM has been prescriptive. Non-adaptation of TQM to organization specific culture and values and the tendency to look at TQM as a tool and not as a system have been the major reasons for its failure.

(iii)

Organisational learning is an outcome of TQM. However the process which leads to

learning is not well explained in the present literature.

(iv)

The TQM enablers are almost invariant across countries. Across the world, leadership,

policy and strategy, human resource management, process management, information management, customer and market focus and supplier focus with suitable adaptations are the factors or enablers which contribute to the success of TQM. Of all the factors, leadership is of critical importance. Also, TQM in public sector need not be any different from that in the private sector. However, though the enablers of TQM are identified, they have not yet been integrated into a model which can used by organizations for attaining TQM.

(v)

The modification of the ISO 9000 standard in the year 2000 has given it a TQM

orientation. However, till now there has not been much reported study about the impact of IS0 9000:2000 on organizations. Further, though ISO 9000 standard has been used as the first step towards implementation of quality in organisations, no scale has been developed which can objectively measure the transition of an ISO certified organization towards TQM.

(vi)

Factors which affect the transition of an ISO organization to a TQM organization are

transformational leadership and a capacity to learn that is, morphing of an organization into a learning organization. Empowerment and participative management also promote TQM. Hierarchical set up hinders TQM implementation. However, the success of TQM in many high power distance countries in Asia gives rise to the possibility that it is possible to have country specific adaptation of the cultural enablers of TQM.

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(vii)

In the Indian context, the TQM literature is not very rich which is perhaps a pointer

that TQM as a model of organisational excellence has not caught up with Indian companies in general.

(viii) The Indian quality awards are implants of western quality awards. Though they can be used as a measure of attainment of a respectable level of TQM proficiency, they should not be used as a model to begin an organizations tryst with TQM. On the other hand, the developmental orientation of the Deming Prize makes it a preferred model for an organization embarking on a journey towards TQM.

(ix) The traditional Indian cultural values which have seeped into Indian organisations may not be conducive for immediate internalisation of the tenets of TQM. The Indian organisational values are a mix of traditional values and western values. The status consciousness, dependency proneness and personalised relationship tendencies of Indian people need to be carefully handled. Though Indians are group oriented, the group orientation is socially contextualised in terms of religion, language and family and not a work based group orientation like those of the Japanese. Indian Nurturant Task (NT) leadership is one Indian grown leadership model which promises progressive shifting from these tendencies to a more participative tendencies. The recent liberalisation of Indian economy and consequent market driven forces have strengthened the shift to a more participative and global work values.

(x) Indian bureaucracy is still a traditional bureaucracy untouched by bureaucratic reforms. Its value system is not conducive for TQM.

(xi) The implementation of TQM in bureaucracy indicates that TQM should begin in smaller units of Indian Railways.

(xii) There has not been any systematic organisational study of the Indian Railways. It is almost a virgin field in India.

The summary discussed above is pictorially summarised in Figure 2.14. It also shows the gaps in the existing literature. The question mark in the Figure 2.14 is for the research issues which this summary throws up. This is dealt with in sub section 2.4. 95

Indian bureaucracy is rule bound monolithic tunnel vision directive (non participative)

Indian culture hierarchical dependency prone own-other syndrome context oriented balancing

TQM on date draws from -System theory -Critical success factors -Quality awards -Organisational learning TQM is the same as organisational excellence

Quality management in India through ISO

organisational values and organisational practices of Indian Railways from the point of view of an excellent company Not known

Congruence between the two

Not Known

TQM in India should pay attention to leadership policy & strategy HRM process management Information management customer focus supplier focus

congruence between the two Not known

ISO 9000:2000 is the desired path to be followed. It is facilitated by transformational leadership executive mind set capacity and willingness to learn

?
TQM for railways

Figure 2. 14 Summary of literature review and gaps in existing literature Source: developed for this research.

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2.4. Identification of the gaps which need investigation

The gaps are (i) There has not been any organisational study of the Indian Railways. (ii) Though the modified standard of ISO 9000 - ISO 9000: 2000 - has been framed with a distinct TQM slant, there is no scale which can objectively measure the transition of an ISO certified organization towards TQM. (iii) Perhaps because of the prevalence of the prescriptive style of TQM implementation, there are relatively few studies of TQM implementation with organisational members as the focus that is, a bottom-up process involving the organisational members in planning,

implementing and evaluating the quality management system. This approach focuses on successful planning, deployment, execution and diagnosis of quality practices and performance measurement. This approach draws heavily on the Japanese concept of

planning (Hoshin) which promotes consensus building (nemawashi), shared decision(ringi), commitment and loyalty. The researcher takes a stand that it is worthwhile to study this method of ISO certification as the first step towards TQM. (iv) Though the enablers of TQM are identified, they have not yet been integrated into a model which can used by organizations for attaining TQM. (v) The literature recognises the importance of transformational top management as the prime driver towards TQM. However, the literature is silent about the role of middle management in organisational transformation towards TQM. The literature review could not come across any study which identifies effective middle management leadership styles which supports a transformational top leadership style in an organizations journey towards TQM.

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Chapter 3 Research questions and research methodology

The gaps identified in literature review gave rise to the research questions listed in Table 3.1.

3.1 Research questions

Gap in literature Research question

(i)

There

has

not of

been the

any (i)

What are and what should be Indian

organisational Railways.

study

Indian Railways core values, style of management, growth strategies, competitive strategies and changes in organisational structure /

management system so as to transform Indian Railways into an excellent organization. (ii) Though the modified standard of ISO (ii) What is the impact of ISO 9000

9000- ISO 9000/ 2000 - has been framed implementation in Indian Railways? with a distinct TQM slant, there no scale (iii) which can objectively measure To what extent has the implementation

the of ISO 9000 brought about a TQM orientation

transition of an ISO certified organization in Indian Railways? Answering this question towards TQM. will involve the development of a scale which can objectively measure the transition of an ISO certified organization towards TQM. Table 3.1 (contd)

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Table 3.1 (contd) Gap in literature (iii) There are relatively few studies of TQM implementation with organisational members as the focus that is, a bottom up process involving the organisational

Research question (iv) Will a bottom-up methodology learning personnel? capacity among the build railway

members in planning, implementing and evaluating the quality management system. This approach draws heavily on the Japanese concept of planning (Hoshin) which promotes consensus building

(nemawashi),

shared

decision(ringi),

commitment and loyalty. The researcher takes a stand that it is worthwhile to study this method of ISO certification as the first step towards TQM. (iv) Though the enablers of TQM are (v) How can the enablers of TQM be integrated identified, they have not yet been integrated in a model for attaining TQM within the ISO into a model which can used by framework?

organizations for attaining TQM. (v) While the moderating influence of transformational top leadership is well documented, the literature is silent about the leadership role of middle management in organisational transformation towards TQM.. Table 3. 1 Research questions for this work Source: developed for this research. (vi) What is an effective leadership style for middle managers for effective transition from a ISO company to a TQM company?

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3.2 Different research paradigms

For the above research questions, a research map was to be designed which could act as a guide to provide answers to the earlier research questions. However, research question vi was left out as a matter of deliberate choice because the focus of this study would then have become leadership oriented. However, this can be an area for future research. In order to develop a research map, it was desirable to understand different

philosophies and methodologies in the area of social science research. In social science, there is a spectrum of research methods available which could be used. Each one of the research methods has a philosophical underpinning as to how the world is viewed (ontology), what is the relationship between the reality and the researcher(epistemology) and what technique the researcher is using (methodology) (Easterby, Thorpe & Lowe 1991, p. 26). A detailed description of different philosophical bases and the corresponding research designs are available in many publications (Creswell 1998, Easterby, Thorpe & Lowe 1991, Guba & Lincoln 1994, Neuman 1997). For the purpose of this study, a brief integrative review of different research methods is presented here. A positivist holds the opinion that the processes of the external world and their property can be objectively observed, defined and measured, rather than subjectively inferred through sensation, reflection and intuition (Easterby, Thorpe & Lowe 1991, p. 22). As against this, there is another view which says that the world is not objective and external. The happenings of the world are socially constructed. That is, one should try to understand why different people have different experience of the same situation, rather than trying to look for external causes and fundamental laws to explain their behaviour. This philosophical position came to be known as phenomenological or social constructionist point of view. Easterby, Thorpe and Lowe (1991, p. 22) have quoted Morgan and Smircich who have identified six ontological positions based on ones perception of nature of reality. The six ontological positions are shown in Figure 3.1.

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Subjectivist Projection of human imagination Social construction Symbolic discourse Contextual field of information Concrete process Concrete structure

Objectivist

Figure 3. 1 Different assumptions about nature of reality Source: Easterby, Thorpe and Lowe (1991).

The different underpinnings shown above has given rise to four scientific paradigms positivism, realism, critical theory and constructivism. A paradigm can be regarded as the basic belief system or world view that guides the investigator(Guba & Lincoln 1994, p. 105). Evered and Louis (1981, p. 385) define paradigm as the entire constellation of beliefs, values, techniques and so on, shared by the members of given (scientific) community. Perry, Riege and Brown (1999) have summarised the four different paradigms in the context of ontology, epistemology and methodology as shown in Table 3.2.

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PARADIGM Item Ontology

POSITIVISM

REALISM

CRITICAL THEORY

CONSTRUCTIVISM

nive realism:

critical realism:

historic realism:

critical relativism: local and

Reality is real Reality is real but Virtual and apprehensible only and probabilistically apprehensive so

reality Multiple

imperfectly shaped by social, specific economic, ethnic, political, and cultural, and values, realities

constructed

triangulation gender

from many sources crystallised over is required to try to time know it Epistemology objectivist: Findings true modified objectivist: subjectivist: Value subjectivist:

mediated Created findings

Findings probably findings true Methodology experiments/ survey: case convergent studies, dialogic, dialectical: hermeneutical, dialectical: is a

Verification of interviewing: hypothesis, chiefly quantitative methods Triangulation, interpretation

Researcher is a Researcher transformative

passionate participant

of intellectual who within the world being the investigated world which

research issues by changes qualitative quantitative and social within

methods such as participants live structural equation modelling

Table 3. 2 Basic belief systems of alternative enquiry paradigms Source: Perry, Riege and Brown ( 1999, p.17) based on Guba and Lincoln (1994).

Healy and Perry (2000) have compared the quality criteria for the above four research paradigms. It is shown in Table 3.3.

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Criteria realism research

for

Case study techniques within realism paradigm

Criteria for case research

Criteria for constructivist

Criteria qualitative research

for

Criteria for positivism research

Major authors

Yin (1994)

Lincoln and Guba (1985)

Miles Huberman (1994)

and

Chia (1997), Neuman (1997)

Ontology 1. Ontological appropriateness 2. Contingent validity

Research problem with social deals

Selection

of

research

Truth value or

Internal validity credibility authenticity / /

Internal validity

problem, for example, it is a how and why problem Theoretical replication, questions, and literal in-depth emphasis on Internal validity

complex science

credibility

phenomena involving reflective people

why issues, description of the context of the cases

Truth value or

Internal validity credibility authenticity / /

Internal validity

credibility Open fuzzy

boundary systems (Yin

1994) involving generative mechanisms rather than

direct cause and effect Epistemology 3. Multiple Neither value Multiple interviews, Neutrality or confirmability Objectivity / Valuefree, oneway mirror (Guba Lincoln 1990) &

free nor value laden, rather

supporting evidence, broad questions before probes, triangulation, self-

confirmability

perceptions of participants and of peer researcher

value aware

description and awareness of own values. Published reports for peer review

Table 3.3 (contd)

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Table 3.3 (contd)

Criteria for Case study techniques within paradigm realism Criteria for case research Criteria for constructi vist Methodology 4. MethodologTrustworthy Case study database, Reliability Consistency or Criteria for qualitative research Reliability / dependabil -ity audibility / Criteria for positivism research Reliability

realism research

the research can be audited

use in the report of relevant quotations and matrices that summarise data and of descriptions of procedures like case selection and interview procedures

ical trustworthiness

dependability

5.

Analytic

Analytic generalisation (that is, theory building) than rather

Identify research issues before data collection, to formulate an

External validity through the specification of theoretical relationships , from which generalisations can be made

Applicability or

External validity /

generalisation

transferability

transferability /fittingness

interview protocol that will provide data for confirming disconfirming theory or

statistical

generalisation (that is, theorytesting)

6. validity

Construct

Use of prior theory, case study database, triangulation

Construct validity

Construct validity

Note: critical theory has not been included in this table as no criteria that distinguishes it from constructivism could be found

Table 3. 3 Quality criteria for different research paradigm Source: modified from Healy and Perry( 2000).

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A positivist view is appropriate in natural science where a single apprehensible reality whose nature can be known and categorised is to be defined and measured (Perry, Riege & Brown 1995, p. 16). Here the researcher believes that he/she has identified the variables which have causal relationship among them which are invariant across time and context. Thus sample survey and controlled experiments are the primary data collection techniques. The objective of the researcher is to test a theory or to confirm a hypothesis (Zikmund 2000). A positivist approach may not be suitable in social science research where each situation is unique and a person within a situation can give different responses

depending on the nature of reality as he/she perceives it. Also where the emphasis is to explore the structure and the process of a phenomenon, there are many variables which interact with each other. It may not be possible to establish a cause and effect relationship among all the variables. However, wherever it is possible to identify and define constructs which are invariant across situations, a positivist approach has the advantage of being generalisable and reliable. Further, a positivist approach which uses a deductive approach is useful in theory testing and not in theory building which requires an inductive approach (Perry, Riege & Brown 1999). Constructivism holds the view that truth is a particular belief system held in a particular context (Healy & Perry 2000, p. 120). That is each person has his/her own reality in his/her mind and it is the researchers job to interact with many persons so as to get multiple construction of that reality. Meaning carries more importance than measurement because perception itself is the most important reality (Perry, Riege & Brown 1999, p.18). Using hermeneutical techniques, the different constructions are compared and contrasted through a dialectical interchange so as to arrive at a consensus construction (Guba & Lincoln 1994, p.111). This approach is useful in understanding such deeply held values as beauty, prejudice and religion (Healy & Perry 2000, p. 120). Critical theorists aim at transforming social, political, cultural, economical, ethnic and gender values (Healy & Perry 2000, p. 119). A critical theorist aims at changing the world in which the participants live. Here knowledge does not accumulate, but grows and changes through a historical revision that continuously erodes ignorance and misapprehensions and enlarges more informed insights (Guba & Lincoln 1994, p.114). For a critical theorist, this is the process of knowledge accumulation. The end goal of the study might be to transform (through praxis) the underlying order of social life those social and systemic relations that constitute society (Creswell 1998, p.81). According to Creswell (1998, p. 82), critical theory may emphasize multiple methodologies ( qualitative and quantitative) and multiple 105

perspectives (class, race and gender). Examples of critical theory researchers are Marxists, feminists and action researchers (Perry, Riege & Brown 1999, p. 17). Realism believes much like positivism that there is a reality out there but it is not possible to comprehend that fully and perfectly (Guba & Linclon 1994, p. 110). Thus the attempt of the researcher should be to apprehend that reality as closely as possible through widest possible critical examination. Triangulation should be used as a way of falsifying (rather than verifying) hypotheses. By an increased utilisation of qualitative techniques, and by doing inquiry in more natural settings, collecting more situational information, postposivist attempts to get closer to the reality. In a different context, Miles and Huberman (1994) have also talked about using qualitative and quantitative techniques together for arriving at more robust conclusions. Qualitative data are useful when one needs to validate, explain or reinterpret quantitative data gathered from the same sitting (Miles & Huberman 1994, p.10). They further say that qualitative data are useful for exploring a new area which can lead to development of some hypotheses. Thus from the point of view of robustness of research, it can be seen that not only can qualitative data be used as authentically as quantitative data but also that both data types can be used to reinforce each others findings. Some of the strengths of qualitative data are: (i) They focus on naturally occurring, ordinary events in natural setting. Thus the possibility of understanding latent, non-obvious issues is strong. (ii) It is rich and holistic providing a vivid picture of a situation in a particular context. Quantitative techniques, on the other hand provides sensitivity and power to the

individual judgement when one attempts to detect and describe patterning in a set of observations ( Weinstein & Tamur quoted in Miles & Huberman 1994, p. 40). It has been suggested that that to get broader insights into the issues being investigated the researcher should try to mix research methods (Ticehurst & Veal 2000, p.20). Accordingly in this research also, instead of following a particular approach, both qualitative and quantitative approaches have been used dictated by the needs of the situation.

3.3 Development of research map

With above introductory comments about different research methods in the background, the research map which was used to guide the research to answer the research questions is shown in Figure 3.2.

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Stage 1 survey A Survey among Indian Railways persons on different dimensions of organisational policies and practices which promote excellence

survey B Assess Indian Railways persons on the culture specific dimensions of hierarchy

Stage 2

Shortlist ISO certified units of Indian Railways on certain criteria

survey D survey C Administer the questionnaire of Acharya and Roy to the M.R./ head of unit of the shortlisted railway units Develop and administer an instrument TQM transition questionnaire , to the M.R. /head of unit of the same shortlisted railway units. Ask them to evaluate the unit on one year before ISO certification and today basis.

Stage 3

Take an unit of Indian Railways which is undergoing ISO certification and do its in-depth study so as to triangulate the findings from above

Note: M.R.= Management Representative

Figure 3. 2 Research map Source: developed for this work.

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3.4 Research Design for stage 1

3.4.1 Survey A - Assessment of organisational policies and practices in the Indian Railways Survey A sought to find an answer to the first research question: What are and what should be Indian Railways core values, style of management, growth strategies, competitive strategies and changes in organisational structure / management system so as to transform Indian Railways into an excellent organization?. One of the gaps which the literature review had shown is that there has not been any organisational study of Indian Railways. Thus there was no prior set of information available on which this research could build on or cross verify with. Thus some known model which could help assess Indian Railways organisational values and practices in the context of organisational excellence needed to be identified. Khandwalla (2002) has assessed the response of Indian public sector organisations and private sector organisations to liberalisation and arrived at a model of organisational policies and practices which he calls a community of adaptive best policies and practices that yield performance excellence in an competitive and liberalised environment which Indian organisations are facing today (Khandwalla 2002, p. 443). Khandwalla has developed a questionnaire which assesses the prevalence of these policies and practices in an organization. A detailed discussion about the reliability and validity of the questionnaire is available in Khandwalla (2002). Part of that questionnaire consists of open ended and precoded questions about core values, style of management, growth strategies, competitive strategies and changes in organisational structure / management system which an excellent organization follows. This part of the questionnaire labelled assessment of organisational policies is shown in Appendix 2. Since the questionnaire developed by Khandwalla was used to assess excellence in Indian companies and the objective of survey A was to assess prevalence of different aspects of organisational excellence in Indian Railways, Khandwallas questionnaire was used for survey A of this research. Question I of the questionnaire consists of open-ended questions. Question II to question VI are the pre-coded questions. An open-ended question provides the respondents

108

freedom to give their opinions. Also, this can provide such dimensions of information which a Likert scale based questions may not be able to elicit from the respondents. Since the answers to the first research question was expected to throw light on the organisational policies and practices of Indian Railways, which, in turn could explain much of what this study was to subsequently uncover in stage 2 and stage 3, the more the ways in which answers to the first question were tapped, the more reliable were to be the conclusions. Thus the use of a questionnaire which included open ended questions and pre-coded questions as in this questionnaire added to the reliability of the conclusion. Sampling strategy: The questionnaire was given only to the chairman, board members, general managers and principal heads of departments of Indian Railways as they were the persons who could be said to have enough exposure to the strategic part of Indian Railways to do justice to the full questionnaire. It was noted that Khandwalla, in his study too, had administered the questionnaire to the chairmen and managers who reported to the chairman of an organization. (Khandwalla 2002, p. 436). Also, senior staff can provide more reliable information about their organization than junior staff (Ticehurst & Veal 2000, p.143). In the bureaucratic set up of Indian Railways, the tenure of the chairmen and board members are normally not more than one to two years because one can reach that level just before retirement. Thus, for the sake of comprehensiveness, the questionnaires were sent to all the chairmen and board members who retired since 1991 and whose contact details were available. The Indian industry has opened up to the global economy and to the concept of TQM roughly since 1991, therefore soliciting the opinion of board members and chairmen since 1991 was considered desirable. The data collection and data analysis of this survey is dealt with in chapter 4.

3.4.2 Survey B - Assessment of cultural values of Indian Railway personnel Survey A provided insight on work specific policies and practices about the Indian Railways. However, it did not assess the impact of Indian culture on the organisational values of the Indian Railway personnel. It is recalled from the literature review (section 2.2.6.1) that hierarchical relationship, tendency for personalised relationship and dependency on the superior have been identified as some of the culture based organisational values which, however, are reported to be changing in view of the liberalisation of Indian economy. It is also recalled that hierarchical relationship is not conducive for TQM implementation, but collective orientation is conducive for TQM. Thus, it was all the more important that one 109

looked for an instrument through which one could measure culture specific dimensions among the Indian Railway personnel. A perusal of the work on NT leadership by Sinha (1995) indicated that he has developed a questionnaire which measures hierarchical tendencies among Indian managers. The questionnaire is shown in Appendix 3. The hierarchical tendencies are measured through the three constructs of status consciousness (S), personalised relationship (P) and dependence proneness (D). These three constructs are defined below (Sinha 1995, p.99): (i) Status consciousness It is a tendency to obey and respect seniors and superiors. Anger and hostility against a superior are suppressed and displaced. The seniors are listened to more deferentially. The tendency is to direct ones effort to appease the superior who in turn must help, protect and guide the subordinates. (ii) Dependence proneness Preference for hierarchy fosters dependence proneness. It is a tendency to seek support, guidance and encouragement in situations where one is apparently competent to make decisions. (iii) Preference for personalised relationship It is a tendency where a subordinate expects to be taken care of in a personal way, to solve his/her problem, tell him/her what to do . The questionnaire was administered to Indian Railway personnel to assess their culture specific value of hierarchy. The reliability and validity of the instrument is dealt with at the end of Appendix 3. Sampling strategy: Indian Railways has about 8000 persons in the managerial category. They are called officers. About 4000 of them are called class-1 officers or more formally group A officers. They are directly recruited into the managerial cadre on the basis of an all India examination. (In Indian organisational context, a cadre means a group of professionals belonging to a particular category). The balance 4000 are class-2 officers or more formally group B officers. They join the railways in the worker/ supervisor cadre as class-3 ( or group C ) employees and then rise up to become class-2 officers. Almost 95% of them retire at the first or second rung of the managerial cadre. Since class-2 officers are generally less educated and are less exposed to position of responsibility in their work, it was postulated that they should show higher hierarchical tendencies than class-1 officers. On the same logic class-3 employees should show higher hierarchical tendency than class-2 or class-1 officers. The literature review has shown the deeply embedded hierarchical tendencies among Indians. However, recent studies (Pearson & Chaterjee 2001) have also shown changes in 110

this value. It was thus postulated that younger employees should show lesser hierarchical tendencies than older employees.

Based on the above reasoning, three hypotheses were framed for testing (i) Class-1 officers show lower hierarchical tendencies in comparison to class-2 officers. (ii) Class-2 officers show lower hierarchical tendencies in comparison to class-3 employees. (iii) Younger employees show lesser hierarchical tendencies than older employees.

To test these hypotheses, samples of following categories:

railway employees were collected in the

Class-1 Age less than 30 years

Class-2 Age less than 30 years

Class-3 Age less than 30 years

Age between 30 years Age between 30 years to 50 Age between 30 years to 50 to 50 years Age more than 50 years years Age more than 50 years years Age more than 50 years

The rationale behind this grouping was this: The process of liberalisation in India started around 1991. Those who were less than 15 years old at that time were less than 30 years old in 2005. It was reasonable to postulate that this age group was exposed to a social system which was in transition because of the opening of the Indian economy. Further, the age group of more than 50 years is roughly one generation above the youngest group. Thus these two group presented two contrasting categories for comparison. The data collection and data analysis of this survey is dealt with in chapter 4.

3.5 Research design for stage 2

Stage 2 of the research sought answers to the following two research questions:

Research question no ii: What is the impact of ISO 9000 implementation in Indian Railways?

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Research question no iii: To what extent has the implementation of ISO 9000 brought about a TQM orientation in Indian Railways. This therefore involved development of a scale which could objectively measure the transition of an ISO certified organization towards TQM.

3.5.1 Survey C Assessment of the impact of ISO 9000 in the Indian Railways A review of literature showed that several surveys have been conducted by researchers about the impact of ISO 9000: 1994 certification. One such survey was conducted by Acharya and Roy (2000) on about 1200 ISO certified units in India. A slightly modified form of that survey was administered to a short listed group of ISO certified units in Indian Railways. This provided answer to the question what is the impact of ISO implementation in Indian Railways. The questionnaire is shown in Appendix 4. Reliability and validity: The thrust of this survey was to gather information from ISO

certified railway units. There was no construct which survey C tried to measure. So the aspect of reliability and validity was not relevant here.

3.5.1.1 Sampling plan for survey C Selection of railway units was a key decision in seeking an answer to the research question no ii. Whether to go for qualitative research or quantitative research was also an issue here. Qualitative research usually works with a small sample. The small number of cases are nested in their context and studied in depth unlike quantitative research where large number of context stripped cases ( individuals) are used to provide statistical significance. Thus, a small number of randomly selected sample can make the conclusions biased. Qualitative samples also tend to be purposive. This is because the initial domain of study is smaller than that in a quantitative study. Further, social processes have a logic and a coherence which is lost in random sampling. Thus it was decided that the survey C would be qualitative and purposive sampling would be carried out in this survey. However, the term purposive sampling has been used with different meaning in connection with subjective methods of sampling (Goon, Gupta & Dasgupta 1986, p.209). Thus a review of different purposive sampling strategy was done.

112

Creswell (1998) identified 16 purposive sampling strategies in qualitative inquiry. They are shown in Table 3.4. A detailed explanation of each of the sampling plan is given in Miles and Huberman (1994, p. 28).

Type of sampling Maximum variation

Purpose Documents diverse variations and identifies important common patterns

Homogeneous Critical case

Focuses, reduces, simplifies, and facilitates group interviewing Permits logical generalization and maximum application of information to other cases

Theory based

Find examples of a theoretical construct and thereby elaborate on and examine it

Confirming disconfirming cases Snowball or chain

and Elaborate on initial analysis, seek exceptions and looking for variation Identifies case of interest from people who know people who know cases are information rich

Extreme case

or

deviant Learn from highly unusual manifestations of the phenomenon of interest Highlights what is normal or average Information-rich cases that manifest the phenomenon intensely but not extremely

Typical case Intensity

Politically cases

important Attracts desired attention or avoids attracting undesired attention

Random purposeful

Adds credibility to sample when potential purposeful sample is too large Illustrates subgroups and facilitates comparisons

Stratified purposeful Criterion Opportunistic Combination or mixed Convenience

All cases that meet some criterion, useful for quality assurance Follow new leads; taking advantage of the unexpected Triangulation. Flexibility; meets multiple interests and needs Saves time, money and effort, but at the expense of information and credibility

Table 3. 4 Typology of sampling strategies in qualitative inquiry Source: Creswell (1998, p. 119). 113

Qualitative sampling can be a combination of within-case sampling and multiplecase sampling. Within case sampling helps us to see a local configuration in some depth. Withincase sample is almost always nested, that is working from outside into the core of a setting. The sampling must be theoretically driven either the theory is pre-specified or emerges as the study progresses. The choice of informants, episodes and interactions are being driven by a conceptual question, not by a concern for representativeness. To get to the construct, one needs to see different instances of it, at different moments, in different places, with different people. The prime concern is with the conditions under which the construct or theory operates, not with the generalisation of the findings to other settings. Within-case sampling has an iterative quality, working in progressive waves as the study progresses. Multiple-case sampling, on the other hand, adds confidence to findings. That is, it adds to the precision, validity and stability of the findings. It follows a replication strategy. If a finding holds in one setting and also in a comparable setting, but not in a contrasting setting, the finding is more robust. It is to be noted that here, the generalisation from one case to another is on the basis of a match to the underlying theory, not to a larger universe. The choice of case is usually made on conceptual grounds and not on representative grounds. A multiple case sampling has to be guided by the research questions and the conceptual framework, either pre-specified or emergent. With this background information on different sampling strategies, it was decided that instead of doing a complete random sampling in the selection of railway units, let the insight gained about TQM in literature review guide the sample selection process:

First criteria for selection of railway unit in the survey C: A list of ISO certified railway units (corrected up to 15 Oct 2003) is shown at Appendix 9. There are 89 units which are certified to ISO 9000 standard. The list shows that there are some units which are both ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certified. ISO 14000 has been taken up in Indian Railways after ISO 9000 certification. Thus a unit gets more time to institutionalise improvements. Further, ISO 14000 is more stringent in the sense that even if there is a single non conformance (NC), ISO 14000 certification is not granted. ISO 14000 calls for very elaborate housekeeping and the Japanese have shown through their adherence to 5S that improvement in housekeeping is a significant step towards TQM (Pheng 2001). Thus it was reasonable to postulate that a 114

railway unit which was both ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certified, should show more progress towards TQM. Hence the survey C could provide better contrasting insight if the sampling included some railway units which were only ISO 9000 certified and some railway units which were both ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certified units. Second criteria for selection of railway unit in the survey C: There was yet another way one could make a judicious sampling of railway units. This was based on the organisational power delegated to the railway units and the assessment of the extent to which this organisational power was able to do justice to different clauses of ISO 9000. This aspect is explained now. A simplified organisational structure of Indian Railway is shown in Appendix 7. It can be seen from there that the Indian Railways organisational structure is functional at the headquarters level and matrix at the divisional level. Thus all the divisional departmental heads report to the Divisional Railway Managers (DRMs) in the field unit and to their Chief level officer at the headquarters. All the functional departmental heads and the DRMs report to the General Manager (GM). Other than the division, there are maintenance units and warehousing units which are headed by Chief Workshop Manager and Deputy Chief Materials Manager respectively. It can be seen from Appendix 7 that only the DRM and the GM have officers of all departments under them. With this background information, a perusal of the list of ISO certified units of Indian Railways gave rise to following observations: (i) In the railways, most of the ISO certified units were engineering based. That is, they

were locomotive or coach manufacturing units and maintenance shops. Considering that the initial development of ISO system and its adoption was in engineering companies, it was expected. Thus, though the Indian Railways is a service organization, very few service units in it have gone for ISO certification. Among the engineering units, the locomotive or coach manufacturing shops are called production units. These production units are headed by a General Manager who possesses both the formal and the informal power for effecting organization wide changes. In a production unit, all the ten departments of railways function under the unified command of a General Manager. Thus, the organisational set up of a production unit has the requisite autonomy to take organization wide decisions. The coach and wagon repair units are headed by Chief Workshop Managers (CWMs). A CWM also has managers from all the departments except civil engineering, signal and medical. However, in terms of delegation of power, he does not possess autonomy in the 115

areas of machine and material procurement, selection / promotion

of managers and

investment decisions. The CWMs report to the Chief Mechanical Engineer who sits at the headquarters and who in turn reports to the General Manager. The CWM is dependent on the CME and GM for machine and material procurement, selection / promotion of managers and investment decisions. For work in the areas of civil engineering and medical, the CWM is supposed to liaise with the local DRM who like a General Manager has all the ten departments under his administrative control. A Deputy Chief Materials Manager (Dy. CMM) is responsible for material supply to all the repair workshops and locomotive maintenance units. Like a CWM, he also has managers from all departments except civil engineering, signal and medical. Like the CWM, he does not possess autonomy in the areas of selection /promotion of managers and investment decisions. However, being a materials manager, he has a limited amount of power for material procurement. The bulk of the material procurement is done at the headquarters level collectively by the stores department (headed by Controller Of Stores), accounts department (headed by Financial Advisor & Chief Accounts Officer) and the user department. The locomotive maintenance units are headed by Division Mechanical /Electrical Engineers (DME/DEE). They report to the Divisional Railway Managers (DRMs) who is their field level boss. Besides, they also report to their departmental boss (CME/ CEE) at the headquarters. Thus a Divisional Electrical Engineer reports to the Chief Electrical Engineer at the headquarters and to the DRM in the field as in a matrix structure. Under a Divisional Mechanical/Electrical Engineer, only mechanical / electrical engineers work. The managers from other support service like personnel, finance, materials do not work under him. He is supposed to liaise with the divisional heads of these departments who work under the DRM. Thus, the Divisional Mechanical /Electrical Engineer, like the CWM, is dependent on the divisional heads under the DRM in the areas of civil engineering, security, medical, promotion of supervisors, and financial decision making, and on the CME and GM for machine and material procurement, selection / promotion of managers and large investment decisions. It should be clear from the above discussion that there can be unity of purpose only at two levels - at the level of DRM and at the level of GM. Also, since they have all wings of railways under them, DRMs and GMs expect inter-department coordination from their subordinates. Other than these two levels, the line of decision making in a particular department of Indian Railways is along the vertical hierarchy. This traditional functional silos in Indian Railways is shown in Figure 3.3. 116

GM/DRM Coordinational vector

Functional vector

Work vector Mech = mechanical Elec=electrical Fin= finance Pers=personal Stor=stores

Figure 3. 3 Existing functional silos in Indian Railways Source: developed for this work.

In Figure 3.3 different departments of Indian Railways have been shown along the periphery of a horizontal circle. This model has borrowed the concept of vector from Gyllenpalm quoted in Hersey, Blanchard and Johnson (2002, p.437). The work force vector (shown by black arrows) is a measure of the work which different departmental functionaries do in Indian Railways. The work force vector has two components functional force vector (shown by purple arrow) and coordinational force vector (shown by blue arrow). The functional force vector is exerted by the functional superiors within a department. This functional force vector is reinforced by the vertical collectivism (see Table 2.13) tendency of 117

Indians which supports the hierarchy of a department and also develops a clannish feeling among the departmental members. That is, the feeling of in-group is confined within the department. The coordinational force vector is caused by the extent of coordination force exerted by the General Manager (GM) or Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) the only two levels where effective inter department coordination is practised in the Indian Railways. The intensity of functional force vector depends on: (i) function specific knowledge of a superior (ii) the interaction among the functional in-group. This interaction vector in turn depends on (i) the prevalence of bureaucratic value in that functional unit (ii) prevalence of social values between the superior and subordinate. These concepts are mathematically shown by the researcher below:

W= F + C, where W = Work force vector, F = Functional force vector, C = Coordinational force vector, F= K+I , where K= functional knowledge of the superior, I = Interaction among the functional in-group, I = B+S, where B= Bureaucratic values in the functional unit, S=Social value in the functional unit.

It has been mentioned here that effective coordination occurs only at the GM and DRM level. However the list of ISO certified units at Appendix 9 shows that no ISO certification has been taken at the divisional level or headquarter level. It has however been taken at intra divisional levels like a diesel loco shed, an electric loco shed etc. ISO certification has also been taken in railway workshops headed by CWMs, and by

warehousing units headed by Dy. CMMs. There are also a few cases where the ISO certification has been taken only for part of a workshop. This situation was analysed in the background of the continual improvement loop of ISO 9000. The ISO 9000:2000 standard has incorporated the continual improvement theme in a process-based approach as shown in Figure 3.4.

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Continual improvement of the quality management system

Management Responsibility

Customers Customers
Resource management Measurement, analysis and improvement Satisfaction

Requirements

Product realization

Product

Value-adding activities

Information flow

Figure 3. 4 Model of a process-based quality management system Source: ISO 9001:2000 standard.

A juxtaposition of the clauses of ISO 9000:2000 in the areas of purchasing and resource management against the power delegated to different unit heads has been shown in Table 3.5.

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Units ISO clause (taken from ISO 9000:2000 manual) 6.3 Infrastructure headed GM He/she

Units

headed Units by

by by CWM/ Dy. headed CMM

DME/ DEE

has He/she does not He/she does the not have the required of delegation of and

The organization shall determine, provide the

required have

and maintain the infrastructure needed to delegation of required achieve conformity to product power and delegation

requirements. Infrastructure includes, as organization applicable a) building, workspace and associated to provide it.

power and the power organization to the provide it.

organization to provide it.

utilities, b) process equipment (both hardware

and software), and c) Supporting services (such as transport

or communication). 7.4 Purchasing 7.4.1 Purchasing processes He/she the has He/she does not He /she does the not have the required of delegation of and

required have

The organization shall evaluate and select delegation of required suppliers based on their ability to supply power and delegation

product in accordance with organizations organization requirements. Criteria for

power and the power

selection, to ensure its organization to the ensure compliance. its organization to ensure its compliance.

evaluation and re-evaluation shall be compliance. established. Records of the results of evaluations and any necessary actions arising from the evaluation shall be maintained. (see 4.2.4).

Table 3. 5 Analysis of different categories of railway units on clauses of ISO 9000:2000 Source: developed for this research.

From the above table, it was clear that except for production units, the heads of the workshops, warehousing units and locomotive maintenance units were not organisationally empowered to satisfy all the clauses of ISO 9000:2000. 120

Thus it was possible to propose a hypothesis at this point: Production units will show better transition towards TQM concepts. This insight was used for doing a theory based purposeful sampling of ISO certified units within Indian Railways. Therefore it was reasoned that if the production units were the most probable candidates for a successful transition towards TQM, they should first be studied in detail and conclusion drawn from them could then be tested further. Therefore, it was decided that the questionnaire of survey C should be sent to all the six production units CLW, DLW, DCW, RCF, ICF and WAP. Third criteria for selection of railway unit in the survey C: It had been noted in the literature review that the ISO 9000 certification could be used as the stepping stone for an organizations journey towards TQM (Lee & Lam 1997; Hill, Hazlett & Meegan 2001; Escanciano, Fernndez & Vzquez 2001). Further ISO 9000:2000 is specially designed for developing a continuous improvement culture in an organization. The literature review had also shown that the following factors are critical for taking an ISO 9000 certified organization towards TQM:

(i) Transformational leadership (ii) Executive mind set (iii) Capacity and willingness to learn

Among these factors, it was learnt from the literature review that transformational leadership favourably disposes an organization in developing the correct executive mindset and the willingness to learn. Thus these two factors could be considered to be dependent on transformational leadership. However the literature review did not bring about any relationship between transformational leadership and the capacity to learn. Therefore in the study of transition of ISO certified units towards TQM, one needed to address the intervening influence of only two variables: (a) transformational leadership and (b) capacity to learn. Here, in stage 2 of the research design, only the moderating impact of transformational leadership was dealt with. The moderating impact of capacity to learn was dealt with in stage 3 of the research. This was because researcher believed that capacity to learn was closely linked with research question iv which was will this bottom up methodology build learning capacity among the railway personnel?

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Thus the third criteria to include railway units in survey C was: include some units which have been headed by transformational leaders and some units which have been headed by non-transformational leaders. For assessing the transformational leadership, Bass Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire -MLQ 5X was administered to the managers of different railway units. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ 5X) by Bass and Avolio (2000) is the most widely used instrument for assessing transformational leadership ( Antonakis, Avolio & Sivasubramaniam 2003; Block 2003). They are shown in Appendix 6. It has nine constructs. The nine constructs and their operational definition are: (i) Idealized Influence - Attributed-(II A) It is a sub component of charisma. Charisma is a desire to identify with the leader. It measures the influence which a subordinate attributes to the leader. (ii) Idealized Influence - Behaviour- (IIB) - It is also a sub component of charisma. It measures the influence which a subordinate draws from the behaviour of their leader. (iii) Inspirational Motivation (IM) It provides followers with a clear sense of purpose that is energizing; a role model for ethical conduct which builds identification with the leader and his/her articulated vision. (iv) Intellectual Stimulation (IS) It gets followers to question the tried and true ways of solving problems; encourages them to question the methods they use to improve upon them. (v) Individualized Consideration (IC) It focuses on understanding the needs of each follower and works continuously to get them to develop to their full potential. (vi) Contingent Reward(CR) It clarifies what is expected from followers and what they will receive if they meet expected levels of performance. (vii) Management-by-Exception Active (MBEA) Here the leader focuses on monitoring task execution for any problems that might arise and correcting those problems to maintain current performance levels. (viii) Management-by-Exception Passive (MBEP) Here the leader tends to react only after problems have become serious to take corrective action. (ix) Laissez-Faire (LF) It shows a lack of leadership where, often, no decision will be made at all. Of the above nine constructs, the first five constructs are considered transformational in nature, the next three are considered transactional in nature while the last one shows an abdication of leadership responsibilities (Block 2003, p.321).

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The questionnaire measures the above constructs on a scale of 0 (not at all) to 4 (frequently if not always). Table 3.6 shows the percentiles for individual scores on the five constructs of transformational leadership and one construct of transactional leadership (CR). It can be seen from the table that Bass and Avolio (2000, p.53) found that only 5% of the leaders got scores of 3.7 and above on the five constructs of transformational leadership. It shows that transformational leaders though sought after, are not easily found in organizations.

N= Percentile 95 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 5

II(A) 2,080 3.7 3.5 3.2 3.1 2.9 2.7 2.5 2.2 1.9 1.4 0.9

II(B) 2,080 3.8 3.6 3.4 3.2 3.0 2.8 2.6 2.3 0.9 1.4 1.0

IM IS 2,080 2,080 MLQ Scores 3.8 3.6 3.4 3.2 3.0 2.8 2.6 2.3 1.9 1.3 0.9 3.7 3.5 3.2 3.0 2.8 2.7 2.4 2.2 1.8 1.3 0.8

IC 2,079 3.9 3.7 3.4 3.2 3.1 2.9 2.6 2.3 1.9 1.2 0.8

CR 2,078 3.5 3.3 3.0 2.7 2.5 2.3 2.0 1.8 1.4 0.9 0.5

Table 3. 6 Percentiles for individual scores, based on others ratings on MLQ Source: Bass and Avolio (2000, p.53).

The three criteria which were used in selection of railway units for survey C are summarised now: (i) Include some ISO 9000 certified units and some ISO 9000 plus ISO 14000 certified units. (ii) Include all production units of Indian Railways. (iii) Include some railway units headed by transformational leaders and some headed by nontransformational leaders. The railway units selected for survey C, the data collection and data analysis are dealt with in chapter 4.

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3.5.2 Survey D - Development of scale to measure the transition of ISO certified organisations towards TQM

For assessing the TQM orientation in ISO certified units, a questionnaire labelled TQM transition questionnaire was developed. It is shown in Appendix 5. Its questionnaire design has been separately taken up in section 3.6.

3.6 Questionnaire design and administration for survey D

The questionnaire design and administration process for survey D is schematically shown in Figure 3.5.

Develop and evaluate questionnaire

Develop measurement scale

General issues in drafting the questionnaire Question content and wording Sequence Physical characteristics

Pre-test, revise and prepare final draft

Questionnaire administration

Reliability and validity of the questionnaire

Figure 3. 5 Plan for development of TQM transition questionnaire Source: developed for this research. 124

The different steps involved in the questionnaire design are now dealt with.

3.6.1 Development and evaluation of questionnaire The objective behind developing the instrument was not to assess an organization on a known model of TQM. The objective here was to develop an instrument which could measure the progress of an unit towards the TQM philosophy. Section 2.2.5 of the literature review had already shown that ISO by itself does not catapult an organization into TQM orbit. However, it is definitely the first significant step. The literature review had also identified factors which enable inculcation of a TQM orientation in an organization. They have been indicated in sections 2.2.4, 2.2.5.3, 2.2.6 and 2.2.8 of this thesis. The factors are alphabetically reproduced below: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii) Customer focus Communication across organization/ information and data management Continuous improvement Delegation and empowerment Leadership Process improvement Result and recognition

(viii) Strategy (ix) (x) (xi) (xii) Supplier focus Team working Values and ethics Work culture / congenial inter personal relationship / worker manager interaction

The ISO 9000 version 2000 published in December 2000 is based on eight principles (www.iso.org ): Principle 1: Principle 2: Principle 3: Principle 4: Principle 5: Principle 6: Customer focus Leadership Involvement of People Process Approach System Approach to Management Continuous Improvement 125

Principle 7: Principle 8:

Factual Approach to Decision Making Mutually Beneficial Supplier Relationships

Based on this understanding, a questionnaire was developed. It is shown in Appendix 5. The factors which each of the questions attempted to test are also indicated there. The operationalisation of the 12 factors which the questionnaire attempts to measure are given in Table 3.7.

Sr.no

Factor

Operational definition

Based on the work of

Customer Focus

Quality should be customer driven.Employee Deming; should be well aware of the concept of internal and Wali, external customers. They should care about Deshmukh meeting and exceeding the customer expectations. and There must be a focus on customer feedback and (2003); accordingly the process should be driven. Gupta ISO

9000:2000 standard;

Communication Information is the critical enabler of TQM. The Deming; across organisation Information and the facts and information should be made available to Ishikawa; all. Effective communication channel must exist in Wali, the organisation between various work unit. With Deshmukh Gupta ISO

Data the help of information technology, comunication and can be made effective. Effective comunication is (2003);

maangement

vital in aligning the workforce towards corporate 9000:2000 expectations. This factor emphasises that the key standard; processes are regulary measured and quantified. There should be focus on benchmarking which provides a stimilus for improvement.

Table 3.7(contd)

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Table 3.7(contd) Sr.no Factor

Operational definition

Based on the work of

Continuous improvement

Employees must identify opportunities for Deming; continuous improvement. They must be trained 9000:2000 to identify opportinities for improvement. standard; There must be top management comitment to monitor the implementation of improvements suggested.

ISO

Delegation and In empowerment

TQM

setting,

both

delegation

and Deming;

Wali, and

empowerment are required. People must share Deshmukh responsibility for the success or failure of their Gupta (2003) work.

Leadership

Successful quality performance requires that Deming; Crosby; the leadership is dedicated to quality. It must Wali, Deshmukh also provide initiative and resource support. It and Gupta(2003); must enable creativity to be nurtured and ISO accordingly chalk out the strategy. 9000:2000

standard Wali, and

Process improvement

If employee involvement is key to the Deming; attainment of customer satisfaction, managing Deshmukh the process is key to engaging an organisations Gupta employees to take responsibilites for what they ISO

(2003); 9000:2000

are doing in relation to satisfying the standard customers. 7 Results Recognition and The organisation should reward their Deming; Juran;

employee for their contribution to quality. Wali, Deshmukh There should be quick recognition system for and Gupta (2003) outstanding performance by the employees. These rewards may not be purely financial.

Table 3.7 (contd)

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Table 3.7 (contd) Sr.no Factor Operational definition Based on the work of 8 Supplier focus
Organisation should buy on statistical evidence, Deming;

ISO

not price. Long term relationship with suppliers 9000:2000 standard should be encouraged.

Team Work

Departmental barriers should be broken down. Deming; The organisation should encourage problem Deshmukh

Wali, and

solving through team work. Employees must Gupta (2003); ISO

demonstrate cooperative behaviour and 9000:2000 standard positive attitude towards working in a team.

10

Value ethics

and It is improtant for the people in an Deming; organisation to live upto the highest ethical Deshmukh standards. There should be perception of fair Gupta (2003) treatment to all. The organisation must be guided by the value and ethical standards

Wali, and

11

Work culture

Employees should not be afraid of making Deming; mistake. They must feel pride in their Deshmukh workmanship. Organisation should practice Gupta a policy of cooperative planning involving (2003);Hoshin every one. planning; should

Wali, and

12

Strategy

Organisation

demonstrate Deming; Ishikawa; Deshmukh

managements permanent commitment to Wali, quality and productivity.

and Gupta (2003); ISO standard 9000:2000

Table 3. 7 Operationalisation of different factors of TQM transition questionnaire Source: developed for this research.

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3.6.2 Development of measurement scale Each of the above factors was measured by three items. The existence of a multiple item measurement scale made the observed scores more reliable. A ten point Likert scale was used for the instrument. This is because though Likert scale is an ordinal scale, by going for a ten-point scale, it is possible to use it as interval scale when a number of responses for a particular construct are averaged. Also to eliminate the between sample variation (Statistica for Windows 2001) among respondents, the items were framed to be answered on before and after format. A copy of the questionnaire titled TQM transition questionnaire is available at Table A5.1. The difference in the score today and 1 year before ISO certification was taken as a measure of the emergence of the corresponding underlying item. The difference in scores for a particular factor was the average of the difference score for its three corresponding items.

3.6.3 General issues in drafting the questionnaire The general issues involved in drafting the questionnaire were question content, response format, sequence and physical characteristics. With respect to the question content and wording, the questions are simple to understand and not vague or double barrelled. Further, railway specific wording are used so that the respondents can understand the correct nuance of the meaning. For example, the delegation of power in the Indian Railways is formally done through a document called Schedule of Power (SOP). Thus during the exploratory research stage, the wording of question seven was modified. The instrument contains some questions on Pareto analysis and corrective and preventive actions which are indicative of the emergence of a basic quality awareness and use of simple statistical tools. Questions like quality and not price is the basis for supplier selection, team working indicate assimilation of additional TQM factors. Cultural factors are most difficult to change. They are indicative of still higher level of assimilation of TQM concept. They have been represented through People in the work unit take pride in their work and Making a mistake is not feared. It is recognised as a part of learning.

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3.6.4 Pre-test, revision and final draft Pre-testing helps to uncover biased or ambiguous questions before they are administered at large (Sekaran 2000, Zikmund 2000). For the pre-test, the questionnaire was personally administered. The response for each item was examined. Such items which did not discriminate between respondents were discarded. An important step taken in the pre-test stage was to send the initial draft to the head of quality department of the Deming Prize winners in India and incorporate the changes suggested by them.

3.6.5 Reliability and validity of the instrument Reliability A measurement is reliable when it offers similar result over time and across the various items in the instrument. The reliability of the questionnaire was measured by split half reliability. It was .70. The Guttman split half reliability was .67. The use of Guttman split half reliability is that it does not presume equal reliabilities or equal variances of the two halves (Statistica for Windows 2001, p. 3131). This being an exploratory study, this level of reliability was considered acceptable.

Validity: It concerns the instruments adequacy for the measurement of the concept or idea that it measures. That is, the degree to which the elements of the instrument fully cover the phenomenon that is measured. The following validity types were tested: Content validity: It measures the extent to which the instrument actually covers the area under study. It can only be checked subjectively, by its approval from experts on the subject. Extensive literature review can also assure content validity. In this questionnaire, the content validity was established by linking the questionnaire with the literature, pre-testing of questionnaire and sending a copy of the questionnaire to academicians who have worked in the area of TQM in India. Their suggestions were incorporated. In the operational definition of the factors (Table 3.7), the literature references are mentioned which also helped establish the content validity of this questionnaire. Construct validity: It is established when a measured construct is significantly related to another construct with which it should be theoretically related. It is assessed through convergent validity and discriminant validity. Ideally, convergent validity is established

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through factor analysis. However, for a reliable factor analysis, for each item in the questionnaire, there should be about ten responses (Statistica for Window 2001). Since there are 36 items in this questionnaire, it required 360 respondents. Thus factor analysis was not possible because of the small sample size. Therefore criterion validity was used to assess the validity of the instrument. Criterion validity: Criterion validity is established if the results are in agreement with another measure of the same construct. The criterion validity was established by administering the questionnaire to three Deming Prize-winner organizations in India. It was found that on all the questions in the final draft of the questionnaire, a high total score was obtained by the Deming Prize winners. This was indicative of the criterion validity of the instrument. This, therefore, showed that the instrument could be used to measure the transition of an organization towards a TQM organization. To check its discriminant validity, it was administered to five ISO certified units in Indian Railways. It was found that different units scored differently on the test. Units which scored high on the instrument were ancedotically rated as successful implementation of ISO and units which rated low were ancedotically considered not successful cases of ISO implementation. Thus this instrument was able to discriminate between successful and unsuccessful cases of ISO implementation. The scores obtained by the three Deming Prize winners and the five ISO certified railway units on the TQM transition questionnaire is shown in Table A5.2 in Appendix 5. A summary of the scores for each of the 12 factors is shown in the Table 3.8.

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Deming Prize winners in India TQM factor Sona Steering 3.00 3.33 2.33 2.67 2.00 4.00 3.33 2.33 2.33 2.33 2.67 3.67 34.00 M&M 6.00 4.67 3.00 4.33 2.67 3.33 4.00 2.00 1.67 1.67 0.67 3.00 37.00 Rane Brake 3.00 3.33 4.00 3.00 2.33 3.33 3.00 3.00 4.00 2.66 3.33 3.66 37.66

ISO certified railway units in India

DLW 3.13 2.93 0.93 3.47 1.40 2.20 3.20 2.27 1.73 1.40 1.60 1.27 25.33

AMV 2.33 2.17 0.17 2.33 0.17 0.50 1.33 0.33 1.00 0.50 1.00 1.33 13.17

PRL 1.00 0.33 2.00 4.33 1.33 1.00 0.66 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.66 0.66 13

BPL 3.00 1.50 0.00 3.33 0.83 1.83 1.67 0.67 0.17 0.33 0.00 0.00 13.33

DCW .66 .33 .66 3 0 .33 1.66 .66 .66 .33 .66 1.33 10.33

Customer Focus Comm, info& data mgt Delegation & empowerment Continuous improvement Results and recognition Leadership Process improvement Supplier focus Team work Value & ethics Work culture Strategy
Total

Note: info information, mgt - management

Table 3. 8 Summary of scores obtained on the TQM transition questionnaire by DP winners in India and different ISO certified units of Indian Railways Source: developed from survey data.

The above discussion showed that the questionnaire could be treated as a valid instrument to assess an organizations transition towards TQM after ISO certification. Argyris (1999, p.452) has said that reliability and validity scores are best obtained with observers who manifest a relatively high level of competence in the variables being studied. Further the more the subjects are involved in planning and designing the research, the more we learn about the best ways to ask questions, the kind of resistance each research method would generate and the best way to gain genuine and long term interest in the research (Argyris 1999, p. 451). Thus during the development and validity testing phase, the instruments were administered to the head of TQM division of the Deming Prize winner organisations and in Indian Railways, it was administered to the head of an organization or the divisional heads within an organization.

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3.6.6 Survey method The same persons who took survey C were requested to take survey D also. The instrument was mailed by post or electronically to the management representatives and the unit heads of ISO certified units of Indian Railways.

3.7 Research design for stage 3

After obtaining the insight which the research in stage 1 and stage 2 provided, stage 3 sought answers to the research question no. iv and research question no. v developed in section 3.1. The research questions were: Research question iv: Will a bottom up methodology build learning capacity among the railway personnel? Research question v: How can the enablers of TQM be integrated in a model for attaining TQM within the ISO framework? It was recalled that in section 3.5.1.1 (p. 121), capacity to learn was found to be an intervening variable which affected the assimilation of TQM concepts in an organization.

3.7.1 Development of research design for stage 3 In the Indian Railways, ISO 9000 implementation is perhaps the only organization wide formal change initiative which has been taken up on a sustained basis. Literature review had shown that ISO 9000:2000 quality system has many similarities with TQM. It had also been mentioned in the literature review that one of the weaknesses of TQM implementation had been the prescriptive style which therefore ignored the tacit factors (Joseph et al. 1999). A summary of the impact of ISO implementation in different units of Indian Railways is shown in Appendix 9. It shows that almost all implementations had been consultant guided. There have been only few instances of involvement of employees in the planning and implementation process.

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In contrast, in the literature review, it was noted that in the Japanese culture, top management planning (hoshin) is more than a planning system. It is an organization development process throughout the company. It is recalled that the Deming Prize also looks upon the journey to the final award as a developmental process (see section 2.2.3.3). Hoshin promotes consensus building and shared decisions, commitment and loyalty. The effective top down and bottom up communication encourages all employees to act collectively in achieving shared organisational objectives (Khoo & Tan 2003). Japanese Shintoism and Buddhism advocate respect for everyone. The literature review had shown the similarities between the Indian culture and the Japanese culture (section 2.2.6.6). Thus there was enough theoretical underpinning to believe that a bottom up approach of ISO implementation might be better for developing learning capacities so as to internalise the TQM values of customer satisfaction and continuous improvement. Since the focus here was the progressive assimilation of core values of TQM, one needed to select a research methodology which facilitated both organisational learning by a group and also academic learning for the purpose of research. Action research (AR) methodology was one research methodology which was suitable to do this. The action research project which was used is discussed in chapter 5.

3.8 Ethical considerations

Stage 1 and stage 2 of this research involved surveys. All respondents to the surveys were assured that their identities would remain confidential. They were also informed that their participation was voluntary and that they were free to withdraw from the survey if they so desired at any time. They were also briefed about the purpose of the survey and why they were requested to participate in the survey. Thus the respondents were free from any stress on account of their participation in the survey. Stage 3 of this research involves action research methodology. For this also, a team of co-action - researchers was made at the Jhansi warehousing unit of Indian Railways. They were made the co-researchers with their consent and with the consent of the head of the warehousing unit. The questionnaires and the formation of action research team were also cleared by the ethical committee of Southern Cross University vide their letter ECN-04-95.

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3.9 Conclusion
This chapter dealt with the research methodology which was used to seek answers to the research questions framed at the beginning of the chapter. Justifications for different research methods, the sampling techniques and the ethical consideration associated with the research methods have been explained. The next chapter discusses data collection and data analysis for different surveys.

135

Chapter 4 Data collection and data analysis

This chapter deals with the data collection methods and the analysis of different surveys.

4.1 Data collection and data analysis for survey A

Survey A was concerned with assessing the organisational practices and policies of Indian Railways. A copy of the survey instrument is shown at Appendix 2. Through the open-ended question I, this survey attempted to understand what new policies/practices the organization should adopt in the new scenario of liberalisation and globalisation. Question II to question VI of the survey seeked respondents opinion on what is and what should be the Indian Railways core values, style of management, growth strategies, competitive strategies and changes in organisational structure / management system. Part a of these questions sought the what is status and part b of these questions sought the should be status. The questionnaire was sent by post. Before sending the questionnaire, the respondents were spoken to in person or telephonically and the purpose of the survey was explained to them. After sending the questionnaire, all the possible respondents were also reminded telephonically. Out of 25 questionnaires sent, 20 responses were received which made the response rate very high. The high response rate was possibly because the researcher and the respondents were both railwaymen. Thus the respondents were able to relate to the research work done. However not all the respondents answered all the questions. Therefore, in Appendix 2A, against each question, the number of respondents is indicated. The profile of the respondents is shown in Table 4.1.

Organisational rank

Number respondents Ex- chairmen and ex-board 13 members of Indian Railways Senior administrative grade and up to General Manager 7

of Years of service in Indian Railways More than 35 years

From 27 years to 35 years

Table 4. 1 Respondent profile for survey A Source: developed from survey data. 136

The questions and their responses are now analysed: Question I- What new policies /practices you want the organization to adopt in the new scenario of liberalisation and increased competition? 17 respondents had answered this question. A total of 89 different types of policies /practices were identified by them. They have been termed responses in this data analysis. These responses were coded using Miles and Huberman (1994) concept of data coding. Depending on their conceptual similarity, these 89 responses were first reduced to 28 level -1 codes. At a second level, using networks of codes, they were further reduced to 13 level-2 codes. It was recalled that these responses were respondents opinion about the policies and practices which they felt Indian Railways should adopt in the liberalised scenario. It was then compared with the factors of TQM which were summarised in Table 3.7. It was found that 10 of the codes matched with TQM factors either partly or fully. These are shown in Table 4.2.

Level 1 coding

No. responses

of Level (% coding

2 No. responses

of Corresponding (% factor of the model in

of respondents who mentioned the code) Multi modal transport Customer orientation 3 (17.6%) 4 (23.5%) Customer oriented transportation Faster making More flexible rules Freedom to engage manpower at short notice Profit orientation Cost cutting Better system Rational pricing 4 (23.5%) accounting 6 (35.3%) 1 (5.9%) 3 (17.6%) Commercial orientation 5 (29.4%) 2 (11.7%) decision 2 (11.7%) Empowerment

of respondents TQM who shown

mentioned the Table 3.7 code) 7 (41.1%) Customer Focus

9 (52.9%)

Delegation and Empowerment

14 (82.35%)

none

Table 4.2 (contd) 137

Table 4.2 (contd) Level 1 coding

No. responses (%

of Level coding of

2 No. responses

of Corresponding (% factor of the model in

of respondents TQM who shown

respondents who mentioned the code) Innovation Remove fear of failure Less role of finance department Less departments in 7 (41.1%) 3 (17.6%) 3 (17.6%) 2 (11.7%) Team work Work culture

mentioned the Table 3.7 code)

6 (35.3%0

Work culture

10 (58.8%)

Team Working

railways Team work Competitive advantage Outsource, get out of non core area Level playing field with road sector and 5 (29.4%) Strategic governmental support 5 (29.4%) None 1 (5.9%) 2 (11.7%) 4 (23.5%) Focussed working 6 (35.3%) None

compensation for social responsibility railways Transparency 3 (17.6%) of

Ethical working

3 (17.6%)

Values ethics

and

Executive development Staff training BPR TQM Technological upgradation

3 (17.6%) 4 (23.5%) 1 (5.9%) 1 (5.9%) 5 (29.4%)

Training

7 (41.1%)

Training

Process improvement

7 (41.1%)

Process improvement

Table 4.2 (contd)

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Table 4.2 (contd) Level 1 coding No. responses (% of of Level 2 coding No. responses of Corresponding (% factor of the model in

of respondents TQM who shown

respondents who mentioned the code) More tenure for 2 (11.7%) Recognition

mentioned the Table 3.7 code)

6 (35.3%)

Result recognition

and

higher level posts Merit promotion Better salary Better discipline 1 (5.9%) 2 (11.7%) People management 2 (22.5%) based 3 (17.6%)

Congenial inter-personal relations

High

level

of

7 (41.1%)

Managements commitment quality productivity to and

7 (41.1%)

Strategy

professional work

Total

number

of

89

response

Table 4. 2 Comparison of codes developed in survey A with the CSFs of TQM Source: developed from survey data.

The three level2 codes which did not match with TQM factors are commercial orientation, focussed working and strategic government support. Together, these three codes accounted for 25 responses out of 89 responses received. The balance 64 responses (72%) were such that they were related to TQM based practices. In terms of frequency, 82% of the respondents felt that developing an commercial orientation should be a desirable policy to be adopted by Indian Railways. The preponderance of developing a commercial orientation as the desirable change in the policy 139

of Indian Railways indicates that the importance of what TQM award models call business result was also realised by the senior railway managers in India. 58.8% of the respondents felt that team working should be a desirable policy to be adopted by Indian Railways. 52.9% of the respondents felt that empowerment should be a desirable policy to be adopted by Indian Railways. 41.1% of respondents felt that customer focus, training, process improvement and strategy should be among the desirable policies to be adopted by Indian Railways Thus, it can be said that the model which senior railway managers have in their mind about way things should change in Indian Railways is conceptually similar to the TQM model. The analyses of the responses to other questions of this survey (survey A) were then used to support or disapprove this emerging understanding. Question II to question VI attempted to understand what are and what should be the organisational values, management style, growth strategy, competitive strategy and organization structure for the Indian Railways. These questions contained pre-coded options while question I contained an open ended question. This was done so that comparison made across these different question types could make the conclusions more rigorous. The details of the responses received to these questions are shown in Appendix 2A. From these responses, for the five dimensions of organisational values, management style, growth strategy, competitive strategy and organization structure, two most often quoted responses have been shown in the Table 4.3. These responses have again been compared with the TQM factors shown in Table 3.7. The table shows that the existing core values of Indian Railways are to be a fair and just employer and making a useful contribution to society. As against this, total quality in every operation and customer focus are the two values which Indian Railways should have. These two values are the very core of TQM. The management style of Indian Railways is cautious, with clear formal reporting relationship and a clear distinction between those who give orders and those who implement them. In the opinion of the researcher, these indicate a bureaucratic and hierarchical style which, given the bureaucratic and cultural background of Indian Railways employees, are not surprising. However, the senior managers of Indian Railways strongly want a bold but calculating risk taking management style characterised with flexibility, informality and resourcefulness, a management style which is professional and system oriented. This is the

140

same as an innovative organisational culture discussed in section 2.2.1.2 of literature review which finally leads to continuous improvement which is again a TQM based concept. The existing growth strategies of Indian Railways are related and unrelated capacity building and geographical expansion of railway network. As against this, the desirable growth strategies are empowerment and rapid expansion of customer base by weaning customer back. Empowerment has already been identified as one of the critical success factors for TQM. Indian Railways existing competitive strategies have been to compete on the basis of price and by offering service to specific market segments. There is almost total unanimity that the desirable competitive strategies should be to compete on the basis of quality and by offering novel or unique services. Once again quality strategy and innovative culture are the desirable directions of change. With respect to organisational structure and management system, Indian Railways is trying for greater delegation of authority and a sophisticated management and control system. The senior managers felt that greater delegation of authority and a leaner organization should be the desirable changes. Greater delegation of authority is same as empowerment- a TQM enabler. This analysis showed that TQM itself and many core concepts of TQM like continuous improvement, empowerment, customer focus, quality based organisational strategy, systems approach have been identified by the respondents as the desirable changes which Indian Railways should initiate.

141

Dimensions

Existing

Proposed

Corresponding TQM factor

ii. Core values

Being a fair and just employer (70%) welfare state (researchers interpretation) Making a useful contribution to society (41%) welfare state (researchers

Total quality in every operation (80%) Customer orientation (45%)

TQM itself

Customer focus

interpretation) iii. Management style Cautious, stick to knitting management that greatly values stability, good profit and steady growth (77%) - bureaucratic style (researchers interpretation) Management formal greatly emphasises clear roles, Bold taking, but calculating a lot risk of Innovative organisational culture (akin to continuous

entrepreneurship, commitment to fast growth (80%) Strong emphasis on flexibility, adaptability, informality and resourcefulness (73.7%)

improvement) Innovative organisational culture (akin to continuous

reporting

relationships,

procedures and accountability (77%) bureaucratic interpretation) Strongly discipline oriented management, clearly separates those who give orders from those who must obey them (72%) hierarchical interpretation) iv. Organizations growth strategy Related capacity building (53%) Unrelated capacity building ((31%) Geographical or locational expansion of railway network (31%) system (researchers style (researchers

improvement)

Highly

professional,

system

Systems approach

oriented management (73.7%)

Empowerment

(empowering

Empowerment

front line managers to tap and capture offering new markets by

locally

relevant,

potentially star services with locally fixed tariffs) (73.7%) Rapid expansion of present customer base by weaning customers back to railways (31%) Rapid expansion of present customer base by weaning customers back to railways (73.7%) v. Organizations competitive strategy Compete on the basis of price (81%) Compete by developing and offering Compete on the basis of high quality of service (100%) Compete on the basis of Innovative organisational culture (akin to continuous Quality strategy Customer focus

services to cater to the needs of specific market segments (62%) innovative and offering novel or unique new services (95%)

improvement) vi. Organization structure management system and Greater delegation of authority at operating levels (70%) More sophisticated information and control system (63%) Contract out various functions and activities to make the organization (80%) Greater delegation of authority at operating levels (70%) Empowerment much leaner None

Table 4. 3 Existing and proposed organisational dimensions for Indian Railways by senior railway managers Source: developed from survey data.

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It was thus noted that the open ended question I and the pre-coded question II to question VI threw up similar approaches of change for Indian Railways. Further, these approaches were conceptually similar to different factors of TQM which the literature review had identified. Literature review had shown that TQM could be used as a model for organisational transformation. This survey showed that the managers of Indian Railways also suggested a model of change which was conceptually similar to TQM.

It is to be noted that the open-ended question was the first to be answered by the respondents and then they answered the pre-coded questions. This eliminated the possibility that the options in the pre-coded questions might have biased the respondents towards giving TQM oriented responses.

4.2 Data collection and data analysis for survey B

4.2.1 Data collection If TQM is the proposed model of change for Indian Railways, to what is extent there congruence between TQM oriented organisational culture and the cultural values of Indian Railway personnel? Section 2.2.6.6 had shown that there is no study in this area. Since hierarchy was found to be having strong negative influence on TQM implementation (Tan & Khoo 2002, Tata & Prasad 1998), survey B attempted to assess this among the employees of the Indian Railways. The instrument for survey (S004 available in Appendix 3) was personally administered by the researcher during visits to different units of the Indian Railways. Personally administering the instrument had the advantage of explaining the rationale of the survey and clarifying any doubt by the respondents before they could start filling the questionnaire. This also took care that there were no missing responses in the filled questionnaire. This helped at the time of data analysis. A total of 311 responses were collected from the survey. The distribution of the respondents is shown in Table 4.4.

143

Category

of

employee: Category of employee: class 2 officers

Category of employee: class 3 supervisors

class 1 officers

No of respondents respondents age

144

No of respondents

61

No of respondents respondents less than 30 years

106 8

44 respondents age less nil than 30 years 89 respondents age 27

less than 30 years respondents age

respondents

between 77

between 30 years to 50 years respondents age

between 30 years to 50 years 11 respondents More than 34 50 years

30 years to 50 years

respondents more than 21 50 years

more than 50 years

Table 4. 4 Number of respondents in different categories for survey B Source: developed from field data. In Indian Railways, for the field postings, there is no direct recruitment at the class 2 level. The class 3 supervisors after putting in certain years of service take a departmental promotion examination. Those who qualify through this are promoted to the level of class 2. Thus most of the class 2 officers are more than 30 years old. Hence during the survey, no class 2 officer less than 30 years of age could be accessed. In the category of class 1 officers less than 30 years of age, all were trainee officers, that is, they had not yet joined a working post. Since the training period for them is two years, they had not put in more than two years of service in the Indian Railways. Thus it could be said that their values were not influenced by railway specific experiences and it was more a reflection of their experiences in the Indian society. 4.2.2 Data Analysis For the data analysis, the scores obtained on the dimensions of status consciousness, tendency for personalised relationship and dependency proneness were symbolised by S, P and D scores respectively. The class 1, class 2 and class3 employees were symbolised by the suffix 1, 2 or 3 respectively after S, P or D. Thus D3 means dependency proneness score for class 3 employees of Indian Railways. The scores were further divided age group wise as shown in the Table 4.5 which is self-illustrative.

144

Dimensions of hierarchy

Status consciousness category of employee: class 1 officers S1_<30yr 2.4818 S1_31-50 2.4292

Personalised relationship P1_<30yr 2.9113 P1_31-50 3.0224 P1_>50 2.8909 P1 = 2.98

Dependency proneness D1_<30yr 2.4522 D1_31-50 2.6112 D1_>50 2.4454 D1 =2.55

respondents age less than 30 years (n= 44) score respondents age between 30 years to 50 years (n=89) score

respondents age more than 50 years S1_>50 (n=11) 2.3454 score average score for class 1 officers S1= 2.43 (n=144) category of employee: class 2 officers respondents age less than 30 years S2_<30yr (n=0) n.a. score respondents age between 30 years to 50 S2_31-50 years (n=27) 2.0296 score respondents age more than 50 years S2_>50 (n=34) 2.2147 score average score for class 2 officers S2=2.13 (n=61) category of employee: class 3 supervisors respondents age less than 30 years S3_<30yr (n=8) 1.6750 score respondents age between 30 years to 50 years (n=77) score respondents age more than 50 years (n=21) score average scores for class 3 supervisors (n=106) average scores for the class1, class2 & class3 combined (n=144+61+106 =311)
n.a.= not available Note: quite true-1 true-2 undecided3

P2_<30yr n.a. P2_31-50 2.7703 P2_>50 3.0323 P2=2.92

D2_<30yr n.a. D2_31-50 2.1259 D2_>50 2.2323 D2=2.18

P3_<30yr 2.6500 P3_31-50 3.0103 P3_>50 3.1428 P3=3.01 P=2.9768

D3_<30yr 1.7625 D3_31-50 1.7441 D3_>50 1.7666 D3=1.75 D= 2.2057

S3_31-50 1.7909 S3_>50 1.8333 S3=1.79 S=2.1578

false-4

quite false-5

Table 4. 5 Scores obtained on the three dimensions of status consciousness (S), personalised relationship (P) and dependency proneness (D) by different categories of employees of Indian Railways Source: developed from survey data. 145

In Table 4.5, the lower the scores, the higher the measured tendency of status consciousness (S), personalised relationship (P) and dependency proneness (D) .The Statistical package Statistica was used to analyse the data. Wherever ANOVA was used, the following assumptions of ANOVA were verified to be true before conclusions were made based on ANOVA: (i) Homogeneity of variance (ii) Lack of correlation between the mean and variance. Since for all ANOVA based analysis, the sample sizes were more than thirty and also because the violation of normality assumption does not affect the robustness of F test (Statistica 1998, p. 1710), the test of normality was not specifically done. The analysis began by verifying whether there was any difference between the S score, P score and D scores given below. The lower the score, the higher was the tendency of status consciousness (S), personalised relationship (P) and dependency proneness (D).

Symbol S P D All Groups

Mean value 2.1578 2.9768 2.2057 2.4468

Valid N 311 311 311

The details of the analysis done are shown in step 1 at Appendix 3A. The analysis showed that in the Indian Railway staff, among the three components of hierarchy, the dimension of tendency for a personalised relationship was significantly weaker than those of dependency on superior and status consciousness. Further, there was no significant difference on the scores obtained on the dimensions of status consciousness and dependency on the superior. Then it was assessed whether there was any difference among class 1, class 2 and class 3 staff of the Indian Railway on the three dimensions. The details of the analysis are available in step 2 at Appendix 3A. The analysis showed that the status consciousness with respect to the superior and dependency on the superior increased from class1 to class 2 and from class 2 to class 3 employees. However, there was no difference in their tendency for personalised relationship with their superior which in any case was significantly weaker than that of

146

status consciousness with respect to the superior and dependency on the superior as seen from the analysis done in step 1 of Appendix 3A. The analysis further showed that within a category of employee (class 1, class 2, class 3) there was no significant difference in their scores on the two dimensions of status consciousness and dependency on the superior from younger (less than 30 years of age) to older (more than 50 years of age) employees. The details of the analysis are shown in step 3 at Appendix 3A. On the dimension of tendency for personalised relationship, the analysis carried out in step 4 at Appendix 3A showed that there was no difference in P scores across different age groups and across different classes of employees. That is, the tendency for personalised relationship is consistently weak across different age and class groups in the Indian Railways. The hypotheses made in section 3.4.2 are now reproduced for convenience: (i) Class 1 officers show lower hierarchical tendencies in comparison to class 2 officers. (ii) Class 2 officers show lower hierarchical tendencies in comparison to class 3 employees. (iii) Younger employees show lesser hierarchical tendencies than older employees. In terms of hypothesis testing, hypothesis i and hypothesis ii were accepted on two dimensions of hierarchy status consciousness and dependency proneness. But hypothesis i and hypothesis ii were not accepted on the third dimension of hierarchy personalised relationship. Hypothesis iii was not accepted on the two dimensions of status consciousness and dependency proneness. That is, in the Indian Railways, the younger employees are as hierarchical in nature as their superiors who joined service roughly 25 years ago.

147

4.3 Data collection and data analysis for survey C

Based on the three criteria for selection of units for survey C mentioned in section 3.5.1.1, the railway units short-listed for this survey and the criteria they satisfied are shown in Table 4.6.

Railway unit

ISO 14000 certified No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Unit headed by a transformational leader No No Yes No No Yes No No No

Parel workshop (PRL) Diesel Components Works (DCW) Alambagh warehousing unit (AMV) Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) Bhopal workshop (BPL) Wheel and Axle Plant (WAP) Rail Coach Factory (RCF) Integrated Coach Factory (ICF)

Requisite delegation of authority to the head of unit No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes

Table 4. 6 List of short-listed railway units for survey C Source: developed from fieldwork. The survey questionnaire was sent by e- mail after the management representative (MR) or the head of the unit of these units was telephonically advised of the purpose of the survey. They were then reminded telephonically to complete and return the survey. Two units CLW and RCF did not respond. Salient points of the survey are shown in Appendix 4A. Some of the common conclusions were: (i) The reason for certification was to initiate a structured way for continuous improvement. (ii) Top management had been very involved in the quality system. (iii) Customer feedback is taken as a part of quality system implementation. (iv) Except DLW, there was no resistance to change from any unit. (v) The structure of procedure for WAP showed a different approach. It was basically designed for each business process i.e. it truly reflected the process approach enshrined in ISO 9000:2000 standard. (vi) Five out of six units said that implementation of document control prevented non conformities on account of use of obsolete documents or no documents.

148

(vii) Except WAP no unit calculates process capability index like Cpk. At WAP, the use of statistical techniques has been good. In the other five units, the use of statistical techniques has been either low or somewhat. (viii) Five out of six units said that certification resulted in better understanding of process & responsibility and linkage to other functions. (ix) Team work came out as the most important lesson learnt followed by the realisation that people make the system work. (x) Except AMV, no other unit involved all departments in the ISO certification. From the above conclusions, the following are relevant in the context of this research: (i) Continuous improvement was the reason behind certification. The literature review had shown that management intent behind ISO certification was an intervening variable in an organizations transition towards TQM (see section 2.2.5.2). (ii) Top management was very involved in the quality system. Literature review had shown that leadership; particularly transformational leadership was a crucial intervening variable in an organizations transition towards TQM. However, it must be cautioned here that leadership involvement is one thing; transformational leadership is another thing. That is, a non-transformational leader can also be very much involved in the certification process without showing the traits of transformational leadership. (iii) There was almost no resistance to change. This was contrary to the findings in the western literature on management of change (see section 2.2.7.2).

4.3.1 Understanding the impact of ISO implementation on railway units in terms of intervening variables In Table 4.6, the railway units were short-listed based on three intervening variables ISO 14000 certification, presence of transformational leadership and presence of requisite authority to the head of the unit. Now, after the survey, based on the survey C and the literature review, additional intervening variables were used to assess their moderating impact on an units journey towards TQM. The intervening variables which were now considered as having a moderating impact on the units journey towards TQM were:

(i) time elapsed from ISO certification till Jan 2005 (ii) ISO 14000 certification 149

(iii) presence of transformational leadership (iv) involvement of all departments in ISO certification process (v) presence of requisite authority to the head of the unit (vi) use of statistical techniques.

That took the research to survey D.

4.4 Data collection and data analysis for survey D

The purpose of survey D was to assess the development of TQM orientation in ISO certified units of Indian Railways. The instrument TQM transition questionnaire developed in section 3.6 was used to get an objective assessment of a units transition towards TQM. The units short-listed for survey C were used for this survey also so that the effect of intervening variables could be seen. The questionnaire was e-mailed to the management representative (M.R.) or the head of the unit after a telephonic discussion about the purpose of the questionnaire. In three cases (AMV, DLW and WAP), the questionnaire was personally handed over to the M.R. The scores obtained on the TQM transition questionnaire by different units of Indian Railways are shown in Table 4.7. The table also shows the status of intervening variables in the units which were assessed on TQM transition questionnaire.

150

Railway Unit

Score on TQM transition scale 13

No. of years since ISO 9000 certification till Jan 2005 3

ISO 14000 certified

Parel workshop (PRL) Alambagh warehousing unit (AMV) Bhopal workshop (BPL) Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) Diesel Components Works (DCW) Wheel and Axle Plant (WAP) Integrated Coach Factory (ICF)

No

Unit headed by a transformational leader No

Involvement of all departments in the ISO certification process No

Requisite delegation of authority to the head of unit No

Use of statistical technique

Non existent Somewhat

13.17

No

Yes

Yes

No

13.33

Yes

Yes

No

No

Somewhat Somewhat

25.33

Yes

No

No

Yes

10.33

No

No

No

Yes

Low

37.66

10

Yes

No

No

Yes

High

21.33

Yes

No

No

Yes

Somewhat

Table 4. 7 Comparison of scores on TQM transition questionnaire of different units of Indian Railways and the juxtaposition of intervening factors Source: developed from survey data.

It can be seen from Table 4.7 that the top leader at Parel, Alambagh and Bhopal were not having requisite delegation of authority. Further, only the leaders at Alambagh and Bhopal were transformational leaders. The transformational leadership scores of the leaders at Alambagh (AMV) and Bhopal (BPL) measured through Bass Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire are shown at Appendix 6.3. Except for AMV, no other unit had involved all 151

departments in the certification process. The presence of a transformational leader and involvement of all department perhaps explains why just one year after certification process, Alambagh registered a score of 13.17 on the TQM transition scale which was the same as the scores of Bhopal and Parel, even though Bhopal was headed by a transformational leader. The leaders at DLW, DCW, WAP and ICF were not transformational. But they had the necessary delegation of authority. With respect to ISO 14000 certification, it was seen that except BPL, all ISO 14000 certified units (WAP, ICF and DLW) obtained relatively higher scores. This was in line with the proposition made in section 3.5.1.1 that ISO 14000 certification, because of its emphasis on cleanliness, positively intervenes in an organizations journey towards TQM. WAP had the highest on the TQM transition scale. This could partly be explained by the longer period for which it was ISO certified. However, DLW and ICF were also ISO certified for the last 8 years and 9 years respectively. In the case of WAP, the use of statistical technique was high. This could be one possible explanation as to why WAP got higher scores on the TQM transition scale than DLW and ICF. Still, the rather large difference of scores between DLW and WAP made the researcher feel that there were other intervening variables which were not considered in Table 4.7 which could explain the difference in the scores between DLW and WAP. This insight was carried forward to the rest of the research discussed in chapter 5 and chapter 6.

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Chapter 5 The action research project

In section 3.7.1, action research was mentioned as a possible research methodology to seek answers to the following research questions: Research question iv: Will a bottom up methodology build learning capacity among the railway personnel? Research question v: How can the enablers of TQM be integrated in a model for attaining TQM within the ISO framework? This chapter deals with these issues in detail.

5.1 Situating Action Research in a Research Paradigm

AR is the process of systematically collecting data about a system (e.g. organization) relative to some goal or need of the system (Aguinis 1993, p.419). Lewin has however clarified that introduction of action into the scientific model by no means indicate that action research is any less scientific or lower than pure science (quoted by Aguinis 1993, p. 419). This means that the data collection is not arbitrary. It is systematic in the sense that the action researcher is guided by hypotheses and assumptions about the nature of organization and its sub-systems. The data is fed back to the system and action taken as a consequence. Part of the action involves modifying the hypothesis if the data so indicate. Action research in its most basic form is shown in Figure 5.1.

Reflect

Plan

Observe

Action

Figure 5. 1 The action research cycle Source: Kemmis and McTaggart (1988).

153

Planning involves identifying the problem, formulating a hypothesis about the situation, identifying the theory in use and planning the action to be taken. The action is then undertaken. The action is observed with data collected. The fourth stage is reflection which relates to what the experience means, what can be learnt from it, does theory match practice or does the theory need to be adjusted in light of the practice. This process is then repeated until theory accurately predicts the practice. In the context of learning, Kolb has expressed the cyclic learning as shown in Figure 5.2. Here there is no need to identify the theoretical assumption underlying the initial action. Instead an event is selected for reflection and a record of experience kept. Using the record, the experience is analysed in terms of what happened and why, what was expected to happen and what does it mean? A meaning is abstracted from it which may result in a theory or a personal record of what has been learnt. In the fourth stage what has been learnt is tried out and the cycle is repeated.

Concrete Experiencing

Active experimentation

Reflective observation

Abstract conceptualisation Figure 5. 2 The experiential learning cycle Source: Kuit, Reay and Freeman (2001, p. 128) adapted from Kolb

Cowan (1998) has taken the experiencing learning cycle of Kolb shown in Figure 5.2 and shown how the cycle can be modified to give rise to generalisation about learning which can then be tested. Cowan says that the step from reflective learning to generalisation about that learning is essentially an iterative process in which the learner

154

oscillates between reflection and generalisation a number of times before he/she can arrive at a testable generalisation. This is shown in Figure 5.3.

Experiencing

Test

Reflecting

Generalize Figure 5. 3 The oscillation between reflection and generalisation Source: based on Cowan (1998, p. 44).

Action research cycle has been regarded as a learning cycle (Dick 2000; Kemmis & McTaggart 1988; OBrien 1998). The literature review (section 2.2.1.3) identified four forms of knowing - experiential, presentational, propositional and practical. Extending knowledge into research, Reason (1994, p. 326) has said that in research on persons, the propositional knowledge stated in the research conclusions need to be rooted in and derived from the experiential and practical knowledge of the subjects. When formalised in research, propositional knowledge is the researched world. Reason has further identified second person action research co-operative inquiry - as the method which integrates these four forms of knowing and develops learning organization (Reason 2001, p.185). Positioning action research in the paradigm of knowledge, de Guerre (2002, p. 333) said that there are three forms of logical inference and not just two deduction and induction - as were generally supposed. He talks about abduction (or retroduction) as a kind of inference that yields reasonable ex-post facto hypothesis. It was only by this ability to arrive at reasonable hypotheses, that we could advance scientific knowledge. Retroduction is reasoning from the consequent to the antecedent and thus after the fact extracting the hypothesis (Emery & Emery quoted in de Guerre 2002, p.340). Reason has looked at these three approaches in terms of three paradigms which are shown in a tabular form in Table 5.1.

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Positivist Paradigm

Interpretive Paradigm

Paradigm of Praxis

O Brien (1998) has said that It is characterised by Aristotle defines Praxis as logical positivism is based on a a belief in a socially the art of acting upon the belief whose in objective reality, constructed, can be subjectively conditions one faces in order based to change them. He contrasts

knowledge

gained only from data which reality, one that is it with Theoria those that can be and directly influenced by culture science and activities that are verified and history. concerned with knowing for its own sake. According to and him both are needed. That

experienced between observers.

independent Phenomenology, Phenomena are ethnography

subject to natural laws that hermeneutics are the knowledge is derived from humans discover in a logical approaches which are practice manner through empirical used here. and practice

informed by knowledge is an

testing, using inductive and

It also retains the ongoing process is a corner

deductive hypothesis derived ideals of researcher stone of action research. from a body of scientific objectivity theory. It uses quantitative researcher as and Action researchers also the notion of

a reject

measures with relationships. passive collector but researcher

neutrality,

Positivism has been considered expert interpreter of understanding that an active by many to be the antithesis of data. the principles of action researcher is reflecting upon his/her experience based on his/her bias and past

research.

experiences.

Table 5. 1 Comparison between three paradigms of knowledge Source: based on Reason (2001).

Within the three paradigms, action research has been used as a research method in the paradigm of praxis. To further posit action research as a specific research methodology, a comparison has been made between the positivist science and the action research in Table 5.2.

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Points of comparison Value position

Positivist science Methods are value neutral

Action Research Methods are social systems and release of human

potential Time perspective Observation of the present Observation of the present plus interpretation of the present from knowledge of the past, conceptualisation of a more desirable future Relationship with units Detached spectator, client Client system members are system members are object self reflective subjects with of study Treatments of units studied whom to collaborate can be sufficient

Cases are of interest only Cases

as representative of the source of knowledge population Language units Basis of assuming existence Exists of units Epistemological aim independently of Human artefacts for human purposes for describing Denotative, observational Connotative, metaphorical

human beings

Prediction of events from Development of guides for propositions hierarchically arranged taking actions that produce desired outcomes Conjecturing, creating

Strategy knowledge

for

growth

of Induction and deduction

settings for learning and modelling of behaviour

Criteria for confirmation

Logical

consistency, Evaluating whether actions produce consequence intended

prediction and control

Basis for generalisation

Broad, universal and free Narrow, of context

situational

and

bound by context.

Table 5. 2 Comparison between positivist science and action research Source: Susman and Evered (1978, p. 600).

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The above table shows that the value position action research takes is social system based. Thus action research within the context of systems theory is now looked at.

5.2 Situating action research within systems theory

5.2.1 Soft System methodology In the early phase of systems theory, an organization was treated as a physical entity a first order reality - which really exists and which can be defined, designed and engineered objectively (Gold 2001, p.558). This was taken as the hard systems approach towards the study of organization. In the context of organisational study, Checkland changed this approach of systems school. Checkland developed the concept of soft system methodology. Soft system methodology (SSM) has been advocated as a flexible approach to problem solving in the context of complex human situations (Gold 2001, p. 558). Schn (quoted by Checkland & Scholes 1990, p.276) has said that the complex and less clearly defined problems of business management cannot be solved by technical rationality. According to SSM, it is not possible to analyse the complex problems of business through a case study approach (which it considers inadequate). The complex problems can be analysed through the trick of shifting the focus of systemicity from the world to the process of enquiry about the world. In hard system, the world itself is considered to be a set of system i.e. is systemic and these set of systems can be systematically engineered to achieve objectives. But in the soft tradition, world is assumed to be problematic (Checkland 1999, A 49). In SSM, the system is no longer some part of the world which is to be engineered and optimised. The system is in the process of inquiry itself. If that is formalised as a learning system which the practitioner consciously enacts, then the reflection in action becomes analysable. Out of that more tranquil reflection, after the event, general lesson may be extracted (Checkland & Scholes 1990, p. 277). In other words, assumed systemicity is shifted from taking the world to be systemic to taking the process of inquiry to be systemic (Checkland 1999, A 49). For example, a well-defined problem such as improving the horsepower of an automobile can be handled well by hard systems. But implementing a superior quality system in an organization so that it can institutionalise the changes necessary for manufacturing of engines with improved horsepower is better handled by soft system methodology. Thus instead of trying to objectively observe the characteristics of organization, one should attempt to understand 158

different ways of seeing the situation. Therefore Checklands soft system methodology does not attempt to model the real world. He recognises that the chaos and complexity of organization is viewed differently by different members of organization. He treated organization as an ongoing and dynamic arrangement of people and objects in relationship (Gold 2001, p.558). These different views are contributions to a debate about possible change. They indicate what activities are necessary to achieve a purpose meaningful from a particular point of view. Thereby, the participants in a problem situation are able to learn their way to what changes are systematically desirable and culturally feasible given the meanings and relationships that currently exist in the situation (Jackson 2000). From such different views of organization, if sufficient meaning is derived, it becomes the basis for action (or non action) (Gold 2001, p. 559). That also makes SSM a learning system. Thus soft system methodology is more suitable for studying ill-defined, messy problems. Soft System Methodology had a lot in common with appreciative system theory developed by Vickers (Checkland 1994). Checkland started with Mode 1 approach to SSM. However, now he has shifted to Mode 2 approach. The differences between these two approaches is shown in Table 5.3

Mode 1 Methodology-driven Intervention Sometimes sequential SSM as external

Mode 2 Situation-driven Interaction Always iterative SSM as internalised model

Table 5. 3 Dimensions of SSM types Source: Gold (2001).

Mode 1 of the soft system methodology involved a seven-stage learning system using the mnemonics CATWOE (customers, actors, transformational process, world-view, owners, environmental constraints). It recognised that there are many ways to describe a situation depending on the point of view one takes. A different way of conceiving the problem situation will give rise to a different root definition. Thus a prison can be taken as a punishment system, a rehabilitation system, a system for taking revenge, a system to protect society or a system that constitutes a university of crime (Jackson 2000, p. S5). It suggested that the view which is most insightful or most relevant in exploring the situation should be selected. Often non- written ways of expressions like story telling and rich pictures (pictorial 159

and cartoon like pictures) aid in grasping the contentious aspect of a situation. From these, root definitions are developed which grasp the essence of the relevant system. Each root definition reflects a particular worldview of the problem situation. Later, Checkland

considered the methodology driven Mode 1 too restrictive for practicing managers who are more often driven by the pressures of their environment. From their perspective, Mode 1 SSM is cut off from the day to day working of an organization. Thus he developed situation driven Mode 2 of soft system methodology. Mode 2 SSM is driven by situational logic and situational culture. The cultural stream has three types of enquiry (Jackson 2000, p. S7): Analysis 1- It considers the intervention itself and the roles of client, problem solver and problem owner. Analysis 2 It is called the social system analysis. It looks at social roles, norms of behaviour and what values are used in judging the performance. Analysis 3 - This examines the politics of the problem situation and how power is obtained and used. Though Checkland considers Mode 1 and Mode 2 as a spectrum of possible uses and not mutually exclusive (Checkland & Scholes 1990), it has been said that it is not easy to capture SSM in a way that does justice to both Mode 1 and Mode 2 (Jackson 2000, p. S8). Also Mode 2 based SSM, where problem solvers are able to internalise the methodology, employ it as a way of thinking as an insider, has not been often used (Gold 2001, p.558).

5.2.2 Soft system methodology as action research Since SSM involves individuals to take part in the action based on their worldview, and not simply to observe the action as external watcher, Checkland considers SSM as action research (Checkland 1999, p. A39). This realisation that all real-world problem situations are characterized by human beings seeking or wishing to take purposive action led purposeful action being treated as a system concept (Checkland 1999, p. A54). Different purposeful activities express different worldviews. Comparison between different worldviews and a perceived real situation gives rise to a set of action action which is culturally feasible for a particular group of people in a particular situation with its own particular history (Checkland 1999, A 55). The current SSM is based on constitutive rules which guide the process of interaction. It is these rules which make research on the methodology possible and allow the methods and techniques which support SSM to be continually improved. At the same time, though SSM 160

sets out principles for method use, it does not determine their use. It provides a different response in each situation depending on the user and the nature of the situation (Jackson 2000, p. S9).

5.3 Justification of Action Research as the research methodology for this thesis
Action research is used when the research is expected to be responsive to situation (Dick 2000) or when the circumstances require flexibility and organisational change must take place quickly or holistically (OBrien 1998, p.5). Action Research is a powerful methodology for large-scale change and transformation along with knowledge creation (Bradbury & Reason 2001, p.449; Kotnour 2001). Action research has been considered more appropriate than traditional research for improving practice (Jorgensen, Boer & Gertsen 2003; Kofoed, Gertsen & Jorgensen 2002) and for professional and organisational learning (Coughlan et al. 2002; Zuber-Skerritt & Perry 2002). Use of action research methodology is in keeping with recent articles in the area of change management in operations and logistics based companies (Coughlan et al. 2003; Harland & Knight 2001; Mileham et al. 1999). In a review of AR, Coughlan and Coghlan (2002) found action research appropriate when the research questions related to describing an unfolding series of actions over time which implementation of ISO 9000 certification would involve. In fact, given the now understood importance of contingency factors like the change process, its manner of facilitation and the behavioural factors in TQM implementation (Melan 1998), AR seems to be the natural choice so as to take care of the full range of variables which may not otherwise emerge (Westbrook 1994, p.18). The relationship between change and action research has been considered as a bottom-up approach specially designed as a response to the theory-practice gap (Suderman et al. 2000, p.571). Action research develops context specific knowledge which is evolved by the participants. Their collective insight promotes transformational or paradigm changes (Suderman et al. 2000, p.571). In the specific context of the ISO 9000 standard, Boon and Ram (1997), Haversjo (1999) and Castka et al. (2004) have provided case studies of implementation of ISO 9000 using the action research methodology. Lilford, Warren and Braunholtz (2003) have noted that both TQM and action research are cyclical activities involving examination of the existing processes and affecting change through active participation of stakeholders. Pace and Argona (1991) have used participatory action research in a change initiative which merged Quality of Work Life with TQM at Xerox. Webb (1989, 161

p.405) considers action research similar to a case study with the difference that in action research, the emphasis should be on getting multiple representations and presentation of evidence in forms which are open to multiple interpretations. On similar lines, Gummeson (2000, p.116) considers action research as the most demanding and far-reaching method of doing case study research. From a theoretical angle, if a comparison is made between the PDCA cycle of ISO 9000:2000 (borrowed from TQM), and the plan-act-observe-reflect cycle of AR, the methodological commonality between the two is clear: TQM has its origin in operations management. Therefore, the purpose of PDCA is to understand a problem systematically, solve it, and then, pick up the next problem and so on. Over a period of time, the repetitive identification and solution of problems bring about the culture of continuous improvement in an organization. However, in TQM there is no attempt to develop learning from these continuous problem-solving cycles which could also possibly become an input to the next level of problem solving and facilitate it. On the other hand, the action learning cycle dwells and emphasises upon learning which it develops through reflection in each cycle. Because action learning had its origin in systems theory, it looks upon improvement of operations management from a more gestaltist angle and calls it change and again because of its systems background, it is able to recognise the interrelationships and possibly, the thematic similarities, between different instances of change or improvement in an organization, instead of looking upon them as disjointed events. Therefore while the learning of a PDCA gets dissipated after improvement (change) has taken place, the AR preserves it by reflection and uses that as an input to the next process of change or improvement. Thus the difference lies in their focus. Perhaps, it can be said that action research is a richer way of undergoing the PDCA loop. Once a learning bias is added to the PDCA loop and one begins looking for data (with a view to analyse them, understand them and benefit from them in subsequent PDCA loops), the basic skeleton of action learning is already there. After getting the data, for the purpose of learning, the thematic similarity among different data, the frequency of occurrences of different set of data need to be reflected upon, instead of regressed upon as in regression analysis- and you arrive at learning. Here, mind, in contradistinction to mathematics, is the processor which processes perceptual or cognitive data as against classificatory, ordinal, interval and ratio data. As against mathematical modelling, mental models (Checkland 1999, p. A58) are used to make sense of the perceptual or cognitive data. From there, a progressive loop of learning through subsequent intraorganisational or inter-organisational confirmation, and at a larger scale, through intra162

methodological and inter-methodological confirmation gives rise to a theory a theory whose theory building will be perhaps more eclectic in approach than conventional theory building and where the experiment of scientific research is replaced by the intervention of the action research. Thus TQM and action research can be integrated as shown in the Figure 5.4. Figure 5.4 shows that in the context of TQM, each cycle of PDCA brings about an improvement (or change) which can then become the basis for planning next cycle of improvement (or change). From the PDCA cycles emerges the learning. In the context of learning, at the individuals/ groups level, the experience of undergoing the PDCA cycle make(s) her/them reflect on her/their experience(s). She/they draw(s) on theories and

constructs to make sense of her/their experience. That is, the theories and constructs known to her/them till then are used to interpret and find answers to the questions posed in the reflection. These answers are the new learning to the individual/group. As a consequence of this new learning, the individual/group learn(s) to act differently in the organization. Thus in the next cycle (cycle 2), this learning is part of her/their theory and construct which in turn moderates her/ their experience, reflection and interpretation. However, the experiential learning arrived above cannot be elevated to the status of knowledge unless it can be generalised and then verified to be correct. This is done in the action research cycle. Here, the learning which emerges during reflection and interpretation needs to be generalised and tested. For this, the data which emerges during different experiential learning cycles can be compared among themselves or with other data sources to make the generalisation more robust. Then, it is knowledge.

163

Cycle 1 The TQM cycle

improvement

Cycle2

and so on

Plan----Do-----Check-----Act

Plan---Do---Check--Act

learning The experiential learning cycle Experience--Reflect--Interpret--Act (in organisational context) emergence of data Experience--Reflect--Interpret-Act(in organizational context) emergence of data

knowledge The action research cycle Generalise---Test (in research context) Generalise---Test (in research context)

time axis

Figure 5. 4 Conceptual link between TQM and AR Source: developed for this research.

The time axis in the above figure indicates that improvement precedes learning which in turn precedes knowledge.

5.4 Research model for Action Research

From the point of view of thesis writing, an action research model has been proposed by Perry and Sankaran (2002). This model is shown in Figure 5.5.

164

2 Act

1 Plan

3 Observe

Core action research project about group thematic concern = pure action research

4 reflect
Thesis action research project about its research problem concern = thesis action research

Ch. 3 Collect data

Ch. 2 lit. review

Ch. 4 analyse data

Ch. 5 contribution to literature Figure 5. 5 Two-project model for AR based thesis Source: adapted from Perry and Sankaran (2002).

This divides the research into two distinct projects. One is the core action research project which solves an organisational problem. The thesis action research project then takes up the data generated from the core action research project, analyses them and then arrives at the learning gleaned from it both for the organization and for the academic community. The conceptual link shown in Figure 5.4 was modified and integrated with the twoproject model shown in Figure 5.5 so as to suit an ISO based change process through action research. It is shown in Figure 5.6. This was the research model which was used for the action research in stage 3.

165

Conclude 1st draft of thesis

Evaluation Observe/reflect/ theorise

Thesis Action research

Plan the research problem

Act By initiating core action projects

Plan Plan Reflect Reflect Act Act

Observe Stage 1 Development of Quality Policy

Observe

CORE AL PROJECTS

Stage 2 development of Quality Procedure

Plan Reflect Observe Act

Stage3 development of work instruction

Submit thesis Further Research

Plan Final draft

Conclude these

Thesis Writing

Act Write final draft

evaluate seek comments/revise

Figure 5. 6 Research model used in stage 3 shown within the AR framework Source: developed for this research (adapted from Perry & Zuber-Skerrit 1994). 166

As per the manual of ISO 9000:2000, the implementation of ISO 9000 is divided into three sub-areas(i) Development of the quality policy. This leads to the (ii) Development of the quality procedure. This leads to the (iii) Development of the work instruction. In the model shown in Figure 5.6, each of the above three steps have been integrated into an action learning cycle. The advantage in this integration was that the progression from one level of learning (cycle) to the next level of learning (cycle) also marked from quality angle, a journey deeper down the ISO framework and lower down the hierarchy of the organization and to that extent, entwined the two naturally. That is, the quality policy was first cycle of action learning which was proposed to be done with the managers of the warehousing unit. The next action learning cycle was kept for development of quality procedures which is a 2nd tier ISO document. Thus, it was proposed to be done with senior supervisors of the warehousing unit. Further, in order to ensure that the ISO documents thus developed, did not become yet another chiselled management learning deliberately percolated down by the management to become worker learning, it was proposed that for each cycle, and, because of the above integration, for each level of ISO document development, the members of the team (or the co-researchers in the language of action learning), who would develop the documents, would be drawn from the cross section of organization. Thus, the quality policy was proposed to be developed not by the top management of the unit, but by a set of people who represented different functional domain and different level domain of the organization. After all, if TQM is about breaking down the hierarchy, about empowerment and about development of enquiring culture, it made sense that the structure for ISO implementation took care of these aspects right from the

beginning. Thereby, the quality policy, the quality procedures and the work instructions, when developed, would have a flavour, created and savoured by the organisational members.

5.5 Rigour and validity in the Action Research

As per the traditional research yardstick, scientific experiment is repeatable, though the interpretation of the finding can be varied. From the point of view of the positivist school, one of the criticisms which AR has faced is whether the knowledge produced by it is scientific as per the traditional research yardstick that is whether the observed or assumed

167

relationship are true. Susman and Evered (1978, p.601) have said that action research is not compatible with the criteria of scientific explanation taken in traditional positivist school. Webb (1989, p.405) has quoted Greenwood who says that face validity in action research guarantees that findings fit reality and that reliability can be checked by ensuring agreements between the interpretations of the researcher and the participants. Echoing a different point of view, Coghlan and Brannick (2001, p.10) have said that action research is evaluated within its own frame of reference and that questions of reliability, replicability and universality do not pertain to the action research approach. For them, an action research should be able to answer three questions:

What happened? The relating of a good story. How do you make sense of what happened? This involves rigorous reflection on that story. So what? This most challenging question deals with the extrapolation of usable knowledge or theory from the reflection on the story.

Bradbury and Reason (2001, p.447) have indicated that some authors such as Schwandt and Wolcott have not considered validity an issue in action research. Others have taken less extreme views. For example, Dickens and Watkins (1999) have mentioned that some of the criticism of action research has been its supposed lack of internal and external control and lack of the rigour of true scientific research. Gummesson (2000, p.221) takes a stand that since the natural state of an organization today is change, it is more important to show that a theory works in a specific context than to show that it possesses a wide range of general and approximate application (Gummesson 2000, p. 219). Therefore, from Gummesson point of view, a theory can be modified (instead of generalised) by its application and validity in subsequent actions. Thus the theory never gets finalised but is continually being transcended (Gummesson 2000, p.208). Looking at AR from a qualitative angle, Coghlan and Brannick (2001, p.15) consider action research as genuinely scientific in its emphasis on careful observation and study of the effects of behaviour on human systems as their members manage change. But they accept that it has lost its role as a powerful conceptual tool for uncovering truth on which action can be taken. Checkland and Holwell (1998, p.16) have attended to the specific weakness of AR if it is adjudged from a quantitative angle and accepted that AR cannot produce law-like generalisations from involvement in a single situation . but it can be made to yield defensible generalisations. For this, action research should be based on research themes as against research hypothesis.

168

That is, the action researchers should be able to establish that the research theme they are going to research is worthy of being investigated and exploring this theme further is going to bring about real world benefit (West & Stansfield 2001, p.265). Checkland and Holwell further accept that AR based research is not repeatable but if the process of AR is recoverable, it helps to justify the generalisation and transferability of AR (or case study) research (Checkland & Holwell 1998, p.17). Thus it is the notion of recoverability, as against the notion of repeatability, - so important for knowledge acquisition in natural science (West & Stansfield 2001, p.277)- which makes action research rigorous. In order to make the AR recoverable, Checkland and Holwell (1998, p. 18) and Checkland (1999, p. A40) have suggested:

Action research should be conducted in such a way that the whole process is subsequently
recoverable by anyone. This means that there should be a declared-in-advance methodology (encompassing a particular framework of ideas) declaring explicitly, at the start of the research, the intellectual framework and the process of using them which will be used to define what counts as knowledge in this piece of research. The thought process and the models which enabled the team to make their interpretations and draw their conclusions should be made available to the interested observer. By declaring the epistemology (the methodology and its framework of ideas) of their research process in this way, the researchers make it possible for outsiders to follow the research and see whether they agree with the findings. If they disagree, well-informed discussion and debate can follow. This would the give AR a truth claim though less strong than that of laboratory experimentation. Also the learning gained in action research may concern any or all of: the area focused in the research, the methodology used or the framework of ideas embodied in the methodology.

However, Checkland holds the opinion that action researches which have been designed with the above framework are not many (1999, p. A39). Therefore it is not surprising that there are actually very few action researchers who have made major

contribution to the scientific community (Gronhaug & Olson 1999, p.13). They go on to add that the weakness of action research studies is that the researchers do not mention their research in detail about their research activities and how step-by-step they have arrived to their interpretations. Subjectivity is the main methodological weakness of action research (Westbrook 1994). The researcher takes a stand that the approach suggested by Checkland is theoretically sound. But it tends to take AR as a stand-alone research paradigm. However, it 169

is possible to add rigour to AR if it is used in conjunction with other research approaches. Mixed method research approach for action research has also been identified by others (Eden & Huxham 1996; Gummessson quoted in Coghlan & Brannick 2001, p. 7; Lilford, Warren & Braunholtz 2003). Thus formal quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques are all appropriate to different situations (Coghlan & Brannick 2001, p. 9). However, the researcher considers Checklands emphasis on recoverability a necessary criterion for ensuring the rigour of AR. How these aspects were taken into account in the conduct of action research is dealt with in the section 5.5.5. Some other methods which can be used to make the action research more rigorous are now dealt with.

5.5.1 Falsification Falsification is another way to enhance the rigour of the action research. In positivist paradigm, it involves matching the hypothesis with the data empirically collected. The degree of correspondence indicates the appropriateness of the hypothesis (Aguinis 1993, p.418). It is possible to use the criteria of falsification in action research also. Heron (1988, p.52.) suggests that for falsification in AR, an inquirer would read out from the records of the different cycles, their impression of others reality. Any other inquirer could then come forward as devils advocate and sceptically attack these impressions reducing them to purely naturalistic explanation. The defendant now has three options: to give a reasoned defence of the impressions as valid impressions of others reality, to yield to the devils reductionist explanation as being most reasonable or to stick out their intuitive guns even though unable to argue the case. Dick (1999) has also suggested similar ideas for making action research rigorous. He uses dialectics to generate agreement from disagreement. Here a person does not persuade the other person to his/her point of view but presents evidence which he/she think others may have overlooked. He/She also adds to his/her list those items from other persons list which were earlier omitted by him/her but he/she is now prepared to accept. He/she then provides his/her own list giving reason why it should be added to the other persons list. Then the other persons revise their list. This process continues till consensus emerges. Thus Dick says that while a consensual process operates by identifying agreements and an adversarial process operates by choosing one of the competing views, dialectical process uses disagreements to generate agreement (Dick 1999, p.24). 170

Triangulation can also be used to falsify an emerging hypothesis. The concept of triangulation involves the use of more than one research approach in a single study to gain a broader understanding of the issues being studied (Duffy 1987). Duffy has identified four ways of triangulation: (i) Analysing data in more than one way. (ii) Using more than one sampling strategy. (iii) Using different interviewers, observers and analysts on one study. (iv) Using more than one methodology to gather data.

5.5.2 Reflection and three levels of learning Learning through reflection has been considered central to action research (Cowan 1998, Eden & Huxham 1996, Heron 1988, Reason 2001). Zimmer (2001) has explained reflection at three levels of action learning. His ideas were used to improve the quality of reflection in the action research project. A summary of the three levels of reflection is shown in Table 5.4.

171

First learning Concrete experience

order Second order learning

Third learning

order

I notice what I am I getting system (You) from in and

offer

You

My I

monitor

My

the receptiveness

thereby communication with

focus inviting Your reflections You, My sense of I from Your own your communication

imagine what I will perspective- and then await with Me and My be getting from it them. (You). sense of Our

Thus it has two layers of communication sense making involving I- together. You. It thus permits

There is only one communication. layer making of sense My sensing to becomes Your

involved listening perspective. offer

which is I-it. Reflective observation

I note how I feel I when I

you

My I

check

Our as it, I for vs.

compare understanding and thereby togetherness

what I think I will positively including Your experience be getting from the reflections and await conflict system (You) with Your what I need receptiveness as cooperation.

confirmation. Thus My checking

becomes acknowledging to check Your perspective.

Abstract

want

to

do My

planning

becomes I

offer

You

My

conceptualisation something

toward thinking and speaking to reflective, receptive Your perspective understanding, thereby inviting

the system (You) in put

order to get what I together with Mine need and

Yours in return and if necessary, I actually request it. Table 5.4 (contd)

172

Table 5.4 (contd) First learning Active experimentation

order Second order learning

Third learning

order

If I can, I do it.

My

acting

takes

into Here the two cycles each other

account Your needs and helps

vice versa. Thus I can along. If there is negotiate with You to see conflict, We look for what You and I actually parts of the cycle can do to get both Your that is missing. needs and My needs met. Comment It is manipulative Thus there is no conflict. The transformation rather communicating. am treating than Also, it has in-built process here is one which I

I autonomy for I and You. in the Offering You,

My experience the two

system (You) as an reflection, offering You, of Us at becoming object subjected prediction to to be My receptiveness You, and more and more as My one while as totally

my offering

and understanding provides the remaining of successful individuals,

control. Thus most core

of what one hears in communication first order learning prevents conflict. is dogma, demand and judgement. This conflict. leads to

which free. This kind of action learning is

not very often, yet it is possible.

Table 5. 4 First order, second order and third order learning Source: based on Zimmer (2001).

Bartunek et al. (1993) and Coghlan and Brannick (2001) have indicated how to do action research within ones own organization. Ross and Roberts (1994) have shown how it is possible for an insider to balance advocacy and inquiry to begin changing a large organization from within. There is much similarity between what they have suggested and the second order learning suggested by Zimmer (2001). Since Ross and Roberts have 173

indicated a practical way of how to do the balancing, it was explained to the co-action researchers. The same is summarised in Table 5.5.

Situation Protocols advocacy for

Way to handle improved (i) Make your thinking process visible (walk up the ladder of inference slowly) (ii) Publicly test your conclusions and assumptions

Protocols inquiry

for

improved (i) Ask others to make their thinking process visible. (ii) Compare your assumptions to others.

Protocols for facing a point (i) Inquire about what has led the person to that view. with which you disagree (ii) Listen for larger meanings that may come out of honest, open sharing of mental models Protocols for when you are at (i) Embrace the impasse and tease apart the current thinking. (you an impasse may discover that focusing on data brings you all down the ladder of inference.) (ii) Consider each persons mental model as a piece of larger puzzle. (iii) Look for information which will help people move forward. (iv) Do not let the conversation stop with an agreement to disagree

Table 5. 5 Skills of balancing inquiry and advocacy Source: based on Ross and Robert (1994).

Coghlan (1993) has looked within the process of reflection and used a model called ORJI developed by Schein. It focuses on what goes on inside the head of action researchers and how it affects their overt behaviour. Briefly, it says that when we observe (O), we react (R) emotionally to what we observe, we make judgement (J) based on our observations and feelings and then we intervene (I) so as to make something happen (Schein quoted in Coghlan 1993). Thus the ORJI process focuses on the spontaneous emotional reaction as they arise rather than later and provides a framework whereby learners can recognise feelings and distinguish it from cognitive processes. This adds sophistication to the reflection in the sense that it improves observational ability and avoids premature judgement and

174

inappropriate behaviour (Coghlan 1993, p.93). This concept is schematically shown in Figure 5.7.

Concrete Experiencing

Active experimentation

Reflective observation

Abstract conceptualisation Figure 5. 7 The ORJI within experiential learning cycle Source: based on Coghlan (1993).

The broken arrow indicates that the reflection process at the emotional level can also back from intervention (action) to judgement to reaction to observation. This deeper reflection at the emotional level was used in the AR project.

5.5.3 Intervention Intervention or action is the output of an AR cycle. The rigour of action research will improve if intervention is studied in detail. Coghlan and Mcdonagh (1997) have quoted four types of interventions. They are shown in Table 5.6.

175

Intervention type Exploratory

Aim Getting the basic story

Assistance to the client In addition to providing the story, it also builds relationship between the client and the action researcher.

Diagnostic

Enables the client to do a Here the researcher helps the client to diagnosis of the situation interpret what is taking place and test theories of what is happening

Action alternative

Helping the client clarify It focuses on possible actions and and action review courses of strategies.

Confrontive

Confronts limitations of It exposes the thinking patterns thought, behaviour attitude and around the content of the issues

Table 5. 6 Types of intervention Source: Coghlan and Mcdonagh (1997).

5.5.4 General criteria for assessing rigour in AR Reviewing the study of action research, Bradbury and Reason (2001) have identified five choice points for assessing the rigour of an action research. They are:

(i) Relationship - The action research should be explicit in developing a praxis of relational participation. That is whether the action research group is set up to ensure maximum participation. Whether best decisions are those which ensure maximum participation. Whether less powerful people are helped by their participation in the inquiry. (ii) Practical outcome - The action research should be guided by reflexive concern for practical outcomes. That is, the research is validated by participants new way of acting in light of the work. At the end the participants should be able to say that was useful. I am able to use what I have learnt. (iii) Extended ways of knowing - The action research should be inclusive of a plurality of knowing. That is,

176

(a) The action research should ensure conceptual-theoretical integrity. A well-written AR study should be such that it can be used by fellow inquirers with similar concern to see as if and illuminate their own situation. (b) It should embrace ways of knowing beyond the intellect that is artful ways of expression such as song and dance, video, poetry, and photography. (c) The AR should intentionally choose appropriate research methods. The choice of methods should be ecologically sensitive to the context in which it is being used. (iv) Pay attention to what is worthy of attention- How do we decide where to put our effort? At the heart of this process is to always ask the question what values do we hold vis--vis the value of work with which we engage. Since the AR community is committed to bring an attitude of inquiry towards questions of fundamental importance, we would do well to find ways to address the question of what purposes are worthy of more direct attention. It is worthwhile to articulate positive, life enhancing qualities in a situation and to amplify these than to seek problems and try to solve them. It is thus better to ask appreciative questions than critical questions. The emphasis should be to ask the right research questions so that we are convening a process which will generate the outcome we want (Bradbury & Reason 2001, p. 453). (v) Enduring consequences - The AR should emerge towards a new and enduring infrastructure. This means that the dyadic, small group micro engagement of people should manifest into an ongoing new patterning of behaviour at a macro level even after the action researchers have left the scene (Bradbury & Reason 2001, p. 445). Bradbury and Reason acknowledge that a given AR project cannot address all these points. A dissertation can be reviewed on its strength and weakness using the above five choice points as the yardstick. An action researcher can explain these points to co action researchers (Bradbury & Reason 2001, p.454). Quality and validity in AR involve encouraging debate and reflection on all these issues among all those involved.

5.5.5 Rigour and validity in this Action Research From the above review, notwithstanding the apprehension expressed by some critics about lack of rigour in AR, the researcher was satisfied that it was possible to conduct a research using the action cycles, fully meeting the requirements of rigour and validity. Based on the discussions above, a model for making the action research rigorous was developed for this work. It is shown in Figure 5.8 177

Cycle 1 Plan----act-----observe-----reflect emergence of data Ignore nonoverlapping data

Different observers (i,ii,)

Data set A(a,1,i ) disagree ment agreement

Data set A(b,2,ii )

Different methods (a,b,.) Interpret through reflection, comparison etc Explain disagreement between different overlapping data set

Test agreement between different overlapping data set

Input for next cycle: (a) validated interpretations, (b) refined question, (c) refined methodology

Interpretations are gleaned

Cycle 2-

plan---act--check--reflect

Interpretations are cross confirmed

Lateral data input from lit., other sources

Figure 5. 8 Model for validation of learning which occurred in each cycle by using different methods, different sources of data and different types of data Source: adapted from Checkland (1999), Coghlan & Mcdonagh (1997), Dick (1999), Eden & Huxham (1996), Ross & Robert (1994), Susman & Evered (1978), Zimmer (2001). 178

The model shows that after conducting an AR cycle, different datasets - A(a,1,i), A(b,2,ii) - were available which had been generated by different combination of methods (a, b. etc), persons (1,2.etc) and observers(i, ii.etc). The topics mentioned by more than one dataset defined the topics which were to be further questioned. That is, the overlapping topics were the ones which needed further analysis. Any topic mentioned by only one dataset was to be ignored. Now, the overlapping topics could be in agreement or in disagreement. The agreements were tested across different datasets and the disagreements were explained across different datasets. This can be called intra-cycle validation. The interpretation thus arrived at was considered fit for carrying forward to the next cycle. However, before they could be accepted as a valid input into the next cycle, they were further tested for their validity by cross comparing with data made available from independent sources if any. This can be called inter-cycle validation. Only such interpretations which passed through this were to be taken as valid inputs for the next cycle. The interpretations thus developed also served another useful function- they helped in refining the questions and methodologies with which a given cycle had started. These three inputs observation from a cycle, intra cycle validation and inter cycle validation - therefore modulated the planning for the next cycle and made it more precise and often more economical. Delphi face-to-face method (Dick, 1999) was used to attain time economy. A progressive convergence of interpretations finally led to a conclusion. This conclusion was used to support, refute or modify the original research questions. Thus the conclusions were arrived at much in the same manner as the conclusions arrived at by any other research methodology. At this point of time, for its final verification, the conclusions were compared with the literature just as any other research output would have been compared. However, in the case of AR, one can extend the validation process further. Just as the proof of a pudding lies in eating it, the test of a research also lies in finally implementing the change it claimed, it would bring about (Lewin, quoted in Dickens & Watkins 1999, p.139). If it could do that, and not merely tinkle with the whys and hows of a business process, that is the final vindication for a methodology. Thus in the context of this research work, if ultimately, it was found that the AR methodology did succeed in bringing about a change towards TQM in a railway unit, that was to be its final validation. Data collection: The aspect of collecting data from many sources and through many methods have been emphasised earlier. Therefore, at the data collection stage, different viewpoints were taken so that personnel bias was minimised. Multiple sources of information were looked for during each cycle. Thus, data were collected in the form of field notes, 179

participant presentations, discussion etc. It also included feedback, observation and interviews. A number of railway personnel are semiliterate or illiterate. Thus there was a need to encourage and look for non-textual data. It has been said that observation can be a powerful tool during the hypothesis building process (Ticehurst & Veal 2000, p. 123). Hence observation and story telling (Checkland, 1999) were used to encourage non-formal ways of data generation and data collection. The root definitions (Gold 2001, p.571) which AR viewpoints generated were validated with data generated from other methods. In this connection, the learning gleaned from stage 1 and stage 2 were useful in triangulating the learning which took place during the action research cycles. Therefore, it was possible to draw arguably valid conclusions from the action research cycles.

5.6 Action research at Jhansi Stores Depot

5.6.1 Selection of unit for action research The warehousing and material distribution unit of Indian Railways at Jhansi was selected for the action research project. The warehousing and material distribution unit is called stores depot in the Indian Railways parlance. The Jhansi stores depot is responsible for supplying all the material required for the North Central Railway of India. Formal permission from the head of the depot was taken for the project. A team of five co- action researchers was put together at Jhansi.

5.6.2 About Jhansi Stores Depot The Jhansi wagon maintenance workshop and warehousing unit were established in 1884. The wagon maintenance workshop and the warehousing unit are abutting each other separated by a wall. Daily, in the morning, the shop foreman would come to the warehouse with a list of items. These were then issued by the warehouse in-charges against issue tickets and the cost of the material issued would be debited at average book rate through posting in a computer. This activity was over during the first half of the day. During the second half, the warehousing unit had virtually no work.

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The organisational chart of Jhansi workshop is shown in Appendix 10. All the managers who are not from the mechanical engineering department, besides reporting to the Chief Workshop Manager (CWM), also report to their departmental heads at the headquarter (see Appendix 7). The Workshop Accounts Officer (WAO) was vested with the power of not having to agree with the CWM and the CWM could not overrule him. In case of any difference of opinion between them, the matter had to be reported to the Financial Advisor & Chief Accounts Officer (FA&CAO) and the Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) together. If they do not agree, the matter had to be reported to the General Manager (GM) who alone had the power to overrule the FA&CAO (or for that matter any finance officer). Even then, the FA&CAO had the power to submit a note of dissent to the Railway Board. The total staff strength of Jhansi warehousing unit headed by Dy CMM was about 400. Out of this four were managers. 150 were technical supervisors and clerks and 250 were labours. The warehouse used to work from 8 AM to 4 PM with 30 minutes lunch break. Around 1300 items were stocked in the warehouse. The warehouse was divided into different storage wards. Each storage ward used to stock about 300 items. In addition, there were receipt and inspection wards which used to receive material from different vendors, inspect them and send them to storage wards for storage. It was the responsibility of the warehouse to assess the demand for material for the next year, generate indents which were then sent to the headquarter for placement of purchase orders, liaise with different vendors for timely supply of the material, stock them and distribute them to the workshop and other end users across the railway system. The overall atmosphere both in the workshop and the depot was laid back. Both, in general, wore an unkempt look. From an engineering point of view, the workshop was saddled with a 100-year-old layout which was now outdated but not yet changed. Shortcuts in production and shoddy workmanship were generally overlooked in the name of achieving the target. The shop staff were generally very critical of the material shortage which according to them was affecting their targeted output. However, during detailed discussion, it was revealed that often, they used the materials shortage as a convenient scapegoat to hide the shops failure in meeting the desired production targets. The warehousing staff were aware of the items in short supply, however, they would not react fast enough to prevent a stock out or would not react at all unless poked by the shop staff. In the warehousing unit, almost all the ferrous items were kept in the open in gunny bags. During rainy season, if the gunny bag had weathered off, the items were lost in the mud. There were layers of dust in number of godowns. Even though the warehousing staff were 181

almost free of regular work in the second half of the day, the aspect of improving the housekeeping would not cross their or their managers mind. During the last 100 years or so, there has not been any planned change initiative in the warehousing unit. However, ISO 9000:1994 was implemented in part of the wagon workshop. As per the shop staff, only paper certificate was taken and certification per se had not brought about any improvement in the shop. Apparently, being a part of government set up, there was no need to change because there was no demand for change. Against this backdrop, the researcher made a proposal to the head of the depot to initiate a change initiative through action research methodology. The head of the depot (Dy CMM) had arrived at Jhansi in March 2004 on transfer from a sister railway and was quite dissatisfied with the state of affairs in the depot. He was aware of the fact that the Jhansi workshop and depot were going to seek ISO 9000: 2000 certification. He thus wanted that the change initiative should aim at ISO certification for the depot. The depot head and his immediate subordinate were advised about the action research methodology. They were also told about the Plan-Do-Observe-Reflect cycle of action learning. They were explained that customer satisfaction was one of the central concerns for ISO 9000: 2000 which could form the initial theme to initiate change towards attainment of ISO certification. A thematic concern defines a substantive area in which a group decides to focus its improvement strategies (Kemmis & McTaggart 1988, p.9). It is different from method which might be used to improve things. Identification of a theme was in line with the suggestion given by Checkland and Holwell (1998) and West and Stansfield (2001) mentioned in section 5.5. The action research cycles are dealt with in section 5.6.3. In the action research cycles, this thesis identifies the head of the depot as Dy. CMM and his immediate subordinate as DMM.

5.6.3 The action research cycles The action research consisted of three major cycles. The three cycles and the themes covered in these cycles are shown in the Table 5.7.

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Cycle no. 1

Time duration April 2004 Explanation

Objective

Outcome

of

the

purpose

of Emergence of

of the

the next

for three days intervention, understanding the as is concept situation. Explanation of

process person in the process as customer of of and the

orientation using Figure 3.4 and the the related concept of

continuous acceptance concept

improvement and customer satisfaction

customer

satisfaction as a valid organisational motto 2 April 2004 Finalisation of action plan for Agreement on depot

for two days improvement in depot house keeping and 2004 3 May

improvement action plan

May 2004 for Iterative development of work instruction Preparation 1 week and quality procedures, instructions, procedures

of

work quality

Table 5. 7 The AR cycles Source: developed from field data.

Selection of co-action researchers: Reflection is difficult when done in isolation. It works best when done in collaboration with others (Kuit, Reay & Freeman 2001, p. 140). Kuit, Reay and Freeman (2001, p. 138) have quoted Beaty as having said that for planning changes emanating from reflection on experience, the question so what should be asked. Asking the question so what is the most challenging part of the cycle as it involves the extrapolation of usable knowledge or theory from the reflection on the experience (Coghlan & Brannick 2001, p.24). Partly because of this and partly to ensure that the opportunity went beyond the private reflection of the researcher, the researcher decided to have co-action researchers. To begin with, the Dy CMM and one DMM were included as co-action researchers. The reason behind taking the managers was to secure enough organisational clout so as to be able to handle any future organisational politics (Coughlan & Brannick 2001, 183

p.63). Later more co-action researchers were included. The names of co-action researcher are available at Appendix 8. Enlarging the number of action researchers enabled the co-action researchers to come up with more reasons to explain the mismatch between expectation and reality. The Dy CMM was a class 1 officer, the DMMs and the AMM were class 2 officers and the rest of the co-action researchers and also the staff of the Jhansi warehousing unit were class 3 supervisors. The different action cycles and reflection cycle are now dealt with.

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PDCA Cycle no 1 (from 20.4.04. to 22.4.04)

Mini cycle1.1 Day1 1.1 Do 1.1

Get the staff of the depot to focus on a theme which can act as a trigger to initiate a change initiative in the depot. Use this interaction to develop an

Plan as is situation.

22 supervisors and all the four managers were called for what was described as a brainstorming session to improve the working standard of the depot. The session began by asking everyone to write down (i) How do you measure how well you are working? (ii) Who are your customers? (iii) What are the problems faced by the depot? Based on Delphi face to face (Dick 1999), persons working in similar area were then grouped together. They were explained that since they were from the same functional discipline they have been grouped together so that collectively they can compare their responses. After getting the responses, they were discussed. Not everybody answered all the questions.

Check 1.1 (i) For the first question, the most popular answer received was through turn over ratio (TOR) of the inventory. Does the shop care for this? No, they do not. Then why do you use it? Because this is our departmental objective and on 31st March, we are supposed to meet the departmental target fixed by HQ. If required we issue the material on paper to shop so as to reduce our closing inventory and get the required TOR. Why dont the shop staff care for it? Because their objective is production. (ii) The answer to the second question generally drew a blank. Some however mentioned the passengers as the customer for Indian Railways. (iii) The server is very often down and lack of material handling equipment were the most cited problems. Suppliers often do not supply the material on time. This gives the workshop opportunity to complain about lack of material. But it is not our problem. It is of course a problem for the shop. It also drew defensive statements such as we do our work 185

perfectly; there are constraints, but work is anyway getting done; there is nothing much we can do as the purchase order is placed by HQ, if the firm does not supply, we often make local purchase, but that is not adequate; shop does not know its own requirement, their forecasting is erratic. The above session lasted for one day. The co-action researchers and the Reflection 1.1 researcher then reflected on the proceedings. The researcher began by saying whether the lack of awareness about customer was because we, the logistics and warehousing personnel, did not yet think that we create an output. From this point of view a component could be considered an output for a vendor. We were only passing that output to the shop. Thus the shop was the customer for the vendor. However, the co-action researchers did not appreciate the logic of the researchers reasoning. They shared with the researcher, their own lack of understanding about the workshop being their customer. We do know our functional requirement. But we would like to know how our functional role gets integrated with the customer approach which you say is important for bringing about an enduring improvement asked a co-action researcher. The emphasis on a departmental objective TOR- which bore no relationship with the expectations of the customer, made the researcher reflect before the co-researchers whether, this was a pointer to the existence of bigger departmental silos which made each department in railway look at its departmental objectives or improvements only. However, since the awareness of customer itself was non-existent, this issue was kept pending for future reflection. Two abstract conceptualisations from this cycle were (i) Jhansi warehousing unit was steeped in its traditional role. This conclusion was considered as a valid conclusion because it was mentioned by more than one member of the Jhansi warehousing unit. (ii) The employees lacked a systemic focus for the organization. They had a departmental mindset which made them look at their activities from their own point of view instead of their customers point of view. In fact the concept of customer was alien to them at that point of time. However this conclusion was arrived at by the researcher without any confirmation from 186

the co-researchers. Thus the researcher decided to treat it only as a tentative conclusion till it was validated more rigorously. Intervention 1.1 The following interventions were decided by the researcher (a). Since it was apprehended that the employees do not have an organization wide focus, it was decided to first explain them the process orientation inherent in an organisational working. (b) The next action planning was to impart to the members of warehousing unit the concepts of customer and customer satisfaction. (Mini cycle For the action plan mentioned above, the researcher was interested in using 1.2) Day 2 a framework which could integrate all the above concepts so that the Plan & Do pedagogy could become simpler. The central process orientation diagram of 1.2 ISO 9000 standard (shown in Figure 3.4) was used as the framework to explain the process orientation, the concepts of customer, customer satisfaction and continuous improvement. The group was also explained the concept of internal customer and external customer. Thereafter, all the participants were asked to indicate the following: Check 1.2 (i) Who are your internal and external customers (ii) Which aspect of your work affect the customer (iii) How you can improve your work so as to satisfy your customer better. They were able to correctly identify their external and internal customers. As a group they were able to identify activities that contributed to their customers satisfaction. The activities were: (a) For receipt ward, ensuring the correct quality. (b) For storage ward, preserving the material properly. (c) For ledger section, ensuring that there is no stock-out situation. (d) For scrap ward, proper lot formation and ensuring that lot is available for delivery after auction.

However, that it should be their endeavour to satisfy their customer was not appreciated by them. The shop fellows will never be satisfied. Also, then we will be at the receiving end because by virtue of being our customer, the shop staff will only demand and we would be expected to satisfy their demands come what may. Then they will always have an upper hand before CWM. Now we are at least equal. As it is, we are not 187

working under our departmental boss, we are working under CWM who is an officer from the mechanical engineering cadre and the shop is a mechanical shop. On top of it, if we actively begin to satisfy them, these mechanical chaps will have an upper hand. One of the co-action researcher said, After all why will they say that they are satisfied with us. The moment they say this, the responsibility of low production is on them.

The researcher said Can you collectively figure out whether they can give you additional trouble. They were then requested to think it over and come the next day.

Reflection cycle 1.2.1

The session with the co-action researchers was held. They repeated the apprehension expressed by every one during the day that they cannot formally declare that satisfying their customer would be their motto. This way we will only be inviting trouble for ourselves. Because no one in turn is going to listen to our problems. If the railway decides to go for ISO certification simultaneously for the purchase office, for other warehousing units, for accounts office, then it would make sense, because then we will also be their customers. Otherwise, how can we do something better than what we are already doing. The researcher responded that may be now we are able to appreciate how the system called Indian Railways need to be interlinked with customer focussed performance parameters. This was agreed by the co -action researchers. However, they could not agree that warehousing unit should make a proactive attempt to satisfy their customers. Faced with this situation, the researcher mentally referred to Ross and Robert protocol (Table 5.5) which dealt with the situation when there was difference of opinion among the co-action researchers. The researcher verbalised his thought process to the co-action researchers that he wanted to understand the larger meaning behind their and their staffs apprehension in willing to satisfy their customer. It was agreed that the next day we should try to understand the interpretation of the concept of customer satisfaction. It was noted that we had requested the staff to mull over the issue and come the next day.

Day

The next day, every one assembled. One person had come up with a 188

reflection cycle (done a group consisting

definition of customer satisfaction - cust in Hindi means pain/ problem,

1.2.2 mer in Hindi means to die. Thus he reasoned, customer is a person who with gets satisfaction while we die trying to solve his problem. It was an larger amusing metaphor but it found a ready echo among others. Everyone

agreed that it would be akin to dying if they began to satisfy the whimsical demands of their customer the workshop staff. After some discussion, one

of the co- person from the ledger section said If I am giving material to the shop as action researchers and staff) per their monthly quota how can they complain before CWM about material stock-out. In that case, let them first increase their annual

the requirement and get it vetted by finance. Then we will place the order. Only then they can say that we are not meeting their specified requirement. I do not think customer satisfaction means trying to fulfil even the unreasonable expectations of the customer. -And who will decide what expectations are unreasonable some one asked. - I think we should decide it before hand. After all when we go to bank, dont we see that the bank has publicly displayed that the time required to encash a cheque is 10 minutes. We have to decide something on these lines. Say that the stock-out situation will not be more than 2%, the man from ledger section replied. This was picked up by others. Progressively, they began to agree that if there could be a way to predetermine the customers expectation of service, then one could attempt to achieve it and once achieved one could attempt to improve upon it. -May be our work will increase. Perhaps we have to work more. - Perhaps, this is why we are not keen for customer satisfaction. There was laughter all around. However one of them clarified that it was more of a mind set. We are used to ensuring that our boss is satisfied with our work. He has been the ultimate arbiter and the ultimate judge of our work. That now, we, should endeavour that the workshop - and not the boss - is to be satisfied with our work, is a totally new concept.

probe question

The co-action researchers wanted to confirm that their new understanding of customer satisfaction is correct. So as a probe question, they asked all the groups to write that with respect to the activities 189

identified on day 2, an action that will enhance their customers satisfaction. The following actions were identified as improvement actions(a) For receipt ward The drawing and specifications for all the items were not available. Updating the drawing and specifications was taken as the improvement action for the receipt ward. (b) For storage ward There were many chemicals and rubber items, which were supposed to have shelf life. But the concept of shelf life was not in the warehousing unit. Thus it was decided that all items which had a shelf life would be identified and a process would be developed so that they could all be consumed within shelf life. (c) For ledger section Since material demand was generated from there, they needed to closely liaison with storage ward so that self-life items were not over stocked. (d) For scrap ward A number of unaccounted vouchers and scrap material in thousands of tons were awaiting entry into books. The accounting system needed to be up-to-date. The responses indicated that the depot staff had correctly learnt the concept of customer and customer satisfaction. Some of the staff suggested that since these actions for improvement had now been identified, let us discuss them for their implementation. Intervention 1.2 After deliberation, the following action plans were decidedFor storage ward improvement in house keeping was identified as the first step for improved storage conditions. For other three wings of the warehousing unit the improvement action indicated earlier were retained as the action plan. Reflection 1.2.3 At the end of day 3, the action research team reflected on the days proceedings. (i) One of the co-action researchers began with extending the concept of mindset expressed during reflection cycle 1.2.2. He said thinking back on the last three days, it occurred to me that within railway set up, keeping my boss happy is my main objective. A mental orientation that the customer should be given what he wanted was there, but I cared for him because I was afraid that he would complain against me to my boss. Thus again it 190

came back to our boss. Now we understand that keeping the customer happy should be the motto of our working in railway. He is our new boss. May be. This would mean dispensing with our internal measures of efficiency. Now the measure should be more customer oriented. I think that will change our very approach to work. I am wondering why we had been continuing with our departmental measures of efficiency. I had always been knowing that it was an artificial contraption. We went back to our reflection no. 1.1 where we had raised the issue of railway being a departmental organization. We all being railway persons, we reasoned with ourselves that within the railway system, we spend a substantial portion of our time only with our departmental members. Even outside the office, in railway clubs and other social functions, our interactions are more often with our departmental members. Thus we become more clannish in our outlook which makes us difficult to work with other professional groups within the railway system. Thus there were expressions of unease at having to work under CWM who was an officer from the mechanical engineering department. Thus it was natural for us to think that keeping our departmental boss satisfied with our departmentally defined professional parameters was our main objective. That perhaps explained why we were all outraged when we were told to care for our customer and not our departmental objectives. To probe this question more deeply, it was necessary to seek viewpoints from other sources. A search of the literature indicated that development of effective interpersonal relationships in non-familial setting and outside ones caste have been a problem for Indians (Kumar 2000). Indians feel very insecure in inter personal relationship (Chaudhari, quoted in Kumar 2000, p.64). The researcher decided that the aspect of departmental bias should be validated from other surveys being done as a part of this research work. Thus, this is further dealt with in the generalisation arrived at the end of first cycle. (ii) The action researchers were now satisfied that the concepts of customer and customer satisfaction have been learnt by the staff of Jhansi warehousing unit. However the concept of continuous improvement was 191

not yet broached before the depot staff. Again, the co-action researchers expressed their reservation about how can any thing be continuously improved. Once we reached a target, we can rest. After all, the target is a measure of whatever level of proficiency we wanted to achieve. The researcher decided not to broach the aspect of continuous improvement at that point. We agreed that let us first concentrate on implementing the improvements we had identified in this cycle. Learning in cycle 1 (i) Understanding the concept of customer and customer satisfaction by the employees of Jhansi warehousing unit. Generalisation based on action learning cycle 1

Generalisation (i): Indian Railways is fragmented into different departments. Validation of the conclusion from different sources The survey A conducted among senior managers of Indian Railways had also brought out that internally Indian Railways is fragmented along departments. In Table 4.2, 41% of the respondents wanted to have fewer departments in Indian Railways and 11.7% of the respondents wanted a lesser role for finance department. Thus more than 50% of the respondents were in favour of reducing the departmentalism in the Indian Railways. The departmental fixation makes the Indian Railway employees look only at their departmental efficiency with a corresponding lack of concern for customer or organisational efficiency. Reducing the number of departments and developing more team-oriented work was one of the desirable changes which these senior managers had suggested. A second source of validation came from the survey C of ISO certified units in Indian Railways. A review of the ISO certified units showed that except for Alambagh warehousing unit, none of the units thought it fit to include finance, HRM and security departments in their ISO 9000:2000 change initiative, even though systems approach and team working are amongst the basic principles of ISO 9000:2000 standard. The contribution of these departments in overall railway working was admitted. But ISO was treated as a technical activity. Thus these non-technical departments could be left out, said one of the workshop unit head. Another reason was that I do not know whether they will like to get into this. Unless their FA&CAO or CPO tell them, they may not go for it said a M.R. On the other hand managers of these department felt that because we are not in the mainstream, GM/ CWM perhaps thought we could be left out. Unless the GM/CWM is from our department, we will continue to be left out like this on the plea that we are not 192

into production. All these showed lack of free and honest communication across departmental boundaries. Literature on Indian Railways indicated that the Rakesh Mohan committee had also identified departmentalism a major problem in the Indian Railways and had recommended a single managerial cadre instead of ten cadre existing at present. Thus these three different data sources validate the conclusion that Indian Railways is departmentally fragmented. Emerging hypothesis i - At the fundamental level, the caste driven Indian ethos gets reflected in the working life also. In India, just as a person is born in a caste and dies in the same caste, likewise, when he/she joins railway service, it is as if he/she also joins a professional caste which is the railway department he/she joins. The lack of movement from one department to another strengthens his/her bond with his/her professional caste. Just as ones biological caste defines one boundary of ones early socialisation in India (Kumar 2000, Deshpande 2003), his/her professional caste in the Indian Railways his/her working department - decides his/her boundary of adult socialisation within the Indian Railways. Just as an Indian develops a feeling of own-others (apne-paraye) with loyalty towards own and apprehension towards others (Sinha 1991, Sinha 1995), he/she also develops an irrational affiliation for his/her department and is apprehensive of the moves and intention of members of other departments. This was amply demonstrated by the persistent apprehension of Jhansi warehouse staff towards the intention of the workshop staff. This was also the reason why the staff were more comfortable with their departmental boss Dy CMM than with their non-departmental superior CWM. After this, the researcher looked for additional evidence for this line of reasoning. Among the Indian grown organizations, the researcher zeroed on the Indian Army. The Indian Army was founded by the British about 150 years ago; around the same time Indian Railways came into existence. The entry into the Indian Army at that time was made on linguistic and regional lines, a practice which continues even today. Thus the Indian Army has a Maratha regiment which recruits soldiers who are Marathas i.e. those who hail from the state of Maharashtra. The Punjab regiment consists of only the Punjabis i.e. those who hail from the state of Punjab and the Gurkha regiment is having its soldiers from Nepal only. This reflected the intuitive understanding by the British of what the social researchers in 20th century termed as the own-other (apne-paraye) syndrome of Indians. To strengthen their hold on India, the British needed the army more than any other institution. 193

They intuitively realised that in order to maintain discipline, develop team spirit and a sense of belongingness to the army, it was necessary that the members of a regiment belong to the same in-group be it region based or be it caste based. One wonders what would have been the fate of the Indian Army if the British had foisted upon it a regionneutral recruitment policy and the resultant heterogeneous composition which they practiced in their own British Army and also in all other institutions they developed in India including the Indian Railways. It is worth noting that though this practice started 150 years back, it is prevalent even today, though India is now a democracy claiming to provide equal opportunity and no discrimination on the basis of region or caste. That this institution of region-based recruitment has continued in the Indian Army, strengthened the researchers hypothesis that in India, the caste driven Indian ethos gets reflected in the

working life also. Generalisation ii: There is a general lack of genuine concern about customer satisfaction in Indian Railways. Validation of conclusion from different sources: A perusal of the performance yardsticks of Indian Railways (Indian Railways year book 2002-2003) showed that there is not a single yardstick within its set of more than 50 statistics which can be said to be customer-centric. All the statistics are nothing but combination of operational and financial data which are internally relevant to Indian Railways but carry no meaning to its customers. Since Indian Railways is bureaucratic, customer satisfaction does not come naturally to its members. Further, the societal induced organisational value does not make one look beyond ones departmental perspective. Emerging hypothesis ii The caste system has reinforced the bureaucratic propensity of lack of teamwork in the Indian Railways. Earlier it has been seen that the caste-based mentality has given rise to value system related to functionality, status, power and relationship among the Indian Railway employees. Thus on the social side, there is hardly any felt need for inter-group interaction. Both inside and outside the office, the socialisation is more within members of a department. On the organisational side, till the process of liberalisation started in India in early nineties, Indians have been used to a bureaucratic working style in almost all walks of life as large government organizations dominated most of the professions. Literature review has shown that bureaucracies are not known to espouse teamwork (McHugh & Bennett 1999). The researcher therefore reasoned that both the caste system and the bureaucratic set up have worked in tandem which has resulted in poor teamwork among 194

Indian Railway personnel. Sinha and Sinha (1990) have mentioned how personal relationship (in contrast to professional relationship) is has seeped into Indian organizations as a social value. Probe activity: It was decided by the researcher to test this hypothesis as and when the opportunity arose in the subsequent action research cycles. The opportunity to test it came during the action cycle 4 dealt with in chapter 6.

PDCA Cycle 2 Cycle 2 Plan & Do 2

(from 23.4.2004 to 24.4.2004 and during May 2004)

In this cycle, the co-action researcher directly dealt with the staff of Jhansi warehouse. The researcher was present only as an observer. The discussion concentrated on planning for the improvements discussed in cycle 1.The groups assembled in cycle one continued. Each group was asked to make a process sheet of their work and identify ways through which the improvements suggested in cycle one could be implemented. After the process sheet was made discussions were held about the steps for improvement.

Check 2

The general conclusion was that it was better if they could visit other ISO certified warehousing units so that they can get a practical feel of the improvements made by them. They decided that they would visit DLW and DCW which were reported to have superior warehousing systems. A group of five persons visited these two manufacturing units in May 2004. On their return, they narrated their experience about what they saw and the specific steps needed for initiating the improvement at Jhansi. The specific steps identified for improvement were: (i) Each stocking item should have an identified location in the warehouse. For this, different storage bins and ground space should be allocated a distinct location number. There should be a location register indicating the part number and its corresponding location number. The overall cleanliness should be improved using the principles of 5S. (ii) There is lack of material handling equipment at Jhansi. The only forklifter is under breakdown since the last seven years. The electric trolleys are very few and they are in a very bad shape. (iii) Jhansi depot does not have an updated list of drawings and specifications for its inspection wing. 195

(iv) The unloading of scrap from wagons takes lot of time. It needs to be improved so that wagon detention is reduced. Act 2 In order that the improvement activities get integrated with the ISO related change initiative the co-action researchers decided that ISO awareness program should continue concurrently with the above improvement activities. PDCA cycle 3 (May 2004)

Cycle 3 Starting from Figure 3.4, the quality policy, quality procedure and work Day & 1 instruction were explained to the co-action researchers and a group of 22 day supervisors by the researcher. The researcher had planned that in line with the

2, Plan research model proposed in Figure 5.6, first quality policy, then quality & 3.1 Check 3.1 Do procedure and finally work instruction would be dealt with in three cycles. However when feedback was taken from the participants, they expressed difficulty in differentiating between quality policy and quality procedure, and between quality procedure and work instruction. It was found that the whole terminology of quality policy, quality procedure and work instruction were too esoteric for the staff and they were not able to differentiate amongst these terminologies. Reflect 3.1 The reflection in this cycle was done with the co-action researchers. The five criteria of good action research (Bradbury & Reason 2001) were told to the coaction researchers. In section 5.5.4, the researcher has mentioned about Bradbury and Reason (2001) observation that action research should include extended ways of knowing like song and dance, poetry etc. Scanning the literature of organisational learning, it was found that Nonaka (1994) had theorised that metaphor plays an important role in associating abstract,

imaginary concepts (p.21). He said that the essence of metaphor is understanding one kind of thing in terms of another (p.20). Similarly Prange (1999) had also emphasised the use of metaphors in organisational learning (p.39). He looked upon metaphor as a way of thinking (p. 37) which liberate imagination and thereby encourage varied perspectives for understanding organisations (p.37). One of the co-action researchers said that perhaps it was too much for them to visualise what should be the quality policy of Jhansi depot. Policy making is the job of senior officers, how can we do it?. However, they were aware of the 196

actual work they were doing and after seeing the work at DLW and DCW, it was possible for them to decide a way of working which could improve the working at Jhansi. Thus at a physical level they were able to understand the gap between their work and the work of a better railway unit like DLW and DCW, but at a conceptual level, they were not able to understand the differences among the ISO terminologies like quality policy, quality manual, quality procedure and work instruction. When they were told of Bradbury and Reasons extended way of knowing and of metaphors, one of them linked the ISO terminologies with the constitution of India. The Indian constitution has a preamble, then articles, sub articles and Acts which flow from the sub articles. From this he developed a metaphor which was as follows

My intentions are my quality policy. This is like the preamble of the constitution. The way I plan to implement my intentions is my quality manual. These are like the articles of the constitution. What I do as per the above planning is quality procedure. These are sub-articles of the constitution. How I should do what I am supposed to do is my work instruction. Work instructions are like the Acts which are supposed to be in consonance with the articles and sub articles of the constitution.

cycle 3, This analogy went well with other co-action researchers. It was then decided to Day 3, PDCA 3.2 use this analogy to explain the ISO terminologies to the staff. This analogy

was quickly grasped by the staff also. Now they were able to differentiate among different ISO terminologies. Now they were conceptually ready to frame the quality procedures and work instructions. However, they did not agree to the scheme suggested in Figure 5.6. Instead they reversed it. They first made the work instructions. Then they ensured that their actual working was as per the work instructions. Then they made the quality procedure. From there, they framed their quality policy.

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Generalisation based on cycle 3 (iii) Developing a metaphor was crucial for understanding of new concepts and their effective internalisation in the warehousing unit. Probe activity: The workshop attached with the warehousing unit at Jhansi was also planning for ISO certification. A team of staff from the workshop was sent for training at a weeklong lead auditor course. They had returned after completing the training program. They asked one of the co-action researchers whether he could explain the difference between ISO terminologies as it was not clear during the lead auditor training. It was decided that the co-action researcher would explain the ISO terminology to the whole team of the workshop. The team met. The same analogy which was developed during cycle 3 was explained to them. They were able to grasp it. Buoyed with this understanding, the workshop staff requested for another day long session with a larger group of about 80 staff members from the workshop Emerging hypothesis iii Metaphors are important in developing learning capabilities. Validation of this hypothesis: Even after doing a formal week long training at accredited ISO training program, the program participants were not able to understand the difference between different terminologies used in ISO standard, but they were able to grasp it when explained in terms of the metaphor developed in cycle 3.

5.6.4 Experiential learning during action research The experiential learning cycle which the researcher underwent is now dealt with.

Experiential learning cycle by the researcher

Experience During June 2003 and July 2003, the researcher had worked in the store depot 1.1 for about 45 days as the head of the unit. The employees of this unit were aware that the researcher was pursuing higher study under the sponsorship of the Indian government. Thus the researcher was not new to employees. The researcher felt this helped him in developing a rapport with the employees. Coming to the specific experiences, during all the first three days, whenever

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the researcher entered the class, every one would get up in deference. It was a normal Indian practice which the researcher had not paid heed to till then. However, now as an action researcher, it was taken as a possible data point which could provide important clues to the underlying social dynamics. The researcher decided to ask them at the end of second day as to why did they get up when he would enter the class. They were quite surprised that such normal behaviour could be questioned. After a significant pause, some of them replied that it was part of their collective upbringing that they were expected to show respect to their superiors which according to them, the researcher was. The researcher provoked them by saying that let them not do it from next time. However, there were murmurs of mild protest. A few of them got up and said that even the researcher must be getting up when his superior would walk in, so why should you object when we get up? A few others said Some officers mind if we dont get up. They take it as an affront. So why take a chance?

Reflective observation 1.1

The researcher perceived a status difference between him and the employees who were being trained by him. Are they considering me as their boss? The researcher was concerned whether it would promote or hinder free communication between the learners and him. The researcher reflected back on the literature review which had pointed out how the hierarchical orientation is deeply engrained in the Indian psyche as well as in the Indian bureaucracy and how hierarchical orientation works against team work and empowerment. However, the researcher recalled from the literature review (Sinha & Sinha 1990) that it was possible to convert these societal values into organisational strengths. The researcher decided to attempt that.

Abstract conceptualisation 1.1

The researcher perceived the power equation in the classroom as a superiorsubordinate relationship. He decided to change the power equation of the group from that of superior subordinate to teacher student: All the staff had been students in past and the student teacher relationship in India, though hierarchical, is not power laden. Also if it were a student-teacher relationship, it would be conducive for learning and the change might not look directive i.e. being imposed by the researcher. 199

Active experiment 1.1

On the first day, the researcher had requested them to form groups amongst themselves so that they can discuss the issues in small groups. About half of them could not make groups for themselves. Also, not all groups were able to discuss effectively. The researcher decided on two things. One was to ask them to make presentation in teams during the next session which was to take place one week later. Second was that the rest of the groups would comment on the presentation on a paper and give to the researcher. The researcher then used these comments to initiate discussion and arrive at a consensus. This scheme was borrowed from Dicks (1999) rigour without number.

Experience ISO training was the first ever training which was imparted to the employees 1.2 of the unit. The researcher was surprised at the ease with which they grasped the concepts and were able to relate it to their work place. After the concepts of customer, customer satisfaction and how ISO could contribute to it were internalised by the staff, they did not show any resistance in going for a largescale change in their working systems.

Reflective observation 1.2

The literature generally talks about resistance to change. However here the situation was different. The staff willingly started a self-sustaining change program. There was no unfreezing (Hersey, Blanchard & Johnson 2002, p.380) required to be done as suggested in the literature on change.

Abstract conceptualisation 1.2

As I reflected on this I reasoned with myself that the prolonged static style of working in the Indian Railways has developed a pent up dissatisfaction among the railway personnel against its working procedures. At an informal level, they understood it. But they were not sure how to get out of it. A support from their superior and perhaps the pride of changing their working style in consonance with an international standard called ISO, induced them on a self sustaining change path. Their inability to grasp the sequential division from quality manual to quality procedure to work instruction and the consequent reversal of the scheme suggested in Figure 5.6 could also have instilled in them a sense of achievement which then pumped them on an autonomous path of self directed change.

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Generalisation from the experiential learning cycle 1 (i) The action research at Jhansi showed there is no resistance to TQM oriented change in the Indian Railways Validation of this generalisation: In the ISO survey done with different railway units, it was asked whether there was any resistance to change (see Appendix 4, Q. D6). The summary of ISO survey is shown in section 4.3. One of the findings of the survey was that except at DLW there was no resistance to change at other units. This perhaps shows that the employees of Indian Railway are amenable to a large-scale change initiative if it is undertaken in a participative manner i.e. involving them. A special feature of the action research was the opportunity for frank communication for the warehousing employees. The need for clear and open communication during period of change has also been highlighted in literature (Robbins 1997, p.390). At a more basic level, since an ISO based change by itself involves a lot of upward and downward communication, a lot of participation gets generated during the ISO certification process which thus builds up employee involvement. The researcher reasoned that this reduced the resistance to change. As another possible explanation, the researcher decided to look at the issue from another angle. Earlier survey A was done to understand the manner in which Indian Railways should change from the point of view of its senior managers. The survey brought out that even though Indian Railways is at present a bureaucratic organization, empowerment and following an informal and flexible management style was supported by the senior managers. It was thus reasoned by the researcher that since the ISO based changes were associated with a shift towards more empowerment for the staff and a more informal hands-on management style in contradistinction to a bureaucratic management style, it was in tune with the privately held belief of the Indian Railway personnel. Hence there was no resistance to change. Emerging hypothesis iv: Indian Railways is amenable to a participative TQM implementation. Since it is non-threatening to different stakeholders, it is also implementable.

In May 2004, the work instruction, the quality procedure and the quality manual for the Jhansi warehouse were ready. The team has got off to a good start. Getting off to a good start is often crucial to enable a team run on a self-sustaining course (Hackman 1990, p.503). The staff of the warehousing unit were now willing to modify their work methods in line 201

with the ISO documentation. From the ISO implementation point of view, the quality objectives were yet to be identified for the warehousing unit. At that time, the researcher decided to withdraw from the scene. He told the managers at Jhansi that since they were aware of the specific steps required to modify their work in line with ISO guidelines, he would now return. But if they needed, they could call him back.

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Chapter 6 Reflection after action and development of TQM transition model

6.1 Reflections after action

This chapter deals with five reflections after action.

6.1.1 Reflection after action- 1 The lack of resistance to change across different units of Indian Railways continued to nag the researcher to come up with more fundamental explanation than what has been put forward at the end of chapter 5. As he reflected on his experience at Jhansi, he recalled that during his trip around the warehouse, whenever he would go with the head of the warehouse to different storage wards, those staff of the ward who were sitting idle, would move towards the open area around the ward and start plucking the grass weeds from the ground. The researcher was quite amused by this conditioned response of the ward staff. He asked them why they resorted to plucking of grass weeds the moment they saw us. They said that it was the instruction of the Dy CMM (the head of the warehousing unit) that whenever the staff had no work to do, instead of

sitting idle, they would remove the grass weeds from the ground so that the area around their ward remained clean. Thus whenever they saw the Dy CMM, they would start plucking the grass weeds lest he gets annoyed. The researcher asked them that if the purpose was to keep the area clean of the grass weeds, why not do it at one go and be done with it. The staff said that the instruction of Dy CMM had to be obeyed. That it could also result in a clean surrounding was just as well. Dy CMM also did not seem to mind that the staff tended to get into the mere ritual of plucking the grass weeds irrespective of whether the primary objective of cleanliness was achieved or not. The researcher felt that there was a marked tendency among the staff to obey the instructions of their boss. He also linked this with the lack of resistance to change towards ISO certification reported in survey C by different railway units. He then reflected back on 203

the dependency proneness tendency among the Indian Railway employees found in survey B. He wondered whether the lack of resistance to change was because of the strong sense of identity which subordinates had with their leader the head of their group in line with ownother syndrome mentioned in the literature review, and high power distance with respect to the leader reflected through the hierarchical tendency of dependence proneness on their boss (leader). Was it that together these two factors made the subordinates more amenable to an internal leaders instruction? Was it that their strong tendency to identify with their boss made them less critical of the change initiatives if the change initiatives were in consonance with their privately held belief about how change should occur. The researcher went back to the literature review (section 2.2.6) where many studies had said that in India, the power laden organisational interaction emanating from hierarchical cultural trait is dysfunctional for participative working. The researcher reflected on it and tried to understand as to how hierarchy introduces dysfunctionality in organisational set up. After all Japanese culture is also hierarchical (Sinha 1995, p.100). He argued as this: Hierarchy gives rise to power distance. This differential power status does not permit open discussion between the superior and the subordinates and perhaps it also tends to legitimise coercive behaviour. He then tried to understand different types of power from literature. They are shown in Table 6.1.

Power type Coercive power

Definition The perceived ability to provide sanction, punishment or consequences for not performing

Reward power Legitimate power

The perceived ability to provide things people will like to have The perception that it is appropriate for the leader to make decisions because of title, role or position in the organization

Connection power

The perceived association of the leader with influential persons or organizations

Referent power Information power Expert power

The perceived attractiveness of interacting with the leader The perceived access to, or possession of, useful information The perception that the leader has relevant education, experience and expertise

Table 6. 1 Different types of power Source: based on Hersey, Blanchard and Johnson (2002, p.210). 204

Among the above power categories, in the context of organization, coercive power, reward power, legitimate power and perhaps connection power can be thought to come from the position one holds in the organization. On the other hand, referent power, information power and expert power can be thought to come from the person. The researcher felt it is the position based power types which can be said to stifle frank professional discussion between superior and subordinate. However if the source of power is transferred to personal bases like referent power, information power and expert power, the same power laden, hierarchical organisational situation can in fact be used advantageously. He reflected back on the reflection cycle 1 where the initial superior-subordinate power structure was replaced by a teacher-student relationship. That still retained the power differential, but the bases of power shifted from coercive, connection and position to information, referent and expert. Hierarchy remained, but now instead of stifling discussion and dissent, it promoted curiosity. This promoted discussion which in turn promoted learning and learning led to change. The researcher recalled that India has a strong tradition of guru-shishya (teacher - student) relationship, which though hierarchical in nature has not been dysfunctional. Ancient Indian scriptures like Upnishad make a special mention of the relationship between a teacher and a student:

O almighty God, you protect both of us (the teacher and the student) together; you bear both of us together, may both earn the shakti (power of learning) together, may our learning be luminous (impressive); may we never bear ill-will towards each other ( from kathopnishad shwetayashawaropnishad quoted in preface to Rig Ved).

Even in modern India, a student always addresses his teacher by sir, and never by the teachers name even decades after he passes out from school /college. But this respect, this differential power relationship does not stifle discussion or difference of opinion, nor does the tendency for an individualised teacher-student relationship make a teacher favour a particular student at the cost of other students. Thus the researcher hypothesised that hierarchy per se was not problematic. What matters is what is the source of hierarchy. On what dimension does hierarchy differentiate. If it is differentiating on higher dimensions of power like information power, referent power and expert power, it develops a resonance with the Indian tradition of teacher-student (guru-shishya) relationship and then, it is conducive for learning and therefore it is conducive for change. Thus hierarchy can be an advantage it

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can promote compliance towards change if it is based on such bases of power which invoke a teacher-student (guru-shishya) relationship between the boss (leader) and the subordinate rather than a superior-subordinate relationship. A review of literature showed that Indians have a preference for leadership by gurus (teachers)(Sekhar 2001, p.361). Sekhar (2001) found Indians to rate teachers to be ethically far ahead of other professions as compared with Americans. Ancient Indian scripture like Gita also supports a raj-rishi model of leadership where the king (raj) is also a learned one (rishi a guru, a teacher ) (Chakraborty 1996; Radhakrishnan 1949, p.383). Ashok is an example of philosopher-king (raj-rishi) in ancient India (Chhokar 2003, p.13). There is a contemporary example to show that teachers are intuitively more acceptable as leaders in India. After the last general election in India in the year 2004, a coalition government was to be formed. The Congress party being the largest coalition partner suggested three names from its members of parliament as the possible candidates for the Prime Ministership. Two were veteran politicians with decades of political experience. The third one was Dr. Manmohan Singh, an academician whom all considered politically nave. He was regarded more as a university teacher. However, all the coalition partners unanimously preferred Dr. Manmohan Singh as the next Prime Minister of India to the other two seasoned politicians. Thus teachers in the role of leadership have an intuitive acceptance for Indians.The researcher felt he got an insight as to why there was no resistance to change at the six ISO certified railway units and also at Jhansi. He reasoned that during the process of change, the subordinates had to learn many new things whose fundamental validity appealed to them. For example ensuring that there was no item at Jhansi warehouse whose shelf life had expired had a natural validity to the employees. This learning oriented change, induced teacherstudent relationship between the boss and subordinate which in turn invoked higher power bases like information power and expert power among the subordinates towards their boss. That is, between the boss and the subordinate, the change situation acquired a teacher-student relationship which was learning oriented. This coupled with subordinates strong existing tendency to comply with their bosss instruction because of their socially induced dependence relationship with the boss, made the subordinates go for the change process without any resistance. This led the researcher to formulate the fifth hypothesis.

Emerging hypothesis v: Hierarchical teacher-student (guru-shishya) relationship with leader invokes personal bases of power which promotes change in India. 206

Thus the position power and coercive power if replaced by information, reward or referent power will still maintain the hierarchy, but it will take the dysfunctionality out of the power relation. This hypothesis has important policy implication for Indian Railways and indeed for Indian organisations. It shows that a TQM oriented change initiative should generally be supported by the managers and staff because of the learning bias it generates. Further, the researcher linked the positive teacher-student (guru-shishya) orientation with intellectual stimulation factor of transformational leadership (see section 2.2.8) and reasoned that this teacher-student (guru-shishya) relationship is conceptually similar to the intellectual stimulation factor of transformational leadership. He also noted that literature (Bass 1990) has said that intellectual stimulation develops team orientation (see section 2.2.8). On similar lines Hackman (1990, p. 503) found in his study of teams that coaching by leader facilitated good work by a team.

6.1.2 Reflection after action- 2 The researcher then reflected on the tendency of personalised relationship among Indians and tried to arrive at a fundamental basis to explain this: In Hindu religion, there is singular interaction with God. In contrast, there is collective interaction with God both in Christianity and in Islam. In both these religions, a group of worshippers collectively bow in church or in mosque, but in a temple, a Hindu will jostle with others in a long queue under the sun, and wait for his turn to make his very individual and very personal offering to God. If at the time of offering, he is the only person before the deity, he is so much more satisfied as a worshipper after all, he could make his exclusive individual obeisance to God. Making a collective obeisance along with many others - who are so different from him - is almost an anathema to him. Thus there is a ritualised collective worshipping the Friday namaaz and the Sunday mass- among Muslims and Christians respectively. As against this, there is ritualised individual puja among Hindus. (The collective worshipping in Hindus is limited to within family members only who are part of the own group). God is powerful. He can do much harm and good to the worshipper in his spiritual world. Thus every Hindu prefers his very personal rapport with his God to the exclusion of others. The researcher looked for validation of this line of reasoning in literature: Nakamura (1964, p.111) has said that Indians harbour an ardent desire to have a direct relation with the absolute and refuse to have 207

any intermediate agent. In fact all the three religion which developed in India Hinduism, Buddism and Jainism assert that salvation of ones soul should be attained only by ones own effort without relying upon others. Jainism for example says that others cannot protect thee or help thee(Nakamura 1964, p.111). The researcher extrapolated this sub-conscious thinking to an office where the boss is the presiding deity who can do many harm and good to a person in his temporal world. To an illiterate worker, the boss is the mai- baap (literary meaning the parents. Figuratively it means like a parent, he holds all the cards for the well being of his son the subordinate). To an educated manager, the boss is the person who writes his confidential report and decides his career progression. But, both for the illiterate worker and the literate manager, the basic orientation towards boss remain the same. Boss represents power in the temporal world just as God represents power in the spiritual world. Thus it is just as well that an Indian prefers a personalised relationship with his boss to the exclusion of others. The personalised relationship is his hot line to God whether spiritual or temporal. It makes explaining things to him so much simpler when things go wrong as one of the supervisors told the researcher. Then, the researcher brooded on the next question: In organisational context, what is the problem with this personalised relationship and its related concept of own-others which different studies in section 2.2.6 have referred to? Perhaps, the problem here is that personal considerations begin to influence organisational decisions. I promote my favourite subordinate because I like him. So the problem is not personalised relationship per se. The problem is the extraneous influence it begins to wield on organisational matters. Thus the right approach is to retain the personalised relationship, but not let it cloud professional decision. Then the researcher thought of what Bass calls individualised consideration as one of the factors of transformational leadership (see section 2.2.8). The researcher pondered whether there was something common between personalised relationship and individualised consideration: The common point between the two is that both believe in one to one relationship between the boss and the subordinate- the boss does treat a subordinate as a distinct individual with his distinct set of needs and aspirations. The difference between the two is that the propensity for personalised relationship makes the boss give disproportionate reward to his own (say favourite) subordinates to the exclusion of others, on the other hand the propensity for individualised consideration, makes the boss relate with the subordinates on a relationship which is equitable (Bass & Avolio 1997, p.36). This emphasis on equity is the crucial difference between personalised relationship and individualised consideration. 208

Thus, the researcher argues that it is possible to take this Indian propensity for personalised relationship and elevate it to the status of individualised consideration, thereby cleanse it of its dysfuntionality. Survey B (see section 4.2.2) found that the tendency for personalised relationship though present, is significantly lower than those of status consciousness and dependency proneness. Thus the tendency for personalised relationship is a weaker tendency among the three hierarchical tendencies. Therefore, the researcher argues, it would be more amenable for modulation into a slightly different mould. The researcher thus argues that instead of having an abstract professional relationship, if a subordinate prefers a personal relationship with his boss which is weakening, why not turn this propensity to develop work oriented ethos in place of a bureaucratic ethos. The researcher goes back to literature review (section 2.2.6.2) where Khandwalla (1992, p.255) had said that whether a traditional behaviour or a modern behaviour will be evoked depends on what cues are emitted at work and Sinha and Kanungo(1997) had discussed the high context sensitivity of Indians. Thus if the boss could zero in on a battery of professional expectations for his subordinates, and deal with his subordinates on an individual basis and reward the subordinate subject to his satisfactory fulfilment of the desired professional expectation, then the very personalised relationship would stand modulated into what Bass calls individualised consideration. The high context sensitivity of Indians would now act as a facilitating factor which would make the subordinates more inclined to accept the professional cues emanated by the boss.

Emerging hypothesis vi: The personalised relationship with a more equitable slant can be modulated to the status of individualised consideration.

6.1.3 Reflection after action- 3 Then the researcher reflected on other factors of the transformational leadership model and wondered if they could be linked with any Indian specific leadership model. If the transformational leadership model is compared with the Indian specific nurturance task (NT) leadership model discussed in section 2.2.6.4, conceptual similarity between the contingent reward factor of transformational leadership and the nurturance task leadership can be seen. Contingent reward is a transactional leadership construct within the transformational leadership model (see section 2.2.8). Sinha also does not consider NT model as transformational (Sinha 1995). Both aim at satisfactory work performance by the 209

employees. In the contingent award, the award is contingent upon satisfactory completion of work. In the NT model, nurturance is the award which is given after satisfactory completion of work. The difference between contingent reward and NT is that contingent reward is nonpersonal in its approach, but a NT leader is more personal in his handling of the follower. He cares for his subordinates, shows affection, takes personal interest in their well-being, and above all is committed to their growth (Sinha 1990). Emerging hypothesis vii: The NT leadership model is conceptually similar to the contingent award factor of transformational leadership.

The emerging hypotheses v, vi and vii led the researcher to create a link between the components of transformational leadership and its proposed equivalent set in Indian cultural set up. They are shown in Table 6.2.

Components of transformational leadership model of Bass Intellectual stimulation

Indian cultural equivalent Hierarchical teacher-student (guru-shishya) relationship

Individualised consideration Contingent reward

Equity based personalised relationship Nurturant task

Table 6. 2 Components of transformational leadership and their proposed Indian cultural equivalent Source: developed for this research.

6.1.4 Reflection after action- 4 Armed with these insights, the researcher wondered if TQM could be adapted to the Indian context. The opportunity came in August 2004. In August 2004, the researcher was invited by Railway Staff College to deliver lecture on TQM to the senior managers of Indian Railways. Railway Staff College is the nodal training institute for training of senior managers of Indian Railways. Almost all the managers who attended the 5 days long training

programme were engineers. They had knowledge of ISO and quality management. They had heard of TQM and some of them were practising many of its tools like fishbone diagram, 210

Pareto analysis, control charts etc. However, they were unaware of TQM as an integrative concept which could act as a vehicle of organisational change. Thus the researcher planned to orient their thought to TQM in its totality. Among other things, the researcher explained to them the critical success factors of TQM mentioned in section 3.6.1. They are reproduced below for the sake of convenience:

(i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii)

Customer focus Communication across organization/ information and data management Continuous improvement Delegation and empowerment Leadership Process improvement Result and recognition

(viii) Strategy (ix) (x) (xi) (xii) Supplier focus Team working Values and ethics Work culture / congenial inter personal relationship / worker manager interaction

The feedback the researcher got from them was that if so many individual factors were responsible for successful implementation of TQM, it was not surprising that TQMs success rate was only around 25% to 30%. How can an organization emphasise on all these factors simultaneously? And how do I operationalise these factors in actual situation. What if there is a conflict between these factors in business situations? As the researcher reflected on these CSFs of TQM and his own unsuccessful attempt in trying to explain TQM as an aggregate of these CSFs, he correlated this with the difficulty experienced by Jhansi employees in trying to understand the differences between quality policy, quality procedure and work instruction in action cycle 3. The researcher wondered whether the reductionist western approach of breaking TQM to its sub components had taken the essence of TQM out of it. He also wondered that if senior managers were finding it difficult to accept TQM as a combination of various factors, how this could be explained to the lower level employees of Indian Railways. This reflection gave the researcher the insight that if TQM as a concept had to be internalised by the Indian Railway employees, it must be viewed in a more Gestaltist manner. The gestalt may subsume in it the individual factors, but 211

these individual factors should not be emphasised as the basis for developing an understanding of the concept of TQM. It has to be reverse. Implementation of TQM should begin with a singular Gestaltist idea. With time, this idea should gradually lead to the unfolding of other enabling factors like a dnouement. Then TQM becomes a sequential concept. This means that not all CSFs of TQM are equally important at the beginning nor it is possible to begin a TQM oriented change program with simultaneous emphasis on all the factors. This only leads to confusion and scepticism among the employee as it did with the railway managers. Rather, there should be a sequential emphasis on these factors starting with the most basic at the beginning. Literature has also said that it takes between 5 to 7 years before quality is solidly ingrained (Hersey, Blanchard & Johnson 2002, p.402). The Deming Prize also maintains a developmental orientation in its TQM model (see section 2.2.3.3, p. 44). This realisation led to the next emerging hypothesis:

Emerging hypothesis vii: There is a sequential relationship among the CSFs of TQM.

Thus a model of TQM based on sequential relationship among these factors should be more successful than a model which is based on simultaneous application of these factors.

Identification of the central concept of TQM: The emerging hypothesis vii led the researcher to search for the most basic factor for successful beginning of TQM implementation. Since the factor was to be such which had to appeal to a cross section of employees, the researcher began to realise that basically he was not looking for a mere factor. He was looking for a value an all pervading value which could supplant the existing bureaucratic value of Indian Railways, a value which was both generic enough to have pan organisational validity and which was also ethical enough to be acceptable to people across organisational ladder. Once this value was identified, it could piggyback on the cultural trait of an Indians strong identification with their leader (boss) for its dissemination and acceptability. The researcher looked at TQM in its totality. He reasoned with himself that of all the components of TQM, customer satisfaction was that component which should be propagated as a value rather than as a measure a la customer satisfaction index - across an organization: If it becomes a value which pervades the nooks and corners of an organization, it will become an underlying current, the new ethereal medium like air - which people breathe. Employee and their organization will asphyxiate if this new ether is sucked out of their organizational space. Thus in this new organization call it customer-centric 212

organization -the boss should both propagate and reward only such behaviour which is in line with the value called customer satisfaction. For this to happen, the staff should be able to relate with customer satisfaction in an intuitive way. It will then become a value. It will then not remain an abstruse concept to be measured mathematically. The reason for choosing customer satisfaction was its universal validity across different types of organizations. The ethical relevance of customer satisfaction was developed as follows: In the action learning cycle 1, one of the staff had mentioned about how banks had decided that they would encash a cheque in 10 minutes. This logic was taken further: In his/her day-to-day life an Indian goes to a bank, to a municipal office, to an electric supply company office or to a hospital. The common theme in all these institutions is that he/she is a customer and he/she wants his/her problem to be addressed efficiently. However, the general experience in India is that interaction with these institutions leaves a bad taste in mouth. If the staff in the Indian Railways are explained that the common theme lacking in these organizations is a customer orientation, they should be able to understand its relevance to their organization. In fact then customer orientation does not merely remain a value, rather, it becomes a meta-value i.e. all other values are then reinterpreted to facilitate the meta value called customer satisfaction. Since Indians are prone to think in totality rather than in a reductionist way, the understanding of customer satisfaction as a meta-value valid across different organizations will make them understand the big picture and their own role in that big picture. Once they are able to fathom that customer satisfaction is the new mantra, and once they are able to draw the big picture for customer satisfaction and the role in it for themselves, then a jumbled puzzle called organisational change should gradually begin to make sense and start taking a meaningful shape. The resulting process orientation should create a fertile field in which will sprout such enabling factors as teamwork, delegation and empowerment, communication across organization etc. Because of the subordinates strong identification with their boss, if the boss supports customer satisfaction as the new mantra, then due to its general intuitive appeal across employee categories, customer satisfaction has the potential to become the new organisational value. The survey C of railway units also showed that development of customer orientation has been one of the consistent outcomes of ISO certification. That is, while ISO certification might or might not have resulted in inculcation of other aspects of TQM, it did develop a customer orientation in the employees at the ISO certified railway units.

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6.1.5 Development of TQM transition model With these insights, the researcher began framing a model for TQM implementation within the framework of ISO 9000 suitably aided by the emerging hypotheses developed earlier in this research. The model developed is shown in Figure 6.1.

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legend: mech- mechanical stor-stores elec- electrical pers-personal fin - finance

Work culture

Autonomy (delegation & empowerment)

Teamwork, communication across organization

Figure 6. 1 Model for sequential development of TQM factors using the ISO framework Source: developed for this research.

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The model in Figure 6.1 shows the sequential development of different factors of TQM within the ISO framework. It begins with the TQM factor called process orientation. A process is defined as a collection of activities that takes one or more kinds of inputs and creates an output that is of value to the customer (Hammer & Champy 2001, p.38). This definition shows that adding value to the customer is central to the concept of a process. Thus process orientation is closely related with customer focus. The model shows that the first step is to replace the functional orientation of different departments by process orientation. This can be affected by developing process based ISO documents instead of function based ISO documents. This process orientation is the first activity which should kick start congruent behaviour disposition among members of different functional units in an organization. ISO 9000 has a concept of corrective and preventive action (CPA). This aims at identifying deficiencies in the organisational working and developing ways to eliminate them. The process-oriented documentation of ISO 9000 should give rise to such CPAs which transcend a functional boundary. The compulsion of CPA should necessitate interaction across functional silos and therefore gradually inculcate teamwork. Coordination and information management across different functional units should then be a by-product of these activities. Progressive improvements thus brought about by CPAs should imbue a feeling of autonomy among the employees. This feeling of autonomy is itself empowering that is, in this situation, empowerment is not something which is delegated by superiors. The employees feel empowered. All these give rise to a work culture which promotes worker manager interaction and congenial interpersonal relationship. Thus, the initial trigger is process oriented ISO documentation. This will give rise to process oriented quality objectives. Thus functional orientation begins to get de-emphasised from the very lowest level. The model shown in Figure 6.1 should be contrasted with the functional model shown in Figure 3.3. In Figure 3.3, the vertical purple lines are indicative of functional orientation and the blue horizontal lines are indicative of coordinational orientation. Figure 6.1 is different from Figure 3.3 in four respects. The first difference between Figure 3.3 and Figure 6.1 is that there is no centralised focus in Figure 3.3. Each department defines its own objectives and ways of working. But in Figure 6.1 the customer focus gives rise to process orientation. This process orientation is essentially a way to operationalise the customer focus in terms of the nuts and bolts of organisational working. The second difference is that the spiral vortex of CPA (see blue spiral arrow in Figure 6.1 shown in blue because CPA creates the coordinational orientation) sucks all the

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departments towards the focus of customer satisfaction. Thus the functional cylinder of Figure 3.3 is transformed into a funnel in Figure 6.1. The third difference is that the coordinational vector which was confined at the level of GM/DRM in Figure 3.3 is now at all levels in Figure 6.1 represented by the blue CPA spiral vortex. The fourth difference is that coordination is no longer required to be attempted by GM/DRM as in Figure 3.3. It gets integrated in the work vector itself. In Figure 3.3, the work vector (shown in black arrow) consists of two components the coordinational vector (shown in blue horizontal arrow) exerted by GM/DRM and the functional vector (shown in purple vertical arrow) exerted by functional superiors within a department. That is, the work which an employee performs is reducible into two mutually independent components of coordinational work and functional work. However, in Figure 6.1, there is only one vector the black work vector (shown as the contours of the funnel). The mutually independent functional vector and coordination vector of Figure 3.3 is now subsumed in this single work vector because of the pull exerted across levels and across functions by the CPA vortex even though the functional departments retain their individual identities. Where does leadership fit in this model? The facilitating role of leadership is shown at different levels of transition to TQM by the semi circular arrows which provide the required vortex at the beginning (at the lowest level which is the first TQM level) by emphasising the process orientation. Then as the CPA vortex draws the organization up towards continually improved working, appropriate leadership and appropriate reward and recognition system at the subsequent higher levels of TQM will further facilitate this vortex. It is to be noted that this model does not presuppose a transformational top leadership as has been mentioned in earlier literature (see section 2.2.5.2). A good transactional leader with an understanding of this model should be sufficient to make a beginning. However transformational leader will definitely facilitate the creation of vortex by emphasising the process orientation. Further, the model till now is independent of the contextual role of organization or country specific values and culture. Their contextual role gets operationalised at the level of leadership and reward. In the Indian context, drawing from Table 6.2, the role of leadership is that of a facilitator who maintains a reward and recognition system which is hinged on the three Indian specific values of equity based personalised relationship, hierarchical teacherstudent relationship and nurturance based on satisfactory task completion. These are pictorially shown in Figure 6.2. 217

Work culture

Autonomy (delegation & empowerment)

Teamwork, communication across organization

Figure 6. 2 Model for implementation of TQM in India using the ISO framework Source: developed for this research.

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The model synthesises the current literature of TQM with the Indian specific cultural values, Indian specific organisational values and Indian specific leadership style and therefore can be considered as a valid TQM implementation model in the Indian context. This model shows that making a beginning with a NT leadership style, the leader should develop an equity based personalised relationship with the subordinates. He/she should also orient the superior subordinate relationship with subordinates into a teacher- student (gurushishya) relationship. This will create the cultural groundswell in which the subordinates will be ready for an ISO based change targeted towards TQM. Then to create the customer focus, process based ISO document should be created. Once work starts on the lines of process based documents, then the CPAs generated as a result of ISO implementation should be implemented and the employees should be rewarded for generating and thereafter implementing the CPAs. This process orientation is the first activity which should kick start congruent behaviour disposition among members of different functional units in an organization. The process-oriented documentation of ISO 9000 should also give rise to such CPAs which transcend a functional boundary. This will give rise to teamwork and communication across organization. Progressive improvements thus brought about by CPAs should imbue a feeling of autonomy among the employees. This feeling of autonomy is itself empowering that is, in this situation, empowerment is not something which is delegated by superiors. The employees feel empowered. All these give rise to a work culture which promotes worker manager interaction and congenial interpersonal relationship. Therefore, the primordial affiliation to ones professional caste his/her department in railways- begins to get de-emphasised from the very lowest level. Similarly, the feeling of autonomy and empowerment also begins to de-emphasise the dependency proneness upon superiors. The continuous improvement brought about by the CPAs keeps the organization focussed onto the customers. After this model was developed, the researcher looked for an opportunity to validate this model.

6.2 Jhansi revisited

. In December 2004, the head of the Jhansi warehousing unit telephoned the researcher to come to the Jhansi for few days. He said he wanted to show the improvements which had

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come about in the depot and to seek suggestions for further improvement. The researcher visited the depot for three days. The broad areas of improvement which were identified in cycle 2 in May 2004 and their status in December 2004 are indicated in Table 6.3.

Improvement steps identified in May 2004

Their status in December 2004

(i) Each stocking item (i) All the 1300 items were having a specified location in the should have an warehouse. Different storage bins and ground space were

identified location in the allocated distinct location number. A location register was warehouse. different For this, maintained for each storage ward. Each item was now bins identified by its part number and description. Some of the

storage

and ground space should storage wards were whitewashed and painted by the be allocated a distinct warehousing staff themselves even though formally this was location number. There supposed to be done by the civil engineering department. The should be a location normal refrain earlier was that since civil engineering did not register indicating the bother about proper upkeep of this century old structure, part number and its things would naturally be shabby. However, this time, the staff

corresponding number. The

location did not wait for the civil engineering department. They did all overall the painting and cleaning by themselves. According to the

cleanliness should be warehousing staff, it was for the first time in decades that improved using the these wards were cleaned and scrubbed.

principles of 5S. (ii) There is a lack of (ii) Proposal was made for replacement of electric trolleys and material handling fork lifter. In the railway system, every proposal for

equipments at Jhansi. replacement of old machinery is required to be cleared by the The only fork lifter is finance department. However, this proposal was not cleared by under breakdown since the finance department. These material handling equipments the last seven years. The were more than 15 years old and their original purchase electric trolleys are very documents were not available. Because of this procedural few and they are in a weakness, the proposal was returned back by finance. The very bad shape matter rested there i.e. the depot continued to live with the problem of lack of material handling equipment. Table 6.3 (contd)

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Table 6.3(contd) Improvement steps identified in May 2004

Their status in December 2004

(iii) Jhansi depot does (iii) The staff of Jhansi depot found out that soft copies of most not have an updated list of the drawings were available at the Research & Development of drawing and centre of Indian Railways. They had collected the soft copy of

specifications for its the drawings and specifications of the wagon components. The inspection wing. soft copy was in the process of getting integrated with the computer system of the warehouse. (iv) There are certain (iv) All items with limited shelf life were identified. The items like paints, preservation methods for the shelf life item were collected from varnishes other railway units. Work instruction was developed to limited formalise the preservation methods for different types of shelf-

electrodes, which have

shelf life. However, the life items. The concept of matching the consumption pattern concept of shelf life with the in-bound material supply was developed so that there was not there. was no excess build-up of stock for shelf-life items.

Table 6. 3 Improvement steps identified in May 2004 and their status in December 2004 Source: developed from fieldwork.

Table 6.3 shows that the changes in the depot which were within the control of depot were successfully implemented. However, the depot could not get any of the material handling equipment because the proposal for their replacement was not cleared by the finance department. The finance wing worked under the same Chief Workshop Manager (CWM) under whom the warehouse worked with the proviso that the CWM could not overrule or even modify the decisions taken by his Finance Manager. The researcher asked the Dy CMM whether he approached either the head of the finance or the CWM to intervene. He had not done that. The researcher then went to the head of the finance and asked him whether he was satisfied that material handling equipment of the depot were required to be changed. He answered in the affirmative. Then why did you not give financial clearance for the purchase of those equipments? That was partly because we wanted to see how serious the depot was to buy these equipment and partly because we as a matter of convention do not

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give financial clearance at the first go. They will then take us for granted. Did you not give financial clearance because all the required papers were not available? No, that was just an excuse to return the proposal uncleared. In this case, I know the papers are not available. However, after returning the file two three times, I will finally accord the financial clearance. But for that, Dy CMM should talk to me personally and request for the same. Why should he talk to you? the researcher asked. Because if he requests personally, even though it is an official matter, it can be treated differently. Confirmation of emerging hypothesis ii: The success of the change initiatives in such areas which were under the control of the warehouse and the failure of the change initiative where it required inter-departmental dealing made the researcher go back to the emerging hypothesis ii: The caste system has reinforced the bureaucratic propensity of lack of teamwork in the Indian Railways. The researcher took this instance as the confirmation of emerging hypothesis ii. It was yet another example of the impact of the caste induced value of own (apne) others (paraye) on organisational working which has resulted in poor team working ability among Indians. The warehousing unit was others (paraye) for the finance department. Thus it did not feel the necessity of giving the financial clearance to the proposal of the warehousing unit. For the members of the warehousing unit also, it was just as well that the finance department did not give the clearance. The Dy. CMM said the finance is a separate (read other paraye) department. So they do not care. But whatever we had planned in May 2004, we have done (read apne own do not create problem for each other). As the researcher reflected on this instance, he reasoned that as a railwayman, he had been aware of the importance of personal relationship in getting inter departmental issues settled. In fact, his experience has been that good personal equation across departments and not just professional excellence has often been the key differentiator between a good team person and a poor team person in the Indian Railways. It has been reported that collectivist managers perform poorly when they work with out-group members as compared to in-group members (Sinha 1997, p.59). The researcher referred back to the literature review where Myrdal (1968) and Khandwalla (1999) have mentioned about India being a soft state where accommodation and not confrontation between different groups are preferred (Sinha & Sinha 1990) and where problems are allowed to simmer instead of getting solved at the cost of long term dysfunctionalities. At Jhansi also, the problem of lack of material handling equipment was allowed to simmer.

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6.2.1 The next action cycle The ISO certification process had started in December 2004 and a certifying body was identified which was to do the certification for the workshop and the warehouse. Dy CMM therefore wanted a set of quality objectives to be developed for the warehouse. Thus started one more PDCA cycle. The researcher used this cycle to validate the sequential TQM model developed in Figure 6.2.

PDCA cycle 4 (December 2004) Plan 4 Do 4 Develop the quality objectives for the warehousing unit The six-month period from June 2004 to November 2004 gave practical experience to the warehousing staff about ISO oriented working. Now they wanted to develop quality objectives for the warehousing unit. The quality objectives were explained as a measure which could be used to adjudge how well the warehousing unit was working. Then the staff were asked to frame the quality objectives for their areas of work. Check The group of staff came up with a wide range of statements. Some of them narrated 4 what they were doing -the work of line delivery section is to distribute consumable items to different railway stations. Some of them came up with what was an improvement activity for the warehouse- to keep the material in the bins and not on the ground. As in PDCA cycle 3, once again a metaphor helped in explaining the concept. The metaphor was Your heart works all the time. How will you know how good is your heart? The answer was by measuring the blood pressure. Similarly, you are working all the time in the warehouse. But how do you know how bad or good is your work. This is what quality objective does. It measures your work quality. After prolonged discussion, they were able to come up with quantifiable quality objectives. But the quality objectives were functionally defined e.g. number of stock sheets in storage ward, time taken in placing a purchase order. At this time, the researcher decided to explain to them that during the earlier interaction in April 2004 (refer PDCA cycle 1 in chapter 5), they had understood that the basic objective of their work was customer satisfaction. Thus a valid quality objective should be customer oriented and not function oriented. contd 223

contd Act 4

The quality objectives suggested by the head of the warehousing unit were: (i) Time taken in material accountal after it is received in the warehouse. (ii) Time taken in putting up a lot for auction after it is received. However, there were murmurs of protest about how could one decide how well was the receiving ward doing when the time taken in material accountal depended on three different wings of the warehouse receipt, inspection and storage. Receipt ward quality objective should be based on receipt ward work only. But this begs the question what work is receipt ward doing? Receipt ward is only doing invoice matching. The MR interjected, If we are talking in the context of ISO, then the quality procedure of receipt ward is the authoritative document to say what work receipt ward does. If what receipt ward does is given in its quality procedure, then we should first change the quality procedure. Let quality procedure say that material accountal is one work. Let it not say that invoice matching is one work. Then only we should assess how well this single work is being done. Thus began the discussion about reframing the quality procedure for ISO 9000. Till then there were eight quality procedures made more or less on the functional lines. On the third day, the number of quality procedures was reduced to two. These two quality procedures were (i) supply of material to the workshop (ii) sale of scrap to merchants. These two quality procedures cut across different functional wings of the warehouse. For example supply of material to the workshop involved ledger section, receipt section, inspection section and the storage section. Thus it was based on a process - material supply which added value to the customer- the workshop. Therefore the quality procedure was now aligned with Hammers definition of a process a process is a set of activities which provides value to the customer (Hammer & Champy 2001). The understanding of quality procedure developed in PDCA cycle 3 was that quality procedure tells you what you do. Thus if what I do is part of a process, then I am willing to accept a process based quality objective as one of the co-action researcher put it. Now, there was more agreement in accepting the two quality objectives as valid measures of what the staff were doing. Now I know what I am supposed to do I am supposed to work in a manner that the material is quickly accounted for

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so that it can be quickly supplied to the workshop and that will decide how well I am working. Like a horse wearing his side blinds and pulling a tonga (cart), my work should gallop forward towards the customer and not lurch sideways. Now the staff were able to accept that their individual work was part of a bigger work process and that it was that bigger work process which provided value to the customer not their individual work. Therefore since customer satisfaction is the ultimate objective, we should aim to improve the bigger work process even if it means sub optimisation of a section within that bigger work process. But this sub optimisation should not be viewed against me. Reflection The way this cycle started, it once again confirmed the earlier finding about lack 4 of team orientation. However, the new thing here was that once the quality procedures were made process oriented there was a change in the staff orientation towards their specific work. Now, they were willing to accept quality objectives which went beyond their individual task. By ab-initio

creating two process based quality procedures in place of eight functional quality procedures, the ISO system introduced process based what we do in place of function based what we do. Indians who have an inbuilt tendency to look at a situation in more gestaltist manner were thus able to appreciate the work in its totality. Therefore, it also appealed to them intuitively. Once organization gave them the cue (by framing process based quality procedures) that it was the total working across a process which would now matter, they were mentally able to reorient themselves towards this. In addition, they now knew that the rewards would be on group working. Thus the reinforcing effect of reward and recognition would further strengthen their group-oriented behaviour. The changed focus of the work group was now we know what we are supposed to do. We are together supposed to work in a manner that the material is quickly accounted for so that it can be quickly fed to the workshop and that will decide how good we are. The researcher tried to look at this change in the context of Indian specific values. He reasoned that the vertical collectivism (see Table 2.13) earlier confined within a section of the warehouse, now became organization wide. People retained their collectivism; it only became wider and thus aided in organisational output. This is how the collectivistic orientation of Indians can contribute in TQM oriented change within ISO framework. 225

The PDCA cycle 4 more or less satisfied the researcher about the importance of establishing process based quality procedures for inculcating teamwork among the employees which creates the initial vortex (see Figure 6.2). This led to the framing of another hypothesis: Emerging hypothesis viii: Framing process based quality procedures and quality objectives leads to development of team orientation in the context of TQM implementation.

However, other crucial aspects of the model were the importance of corrective and preventive action (CPA) and the reward system for continued propagation of vortex. They remained to be tested. This has been dealt with in section 6.3.

6.2.2 Action Research revisited

After PDCA cycle 4 in December 2004, the researcher had no interaction with Jhansi. In April 2005, he held a discussion with his supervisor at Banglore, India. Thereafter, he decided to check the state of affairs at Jhansi. The researcher held an interview with the action research team of Jhansi. By then three of them were transferred elsewhere. The other two informed that: (i) They had instituted two awards one for the best ward and the other for the best office. Ward reflected the material flow process, office indicated the support system process. (ii) The Jhansi warehousing unit was adjudged the best warehousing unit in the North Central Railway. (iii) For another process scrap disposal, Jhansi was adjudged the best in the Indian Railways and in recognition of this, the head of the warehousing unit was personally awarded by the Railway Minister of India. (iv) In contrast, the workshop attached with the warehouse was still struggling to get its quality procedures and work instructions ready, even though they had appointed a consultant to assist them in documentation. (v) In the area of information technology, a Material Management Information System was initiated for implementation in the warehouse. It was made ready for inaguration by the Additional Member (Stores) of the Indian Railways in March 2006.

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Another unit Electric Loco Shed, Jhansi was used to cross verify some of the conclusions drawn earlier. This unit was ISO 14000, OHSAS 18000 and ISO 9000 certified. Sicne it added to the rigour of the conclusions, it has been dealt with in section 7.4. According to Weisbord (1987, p. 373) concept of improvement evolved in four stages. The first stage was experts solving problems piecemeal based on Taylorism. The second stage was everybody solving problems piecemeal based on participative management. The third stage was experts improving whole systems based on system thinking. The fourth stage was everybody improving the whole system based on what he calls the third wave action project. In the third wave, one goes beyond the design limits, one tends to reach beyond the boundaries of realism so that people can realise their full human potential (Weisbord 1987, p. 374). At the end of the AR cycles, the researcher felt because everybody was improving the whole system, a large-scale transformation could be implemented in a short time.

6.3 Validation of the TQM transition model

In April 2005, during his visit to Banglore, the researcher visited the Wheel and Axle Plant of Indian Railways. This was one of the railway units which were earlier surveyed during survey C and survey D. It was also the first unit in the Indian Railways to get ISO 9000 certification in 1994. It was learnt that in the year 2004, WAP was awarded the Golden Peacock award - one of the three Indian TQM awards (see Table 2.7). It was then decided to use WAP to further validate the model developed in Figure 6.1 and Figure 6.2. At the end of section 6.2.1, it was mentioned that the aspect of CPA was yet to be validated. Therefore, the number of CPAs and rewards given in WAP were compared with corresponding figures in other six units. It was also recalled that after Table 4.7, it was postulated that there were other intervening variables which were not obvious at that time which could explain the difference in the scores on TQM transition questionnaire between DLW and WAP. Thus for the sake of comparison, the Table 4.7 with the number of CPAs and rewards added as additional column was modified as Table 6.4.

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Railway unit

Score on TQM transition scale

No. of years since ISO 9000 certification till Jan 2005 3

Unit headed by a transformational leader

Parel work shop (PRL) Alambagh warehousing unit (AMV) Bhopal work shop (BPL) Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) Diesel Components Works (DCW) Wheel and Axle Plant (WAP) Integral Coach Factory (ICF)

13

No

Involvement of all departments in the ISO certif.cation process No

Requisite delegation of authority to the head of unit No

Use of statistical techni -que

Number of employees

Average no of CPA raised per year since 2001 15

No of awards given last year

Non existent Somewhat

1850

13.17

Yes

Yes

No

805

nil

13.33

Yes

No

No

Somewhat

1800

11

13

25.33

No

No

Yes

Somewhat

5800

141

57

(2 tier CPA, one at AU level and another at apex level) 10.33 7 No No Yes Low 3786 12 32

(2 tier CPA, one at AU level and another at apex level) 37.66 10 No No Yes High 2300 1725 during 20042005 (2 tier CPA, one at AU level and another at apex level) 7250 18 67 More than 100

21.33

No

Yes

Somewhat

Table 6. 4 Comparison of scores on TQM transition questionnaire of different units of Indian Railways and the juxtaposition of intervening factors including no. of CPA and no. of reward Source: developed from survey data.

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Table 6.4 shows that what singled out WAP from other units were the large number of CPAs generated by the employees of WAP and the large number of awards given to them in recognition thereof. 1725 awards were given during 2004-2005 in WAP where the employee strength is 2300. Each year, More than 100 CPAs were raised there. Against this, at DLW less than 100 employees were awarded but 141 CPAs were raised each year. DLW has staff strength of 5800. Thus though the number of CPAs were more in DLW, as a ratio of employee strength, WAP was much ahead of DLW. However as a group, both DLW and WAP were ahead of other units in terms of CPA raised and awards given. This was in line with the model suggested in Figure 6.1 which emphasised the use of CPA and reward for continued upward whirling of the vortex. Because WAP had the largest number of CPAs and awards as a ratio of employee strength, it scored the highest on the TQM transition scale. DLW had the second largest number of CPAs and awards and it score the second highest on the TQM transition scale. Further, both WAP and DLW were having two-tier CPA system one at the auditing unit (AU) level and another at the apex level. Presence of two-tier CPA system was indicative of deeper assimilation of CPA concepts in these two units. It was also noted that WAP had process based ISO documents which DLW did not have. The importance of process-based documents was brought out in PDCA cycle 4. Thus WAP became another source to validate emerging hypothesis viii. WAP was not led by a transformational top leader from 2000 to 2004. (MLQ questionnaire could not be used for the top leader prior to 2000 at WAP as the persons who could talk about him were transferred out of WAP). This was again in line with the model in Figure 6.2 which does not presuppose transformational leadership for progression towards TQM, though it accepts the facilitating role of transformational leadership. The large number of CPA in WAP showed that perhaps the transformational leadership was relaced by transformational team a set of self empowered staff who were sailing on the vortex created by CPA and reward. This validation of the TQM transition model lead to the formulation of another hypothesis:

Emerging hypothesis ix: A multi tier CPA reinforced with reward and recognition system positively intervenes in the transition of an ISO certified organization towards TQM.

The research showed that among the seven units which were included in the survey, WAP could be classified as being a TQM organization followed by DLW. In the case of WAP, the use of corrective and preventive action mechanism of ISO was crucial for 229

implementation of a number of small improvements which was reinforced by an institutionalised reward system. WAP also used statistical techniques quite extensively. WAP however was not led by a transformational leader in the last four years. However its leader had the requisite delegation of authority. DLW also had a well-established 2-tier CPA system and was not led by a transformational leader. But its reward system was nowhere near that of WAP. Thus DLW could not get a reasonably high score on the TQM transition questionnaire. In the case of BPL, the presence of transformational leader alone without the requisite delegation of authority to the leader and without the involvement of all departments could not bring the unit closer to TQM. In the case of AMV, the presence of transformational leader and the involvement of all departments brought it in one year at par with units like BPL which were ISO certified more that 3 years back.

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Chapter 7 Conclusion

7.1 Introduction
This thesis started with the research issue whether TQM could be used as a model for organisational transformation of Indian Railways? If yes, how could it be effectively implemented in Indian Railways? In trying to seek answer to this research issue, the researcher developed some research questions in chapter 3. The next section summarises the findings of this research with respect to those research questions.

7.2 Conclusions about research problems

The first research question was: What are and what should be Indian Railways core values, style of management, growth strategies, competitive strategies and changes in organisational structure / management system so as to transform Indian Railways into an excellent organization. As per the senior managers of Indian Railways, developing a commercial orientation, team working, empowerment and customer focus are the desirable policies to be adopted by Indian Railways. This shows that as an internal working model, TQM based change initiatives should find a ready echo among senior railway managers. This understanding is more remarkable when it is realised that the respondents were having complete freedom to indicate any type of policy change they felt desirable, yet a common set of factors with a pronounced TQM slant emerged as the desirable policy change. Being a fair and just employer and making a useful contribution to society are the two existing organisational values of Indian Railways which emanates from the welfare state policy of the Indian government. As against this, total quality in every operation and developing a customer orientation are the two desirable values which Indian Railways should acquire. The existing management style of Indian Railways is cautious, with clear formal reporting relationship and a clear distinction between those who give orders and those who implement them. In the opinion of the researcher, these indicate a bureaucratic and hierarchical style which, given the bureaucratic and cultural background of Indian Railway

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employees, are not surprising. However, the senior managers of Indian Railways strongly want a bold but calculating risk taking management style characterised with flexibility, informality and resourcefulness, a management style which is professional and system oriented. This is same as innovative organisational culture discussed in section 2.2.1.2 of literature review which finally leads to continuous improvement which is again a TQM based concept. The existing growth strategies of Indian Railways are related and unrelated capacity building and geographical expansion of railway network. As against this, the desirable growth strategies are empowerment and rapid expansion of customer base by weaning customer back. Empowerment has already been identified as one of the critical success factors for TQM. Indian Railways existing competitive strategy has been to compete on the basis of price and by offering service to specific market segments. There is almost total unanimity that the desirable competitive strategies should be to compete on the basis of quality and by offering novel or unique services. Once again quality strategy and innovative culture are the desirable directions of change. With respect to organisational structure and management system, Indian Railways is trying for greater delegation of authority and a sophisticated management and control system. The senior managers felt that greater delegation of authority and a leaner organization should be the desirable changes. Greater delegation of authority is same as empowerment- a TQM enabler. This analysis shows that TQM itself and many factors and core concepts of TQM like continuous improvement, empowerment, customer focus, quality based organisational strategy, systems approach have been identified by the respondents as the desirable changes which Indian Railways should initiate. If TQM is the proposed model of change for Indian Railways, to what extent there is congruence between TQM oriented organisational culture and the cultural values of Indian Railway personnel. Towards this, this thesis specifically assessed the hierarchical orientation among the Indian Railway persons. It showed that the hierarchy is a deeply engrained culturally induced organisational value among the Indian Railway persons. Younger employees (less than 30 years of age) and older employees (more than 50 years of age) have similar hierarchical orientation. Since hierarchy is supposed to be having strong negative influence on TQM implementation (Tan & Khoo 2002, Tata & Prasad 1998), this conclusion has important implications for the Indian Railways. 232

The second research question was: What is the impact of ISO 9000 implementation on Indian Railways? It was generally agreed that certification resulted in better understanding of process & responsibility and linkage to other functions. The researcher therefore concluded that it helped in developing a process orientation among the employees of Indian Railways. Team work came out as the most important lesson learnt followed by the realisation that people make the system work. Implementation of document control prevented non conformities on account of use of obsolete documents or no documents. Except at WAP, there was not much use of statistical techniques at other units. Some other observations, relevant in the context of this research are: (i) Continuous improvement was the reason behind certification. Literature review (section 2.2.5.2) had shown that management intent behind ISO certification was found to be an intervening variable in an organizations transition towards TQM. (ii) Top management was very involved in the quality system. Literature review had shown that leadership (section 2.2.2, 2.2.3.1, 2.2.3.7); particularly transformational leadership (section 2.2.5.2) has been a crucial intervening variable in an organizations transition towards TQM. (ii) There was almost no resistance to change. This is contrary to findings in western literature on management of change (section 2.2.7.2). The third research question was: To what extent has the implementation of ISO 9000 brought about a TQM orientation in Indian Railways. This involved development of a scale which could objectively measure the transition of an ISO certified organization towards TQM. The research showed that among the seven units which were included in the survey, WAP could be classified as being a TQM organization followed by DLW. Cleanliness and delegation of authority commensurate with organisational responsibility were the necessary prerequisite for beginning a journey towards TQM. Extensive use of CPA with reinforcing reward and recognition system supported by good transactional leadership was seen to be a stronger enabling factor than transformational leadership alone. However, in the absence of CPA with reinforcing reward and recognition system, transformational leadership most strongly intervened in an organizations transition towards TQM.

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The fourth research question was: Will a bottom up methodology build learning capacity among the railway personnel? The various action research cycles found out that in contrast to consultant supported training, a bottom up action learning based training provided more enduring learning and also faster learning. Development of metaphor was crucial to make the participant understand new and esoteric concepts. It was in keeping with the findings of Nonaka (1994, p.21) that metaphors plays an important role in associating abstract, imaginary concepts

The fifth research question was: Can the enablers of TQM be integrated in a model for attaining TQM within the ISO framework? Figure 6.1 is the model which integrates the enablers of TQM within the ISO framework. It also shows the sequential relationship between different enablers of TQM. Figure 6.2 shows the same model contextualised to the Indian cultural values and leadership style.

7.3 Conclusion about research issue

With the specific research questions now answered, the researcher returns to the original research issue which was whether TQM could be used as a model for bringing about organisational transformation of Indian Railways. If yes, how could it be effectively implemented in the Indian Railways? It is recalled that after literature review, this thesis had concluded in section 2.3 that TQM could indeed be the model for bringing about organisational transformation of the Indian Railways. Figure 2.14 was then developed which showed the gap in effective implementation of TQM in Indian Railways. Figure 2.14 is reproduced as Figure 7.1.The question of how TQM could be implemented remained unanswered at that stage. The Indian Railway specific model for TQM implementation which emerged in Figure 6.2 as one of the outputs of this research is shown as Figure 7.2 which fills the gap shown in Figure 7.1 (original Figure 2.14).

234

Indian bureaucracy is rule bound monolithic tunnel vision directive (non participative)

Indian culture hierarchical dependency prone own-other syndrome context oriented balancing

TQM on date draws from -System theory -Critical success factors -Quality awards -Organisational learning TQM is the same as organisational excellence

Quality management in India through ISO

organisational values and organisational practices of Indian Railways from the point of view of an excellent company Not known

Congruence between the two

Not Known

TQM in India should pay attention to leadership policy & strategy HRM process management Information management customer focus supplier focus

congruence between the two Not known

ISO 9000:2000 is the desired path to be followed. It is facilitated by transformational leadership executive mind set capacity and willingness to learn

?
TQM for railways

Figure 7. 1 Reproduction of Figure 2.14 showing gaps in existing literature Source: developed for this research.

235

Work culture

Autonomy (delegation & empowerment)

Teamwork, communication across organization

Figure 7. 2 Model for implementation of TQM in Indian Railways using the ISO framework thereby filling up the gap shown in Figure 7.1 Source: developed for this research. 236

7.4 Assessment of Rigour in this Action Research

Since a substantial part of this thesis was based on action research, the researcher considers it worthwhile to assess the rigour of the action research work. In section 5.5.4 this thesis had discussed the choice points identified by Bradbury and Reason (2001) to assess rigour in an action research based thesis. The extent to which this research satisfied the choice points is now assessed

Choice points Relationship

The presence of choice point in this thesis There was an action research team which consisted of members from the managerial and non-managerial cadre. More fundamental than this, most of the decisions were taken by the supervisors of the warehousing unit. For example they decided to visit different units on the Indian Railways and they decided to reverse the document preparation from quality policy to work instruction to work instruction to quality policy.

Practical outcome Extended of knowing

The participants did begin to behave in a new way after they had decided what was the new way to work. ways The AR cycles mentioned in chapter 5 and chapter 6 maintained a conceptual-theoretical integrity in the sense that any other action researcher in the area of TQM can place himself/herself in this situation and get suitable answers to his/her as if questions. However, use of other data forms such as dance, poetry and rich pictures were not used.

Pay attention to The AR cycles were not framed as a general problem solving session. what is worthy of Rather, the emphasis was to seek only such questions which were related attention Enduring consequences to the objective of ISO certification for the warehouse. Even after the researcher left the Jhansi warehousing unit, the unit continued to improve as brought out in sections 6.2 and 6.2.2.

Table 7. 1 Assessment of rigour in this action research thesis Source: based on this research.

237

Thus the action research thesis fully satisfied four criteria laid down by Bradbury and Reason and it partially satisfied one criterion. Thus it can be concluded that the action research was a rigorous work. Another way to assess the rigour of action research was understand the impact of ISO 9000 certification at another railway unit at Jhansi Electric Loco Shed (ELS), Jhansi. Based on his field visits, training imparted to staff and subsequent interviews with the head of the unit, the researcher was able to corroborate the following conclusions drawn from the action research cycles: (i) There was no resistance to change from the staff side at the ELS once they understood that it was going to be ultimately beneficial to them. (ii) Cleanliness was a big facilitator of overall improvement. The emphasis on cleanliness at ELS Jhansi can be understood from the fact that in February 2006, it secured the environmental running trophy in the Jhansi Commissionary. This field based experience supported the survey based conclusion in section 4.3.1 that cleanliness due to ISO 14000 positively intervenes in TQM imlementation. The head of the ELS was now planning to initiate a TQM based Business Excellence Model framed by Confederation of Indian Industry. The aspect of cleanliness being a precursor to TQM was further confirmed based on the feedback received on a paper on 5S (Kumar & Sankaran 2005) developed from ISO certification in an unit of Indian Railways.

7.5 Contribution to literature

The contribution to literature has been divided into three categories: findings which support the existing literature, findings which are contrary to the existing literature and findings which are contribution to the existing literature.

7.5.1 Findings which support the existing literature The research supports the suggestion given by Nonaka (1994) about the importance of metaphor in developing learning capabilities. This research supports the finding by Pheng (2001) that cleanliness is the first step towards TQM.

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This research supports the findings by Fei and Rainey (2003); Hill, Hazlett and Meegan (2001) and Reed, Lemak and Mero (2002) that transformational leadership positively intervenes in an organizations journey towards TQM.

7.5.2 Finding which is contrary to existing literature

This research does not support the findings reported in western literature (Hersey, Blanchard & Johnson 2002; Robbins 1997) about resistance to change. The guru-shishya (teacher-student) relationship which learning oriented change invokes in India has been postulated to be the reason behind this lack of resistance to change.

7.5.3 Findings which are contribution to existing literature The model developed in Figure 6.1 and Figure 6.2 is a contribution to literature. It provides a specific way about how an organization can lead to TQM via the ISO route. Further, this research has made following contributions to theory. Since they need to be validated further, they have been termed as hypotheses.

Hypothesis i: At the fundamental level, the caste driven Indian ethos gets reflected in the working life also in the form of affiliation to professional caste. Hypothesis ii: The caste system has reinforced the bureaucratic propensity of lack of teamwork in the Indian Railways. Hypothesis iii: Hierarchical teacher-student (guru-shishya) relationship with leader invokes personal bases of power which promote change in India. This teacher-student (guru-shishya) relationship is conceptually similar to the intellectual stimulation factor of transformational leadership. Hypothesis iv: The personalised relationship with a more equitable slant can be elevated to the status of individualised consideration factor of transformational leadership. Hypothesis v: The NT leadership model is conceptually similar to the contingent award factor of transformational leadership. Hypothesis vi: There is a sequential relationship among the CSFs of TQM. Hypothesis vii: Framing process based quality procedures and quality objectives lead to development of team orientation in the context of TQM implementation

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Hypothesis viii: A multi-tier CPA reinforced with reward and recognition system positively intervenes in the transition of an ISO certified organization towards TQM.

The hypothesis iii, hypothesis iv and hypothesis v are shown in tabular form in Table 7.2.

Components of transformational leadership Intellectual stimulation

Indian cultural equivalent Hierarchical teacher-student (guru-shishya) relationship

Individualised consideration Contingent reward

Equity based personalised relationship Nurturant task

Table 7. 2 Components of transformational leadership and their Indian cultural equivalent Source: developed from this research.

7.6 Contribution to policy and practice

The contributions to policy and practice have been divided in three categories: those specific to the Indian Railways, those specific to the Indian organizations and those valid for all organizations.

7.6.1 Implications for Indian Railways (i) This research showed that Indian Railways is amenable to a participative TQM implementation. Since it is non-threatening to different stakeholders, it is also implementable.

(ii) One major implication for policy for Indian Railways is to reduce the number of departments in the Indian Railways. There are a few public and private sector organizations in India which are comparable to Indian Railways in terms of turnover. (Indian Oil and 240

Reliance Industries for example). They have only one managerial cadre. Within the Indian bureaucracy, Indian Ordinance Factory has only two services one to man the technical posts and the other to man the non-technical posts. The researcher believes that reduction in the number of departments does not mean that the departmental functionaries lose their functional expertise. They only lose their functional identity. (iii) ISO certification will not bring about significant improvement unless it involves all departments and unless the head of the certifying unit has been delegated the organisational power commensurate with the requirements of ISO. If this is not done, it does not make sense for maintenance sheds, workshops and trains or railway stations to go for ISO certification. Ideally ISO certification should begin at the divisional level. However if it is too big a level to be handled at the first instance, then the railway unit going for ISO certification should also include such other units with which it interacts. For example, if a workshop is getting certified, it should include all the departments of that workshop and it should also include the associate civil engineering department which is under the control of DRM but the workshop is dependent on it for its civil engineering works.

7.6.2 Implications for Indian organisations If the Indians are technically sound as engineers, as doctors, as software experts, but poor managerially and poor in teamwork, it is because the Indian organizations they work in, do not provide an all pervading professional value which can supplant their social value of power laden hierarchy, of sticking to their primordial group. The top manager is as used to clannish signals and as much imbued with position power as the middle and the lower managers. Thus they continue to cling to their societal values. This research showed that the Indian organizations should be able to morph these socially learned values into professionally acceptable values by using interventions derived from Indian cultural mores. The value

which can be imparted to the Indian employees is that of customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction has a pan-organisational validity in India and the employees can relate to it at an intuitive level. The inculcation of customer satisfaction as a value among organisational members can wean the employees away from their primordial group to a more work-centric group. It can also keep the organisational members focussed on their objective. The way to

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impart this to the Indian employees and continually strengthen this is by using the Indianised constructs of transformational leadership shown in Table 7.2.

7.6.3 Implications for organisations in general The implications for all organisations are with respect to transformation of an organization into a TQM organization using the ISO route. They are: (i) The quality objectives and the quality procedures in the ISO documents should be

process based and not function based. (ii) Corrective and preventive action should be used as the vehicle to invite all members

of an organization to join the journey towards TQM. Process based quality objectives and quality procedures piggybacking on the CPA vehicle should be able to foster cross-functional transformational team spirit. (iii) The reason for developing self propelled transformational teams has a practical

utility. Bass and Avolio (2000) have given the percentile distribution of transformational leadership traits in about 2000 leaders (see Table 3.6). A perusal of this table shows that there are not many transformational leaders available in this world to chart an organizations course of events. The table shows that on the five constructs of transformational leadership only 5% of the leaders could score more than 3.7. That is, less than 5% of the leaders were demonstrating the transformational leadership traits frequently if not always. Thus though transformational leadership is a very appealing concept; this world does not have many transformational leaders. Therein lies the importance of transformational teams mentioned in section 6.3. In the absence of transformational leaders, these self-motivated transformational teams could move on their own to change the course of an organization as long as they have a good transactional leader. WAP was an example where even though the top leadership during the last 4 years was not transformational, the organization could bag one of the Indian TQM awards.

7.7 Contribution to methodology

(i) The action research module of this research was divided into three phases the first phase was when the researcher was physically present at the Jhansi warehousing unit. The second phase was when the researcher was not present and the co-action researchers 242

continued on their own based on the learning learnt in the first phase. During this period, the researcher was however available as a guide as and when required. The third phase was when the co-action researchers were able to bring about a level of improvement which brought them many accolades. During the third stage, the guidance of the researcher was not available to them. The basic idea behind this progressive withdrawal of the researcher was to inculcate in them a sense of autonomy, to cease their dependence on a mentor/guide/leader so that they could work on their own and become self-propelled transformational teams. This progressive weaning of a guide/researcher is a useful method within the AR methodological umbrella which other action researchers can try for creating enduring change. (ii) Another implication for methodology is the use of inter-cycle and intra-cycle validity shown in Figure 5.8. The researcher experienced that it brought brevity to the research effort without sacrificing rigour. The model developed in Figure 5.8 can be used by other action researchers. (iii) This thesis uses the basic philosophy of design of experiment without resorting to quantitative techniques. The Tables 4.6, 4.7 and 6.4 show how it is possible to progressively assess the impact of different intervening variables by their progressive inclusion without going for an ANOVA based design of experiment. (iv) The researcher could find some research using action research by Indian authors (Devid & Tandon 1983). However, in the area of management, this is perhaps the first doctoral study using the action research methodology in India. Thus to the Indian academic community it shows an additional way a thesis can be done.

7.8 Limitations
The model shown in Figure 7.2 does not incorporate two CSFs of TQM (i) values and ethics and (ii) strategy. To that extent the model has a limitation. Also, all the data collection was done within Indian Railways. Though care was taken to define values as specific to Indian Railways, the extrapolation of conclusions drawn within the Indian Railway to other organization needs to be qualified. Further in order to test the general validity of the conclusions drawn in the context of Indian Railways, a summary of the thesis was sent to Indian Railway persons both retired and working. Very few responses could be received. However the responses received agreed with one of the research findings that Indian Railway should have fewer departments. A larger set of responses would have thrown more light on such agreements or disagreements.

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7.9 Implications for future research

The limitation mentioned above also sets the agenda for future research to enlarge the model shown in Figure 7.2 so as to incorporate the factors of values and ethics and strategy in it. Also a study of additional ISO certified units on the model shown in Figure 7.2 would further strengthen the models validity. Another area for future research is to do a factor analysis of the TQM transition questionnaire. Similarly more responses about the research summary mentioned in section 7.8 can be structured along the lines of convergent interviewing as suggested by one of the reviewers of this thesis.

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Chapter 8 Researchers ruminations

When I started this research, I looked for a research methodology which could make use of each significant cue around me. The richness of data around me and the intellectual fascination of putting theory on it (Coghlan 2001, p.219) made me adopt the action research methodology. I wanted to grasp the data lying around and wring it till it gave insight. Action research methodology was indeed the most economic way of doing it. I am fairly convinced that had I used any other research methodology, I would not have been able to come up with so many research hypotheses, develop a model for change and also validate it. As a manager I now realise that my role in the AR project was to manage the boundary and help others gain the skill. In the words of Weisbord (1987, p.373) it mixed training, problem solving and purposeful focus so that people learnt just what they needed and when they needed. The reflection after action was perhaps the richest intellectual journey for me in this thesis. I could understand why a theory building requires a qualitative grasp of the different shades of data which a quantitative approach would have missed. I learnt two major things from this thesis. The first learning for me has been about how to deal with Indian employees in a western organisational set up. Today, Indians have made their mark as software experts, as knowledge workers, in BPOs and India is a preferred destination for setting up manufacturing outposts. Almost all these are knowledge-based activities. Today knowledge is a raw material just as land, labour and capital were in the industrial era. The Indian ethos of teacher-student (guru-shishya) relationship which has been discussed in this thesis is perhaps the basic reason why Indians are able to grasp knowledge so easily. I can now say that an understanding of this Indian ethos and how it can be seamlessly blended with western models of team working and transformational leadership has a great practical significance for organizations based in India. Secondly, this research has made me wonder whether Indians are more adaptable than what they are normally credited with. The origin of this thought goes back to the lack of resistance to change which has been reported in this research. As I go beyond the realm of Indian Railways, and look at many large Indian organisations, I begin to feel that Indians have been able to create a massive industrial base after independence. But, they were not handling it efficiently in a western-economic sense perhaps because they were not expected to look at it only economically- after all India was a socialist welfare state. But once that 245

approach was jettisoned in the early nineties, instead of getting overwhelmed by the supposedly more efficient economic order of western countries, Indians have been able to profit from it -look at the transfer of jobs to India from USA. This is what Sinha and Kanungo (1997) have called context sensitivity (see section 2.2.6.2). If you are sensitive to the context in which a particular activity is being done then you do not have any history to pull you back from that activity. Then you do not feel any excessive need to justify whatever you have been doing till then. When you do not suffer from the need to justify your past or current activities, you are temperamentally more amenable to change your current activity into any other activity. Earlier I was doing a job with one mindset call it a conservative Indian, socialist welfare mindset - because that was expected of me in the context in which the work was then defined. Now if a new set of activity looks justifiable in a new context, I may as well do this and do this with full gusto whether it is ISO certification at the Jhansi warehousing unit or whether it is working in a highly competitive world-class organization in India. Such mentality does not create any resistance to change as long as that change does not trample upon my hot line to God whether spiritual or temporal (see p. 207). It is perhaps this lack of resistance to change or more formally the adaptability of Indians, wherein lies the transformational promise for Indian Railways or for that matter, for most of the Indian bureaucracy and indeed for the whole of India. Perhaps this also explains why India has been able to do well in many industry segments which emerged post 1990 the context told them work better and they immediately rebooted themselves for this no resistance to change- I no longer look back to justify my looking forward. This leads me to think whether there is any philosophical similarity between what Checkland calls soft system methodology and what Sinha and Kanungo have called context sensitivity and balancing of Indians. It was mentioned in literature review (section 2.2.6.1) that context sensitivity pertains to beliefs about person (patra), time (kal) and ecological (desh) components of environment. Context sensitivity is basically a thinking principle or a mind-set that is cognitive in nature and it determines the adaptive nature of an idea or behaviour in context (Sinha & Kanungo, 1997). Related to the concept of context sensitivity is that of balancing. Balancing is a behavioural disposition. It refers to a behaviour which tends to integrate and accommodate while coping with the environment. It was mentioned in section 2.2.6.1 that context sensitivity and balancing are related, because the persons who are sensitive to their contexts are also aware of their diverse demands and therefore, have to balance them by adapting their behaviour in order to cope with the environment. Thus everyone assesses his/her own context and acts accordingly. In this situation, there is nothing 246

objective or hard reality about what a person sees or does. His/her context or situation decides his/her action. On similar lines, Checklands soft system methodology does not attempt to model the real world. The mode 2 of SSM is situation-driven and always iterative (see Table 5.3) wherein a person internalises what he/she sees, understands it and then acts according to his/her understanding of the situation or should we say according to his/her understanding of context. Now, when you are always iterative you are also always flexible and then you do not feel the need to offer any resistance to change why because now the context has changed and thus your internal model of action which interprets the cues of the external world has got modified. Little wonder in a messy India, the context sensitivity is echoing what Checkland calls soft system methodology for studying ill-defined, messy problems of this world (Gold 2001). In fact it is possible to formally integrate context sensitivity and balancing within SSM. In order to integrate the context sensitivity within soft system methodology, let us first see how mode 2 of SSM draws from Vickers concept of appreciative system (Checkland 1994):

In Vickers appreciative system, the worldview of a person is represented by the interacting flux of events and ideas. They are represented by two-stranded rope, the strands being inseparable and continuously affecting each other. There is a recursive loop in which the flux of events and ideas generate appreciation. Appreciation leads to action. Both appreciation and action also contribute to flux. A person appreciates the flux of events and ideas and makes judgement about it based on his/her own standard of facts and values: standards of what is the facts, and standards of what is good or bad, acceptable or unacceptable the values. Also the very act of using the standard may itself modify them. Thus, there is no ultimate source for standards by means of which what is noticed is deemed good or bad, important or unimportant. The source of the standard is the previous history of the system itself (emphasis in original). Action results from the meaning which members of an organization attribute to their act and to the acts of others. Meanings are socially sustained and meanings are socially changed.

This discussion on appreciative system is pictorially shown in Figure 8.1.

247

time

the flux of events and ideas

Action Appreciation: Perceive Judge, in terms of facts and value Envisage desired relationship

Standards (of fact and value)

Figure 8. 1 The structure of an appreciative system Source: Checkland (1994, p.83).

The standard here is defined as an individual judgement of what is good or bad, acceptable or unacceptable and Checkland says that the source of the standard is the previous history of the system. A question arises at this stage: Is it possible to represent the previous history of the system in some frame of reference. That is, is there any culturally, socially constructed frame of reference within which a person assesses and modifies his/her standard or is it that the standard just evolves from a random drift and the resultant temporary mental amalgamation of previous history? The researcher believes that at least in India, the three dimensions of context sensitivity - person (patra), time (kal) and ecology (desh) provide the frame of reference within which an Indian defines his/her standard. Thus though the standard 248

keeps changing, the change in the standard are along the three coordinates of person, time and ecology. A persons belief, values and action can be placed on these three coordinates. (Here, ecology refers to the pattern of relationship of a person with his/her social or physical surroundings). Further, while responding to the three components of environment, a person in India expresses a primary expressive mode which is traditional in nature and also a secondary expressive mode that is acquired as a result of the transplantation of the Western management concepts onto a traditional Indian core (Sinha & Kanungo 1997, p.100). The researcher argues that it is the same as what Checkland has called Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft (Checkland 1994, p.77). Gemeinschaft is the family or the tribe in which a person is born and Gesellschaft is the formally created group as when a person joins a company. Checkland (1994, p.78) says that the traditional organisational theory has emphasised the Gesellschaft aspect of the organization which has led to hard system thinking. However, as against this, the researcher argues that Sinha and Kanungo recognise the Gemeinschaft based response of a person also. They consider the Gemeinschaft based response of a person as his/her primary expressive mode and the Gesellschaft based response of a person as his/her secondary expressive mode. The researcher argues that it is along this continuum of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft that the coordinates of person, time and ecology get differentiated. The above discussion is pictorially shown in Figure 8.2. It unbundles the standards of fact and value into three components of time, person and ecology and also positions them along the Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft continuum.

249

Historical influence (Gemeinschaft)

Manifestations

Contemporary influence (Gesellschaft)

Relating to people (patra) Primary Mode Secondary mode Hinduism Caste Agriclutural mode of production Invasions Alien rules Relating to ecology (desh) Primary Mode Secondary Mode Moralism --------------------------- Pragmatism Poverty syndrome --------------- Growth oriented Relating to time (kal) Primary Mode Secondary Mode Past & present -----------------Future planning orientation Avoidance -------------------------Taking risk In-group embeddedness -------Individualism Hierarchy ------------- Egalitarianism Technologocal and industrial expansion Modernisation Western management education

(Gemeinschaft)

(Gesellschaft)

Figure 8. 2 Unbundling of standards of fact and value into three components of time, person and ecology and their positioning along the Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft continuum. Source: developed for this research based on Sinha and Kanungo (1997) and Checkland (1994).

Thus what has been referred to merely as standard in Checklands model can now be unbundled using Sinha and Kanungos notion of context sensitivity.

250

In fact Sinha and Kanungo have quoted research which says that most of Eastern countries like China, South Korea and India behave in a context dependent fashion. What Checkland calls action is akin to balancing of Sinha and Kanungo. Action arises from meaning which members of an organization attribute to each others act (Checkland 1994, p.78). The action is based on accommodation between different conflicting perspectives. Action is what is culturally feasible for a particular group of person in a particular situation with a particular history (Checkland 1994, p. 94). Balancing is also trying to seek a middle path which in general avoids the extreme path (Sinha & Kanungo 1997, p. 96). It also tends to accommodate between different environmental contexts (Sinha & Kanungo 1997, p. 96). Thus it is now possible to integrate the mode 2 of soft system methodology with context sensitivity and balancing. It is pictorially shown in Figure 8.3. It shows that context sensitivity is the mental map which provides a different response in each situation depending on the user and the nature of the situation. And providing a different response in each situation depending on the user and the nature of the situation is what Jackson (2000, p. S9) calls SSM.

251

time

the flux of events and ideas

Action Balancing of behaviour or coping with the environment Appreciation: Perceive Judge in terms of fact and value Envisage desired relationship

Standards of fact and value

Gemeinschaft

Gesellschaft

Figure 8. 3 Integration of mode 2 of SSM with context sensitivity and balancing Source: developed for this research.

252

In spite of above integration of context sensitivity with the soft system methodology, there are differences between them. The difference lies in their approach. Both are purposive. Both are adaptive. Both take the soft system and not the hard system around them in consideration. The difference lies in that while SSM gives rise to purposive action, context sensitivity gives rise to purposive coping. It has been shown in Figure 8.3. Because of the action learning approach, SSM is today a methodology which is relevant more in an organisational situation. But because of the behavioural science approach of context sensitivity, it is relevant more in an individual situation. The learning through SSM can be both at the individual level and at the group level. However, through context sensitivity, the learning is generally at individual level. Soft system methodology (SSM) has been advocated as a flexible approach to problem solving in complex organisational situations, context sensitivity is a flexible approach to social interaction in complex social situations. SSM has an action bias it decides about an individuals action after considering the environment in its totality from his/her point of view, context sensitivity has an interaction bias it decides about how a person interacts with his/her environment after considering the environment in its totality. But both emphasise the totality of situation and both lead to adaptable behaviour. At the end, to paraphrase Khandwalla (1992, p. 267) far too much social science remains compartmentalised, so that insights from studying the family or group are seldom used by organization theorists and vice versa. Such insights from one kind of collectivity can, at least, supply provocative hypotheses for other kinds of collectivities. A deliberate attempt was therefore made in this concluding chapter to link the terminology of organisational study (SSM) to that of collectivity (context sensitivity). And that is where the defence rests.

253

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280

Appendices

Appendix 1. Tables and figures about quality awards

Malcolm Baldridge award (US)
Objective
To help improve performance practices and capabilities. To facilitate and best

European Quality award

To stimulate and assist European organizations in improving customer employee satisfaction, impact society on and and

Deming prize (Japan)

To evaluate and recognize methods company of wide

Canadian quality award

Australian quality award

To

encourage

the

To Australian

give

adoption of quality principles, practices and processes in

organizations the drive knowledge and for the best

communication sharing of

quality control

Canada. To improve the

achieving worlds

practices among US organizations. To serve as a working tool for understanding and managing

profitability, responsiveness efficiency organizations through continuous and of

quality practices. To secure the

business results. To Europe managers efforts to initiate total quality support

Australian quality council as the

performance, planning, training assessment and

improvement. To bring higher

commonwealths principal quality organization. To create national wealth

living standards to Canadians

management and global competitive advantage achieve

Table A1.1 (contd)

281

Table A1.1(contd) Malcolm Baldridge award (US)

Quality principles
Companies must have direction and customer focus. Quality performance and are

European Quality award

Customer focus. Supplier partnership People development and involvement Processes facts Continuous and improvement and innovation Leadership and consistency purpose Public responsibility Result orientation of and

Deming prize (Japan)

Create a vision and demonstrate commitment Learn the new

Canadian quality award

Australian quality award

Cooperation

+team

The

customer

+partnering = winwin. Leadership involvement example Primary focus = = +

defines quality All processes are variable Improved process = output Decisions should improved

philosophy Understand inspection Stop decisions making purely

judged by customers Organizational and

personal learning are required. Employees

customer Respect encouragement heighten potential employee and

depend on facts Improvement should planned People work in a system People = most be

on the basis of cost Improve constantly forever Institute training Institute leadership Drive out fear Optimise efforts of team Eliminate exhortations Eliminate management quotas management and by the and

partners are vital to company success. Success capacity for requires change

Strategies should be process oriented and prevention based Companies continuously improve methods should

and flexibility. Market requires orientation. Making change innovation. Management requires factual analysis. Public responsibility is important. Performance measurement focus on results. A systems perspective is required. should meaningful requires leadership a future

important resource Leadership direction support Continuous improvement requires continual = +

and outcomes Decisions should be made factual based data on or

information Companies obligated stakeholders society in general are to and

learning

objective Remove barriers to pride in

workmanship Encourage education and

self-improvement Take action

Table A1.1 (contd)

282

Table A1.1(contd) Malcolm Baldridge award (US)

Criteria
Leadership Strategic planning Customer and market focus Information analysis Human resource focus Process management Business results and

European Quality award

Leadership Policy strategy People management Resources Processes Customer satisfaction People satisfaction Impact society Business results on and

Deming prize (Japan)

Policies (hoshin) Organization Information Standardization Human resources Quality assurance Maintenance Improvement Effects Future plans

Canadian quality award

Australian quality award

Leadership Planning Customer focus People focus Process management Supplier focus Organizational performance

Leadership Strategy, policy

and planning Information analysis People Customer focus Quality of and

process, product and service Organizational performance

Table A1.1 Comparison between the objectives, quality principles and criteria of different quality awards Source: Vokurka, Stading and Brazeal (2000).

283

Malcolm Baldrige award (US) Leadership

Executive, company community leadership and

European quality award

Deming (Japan)

prize

Canadian quality award

Australian quality award

Inspiration, and total management

support of

Policy, organization helpful supervision Future quality initiative policy focus plans, control and and

Strategic direction, involvement and improvement Development, assessment, deployment improvement and

Executive, community and strategic process

promotion

quality

Planning

Strategic direction, plan development, plan and deployment performance

Product of policy and strategy

Policy, integration strategic process

value and

tracking

Customers

Market requirements, customer relationships satisfaction and

Measurement

of

Service and

activities customer

Knowing customer relationship management, customer satisfaction improvement and needs,

Customer awareness, relationships satisfaction

need

customer satisfaction

relationships

and

Employees

Human

resource and

Release potential

of

full through

Training motivation skilled personnel

and of labour

Human planning,

resource

People

management,

development participatory environment

involvement, training, communication and satisfaction and

people management

participation, learning improvement

Processes

Process

design,

Identification, management, review

Standardization, quality assurance, maintenance improvement and

Design, analysis change,

control, and and

Quality

of

product

implementation, management improvement and

design and services, supplier relationships and improvement Quality relationships of

and improvement

improvement Partnership, supplier quality

Suppliers

Improvement

of

Leadership involvement with and management supplier resource of

Vendor

training

partnering process and evaluation of supplier performance

and associations of related companies

and improvement

Results

Customer, financial, human

Objective achievement, stakeholder satisfaction, financial success and impact on society

Quality, delivery, cost. profit, safety and environmental effects of quality control

Product, operational, customer, employee financial and

Organizational performance customers, shareholders, employees community and with

resource, supplier, operational competitive and

Table A1.2 Understanding of the seven criteria in different quality awards Source: Vokurka, Stading and Brazeal (2000, p. 48).

284

Impact on society 6% Strategic planning 8% Information and analysis 8% Customer and market focus 8% Process management 10% Human resource focus 10% Leadership 11% Business results 45% Policy and strategy 8% Resources 9%

Customer satisfaction 20%

People satisfaction 9% People management 9% Leadership 10%

Business results 15%

Processes 14%

Figure A1.1a Percentage emphasis of Baldridge

Figure A1.1b Percentage emphasis of European award criteria

award criteria

Future plans 10% Effects 10%

Policies(Hoshin) 10% Organisation 10% Supplier focus 5% Planning 10% Organisational performance 24%

Improvement 10%

Information 10%

Leadership 10%

Maintenance 10% Quality assurance 10% Human resource 10%

Standardization 10%

Process management 17%

Customer focus 17%

People focus 17%

Figure A1.1c Percentage emphasis of Deming Prize Criteria

Figure A1.1d Percentage emphasis of Canadian Quality award criteria

Leadership 5%

Strategy policy and planning 8% Information and analysis 8%

People 20%

Policies and strategies 5% Processes7. 5% Resources.5% Human resource management 2.5% Customer satisfaction 10% Employees satisfaction 2.5% Impact on environment and society 7.5%

Organisational performance 12%

Quality of process 20%

Leadership 14% Customer focus 18%

Business results 50%

Figure A1.1e Percentage emphasis of Australian Quality award criteria

Figure A1.1f Percentage of emphasis of Rajiv Gandhi award criteria

Source: based on Vokurka, Stading and Brazeal (2000).

285

Malcolm Baldridge award European quality requirement award

Deming prize

Canadian quality award

Australian quality award

1. Leadership: How senior leaders and the leadership system address values, company directions, performance direction, stakeholder (customer) focus, learning and innovation 1.1 Organisational leadership 1.2 Public responsibility and citizenship 1a-d,2c,3c,3e,4a,5a-b 8a-b 1.6,2.2-2.5 6.9 1.1-1.4 1.2 1.1,1.2 1.3

2. Strategic planning: How the company sets strategic directions and develops strategies of action plans. Also, how plans are deployed and company builds customer relationship and measures customer satisfaction. 2.1 Strategic development 2.2 Strategy deployment 2a-b,2d,5a 2c-d,3a,3c,4be,5c,7b 1.3, 8.1,8.2,10.1 1.1,1.2,1.4,1.5, 10.6 10.21.1,1.3,2.1,2.2,2.4 1.1,2.3 2.2 2.1

3. Customer and market force: How the company determines customer (market) requirements, expectations and preferences. Moreover, how the customer builds customer relationships and measures customer satisfaction. 3.1 Customer and market knowledge 3.2 Customer satisfaction and 6a-b 6a-b none 6.11 3.1,3.5 3.2,3.3 5.1 5.2,5.3

relationship 4. Information and analysis: How effectively information is selected, managed and used to support key processes, strategic plans and performance management systems. 4.1 Measurement of organisational performance 4.2 Analysis of organisational 1b, 2a, 4a, 5a, 5c, 6ab,7a-b 3.1,3.2,3.3,6.3, 8.4,9.3 2.2,3.3,4.3 , 4.4 3.1,3.2 2a,5a,6a-b,7a-b,8b 3.1,3.2,3.4-3.6 3.1,3.3,6.1 3.1

performance

5. Human resource focus: How the company enables employees to achieve their full potential in alignment with company objectives. Also, how the companys work environment encourages excellent performance, full participation and personal/ organisational growth. 5.1 Work systems 5.2 Employee education, training and development 5.3 Employee well-being and satisfaction 1d, 3b-e, 5d-e 3b 3b-c,3f,7a-b 2.1,5.2,5.5 5.1,5.3,5.4 5.3 4.1,4.2,4.6 4.3, 4.6 4.4,4.6 4.1-4.3,4.5 4.1-4.3,4.5 4.6

6. Process management: How key processes are designed, implemented, managed and improved to achieve better performance. 6.1 Product and service processes 4a, 4c-e, 5a-e 4.1-4.6,6.1-6.8, 6.10,6.12,7.1-7.6, 8.5,8.6 6.2 Support processes 4b, 4d-e,5b-e 4.1-4.6,6.1-6.6, 6.8,6.10,6.12,7.17.6,8.5,8.6 6.3 Supplier and partnering process 4c,5b-c 2.6,5.6,6.1,6.2 , 6.7,6.10,7.1-7.6,8.6 6.1,6.3 6.2 5.1-5.3,5.5 6.3,6.4 5.1-5.3,5.5 5.1,6.3,6.4

Table A1.3 (contd) 286

Table A1.3 (contd) Malcolm Baldridge requirement

award European quality award

Deming prize

Canadian quality award

Australian quality award

7. Business results: How the company performs and improves in customer satisfaction, financial and marketplace performance, human resource results, supplier/ partner performance, operational performance and competitive performance. 7.1 Customer focused results 7.2 Financial and market results 7.3 Human resource results 7.4 Supplier and partner results 7.5 Organisational effectiveness results 6a-b 9a 3c,7a 4c 8a,9b 9.1,9.2,9.4 9.1,9.2 9.4 9.5 9.6 3.4,7.1,7.3 7.3,7.5 4.5,7.4 6.2,7.2 5.4,7.2 7.1 7.1 7.1 7.1 7.1

Table A1.3 Mapping of different quality award criteria on the Baldridge award Source: Vokurka, Stading and Brazeal (2000).

287

U.S. Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (2001/2) Leadership Strategic Planning Customer and Market Focus Information and Analysis Human Resource Focus Process Management Business Results

Japan Quality Award (2000) Management Vision and Leadership Understanding and Interaction With Customers And Market Strategic Planning and Deployment Human Resource Development and Learning Environment Process Management Sharing and Utilization of Information Results of Enterprise Activities Customer Satisfaction

European Quality Award (2001) Leadership Policy and Strategy People Partnership and Resources Processes Customer Results People Results Society Results Key Performance Results Canadian Award for Excellence (2000) Leadership Planning Customer Focus People Focus Process Management Partner/Supplier Focus Organizational/Business Performance

Costa Rica Excellence Award (2000) Customer Satisfaction Managerial Leadership and Strategic Planning Human Resources Quality System and Processes Innovation and Technology Environment Management

South African Excellence Award (2000) Leadership Policy & Strategy Customer & Market Focus People Management Resources & Information Management Processes Impact on Society Customer Satisfaction People Satisfaction Supplier and Partnership Performance Business Results

Table A1.4 (contd)

288

Table A1.4 (contd)

Australian Business Excellence Award (2000) Leadership and Innovation Strategy and Planning Process Data, Information and Knowledge People Customer and Market Focus Processes, Products and Services Business Results Singapore Quality Award (2001) Leadership Planning Information People Processes Customers Results CII_EXIM Business Excellence Award Jordan: King Abdullah II Award for Excellence (2000) Leadership Strategic Planning Process Management Resource Management Results

(India)- CEBEA (2002) Leadership Policies and strategies People management Resources Processes People satisfaction Customer satisfaction Impact on society Business results

Table A1.4 Summary of National Quality Award criteria Source: based on Hui and Chuan (2002, p. 63).

289

Aspects Organizational Excellence Establish vision Leadership by example mission

of

USA

Canada

Europe

Austr -alia

Singapore

Japan

Costa Rica

South Africa

Jordan

&

A x A x A A x x x

A x x x A A x x x

A x x x A A x x x

A x x x A x A x x

A x x x A A x x x

A SE A x A x x x x

A x A x A x x x x

A x x A A A A A x

A x x A A x x x x

Create strong customer focus Provide moral support Form strategies Balance needs Consider market/business risks Documentation strategies/plans Avoiding nonof shareholder policies and

compliance as a part of strategic planning Commitment Excellence Leaders as role model of, or commitment to to

SE x

A x

A A

A x

SE x

A A

A x

A A

A x

excellence Use of high tech tools to create excellence Leadership constancy of purpose Create appropriate

SE x x x A A x

x x x x A x A

x x x x A x x

x A x x SE A SE

x x SE x SE A SE

x x x x A A SE

x x A x A x x

x x A x A A x

x x x A A x x

climate/ culture Ensure financial, moral and personal support Management vision and ethics Corporate citizenship Enterprise ethics/ ethical decision making

290

Table A 1.5 (contd)

Aspects Organizational Excellence Actions/behaviours displayed by leaders People education, training etc Top mgmt commitment to learning Documentation of HR development Employee empowerment Innovation People well-being: body & mind People well-being: spirit Balanced & healthy life style Understanding culture Use of new technologies e-technology, software development: learning, of USA Canada Europe Austr -alia Singapore Japan Costa Rica South Africa Jordan

x SE

x A

A A

A SE

A SE

A A

A A

A A

A N

A x SE A A x x x SE SE

x x SE A A x x x A x

x x SE A A x x x A x

x x SE A A x SE x A x

A x x A A x x x A x

A x x A A x x x A x

x A x A A x A x SE x

A x x A A x SE A A x

A x x x N x x x x x

systems as part of new tech. Customer care, service & satisfaction Personalised services to enhance satisfaction Documentation customer satisfaction Supplier/partner relationship Sharing of know-how of customer

A x

A x

A x

A x

SE SE

SE SE

A A

A SE

N x

x A x N

x SE x N

x A x N

x A x N

x SE x SE

x SE A SE

A A x A

x A x SE

x A x A

with suppliers Good between employees work relations and

bosses

291

Table A1.5 (contd)

aspects Organizational Excellence Trusting between employees Responsibilities to the public society) Environment management pollution control and ( impact on relationships bosses and of USA Canada Europe Austr -alia Singapore Japan Costa Rica South Africa Jordan

SE

SE

SE

SE

Legend:

SE strongly emphasized, A- Addressed, N- not clearly described, X- not mentioned

Table A1.5 Summary of various approaches and emphasis for organizational excellence Source: Hui & Chuan (2002, p. 64).

292

Column 1 DP examination checklist (1992)

Column 2 Corresponding viewpoint (2000) They were last modified in 1998. The word checklist was replaced by the word viewpoint in the year 2000. (www.deming.org/demingprize, p.2) DP examination

Column 3 Difference In the set of viewpoints applicable for 2004 the following were either the new viewpoints or in them there were significant changes (shown in italics) in the emphasis with respect to those in 1992. The entire policy viewpoint of 1992 becomes a part of the policy management framework. under TQM

1. Policy 1.1 Policies pursued for management, quality and quality control 1.2 Methods for establishing policy 1.3 Justifiability and consistency of

2.3 Policy management

policies 1.4 Utilization of statistical methods 1.5 policies 1.6 Review of policies and the results achieved 1.7 Relationship between policies and long and short term planning 2. Organization and its management 2.1 Explicitness of the scope of authority and responsibility 2.2 Appropriateness of delegations of authority 2.3 Interdivisional cooperation 2.4 Committees and their activities 2.5 Utilization of staff 2.6 Utilisation of quality control circles 2.7 Quality control diagnosis 4.1 Cross-functional management and its operation 2. TQM framework 2.1 Organizational structure and its position ( Interdepartmental activities are coordinated, meetings and 2.4 Relationship to ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 finds a place. 2.5 Relationship to other Transmission and diffusion of

management improvement programs finds a place. 2.6 TQM promotion and operation gets emphasised as a long lasting activity.

committees are working efficiently). 2.2 Daily management operational accountabilities are established.

Through maintaining and improving standards, obtained favourable results are

Table A1.6(contd)

293

Table A1.6(contd)
Column 1 DP examination checklist (1992) Column 2 Corresponding viewpoint (2000) They were last modified in 1998. The word checklist was replaced by the word viewpoint in the year 2000. (www.deming.org/demingprize, p.2) 3. Education and dissemination 3.1 Education programs and results 3.2 Quality control circle activities 3.3 Teaching and extent of 5. HRD 5.1 Positioning of people in DP examination Column 3 Difference In the set of viewpoints applicable for 2004 the following were either the new viewpoints or in them there were significant changes (shown in italics) in the emphasis with respect to those in 1992. 5. Emphasis shifts from a mere quality oriented training and HRD gets recognised in its own right and the Further, 5.3 Respect for

management 5.2 Education and training 5.3 Respect for peoples dignity

dissemination of statistical concepts and methods 3.4 System of suggesting ways of improvements and its conditions 3.5 Grasp of effectiveness of quality control 3.6 Education of related entities:

(employee exhibit their autonomy and creativity fully, demonstrate their high morale and enthusiasm in group activities).

peoples dignity is an important culture based addition..

contractors and vendors 3.7 Quality and control consciousness, degrees of understanding of quality control 4.. Collection, dissemination and use of information on quality 4.1 Collection of external information 4.2 Transmission of information 6. Effective utilization of information 6.1 Positioning of information in management 6.2 Information systems 6.2 Information system is a reflection of the systemic orientation in the current Deming model.

between divisions 4.3 Speed of information

transformation 4.4 data processing, statistical analysis of information and use of results 5. Analysis 5.1 Selection of key problems and themes 5.2 Propriety of the analytical approach 5.3 Utilization of statistical methods 5.4 Linkage with proper technology 5.5 Quality analysis, process analysis 5.6 Utilization of analytical results 5.7 Assertiveness of improvement 8.2 Understanding and utilization of analytical and design oriented 8.1 Understanding and utilization of methods 6.3 Support for analysis and decision making 8. Scientific methods

suggestions

problem solving methods

Table A1.6 (contd)

294

Table A1.6(contd)
Column 1 DP examination checklist (1992) Column 2 Corresponding viewpoint (2000) They were last modified in 1998. The word checklist was replaced by the word viewpoint in the year 2000. (www.deming.org/demingprize, p.2) 6. Standardization 6.1 Systematisation of standards 6.2 Methods of establishing, revision or abolition of standards 6.3 Outcome of establishment, revision or abolition of standards 6.4 Contents of the standards 6.5 Utilization of statistical methods 6.6 Accumulation of technology 6.7 Utilization of standards 7. Control 4. Management systems for business elements 7.1 Systems for the control of quality and related costs 7.2 Control items and control points 7.3 Utilization of such statistical 4.3 Cost management 4.2 Quantity/ Delivery management 4.4 Environment management 4.5 Safety, Hygiene, and work The concept of control of systems gets subsumed in in many other 6.4 Standardisation and DP examination Column 3 Difference In the set of viewpoints applicable for 2004 the following were either the new viewpoints or in them there were significant changes (shown in italics) in the emphasis with respect to those in 1992.

configuration management

viewpoints

2004.

However,

Management system for business elements can be said to be the conceptual successor to what was perhaps intended by control in 1992. Also, management systems gets recognised as an important viewpoint in its own right which is a measure of the increased emphasis which DP gave to organisational management in 2004 as compared to operational management in 1992. Cross-functional environment management, safety,

control methods as control charts 7.4 Contribution to performance of quality control circle activities 7.5 Actual conditions of control

management 4.1 Cross-functional management and its operation

activities 7.6 State of matters under control

management,

hygiene and work cost management are now individualised entries which were not there earlier.

Table A1.6(contd)

295

Table A1.6 (contd)

Column 1 DP examination checklist (1992)

Column 2 Corresponding viewpoint (2000) They were last modified in 1998. The word checklist was replaced by the word viewpoint in the year 2000. (www.deming.org/demingprize, p.2) DP examination

Column 3 Difference In the set of viewpoints applicable for 2004 the following were either the new viewpoints or in them there were significant changes (shown in italics) in the emphasis with respect to those in 1992.

8. Quality assurance 8.1 Procedure for development of new products and services 8.3 Process design, process analysis, and process improvement 8.4 Process capability8.7 Quality assurance system and its audit 8.5 Instrumentation 8.9 Evaluation and quality of audit 8.10 Actual state of quality assurance8.8 Utilization of statistical methods 8.6 Equipment maintenance and control of purchases 8.2 Safety and immunity from product liability

3. Quality assurance system 3.2 New product and new

technology development 3.4 Test, quality evaluation, and quality audits 3.1 Quality assurance system 3.3 Process control 3.4 Test, quality evaluation and quality audits

3.6 Purchasing, subcontracting and distribution management 4.5 Safety, hygiene, and work

environment

management3.5

Activities covering the whole life cycle 9. Results 9.1 Measurement of results 9.2 Substantive results in quality, services, delivery time, cost, profits, safety, environments etc 10. Contribution to realization of corporate objectives 10.1 Customer relations Employee relations 10.2 The scope of results gets enlarged more in line with the MBNQA

10.3 Social

relations 10.4 supplier relations 10.5 shareholder relation 1.1 The concept of leadership finds a place. 1.2 management leadership, The aspect of vision and

9.3 Intangible results 9.4 Compatibility between prediction of effects and actual records 10.Planning for the future (none) 10.1Grasp of the present state of affairs 10.2 Measures for overcoming defects 10.3 Plans for future advances 10.4 Linkage with long term plans

10.6

Realization

of

corporate

mission 10.7 Continuously securing profit 1. Top

strategies gets more emphasis. The overall emphasis shifts from to

vision and strategies 1.1 Top management leadership 1.2 strategies Organisational vision and

operational

management

organisational management. Both these observations are in line with MBNQA.

Table A1.6 Deming Prize in 1992 and 2000 Source: developed for this research based on The Comparison of the Deming Prize and the Baldrige Award (n.d., p.2) and Deming Prize Criteria And accompanying Viewpoints (n.d.).

296

MBNQA criteria (1992) 1. Leadership (9%) 1.1 Senior executive leadership 1.2 Management for quality

MBNQA criteria( 2004) 1. Leadership (12%) 1.1 Organisational leadership (7%) (a) senior leadership direction ( setting and deployment of values, its communication to employees, key suppliers and partners. creation of an environment for empowerment, innovation, organisational agility and learning, fostering of ethical behaviour) (b) organisational governance (addressing of key factors such as fiscal and management accountability, protection of stockholder and stakeholder interest) organisational performance review ( translation of OPR into priorities for CI and breakthrough

Difference Leadership gets more weightage. management Also, for

quality gets subsumed in a more general

management

improvement and into opportunities for innovation, evaluation of performance of senior leaders and use of OPR to improve their leadership effectiveness) 1.3 Public responsibility 1.2 social responsibility (5%) (a) responsibilities to public( proactive handling of companys product service, operations on society and achieving and surpassing their regulatory and legal requirements. (b) Ensuring ethical behaviour. (c) Identification and strengthening of key supporters. 2. Information and analysis (8%) 4. Measurement, analysis and knowledge management (9%) 2.1 Scope and management of quality data and information 2.2 Competitive comparisons and benchmarks 4.1 Measurement and analysis of organisational performance (4.5%)- (a) How do you collect and integrate data and information for tracking daily operations and how they are used for organisational decision making and innovation 2.3 Analysis and uses of company level data (b) How do you analyse the data to support

organisational level strategic planning and performance review and how they are communicated. 4.2 Information and knowledge management- How your organization ensures the quality and availability of needed data and builds its knowledge assets. Information recognised as an asset which need to be managed.

Table A1.7 (contd)

297

Table A1.7 (contd)

MBNQA criteria (1992) 3. Strategic quality planning (6%) 3.1 company process Strategic quality and MBNQA criteria( 2004) 2. Strategic planning (8.5%) 2.1 Strategy development (4%) (a) strategy development process its key steps and participants, its correlation with customer and market needs / opportunities, innovation, social and economic risk and changes (b) strategic objective its formulation and its ability to balance short and long term goals, key stakeholders, does it address the challenges identified in Difference In 2004, strategic quality planning gets subsumed in the overall strategic plan.

performance

planning

organisational profile 2.2 Strategy deployment (4.5%) (a) Action plan development and deployment and tracking of action plan for achieving key strategic objectives. Key human resource plan 3.2 Quality and performance plans (b) Performance projection of key performance indicators and its comparison with key benchmarks, goals. In 2004, quality plan gets subsumed in over all action plan. In fact in place of an exclusive quality and performance plan, now there is the mention of human

resource plan and of benchmarking performance. 4. HRD and management (15%) 4.1 Human resource management 4.2 Employee involvement 5. Human resource focus (8.5%)5.1 work systems- (a) how your organization manages work to promote empowerment, innovation agility and skill sharing. 4.4 Employee performance and recognition (b) How does compensation, performance management system hiring and career progression enable employees to achieve high performance. There is less weightage on human resource focus in 2004. of

4.3 Quality education and training

5.2 Employee learning and motivation- (a)How your employee education and training support superior performance and organisational objectives. (b) how do you motivate employees to develop and utilize their full potential and attain their career and learning objectives.

4.5 Employee well-being and morale

5.3 Employee well being and satisfaction How your organization maintains a work environment and an employee support climate that contribute to the wellbeing, satisfaction and motivation of all employees.

Table A1.7(contd) 298

Table A1.7(contd)
MBNQA criteria (1992) 5. Management of process quality (14%) 5.1 Design and introduction of quality products and services 5.2 Process management-product MBNQA criteria( 2004) 6. Process management (8.5%) 6.1 Value creation process (5%) How you determine key value creation processes, how you determine its requirements from customers, suppliers and partners. How do you design and implement these processes. How do you improve the value creation process to reduce variability, to improve product and service and how do you share these improvements with other units and processes. How do you minimize overall cost of inspection and process/ performance audit, rework, warranty 5.3 Process management-business processes and support services 6.2 Support processes (3.5%) - how your organization manages its key processes that support your value creation process. Difference Process, the core of quality management, in 1992, gets much less weightage in 2004.

and service production and delivery process 5.4 Supplier quality 5.5 Quality assessment

6.

Quality and operational results

7. Business results (45%) 7.2 Product and service quality result( 7.5%) current level and trend in key measures of product and service performance figure and their comparison with competitors

In

2004, as

Business against

(18%) 6.1 Product and service quality results

results

mere quality result becomes the hallmark of success. In 2004, financial results and HRD gets recognised as a necessary of

No corresponding indicator

7.4 Financial and market result (7.5%) current level and trend in key measures of financial performance

No corresponding indicator

7.3 Human resource results (7.5%) current level and trend in key measures of work system performance, employee learning and development and employee satisfaction 7.1 Customer focused results (7.5%) current level and trend in key measures of customer satisfaction, their loyalty and retention and their comparison with

component organisational excellence. There

is

substantial increase in weightage on business results

competitors figures. (researchers note it is related to 3.2 shown below)

7.5 6.2 Company operational results 6.3 Business process and support service results 6.4 Supplier quality results

Organisational effectiveness results (7.5%)

current levels and trends in key indicators of (a) operational performance of key value creation process, (b) key support processes including productivity and cycle time, (c) supplier and partner performance and organisational strategy and action plan

Table A1.7(contd)

299

TableA1.7(contd)
MBNQA criteria (1992) 7. Customer focus and satisfaction (30%) 7.6 Future requirements and MBNQA criteria( 2004) 3. Customer and market focus (8.5%) 3.1 Customer and market knowledge (4%) (a) Customer and market knowledge- how do you determine the expectations and preferences of Difference Customer, who was the king in 1992with 30% weightage, gets much less weightage.

expectations of customers 7.4 Customer satisfaction results

customers and markets to ensure the continuing relevance of your products and services and to develop new opportunities

7.1

Customer

relationship

3.2 Customer relationship building and customer satisfaction (4.5%)- how your organization build relationships to acquire, satisfy and retain customers, increase their loyalty and determines customer

management 7.2 Commitment to customers 7.3 Customer satisfaction

determination 7.5 Customer satisfaction

satisfaction. How do you use your customer satisfaction information vis-vis competitor/ industry benchmark.

comparison

Table A1.7 Comparison of criteria between MBNQA (1992) and MBNQA (2004) Source: developed for this research based on Sankaran (1993, p.94) and Baldrige National Quality Program 2004.

300

Appendix 2. Assessment of organisational policies

Southern Cross University Graduate School of Management Tweed, Gold Coast, Australia Informed Consent Form

Dear Sir,

I am pursuing a doctoral study in management in the area of Total Quality Management as the basis for organisational transformation of Indian Railways. As a part of this, a survey is being done by me. The purpose of this survey to understand the about the top management practices of Indian Railways as perceived by the top managers of Indian Railways themselves. The perceived performance, the perceived corporate policies and the perceived style of management of Indian Railways from your point of view is an important source of feedback for the study. A sample of such feedbacks would be merged to form an overall summary. This summary will be an input to understand the readiness of Indian Railways for organisational transformation through Total Quality Management (TQM). In this connection, may I request you to spare some time and respond carefully to the enclosed questionnaire? I would request you to answer ALL the questions. While responding to the questions, please think of the current railway organization you are working in and not of the Indian Railways as such. I would like to assure you that this survey is being taken only for academic purposes. The confidentiality of the responses will be maintained. While I look forward to you responses to the questionnaire, you participation is totally voluntary and you are free to withdraw from completing this survey at any time.. If you have any query, please do contact at the address given below. Any complaints or queries regarding this project that cannot be answered by the person responsible for this research project should be forwarded to:

301

Mr John Russell Ethics Complaints Officer Graduate Research College, Southern Cross University PO Box 157, Lismore, 2480 Ph: (02) 66203705 Fax: (02) 6626 9145 Email: jrussell@scu.edu.au

You are requested to send the filled questionnaire by registered post at the Varanasi address given below ( as I have not received some replies sent by ordinary post).

Thanking you,

Researcher: Madhu Ranjan Kumar Dy CMM/ N.C. Rly. e_mail- madhu_ranjan@yahoo.com address: Bunglow no. 50, DLW, Varanasi 221004 ph: 0542-2641017

Supervisor Dr Shankar Sankaran, Associate Prof. Graduate School of Management, SCU, Tweed Head, Gold Coast, Australia, e mail:- ssankara@scu.edu.au

_______________________________________________________________________
This questionnaire is based on a questionnaire developed by Prof. Khandwalla of IIM Ahemadabad and the permission to use his questionnaire is greatfully acknowledged. It has been used in many public sector and private sector organisations in India.

302

Assessment of organisational policies

Date: Rly Service or Designation: Railway unit:

Age: Grade: Location:

I. What new policies/practices you want the organization to adopt in the new scenario of liberalisation and globalisation?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

303

II( a) What are the core values of the management, that is, values to which the management is most strongly committed? Given below is a list of fairly widely encountered management values. Please underline those five to which your management is most strongly committed:

01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

Business integrity Being customer driven Giving best value for money Making a useful contribution to society Growth and development of staff Being a fair and just employer Concern for environment Patriotism Innovativeness and creativity Total quality in every operation Maximising returns to government Pioneering, trailblazing Being a trustee for the interests of all stakeholders of Indian Railways Helping the underprivileged Simple living and high thinking Hard work, efficiency, and thrift Respect for seniors, old traditions Being pragmatic and flexible Achieving goals no matter what is the cost Professionalism An international mind set Other (please specify)

II (b) What do you feel should be the five most important core values of the management of your organization in the new scenario?

01.

304

02.

03.

04.

05.

III(a) What are the three most important characteristics of the style of management of your organization? Please tick three items that most fully capture your managements style of running the organization.

01.

Cautious, stick-to-the knitting management that greatly values stability, good profits,

and steady growth. 02. 03. 04. 05. Bold but calculating risk taking, a lot of entrepreneurship, commitment to fast growth. Participative management, seeking broad consensus on issues. Nurturing and caring management that treats staff like family members. Management strongly emphasises clear formal reporting relationships, roles,

procedures, and accountability. 06. 07. Strongly emphasises flexibility, adaptability, informality and resourcefulness. Strongly discipline oriented management; clearly separates those who give orders

from those who must obey them. 08. 09. 10. Altruistic, ethical, idealistic management. Highly professionalised, systems oriented management. A management that greatly values experience, good judgement and playing by the ear

over a lot of analysis and high formal qualifications. 305

11.

Other (please specify)

III (b)

What three attributes listed above of management style do you strongly prefer for

your organization in the new scenario of liberalisation?

01.

02.

03.

IV( a) What is your managements growth strategy for the organization? Please tick the three most important items below: 306

01.

Rapid expansion of present customer base by weaning customers back to the railways

02. 03.

Related capacity building Unrelated capacity building (e.g. doubling, rolling stock augmentations even if they are not required)

04. 05. 06. 07.

Forward and backward integration with other logistic provider Joint venture with domestic travel/ transport partners Variable pricing Empowerment( empowering front line managers to tap and capture new markets by offering locally relevant, potentially

08. 09.

Geographical or locational expansion of railway network Other (please specify)

IV ( b) What do you think should be the organizations growth strategy in the new scenario?

01.

02.

03.

04.

307

05.

V(a)

What is your managements competitive strategy for the organization? Please tick the

three most important items below:

01. 02.

Compete on the basis of price by cutting costs and /or keeping low margins. Compete on the basis of product differentiation and brand equity through

heavy advertising and promotion. 03. 04. Compete on the basis of high quality of service. Compete on the basis of innovating and offering novel or unique new services.

05. Compete by entering into joint ventures with local regional transport agencies or other arrangements that raise your market power. 06. 07. Compete on the basis of excellent add on services to customers. Compete by developing and offering services to cater to needs of specific

market segments. 08. customers. 09. Other (please specify) Compete by tailor making services to the requirements of individual

V(b)

What do you feel should be your organizations competitive strategy in the emerging

scenario?

01.

02.

308

03.

04.

05.

VI(a) What are the significant changes in organisational structure and management systems that your management is attempting? Please tick the six most important items below:

01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. 11. 12. 13.

Greater delegation of authority at operating levels. Flatter structure More profit centres and divisions Greater use of matrix structure (dual responsibility, project organization, etc.) More sophisticated management information and control system A more human resource development oriented personnel management Greater participative management at staff and worker levels A special group or division for joint ventures More team management at managerial levels, use of cross-functional team Greater centralisation of major staff functions like finance, HRD, R&D, MIS Fairly extensive downsizing through retrenchment, VRS, attrition, etc. Spin offs/ subsidiaries for larger ventures or joint ventures. Contracting out various functions and activities to make the organization much leaner 309

14.

Greater representation of professionals at the divisional/ zonal/ Rly board level

VI(b) What major changes in organization structure and management systems do you want in the new scenario?

01.

02.

03.

04.

05.

310

Appendix 2A Summary of responses to question no.II to question no. VI of the questionnaire assessment of organisational policies (Survey A) Question IIa. What are the core values of the management, that is, values to which the management is most strongly committed? Percentage of respondent who Total number of respondents = 17 gave the response Business integrity Being customer driven Giving best value for money Making a useful contribution to society Growth and development of staff Being a fair and just employer Concern for environment Patriotism Innovativeness and creativity Total quality in every operation Maximizing return to government Pioneering, trailblazing Being a trustee for the interests of all stakeholders of Indian Railways Helping the under privileged Simple living and high thinking Hard work, efficiency and thrift Respect for seniors, old traditions Being pragmatic and flexible Achieving goals no matter what is the cost Professionalism An international mind set Other (please specify) 17.6% 23.5% 29.4 41.1% 35.3% 70.6% 11.7% 17.6% 11.7% 29.4% 17.6% 5.9% 41.1% 11.7% 5.9% 35.3% 29.4% 17.6% 23.5% 23.5% 0% 5.9%

311

Question IIb: What you feel should be the five most important core values for the management of your organization in the new scenario? Total number of respondents = 20 Number. respondents of Percentage of

respondent who the

who gave the gave response Customer orientation Profitability Least cost movement Total quality in every operation Fair and just employer Market driven Trustee of all stake holders of Indian Railways Professional decision making Business integrity Innovation and creativity Financial viability Flexibility Outsource non core areas 9 2 2 16 4 1 2 4 6 4 2 1 2 response 45% 10% 10% 80% 25% 5% 10% 25% 30% 25% 10% 5% 10%

312

Question IIIa: What are the three most important characteristics of the style of management of your organization?

Total number of respondents = 18.

Percentage of respondent who gave the response

01. Cautious, stick-to-the knitting management that greatly values 77.8% stability, good profits, and steady growth. 02. Bold but calculating risk taking, a lot of entrepreneurship, 0%

commitment to fast growth. 03. Participative management, seeking broad consensus on issues. 11.1%

04.

Nurturing and caring management that treat staff like family 22.2%

members. 05. Management strongly emphasises clear formal reporting 77.8%

relationships, roles, procedures, and accountability. 06. Strongly emphasises flexibility, adaptability, informality and 0%

resourcefulness. 07. Strongly discipline oriented management; clearly separates those 72.2%

who give orders from those who must obey them. 08. 09. 10. Altruistic, ethical, idealistic management. Highly professionalised, systems oriented management. 5.5% 16.7%

A management that greatly values experience, good judgement 16.7%

and playing by the ear over a lot of analysis and high formal qualifications. 11. Other (please specify) 11.1%

313

Question IIIb: What three attributes of management style do you strongly prefer for your organization in the new scenario of liberalisation? Total no. of respondents= 19 Number. of Percentage respondents of who the response gave respondent who the response Cautious, stick to knitting management that greatly values stability, good profit an steady growth Bold but calculating risk taking, a lot of entrepreneurship, 15 commitment to fast growth Participative management seeking broad consensus on issues Nurturing and caring management that treats staff like family members Management strongly emphasises clear formal reporting relationships, roles, procedures and accountability Strong emphasis on flexibility, adaptability, informality and 14 resourcefulness Strong discipline oriented management, clearly separates those who give orders from those who must obey them Altruistic, ethical, idealistic management Highly professional, system oriented management Management that greatly values experience, good judgement and playing by ear over a lot of analysis and high formal qualification Others 1 5.2% 0 14 0 0% 73.7% 0% 2 10.5% 73.7% 2 10.5% 6 3 31.5% 15.8% 80% 1 5.2% gave

314

Question IVa: What is your managements growth strategy for the organization? Please tick the three most important items. Total number of respondents = 19. Percentage of respondent who gave the response 01. Rapid expansion of present customer base by weaning customers 31.6% back to the railways 02. Related capacity building 03. Unrelated capacity building (e.g. doubling, rolling 52.6% stock 31.6%

augmentations even if they are not required) 04. Forward and backward integration with other logistic provider 05. Joint venture with domestic travel/ transport partners 06. Variable pricing 15.8% 21% 15.8%

07. Empowerment( empowering front line managers to tap and capture 21% new markets by offering locally relevant, potentially star services with locally fixed tariffs 08. Geographical or locational expansion of railway network 09. Other (please specify) 36.8% 5.3%

315

Question IVb: What do you think should be the organizations growth strategy in the new scenario? No. of respondents = 19 Number. of Percentage respondents of who the response gave respondent who the response Rapid expansion of present customer base by weaning 14 customers back to railways Related capacity building Unrelated capacity building (e.g. doubling, rolling stock augmentations even if they are not required) Forward and backward integration with other logistic provider Joint venture with domestic travel / transport partners Variable pricing 7 11 10 36.8% 57.9% 52.6% 73.7% 12 0 63.2% 0 73.7% gave

Empowerment (empowering front line managers to tap and 14 capture new markets by offering locally relevant, potentially star services with locally fixed tariffs) Geographical expansion of railway network Others 2 14

10.5% 73.7%

316

Question Va: What are your managements competitive strategies for the organization? Please tick the three most important items below:

Total number of respondents = 16.

Percentage of respondent who gave the response

01.

Compete on the basis of price by cutting costs and /or keeping low 81.2%

margins. 02. Compete on the basis of product differentiation and brand equity 6.2%

through heavy advertising and promotion. 03. 04. Compete on the basis of high quality of service. 18.7%

Compete on the basis of innovating and offering novel or unique new 37.5%

services. 05. Compete by entering into joint ventures with local /regional transport 25% agencies or other arrangements that raise your market power. 06. 07. Compete on the basis of excellent add on services to customers. 6.25%

Compete by developing and offering services to cater to needs of 62.5%

specific market segments. 08. Compete by tailor making services to the requirements of individual 25%

customers. 09. Other (please specify) 12.5%

317

Question Vb: What do you feel should be your organizations competitive strategy in the emerging scenario? No. of respondents = 20 Number. of Percentage respondents of who the response gave respondent who the response Compete on the basis of price by cutting cost and / or keeping low margins Compete on the basis of brand equity through heavy advertising and promotion Compete on the basis of high quality of service 20 100% 95% 3 15% 9 45% gave

Compete on the basis of innovative and offering novel or 19 unique new services Compete by entering into joint venture with local / regional 12 transport agencies or other arrangements that raise your market power Compete on the basis of excellent add-on services to customers Compete by developing and offering services to cater to needs of specific market segments Compete by tailor making services to the requirements of individual customers Others 8 9 7 3

60%

15%

35%

45%

40%

318

Question VIa: What are the significant changes in organisational structure and management systems that your management is attempting? Please tick the six most important items below:

Total number of respondents = 19.

Percentage of respondent who gave the response

01.

Greater delegation of authority at operating levels.

68.4%

02. 03. 04.

Flatter structure More profit centres and divisions

0% 36.8%

Greater use of matrix structure (dual responsibility, project 15.8%

organization, etc.) 05. More sophisticated management information and control system 06. A more human resource development oriented 63.1%

personnel 36.8%

management 07. 08. 09. Greater participative management at staff and worker levels A special group or division for joint ventures More team management at managerial levels, use of cross 15.8% 10.5% 21%

functional team 10. Greater centralisation of major staff functions like finance, HRD, 36.8%

R&D, MIS 11. etc. 12. 13. Spin offs/ subsidiaries for larger ventures or joint ventures. 21% Fairly extensive downsizing through retrenchment, VRS, attrition, 26.3%

Contracting out various functions and activities to make the 26.3%

organization much leaner 14. Greater representation of professionals at the divisional/ zonal/ Rly 15.8%

board level.

319

Question VIb: What major changes in organisational structure and management systems do you want in the new scenario?

No. of respondents = 20

Number. of Percentage respondents who respondent

of who

gave gave the response

the response Greater delegation of authority at operating levels Flatter structure More profit centres and divisions Greater use of matrix structure (dual responsibility, project organization, etc) More sophisticated MIS and control system A more human resource development oriented personnel management Greater participative management at staff and worker levels More team management at managerial levels, use of cross functional team A special group or division for joint ventures Spin offs / subsidiaries for larger ventures / joint ventures Greater centralisation of staff functions like finance, HRD, MIS, R&D Fairly extensive downsizing through retrenchment, VRS, attrition etc Contract out various functions and activities to make the organization much leaner 9 7 7+9 = 35% 35%+45% 16 45% =80% 2 10% 1 3 5% 15% 8 40% 3 15% 15%+40% = 55% 6 9 30% 45% 14 6 6 1 70% 30% 30% 5%

320

Appendix 3. Behaviour preference scale ( S 004) Southern Cross University Graduate School of Management Tweed, Gold Coast Australia Informed Consent Form

Dear Sir,

I am pursuing a doctoral study in management with a topic titled Total Quality Management as the basis for organisational transformation of Indian Railways. As a part of this study, a survey on leadership will be carried out by me. The purpose of the survey is to understand about the leadership style of railway managers. I would like to assure you that this survey is being taken only for academic purpose. The confidentiality of the responses will be maintained. While I look forward to your responses to the questionnaire, you participation is totally voluntary and you are free to withdraw from completing the survey at any time. In this connection, may I request you to spare some time and respond carefully to the enclosed questionnaire. It will take about 45 minutes to fill the questionnaire. Any complaints or queries regarding this project that cannot be answered by the person responsible for this research project should be forwarded to: Mr John Russell Ethics Complaints Officer Graduate Research College, Southern Cross University PO Box 157, Lismore, 2480 Ph: (02) 66203705 Fax: (02) 6626 9145 Email: jrussell@scu.edu.au

Thanking you,

Researcher: Madhu Ranjan Kumar Dy CMM/ N.C. Rly/,e_mail- madhu_ranjan@yahoo.com address: Bunglow no. 50, DLW, Varanasi 221004 321

ph: 0542-2641017

Supervisor Dr Shankar Sankaran, Associate Prof. Graduate School of Management, SCU, Tweed Head, Gold Coast, Australia, e mail:- ssankara@scu.edu.au

______________________________________________________________________
This questionnaire was developed by Prof. J B P Sinha of ASSERT Management Institute, Patna, India. The permission to use this questionnaire is greatfully acknowledged.

I have read the information above and agree to participate in this study as a leader whose management style is to be assessed using the questionnaire SOO1, S002, S003 S004, leadership effectiveness rating and leadership style. I am over 18 years of age.

Name

Name of Witness (who shall be independent of the project)

Signature of the Witness:

Date:

322

I certify that the terms of the form have been verbally explained to the subject, that the subject appears to understand the terms prior to signing the form, and I asked the subject if he needed to discuss the project with an independent person before signing and he declined.

Signature of the researcher:

Date:................................

323

Behaviour preference scale (S 004)

Date: Service: Rly unit (div/workshop/HQ/depot/others): Grade: Designation: No. of years of service done in Rly: Age Location: Education:

The items below ask for your beliefs, practices and preferences in dealing with your immediate superior. Each item is followed by five alternatives. Please encircle the alternative which comes closest to your judgement. Please do not write your name on this questionnaire so that the anonymity of response can be maintained. Items: Legend: quite true-1 01. S true-2 undecided3 false-4 quite false-5

I have high respect for my superior. Quite true true undecided false quite false

02. D

I often seek advice and direction from my superior. Quite true true undecided false quite false

03. P

I try to maintain personalised relationship with my superior. Quite true true undecided false quite false

04. D

Before doing anything new, I prefer to seek the approval of my superior. Quite true true undecided false quite false

05. S

I feel bad if a subordinate smokes in front of his superior. Quite true true undecided false quite false

06. P

I often pay social visit to the house of my superior. Quite true true undecided false quite false

07. S

I try to keep my words humbly low when I talk to my superior. Quite true true undecided false quite false

08. D

When faced with a problem, I prefer to consult my superior first. Quite true true undecided 324 false quite false

( S 004)

09. S

I do not expect my superior to greet me first. Quite true true undecided false quite false

10. P

I help my superior or his family members in case of medical or other emergencies. Quite true true undecided false quite false

11. P

I feel good when my superior discusses his personal problems with me. Quite true true undecided false quite false

12. D

I am not sure of my decision unless my superior approves it. Quite true true undecided false quite false

13. S

I gladly accept the authority of my superior. Quite true true undecided false quite false

14. D

I want that my superior should notice and appreciate my good performance. Quite true true undecided false quite false

15. P

I try to oblige my superior by doing something personal for him. Quite true true undecided false quite false

16. S

Whenever there is a difference of opinion between me and my superior, I concede to make him feel good. Quite true true undecided false quite false

17. P

Those who keep close contact with superior are better off. Quite true true undecided false quite false

18. D

It is always safe to discuss with your superior before you take a decision. Quite true true undecided false quite false

19. S

I do not reply back to my superior even if he is harsh on me. Quite true true undecided false quite false

325

(S004)

20. D

I expect my superior to tell clearly what I should do. Quite true true undecided false quite false

21. P

I feel pleasure in doing some personal work of my superior. Quite true true undecided false quite false

22. D

I feel good when my superior pays attention to what I am doing. Quite true true undecided false quite false

23. S

I blindly obey my superior. Quite true true undecided false quite false

24. P

I often invite my superior on dinner or socials. Quite true true undecided false quite false

25. D

I do not like to disagree with my superior. Quite true true undecided false quite false

26. P

I often enquire about the well-being of the family members of my superior. Quite true true undecided false quite false

27. S

I always address my superior with Sir. Quite true true undecided false quite false

28. D me.

I do not go against the wishes of my superior even if it means inconveniences to

Quite true

true

undecided

false

quite false

29. P

I feel pleasure in discussing my personal problems with my superior. Quite true true undecided false quite false

30. S

I behave humbly and submissively with my superior, even if it is not necessary. Quite true true undecided 326 false quite false

Reliability and validity: Sinha (1995, p.118)) have dealt in detail about the reliability and validity of the above questionnaire. Specifically, he has quoted a study by Prasad (1990) wherein the three constructs of dependency, personalised relationship and status consciousness were found to be highly reliable and inter-correlated. The questionnaire consists of 30 items, 10 each for dependency (D), personalised relationship (P) and status consciousness (S). Regarding validity, Sinha (1995, p.98) have quoted independent studies which also identified these three constructs. These studies are mentioned in table A2.1.

construct Dependency Personalised relationship

studies Pareek (1968) Kumar & Singh (1976), Dayal (1976)

Status consciousness

Dumont (1970)

(1970),

Kothari

Table A2.1 Validity of the three constructs of hierarchical orientation Source: developed for this research.

Thus the questionnaire can be considered to be a valid instrument for assessing hierarchical orientation among Indian managers.

327

Appendix 3A Data analysis for the questionnaire S004 (survey B) Legend: quite true-1 true-2 undecided3 false-4 quite false-5

Step 1 analysis The analysis began with verifying whether there is any significant difference between the S score, P score and D score given below. Symbol Mean value S P D 2.1578 2.9768 2.2057 Valid N 311 311 311

First the assumption of homogeneity of variances between S, P & D was verified using Hartley F max, Cochran C and Bartlett Chi-square values.

Hartley VALUE

Cochran F-max 1.304074

Bartlett C .367904

Chi-sqr 6.008716

df 2

p .049585

It was seen that the difference in variance are only marginally significant at 5% p level. Further, it has also been reported that violation of this assumption does not seriously affect the conclusions of ANOVA (Statistica 1998, p.1711). The next assumption of correlation between mean and standard deviation was tested. It is graphically shown in Figure A3.1. Though r = .69, the regression coefficient is only 0.06. The significance of this regression coefficient was tested. Sums of Squares Regress. Residual Total .001719 .001868 .003587 1 1 df Mean Squares .001719 .001868 F .920435 p-level .513192

It was seen that the p level was not significant. Thus the regression coefficient was not significant. Thus there was no significant correlation between the mean and variance of S, P and D. Thus both the assumptions of ANOVA were satisfied.

328

Plot of Means vs. Standard Deviations; variable: VALUE Standard Deviations = .45585 + .06381 * Means Correlation: r = .69199 0.65

0.63 Standard Deviations

0.61

0.59

0.57

0.55 2.1

2.3

2.5 Means

2.7

2.9

3.1

Regression 95% confid.

Figure A3.1 Correlation between mean and variance of S. P and D scores Source: developed from survey data.

Hence ANOVA could be used to test the difference between the means of S, P and D scores. Then ANOVA was used to test whether the mean values of S, P and D are same. The result is shown below: df Effect 2 MS Effect 65.70 df MS F p-level

Error Error 930 .37

174 0.00

n=311, k=2.

This showed that there are significant differences on the three dimensions of S, P & D. Next, using Scheffe test it was found that the P score was markedly different from the S score and D score.

329

Scheffe test: {1} 2.16 S P D {1} {2} {3} 0.00 .62 0.00 {2} 2.98 0.00 {3} 2.21 .62 0.00

Result of Scheffe test to assess the significance of differences between the sample means of S, P and D scores

This showed that among the three components of hierarchical dimension, the dimension of tendency for a personalised relationship was significantly weaker than those of dependency on superior and status consciousness. There was no statistically significant difference on the scores obtained on the dimensions of status consciousness and dependency on the superior.

Step 2 analysis

Then it was assessed whether there is any difference within class 1, class2 and class 3 staff of the Indian Railways on the three dimensions of S, P and D scores. Since the sample size was more than 30, the test of normality was not done. The analysis began with the S score difference among class1, class2 and class3 staff. Sample mean S1 S2 S3 2.43 2.13 1.79 N 144 61 106

Tests of homogeneity of Variances between S1, S2 & S3Hartley F-max VALUE 1.352412 Cochran C .382749 Bartlett Chi-sqr 1.853278 2 df p .395893

This shows that the difference in variance of S1, S2 and S3 are not significant. Then the correlation between the mean and variance was assessed. It is shown in Figure A3.2.

330

Plot of Means vs. Standard Deviations; variable: VALUE Standard Deviations = .35576 + .06365 * Means Correlation: r = .55894 0.54

0.52 Standard Deviations

0.50

0.48

0.46

0.44 1.7

1.8

1.9

2.0

2.1 Means

2.2

2.3

2.4

2.5

Regression 95% confid.

Figure A3.2 Correlation between mean and variance of S1, S2 and S3 scores Source: developed from survey data. Since the value of regression coefficient was only .063, its significance was tested using ANOVA. Analysis of Variance Sums of Squares Regress. Residual Total .000980 .001919 .002899 1 1 df Mean Squares .000980 .001919 F .510457 p-level .605062

The low F value (or the high p level) showed that the regression coefficient is not significant. Thus there was no significant correlation between the means and variances of S1, S2 and S3 scores. Thus ANOVA could be used to test the difference between S1, S2 and S3. The result of ANOVA is df MS df MS F p-level

Effect Effect Error Error 2 12.85 308 .23

54.33 .000

The significantly low p- level showed that the three sample means were significantly different. Thus Scheffe test was used to assess the difference between them.

331

Scheffe test: {1} 2.44 S1. S2 S3 {1} {2} {3} .00026 .00000 .00009 {2} 2.13 .00026 {3} 1.79 .00000 .00009

This showed that class 1 officers were less status conscious of their superiors in comparison to class 2 officers who in turn were less status conscious of their superiors than the class 3 supervisors of Indian Railways. Similar test was done to assess the difference among class 1, class 2 and class3 employees on the dimension of personalised relationship Sample mean N P1 P2 P3 2.978472 2.916394 3.009434 144 61 106

The difference in their variance were not statistically significant as can be seen from the tests of homogeneity of variances between P1, P2 & P3 belowHartley F-max VALUE 1.252194 Cochran C .371156 Bartlett Chi-sqr .983970 df 2 p .611416

The correlation between the means and variances of P1, P2 and P3 were assessed.
Plot of Means vs. Standard Deviations; variable: VALUE Standard Deviations = -1.568 + .74377 * Means Correlation: r = .98100 0.69

0.67 Standard Deviations

0.65

0.63

0.61

0.59 2.90

2.92

2.94

2.96 Means

2.98

3.00

3.02

Regression 95% confid.

Figure A3.3 Correlation between mean and variance of P1, P2 and P3 scores Source: developed from survey data.

332

The regression coefficient was seen to be high. The significance of the regression coefficient was assessed from the p level of their regression. Analysis of Variance: Sums of Squares Regress. Residual Total .002499 .000093 .002592 1 1 df Mean Squares .002499 .000093 F 26.82212 p-level .121429

Though the p-level was still low at 0.12, it was not significant at 5% level. Thus ANOVA was not used to test the difference between P1, P2 and P3. Therefore, non-parametric test Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA by Ranks was used.

Kruskal-Wallis test: H (2, N= 311) = 2.001803 p =.3676.

This shows that there was no statistically significant difference among the class 1, class 2 and class 3 staff of Indian Railways on the dimension of tendency for personalised relationship. Then the difference on the dependency relationship among class 1, class2 and class3 staff were was tested. Mean D1 D2 D3 2.55 2.18 1.75 N 144 61 106 311

All Groups

Tests of Homogeneity of Variances between D1, D2 & D3Hartley F-max VALUE 1.401909 Cochran C Bartlett df 2 p .176789

Chi-sqr 3.465783

.371443

This showed that the differences in their variances were not statistically significant. Then the correlation between the mean and variance of D1, D2 and D3 were tested. It is shown in Figure A3.4.

333

Plot of Means vs. Standard Deviations; variable: VALUE Standard Deviations = .29773 + .10266 * Means Correlation: r = .86082 0.57

0.55

Standard Deviations

0.53

0.51

0.49

0.47 Regression 95% confid.

0.45 1.6

1.8

2.0

2.2 Means

2.4

2.6

2.8

Figure A3.4 Correlation between mean and variance of D1, D2 and D3 scores Source: developed from survey data.

The significance of the regression coefficient was assessed through the F statistics (or p level) of the regression. Analysis of Variance Sums of Squares Regress. Residual Total .003397 .001470 .004867 Mean df 1 1 Squares .003397 .001470 F 2.310859 p-level .370423

The low F value (or the high p value) showed that the correlation is not significant. Thus ANOVA could be used to test the difference between D1, D2 and D3. df MS df MS F 72.40305 p-level .000000

Effect Effect 2 19.55393

Error Error 308 .270071

This showed that there was significant difference among the sample means D1, D2 and D3. Thus Scheffe test was used to identify the means with significant difference.

334

Scheffe test: {1} 2.55 D1 D2 D3 {1} {2} {3} .00004 .00000 .00000 {2} 2.18 .00004 {3} 1.75 .00000 .00000

This showed that the class 1 officers were less dependent on their superior as compared to class 2 officers who in turn were less dependent on their superior than the class 3 supervisors.

Step 3 analysis

The analysis in this step aimed at assessing whether there were differences on the S, P and D scores within a class of staff at three different age groups of up to 30 yrs, between 31yrs to 50 yrs and more than 50 yrs. Since the sample sizes in this category were less than 30, ANOVA was not used as the assumptions of ANOVA could not be verified. Non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis (K-W) ANOVA by rank was used.

Score S1_30yr S1_31-50 S1_>50

N 2.4818 2.4292 2.3454 44 89 11

Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA by Ranks Independent (grouping) variable: AGE_GR Kruskal-Wallis test: H (2, N= 144) = .4386395 p =.8031. The high P value showed that among class 1 employees, there was no difference across the generation gap in their tendency for status consciousness towards their superior. Results of K-W test for other categories are shown below: Score S2_31-50 S2_>50 2.029630 2.214706 N 27 34

Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA by Ranks Independent (grouping) variable: AGE_GR Kruskal-Wallis test: H (1, N= 61) = 1.531847 p =.2158 335

Score S3_30yr S3_31-50 S3_>50 1.675000 1.790909 1.833333

N 8 77 21

Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA by Ranks Independent (grouping) variable: AGE_GR Kruskal-Wallis test: H (2, N= 106) = 1.029577 p =.5976

Score D1_30yr D1_31-50 D1_>50

2.452273 44 2.611236 89 2.445455 11

Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA by Ranks Independent (grouping) variable: AGE_GR Kruskal-Wallis test: H (2, N= 144) = 3.823290 p =.1479 Score D2_31-50 D2_>50 2.125926 2.232353 N 27 34

Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA by Ranks Independent (grouping) variable: AGE_GR Kruskal-Wallis test: H (1, N= 61) = .2595876 p =.6104

Score D3_30yr D3_31-50 D3_>50 1.762500 1.744156 1.766667

N 8 77 21

Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA by Ranks Independent (grouping) variable: AGE_GR Kruskal-Wallis test: H (2, N= 106) = .5360950 p =.7649

The analysis showed that within a category of employee (class1, class 2, class3) there is no significant difference in their scores on the two dimensions of status consciousness and

336

dependency proneness from younger (less than 30 years of age) to older (more than 50 years of age) employees.

Step 4 analyses

Since it was concluded from the analysis in step 2 that there were no differences on the P scores among class1, class2 and class3 employees, it was desirable to test whether there was any difference on the P scores in any age group and in any class of the employees. Since some of the sample sizes were less than 30, non-parametric K-W test was used.

test for difference in P score

VALUE P1_30yr P1_31-50 P1_>50 P2_31-50 P2_>50 P3_30yr P3_31-50 P3_>50 2.911364 3.022472 2.890909 2.770370 3.032353 2.650000 3.010390 3.142857

Kruskal-Wallis test: H (7, N= 311) = 7.858904 p =. 3452

The high p level showed that there was no difference in P score across different age groups and different class of employees in the Indian Railways.

337

Appendix 4. ISO 9000 Survey

Southern Cross University Graduate School of Management Tweed, Gold Coast, Australia Informed Consent Form

Dear Sir,

I am pursuing a doctoral study in management in the area of Total Quality Management as the basis for organisational transformation of Indian Railways under the sponsorship of Department of Personnel and Training. As a part of this, a survey is being done by me. The purpose of this survey is to understand the impact which ISO certification has made in your organization. A sample of such impact of ISO on different railway units would be merged to form an overall summary. This summary will be an input to understand the readiness of Indian Railways for organisational transformation through Total Quality Management (TQM). In this connection, may I request you to spare some time and respond carefully to the enclosed questionnaire? I would request you to answer ALL the questions. I would like to assure you that this survey is being taken only for academic purposes. The confidentiality of the responses will be maintained. While I look forward to you responses to the questionnaire, you participation is totally voluntary and you are free to withdraw from completing this survey at any time. If you have any query, please do contact at the address given below.

338

Kindly do not write your name on the questionnaire so that anonymity of responses can be maintained. When responding to the questionnaire, pl. think of your unit and not of other units. You are requested to send the filled questionnaire by registered post at the Varanasi address given below (as I have not received some replies sent by ordinary post) or by e-mail.

Researcher: Madhu Ranjan Kumar Dy. CMM email- madhu_ranjan@yahoo.com address: Bunglow no. 50, DLW Varanasi 221004 ph: 0542-2641017

Supervisor Dr Shankar Sankaran, Associate Prof. Graduate School of Management, SCU, Tweed Head, Gold Coast, Australia, e mail: - ssankara@scu.edu.au ...............................................................

Any complaints or queries regarding this project that cannot be answered by the person responsible for this research project should be forwarded to:

Mr John Russell Ethics Complaints Officer Graduate Research College, Southern Cross University PO Box 157, Lismore, 2480 Ph: (02) 66203705 Fax: (02) 6626 9145 Email: jrussell@scu.edu.au

_______________________________________________________________________
This questionnaire is based on a questionnaire developed by Prof. Acharya of Indian Statistical Institute, Banglore, India and the permission to use his questionnaire is greatfully acknowledged.

339

ISO 9000 SURVEY

A. UNIT AND ITS PROFILE
1. Units name: 2. Rly: 3. Product or Service: 4. No. of employees: (a) in production/marketing or service: (b) in quality (includes quality assurance, inspection, quality management): in support activities(includes procurement, planning): (d) in finance and administration( includes personnel):

5. Which of the following departments were outside the scope of ISO certification: (a) stores (b) accounts (c) personnel (d) security (e) EDP centre

6. Date of ISO 9000 certificate: ISO 9000:1994 ISO 9000:2000 ISO 14000

date

7.

Accreditation body:

B. ABOUT THE CERTIFYING AGENCY

1. Name of the certifying agency:

2.Reason for choosing the agency (more than one option can be chosen): (a) cost was competitive (b) preferred by the consultant good reputation in the Rly circuit (d) any other

340

3. What was the emphasis of the auditors during surveillance audits(1 indicates least focus, 6 indicates most focus): (a) focus on number of outstanding NCs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

(b) focus on conformance to documentation 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 focus on continuous improvement 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

(d) focus on going through the motion of audit because railway units anyway can be taken as OK. (e) any other 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

C. REASON FOR CERTIFICATION

1. Why did you go for certification? ( 1 indicates least important reason, 6 indicates most important reason)

(a) to install a formal system (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) (b) for its publicity value (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

to initiate a structured way for continuous improvement (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) (d) was directed to do so by the HQ/ boss wanted it (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) (f) to prevent non-conformance(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) (g) customer demanded (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

(h) an organization wide change was long over due. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

D. IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS
1. Top Management involvement (a) very involved (b) somewhat involved minimal (d) not at all involved

2. Was the customer involved? (a) Yes, if yes how?

(b) No

341

3. Was any supplier involved? (a) Yes, if yes, how?

(b) No. 4. Length of time taken for successful registration

Time < 1yr 1-1.5 yr 1.5-2 yr 2-2.5 yr 2.5-3 yr > 3yr

expected

Actual (from to)

5. Was there any break in the registration process? If yes, the reason for break and why it started again?

6. Was there any resistance for the process of implementation from (a) old timers (b) middle management level workers (d) union

the type of resistance-

(a) another gimmick (b) extra work only paper work 342

(d) long drawn process 7. Did you have a consultant to guide the process?

(a) yes (b) no

8. Who has prepared the procedures? (a) People concerned (b) Consultant MR (d) Any other 9. What is the total size of documentation? (a) number of procedures(b) number of work instructions-

10. How the documentation process was managed? (a) top down (b) bottom up

11. Which of the following clauses were most difficult to (a) understand (b) to implement, in the beginning?

(a) Document and data control (4.5 under ISO 9000:1994) i.e. clause 5.5.6 ( control of documents) under ISO 9000:2000

(b) Control of Inspection, Measuring and test equipment (4.11 under ISO 9000:1994), i.e. clause 7.6 (control of measuring and monitoring devices) under ISO 9000:2000

Corrective and Preventive action (4.14 unde ISO 9000:1994), i.e. clause 8.5.2 (corrective action) & 8.5.3 (preventive action) under ISO 9000:2000

(d) Statistical technique (4.20 under ISO 9000:1994) i.e. clause 8.4 (analysis of data) under ISO 9000:2000

343

(e) any other (pl. specify)

12. Were you practicing contract review (under clause 4.3 under ISO 9000:1994) prior to ISO 9000 implementation? (a) yes (b) no If, no, what problems you faced for installing formal contract review procedures? 13. What methodology has been used for design verification?

14. What method has been used for design validation?

15. Do you feel that implementation of document control resulted in (a) increased paper work only (b) delay in providing documents to users documents (d) any other prevented non conformities on account of use of obsolete documents or no

16. Did you have any difficulty in preparing the list of approved vendors?

(a) yes,

if yes, how did you finalise the list?

(b) no

344

17. Has the implementation of purchasing (4.8) clause hindered the procurement cycle time of following types of products (a) subcontracted (b) direct supply imported

18. Did you declare any of your operations as special process? (a) yes, If yes, how did you qualify those processes and the concerned operators?

(b) no. 19. Do you calculate Cp, Cpk ( or any other) indices for your processes? (a) yes, if yes, what is the trend?

(b) No

20. How is the trend of production cycle time before and after ISO certification? 21. What problems did you have in satisfying clause 4.11 (Control of IMTs) of ISO 9001 i.e. clause 7.6 (control of measuring and monitoring devices) under ISO: 2000?

22. What is the methodology you are adopting for identifying (a) corrective action, and (b) preventive action

how many CPAs have been raised and closed in the last three years. 345

23. Have you installed a customer complaint analysis procedure? (a) yes, if yes, what is the present trend?

(b) No

24. Are you using any statistical technique in the framework of ISO 9000?

technique

Area/ function

purpose

25. No. of lead auditors in the organization:-

26. No. of internal auditors:-

27. Awareness of SQC/SPC concepts now (a) non existent (b) low somewhat (d) good 28. No. of trained personnel on SQC related topics/ concepts-

29. Number of hours of training program imparted on the following subjectsTopic ISO 9000 awareness Number attended Total duration

346

ISO

9000

document

preparation Internal quality audits SQC topics (specify) 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

30. How many internal audits were gone through before registration?

E. BENEFITS OF CERTIFICATION:
1. ISO certification resulted in (if you choose more than one option, please indicate their order of importance) (a) established a system where none existed previously (b) consistent product quality better understanding of process and responsibility (d) uniting of different departments of the organization into a team. (e) any other

2. How far it has contributed to superior performance in terms of (a) better performance vis-a vis similar Rly unit which is not ISO certified

347

(b) Any visible improvement in product / service quality?

F. CURRENT FOCUS ON QUALITY

1. The focus is on {pl. grade them on a scale of 1(low) to 6(high)} 1 2 3 4 5 6 (a) continuous improvement (b) delivery performance supplier documentation & procedures (d) retain the certificate

1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6

G. LESSON LEARNT
1. Most important lesson was that (a) team work is essential (b) people make the system work 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6

cooperation and information sharing is needed 1 (d) nothing new or significant (e) Any other 1

H. If you are to go for certification now, what would you do differently?

(you can choose more than one option) (a) more emphasis on training (b) better process management more emphasis on proper documentation of procedures (d) learn from others going through the process (e) top down planning (f) bottom up planning

I. General information {pl. grade them on a scale of 1(low) to 6(high)}

1. What is the level of respect for system /procedures? (a) by top management (b) by middle management supervisory staff 348 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6

(d) operators 2. Emphasis in quality policy is on (a) quality as an output strategy (b) vendor relation customer relation (d) quality activities at all stages (e) ISO system implementation

1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5 5

6 6 6 6 6

4. Does the CEO of the organization participate in the management review? Also, pl. indicate your quality objectives and its measurement in the last three MRMs?

Quality objectives

Target Date of MRM: (if any)

Date of MRM:

Result in last

Result in 3rd last Result in 2nd last MRM & dt of MRM MRM MRM & dt of MRM

5. Other than ISO, was any structured change initiative attempted in your unit during the last decade? Is yes, pl name it.

349

Appendix 4A Summary of survey C in six ISO certified units of Indian Railways

Aspect Unit Turn over (in millions of rupees) ISO 9000:1994 date ISO 9000: 2000 date Departments not in ISO preview Employees in organization Employees in quality AMV Not available Not applicable Jan 2004 none 805 Not available BPL Not available DCW 3000 DLW 8000 ICF 5500 WAP 3180

2001 Aug 2004 Fin, Per, Security 1800 Quality certified by direct worker himself 100 75 Competitive cost

Sept 2001 April 2005 Fin, Per, Security 3786 Not available

Feb 1997 Jan 2003 Security 3786 Not available

Jan 1996 Jan 2003 Fin, Per, Security 7250 1650

Nov 1994 Mar 2001 Fin, Per, Security 2300 (total) Not available

Employees in support Employees in fin & adm Reason for choosing the certifying agency Reason for certification

236 61 Preferred by consultant

Not available Not available Competitive cost

Not available Not available Competitive cost

1500 2300 Competiti ve cost Good reputation in rly ckt Quality will be focused To initiate a structured way for CI Desire for bringing about an improved managem ent system

Not available Not available Good reputation in rly ckt

To initiate a structured way for CI To install a formal system HQ wanted For its publicity value To prevent non conformance

Quality will be focused To initiate a To initiate a structured way structured way for CI for CI HQ wanted To install a formal system

Quality will be focussed

To initiate a structured way for CI To install a formal system

Involvement

Top mgmt very involved Customer involvedyes thru feed back

Top mgmt very involved Customer involved yes thru feed back Supplier involved - no

Top mgmt very involved Customer involved yes thru feed back Supplier involved - no

Top mgmt very involved Customer involved yes thru feed back Supplier involved- no

Top mgmt very involved Customer involved No Supplier involved No

Top mgmt very involved Customer involved yes Supplier involved No

Appendix 4A (contd) 350

Appendix 4A(contd)
Aspect Unit Any break in regn Resistance to change AMV No No BPL No No DCW Yes No DLW No Yes, from middle management (extra work) People concerned and consultant Not known ICF No No WAP No No

Who did documentation

People concerned

People concerned

No of procedure

14

11

People concerned and consultant 47

MR

People concerned

11

No of WI Documentation process

78 Bottom up

370 Bottom up

496 Top down

Not known Top down

380 Top down

Clause most difficult to understand

Doc and data control, Customer satisfaction

CPA to implement, data analysis to understand

CPA, stat. Tech.

Control of IMT to implement, CPA to understand

Implementation of doc control resulted in

prevented non conformities on account of use of obsolete documents or no documents No

nil

prevented non conformities on account of use of obsolete documents or no documents

prevented non conformities on account of use of obsolete documents or no documents

Do you calculate Cpk

No

No

No

Yes, it is within limit Appendix 4A(contd)

Establish ment of process measure in tune with the PDCA cycle as suggested in the standard prevented non conformit ies on account of use of obsolete documents or no documents No

Apex procedure for wheel, axle, material finance, common activities All work station Top down, no consultant for ISO 9000:2000 stat. tech., Customer satisfaction

prevented non conformities on account of use of obsolete documents or no documents

351

Appendix 4A (contd)
Aspect Unit Prod. cycle time before and after registration CPA implementation AMV Not applicable From internal audit, customer feedback, AU ensures compliance or else put up to MRM BPL Improved by 30% Shop level meeting, customer feedback, employee suggestion DCW Reduced in some cases IA, sp.qual. audit & customer feedback DLW Not available The audit process, or otherwise any staff can generate a CP which if accepted by the MR gets included in the level II CPA meeting and is closed only after the problem is eliminated ICF Not much changed From IA and sp. Audit team to bring up NCs WAP Improved

Identify NC product/ process Make use of statistical technique to identify priorities Put up problems to quality teams Implement suggested corrective or preventive action review CPA>100 Reward 1725 (Two tier CPA one at AU level and another at the apex level)

No of CPA and rewards

CPA- 5 Reward- nil

CPA 11 Reward- 13

CPA-12 Reward-32 two tier CPA (one at AU level and another at the apex level)

Customer. Complaint. Analysis exists?

Yes, it reduced customer complains

Cost and cycle. time reduc, less 100 days sick marking

Yes, customer complaint outstanding for >90 days= 5 5/78 Low (pareto, cause& effect diagram)

Avg. no of CPA since yr 2000141 reward 57 (two tier CPA since yr 2000-one at AU level and another at the apex level) Yes, There is no complaint more than 6 months

CPA- 18 Reward 57

Yes, improvem ent in customer satisfactio n. 3/167 Somewhat (pareto)

No of LA/IA Use of SQC

6/40 somewhat

5/20 somewhat

Yes customer satisfactio n index shows improving trend 7/20

Good(X,R chart, Pareto. Trend analysis)

Appendix 4a(contd)

352

Appendix 4A(contd)
Aspect Unit No of trained staff on SQC Certification resulted in AMV 25 BPL 0 DCW 65 DLW Not available Better understanding of process & resp ICF 3 WAP All supervisor s (200) Better understand -ing of process & resp, Consistent product quality Linkage to other functions Establishe d a system where none existed previously CI-6, del5, supplier doc & procedure4, retain the cert-6 Team work-6, people-6, coop & info sharing-6 better process management

Better understanding of process & resp Consistent product quality Linkage to other function

Better understanding of process & resp Consistent product quality, Established a system

Better understanding of process & resp,

Consisten t product quality,

Linkage to other functions, Substantial improvement in working after ISO. CI-5, del-5, retain the cert-5, supplier doc & procedure5 Team work5, people-5, coop & info sharing-5

Linkage to other functions Established a system where none existed previously Del perf- 6, CI-4, Supplier doc -4

Current focus (rating on 1 to 6 scale)

CI-6, del-6, retain the cert-6

CI-4, del-6, retain the cert6.

Linkage to other functions, Visible improvem ent in product quality CI-4, del. perf-5, retain the cert-6.

Lesson learnt (rating on 1 to 6 scale)

Team work5, people-5, coop & info sharing-6

Team work-6, people-6, coop & info sharing-5

Team work6, people-6, coop & info sharing-6

What would you do if go all over again

Better process mgt, better documentation, learn from others

Better process mgmt, bottom up plg

Respect for sys/proc (rating on 1 to 6 scale)

Top mgt-6 mid mgt-6 Sup-5, operator-5 6

Top mgt-5 mid mgt-5 Sup-4, operator-4 6

More emphasis on trg, Better process mgmt Learn from others Top mgt-5 mid mgt-5 Sup-5, operator-4 5

Bottom up plg

Team work-6, people-6, coop & info sharing-5 Bottom up plg

Top mgt-6 mid mgt-6 Sup-5, operator-3 4

House keeping (rating on 1 to 6 scale) CEO attends MRM

Top mgt2 mid mgt-2 Sup-2, operator-1 2

Top mgt-6 mid mgt-6 Sup-6, operator-5 5

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

Appendix 4A(contd) 353

Appendix 4A (contd)
Aspect Unit AMV BPL DCW DLW ICF WAP

Improvement in quality objectives

yes

Not available

yes

yes

Yes, % of rework reduced from 16% in Dec 2003 to 8% in June 2004

Reduced rejection, rework and cost, more customer focus

Note: The responses of PRL have not been incorporated above due to lack of space.

354

Appendix 5. TQM transition questionnaire

Date: Service: Rly unit (div/workshop/HQ/depot/others): Grade: Designation: No. of years of service done in Rly: Age No of years of service in this rly unit: Education:

This questionnaire attempts to assess the extent to which ISO certification has resulted in development of TQM orientation in Railway units.

Pl. comment on the prevalence of the following statements on a scale of 1 to 10 in your organization.

Against each of the following statements, please write the number that best applies to your units management practice before ISO 9000 certification and today. For example, if you feel before certification the emphasis given on cost reduction of your product could be rated as 3 on a scale of 1 to 10, please write 3 under the heading before certification. Today, if the emphasis on cost reduction can be rated as 4 on a scale of 1 to 10, pl. write 4 under the heading Today.

355

Q.no. & Factor

Question

Situation 1 Situation today year before ISO (1 shows less prevalent

certification (1 10 shows more shows less prevalent, 10 shows more prevalent) (B)
1 Customer

prevalent) (A-B)

(A)

Focus 2 Customer Focus

People in the organization1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 know who their internal and 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 external customers are. All departments of my1 organization including finance, personnel, stores and security care about meeting 6 their internal customers expectation. Both, the internal and external1 customers are asked for their opinions about the quality of work/ services/ products they 6 receive from the organization. 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 6 7

8 9 10

3 Customer Focus

2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 6 7

8 9 10

4 The resources, facts and1 Communicatio information needed to do a n across the good job are available to the organisation people in the work unit. 6 Information and Data maangement 5 Effective communication1 Communicatio across different departments n across the so as to improve interorganisation department cooperation and 6 Information align the work force towards and Data corporate expectation maangement

2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 6 7

8 9 10

2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 6 7

8 9 10

Table A5.1(contd)

356

Table A5.1(contd)
Q.no. & Factor Question

Situation 1

Situation

year before today ISO certification (1 shows less prevalent, 10 shows more prevalent) (B) (A) 1 2 3 4 5 (1 shows less prevalent 10 shows more prevalent) (A-B)

The quality management1 6 Communicatio system contributes to collection n across the and integration of information organisation which are then used for 6 Information organisational decision making and Data maangement 7 The Schedule of Power (SOP) is1 Delegation modified so as to provide and managers authority empowerment commensurate with their 6 responsibilities 8 Employees are empowered to1 Delegation take corrective decisions on the and spot without looking up to empowerment managers for their approval 6 9 There is complete formal and/or1 Delegation de-facto autonomy to the head of this unit for taking decisions and empowerment which affect the working of this 6 unit. 10 There is great emphasis on 1 Continuous employee training for improvement continuous learning of new things 6

2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 6 7

8 9 10

2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 6 7 2 3 4 5

8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 6 7 2 3 4 5

8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 6 7 2 3 4 5

8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 6 7

8 9 10

11 Improvement of all operations 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 Continuous including personnel and improvement financial activities are monitored in MRM 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 12 Number of suggestions come1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 Continuous from staff to improve the crossimprovement functional work processes 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 which are then implemented . Table A5.1 (contd)

357

Table A5.1(contd)
Q.no. & Factor Question

Situation 1

Situation

year before today ISO certification (1 shows less prevalent, 10 shows more prevalent) (B) (A) (1 shows less prevalent 10 shows more prevalent) (A-B)

13 Results and recognition 14 Results and recognition

People in the work unit receive1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 promotions because they deserve them. 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 There is a system of quick1 2 3 4 5 61 2 3 4 5 reward/recognition of people in 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 the work unit for outstanding performance 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

15 Results and recognition 16 Leadership

The reward / recognition1 policies are viewed with widespread satisfaction. 6 Leader(s) in the organization1 ask people about ways to improve the work produced, by setting examples of quality 6 performance in their day-to-day decision-making and activities. 17 Senior managers providing clear1 vision and values that promote Leadership quality 6 18 The manager provides the1 Leadership direction for or improvement and accordingly, workers are motivated to take initiative. In 6 case of any difficulty, worker interacts with the manager to to improve the situation 19 Use of corrective and preventive1 Process action mechanism of ISO for improvement process improvement 6

7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 6 7

8 9 10

2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 6 7

8 9 10

2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5 8 9 10

7 8 9 10 6 7

TableA5.1(contd)

358

TableA5.1(contd)
Q.no. & Factor Question

Situation 1

Situation

year before today ISO certification (1 shows less prevalent, 10 shows more prevalent) (B) (A) 1 2 3 4 5 (1 shows less prevalent 10 shows more prevalent) (A-B)

20 Process improvement 21 Process improvement

Use of pareto analysis and other 1 statistical techniques 6 Key processes in the 1 organization are regularly benchmarked and undergo quality auditing 6

2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 6 7 2 3 4 5 7 2 7 2 8 3 8 3 9 4 9 4 10 5 10 5

8 9 10

1 22 Quality and not price is the Supplier focus prime criteria in supplier 6 selection 23 Long term relationship with 1 Supplier focus suppliers is encouraged 6 24 Suppliers are treated as1 Supplier focus customers whose feed back are important in the quest for 6 improvement 25 Emphasis on team based1 Team work problem solving approach rather than individual/department 6 based problem solving approach 26 Team work 27 Team work People in the work unit share1 responsibility for the success and failure of their work 6 Members of different1 department voluntarily come forward to jointly solve an organizational problem. 6

1 2 3 4 5 6 1 6 1 7 2 7 2 8 3 8 3 9 4 9 4 10 5 10 5

7 8 9 10 6 7 2 3 4 5

8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 8 9 10

7 8 9 10 6 7

2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 6 7 2 3 4 5

8 9 10

28 The organization emphasizes1 Value & ethics doing things right the first time. 6 29 Managers in the organization1 Value & ethics live up to high ethical standards 6

1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 Table A5.1(contd)

359

Table A5.1(contd)
Q.no. & Factor Question

Situation 1

Situation

year before today ISO certification (1 shows less prevalent, 10 shows more prevalent) (B) (A) 1 2 3 4 5 8 9 10 (1 shows less prevalent 10 shows more prevalent) (A-B)

30 People in the organization are1 2 3 Value & ethicscommitted to produce high quality output rather than 6 7 8 adopting short cuts which ultimately affect quality 31 People in the work unit take 1 2 3 Work culture pride in their work 6 7 8 32 Making a mistake is not feared.1 2 3 Work culture It is recognised as a part of learning. 6 7 8 33 A lot of inter level and inter1 2 3 Work culture department discussions take place to build consensus before 6 7 8 a policy is instituted. 34 Meeting and exceeding1 2 3 Strategy customer expectation is accorded a higher strategic 6 7 8 priority than short-term production target. 35 Streamlining the working ( i.e.1 2 3 Strategy business) processes of the organization 6 7 8 36 Leaders in the organization try1 2 3 Strategy to plan ahead for technological and organisational changes that 6 7 8 might impact the organizations future performance. Table A5.1 TQM transition questionnaire Source: developed for this research.
@ This questionnaire is

4 5

9 10 6 7

4 5 1 2 3 4 5 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 9 10 6 7 4 5 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 8 9 10

9 10 6 7

4 5

1 2 3 4 5

9 10 6 7 8 9 10 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 9 10 6 7 8 9 10

based on the work done by Wali, Deshmukh and Gupta ,2003 -

Critical success factors of TQM: a select study of Indian organizations, Production Planning & Control Systems vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 3-14. Further assistance by Prof. S. G. Deshmukh of IIT Delhi in developing this questionnaire is greatfully acknowledged

360

Validity test scores for the TQM transition questionnaire (survey D)

The scores here indicate (A-B) score i.e. (After Before) score obtained for Table A5.1.
Q.no. & Factor Question

Deming prize winner Sona M&M Rane PRL

Railway units AMV BPL DLW DCW

People in the organization Customerknow who their internal and 1 Focus external customers are.
2 5 3 2 2.0 5.5 4.6 0

2 All departments of my Customer Focus organization including finance, personnel, stores and security care about meeting their internal customers expectation. 3 Both, the internal and are Customer Focus external customers asked for their opinions about the quality of work/ services/ products they receive from the organization. 4 The resources, facts and Communication information needed to do a across thegood job are available to the organisation people in the work unit. Information and Data maangement 5 Effective communication Communication across different departments across theso as to improve interorganisation department cooperation and Information andalign the work force Data towards corporate maangement expectation 6 The quality management Communication system contributes to across thecollection and integration organisation of information which are Information andthen used for organisational Data decision making maangement

1.5

2.8

3.5

1.5

2.5

2.5

3.2

1.5

3.6

2.5

Table A5.2(contd)

361

Table A5.2 (contd)

Q.no. & Factor Question Deming prize winner Sona M&M Rane PRL Railway units AMV BPL DLW DCW

7 The Schedule of Power Delegation and(SOP) is modified so as to empowerment provide managers authority commensurate with their responsibilities 8 Employees are empowered Delegation andto take corrective decisions empowerment on the spot without looking up to managers for their approval 9 There is complete formal Delegation andand/or de-facto autonomy to empowerment the head of this unit for taking decisions which affect the working of this unit. 10 There is great emphasis on Continuous employee training for improvement continuous learning of new things 11 Improvement of all Continuous operations including improvement personnel and financial activities are monitored in MRM 12 Number of suggestions Continuous come from staff to improve improvement the cross-functional work processes which are then implemented . People in the work unit 13 Results andreceive promotions because recognition they deserve them. 14 There is a system of quick Results andreward/recognition of recognition people in the work unit for outstanding performance 15 The reward / recognition Results andpolicies are viewed with recognition widespread satisfaction.

0.5

1.2

0.0

1.4

0.0

0.2

3.0

5.5

1.5

2.5

1.5

3.4

0.0

0.2

0.5

2.2

0.0

1.5

1.8

Table A5.2 (contd)

362

Table A5.2 (contd)

Q.no. & Factor Question Deming prize winner Sona M&M Rane PRL Railway units AMV BPL DLW DCW

16 Leadership

17 Leadership 18 Leadership

19 Process improvement 20 Process improvement 21 Process improvement

Leader(s) in the organization ask people about ways to improve the work produced, by setting examples of quality performance in their day-today decision-making and activities. Senior managers providing clear vision and values that promote quality The manager provides the direction for or improvement and accordingly, workers are motivated to take initiative. In case of any difficulty, worker interacts with the manager to to improve the situation Use of corrective and preventive action mechanism of ISO for process improvement Use of pareto analysis and other statistical techniques

0.5

2.2

0.5

1.5

0.5

2.4

0.5

2.8

1.5

4.6

Key processes in the organization are regularly benchmarked and undergo quality auditing 22 Quality and not price is the Supplier focus prime criteria in supplier selection 23 Long term relationship with Supplier focus suppliers is encouraged 24 Suppliers are treated as Supplier focus customers whose feed back are important in the quest for improvement 25 Emphasis on team based problem solving approach Team work rather than individual/department based problem solving approach

2.0

2.2

3 2

2 1

4 2

0 0

0.5 0.0

0 0

2.4 2.2

0 0

0.5

2.2

1.0

0.5

2.2

Table A5.2(contd)

363

Table A5.2 (contd)

Q.no. & Factor Question Deming prize winner Sona M&M Rane PRL Railway units AMV BPL DLW DCW

26 Team work

People in the work unit share responsibility for the success and failure of their work 27 Members of different Team work department voluntarily come forward to jointly solve an organizational problem. 28 The organization emphasizes Value & ethics doing things right the first time. 29 managers in the Value & ethics organization live up to high ethical standards 30 People in the organization Value & ethics are committed to produce high quality output rather than adopting short cuts which ultimately affect quality 31 People in the work unit Work culture take pride in their work 32 Making a mistake is not Work culture feared. It is recognised as a part of learning. 33 A lot of inter level and inter Work culture department discussions take place to build consensus before a policy is instituted. 34 Meeting and Strategy exceeding customer expectation is accorded a higher strategic priority than short-term production target. 35 Streamlining the working Strategy ( i.e. business) processes of the organization

1.0

0.8

1.0

2.2

0.5

0.8

0.5

0.6

4 3

5 0

1 3

0 0

0.5 0.0

1 0

2.8 2

0 1

1.0

0.6

2.0

2.2

0.5

1.6

2.0

0.8

Table A5.2 (contd)

364

Table A5.2 (contd)

Q.no. & Factor Question Deming prize winner Sona M&M Rane PRL Railway units AMV BPL DLW DCW

36 Strategy

Leaders in the organization try to plan ahead for technological and organisational changes that might impact the organizations future performance.
total Sum of factor scores for the questionnaire (total/3)

5 102 34

4 111 37

3 113 37.66

2 39.0 13

1.5 39.5

0 40

1.4 76.6

2 31

13.17 13.33 25.33 10.33

Table A5.2 Scores obtained by different organizations on the TQM transition instrument at the final draft stage Source: developed from survey data.

365

Score obtained by WAP and ICF on the TQM transition questionnaire

Question and factor

no.

Question

WAP ICF Raw Factor Raw Factor score score score score

People in the organization know who their Customer internal and external customers are.
6 5

Focus 2 All departments of my organization including Customer Focus finance, personnel, stores and security care about meeting their internal customers expectation. 3 Both, the internal and external customers are Customer Focus asked for their opinions about the quality of work/ services/ products they receive from the organization.

4 The resources, facts and information needed to Communication do a good job are available to the people in the across the work unit. organisation Information and Data maangement 5 5 Effective communication across different Communication departments so as to improve inter-department across the cooperation and align the work force towards organisation corporate expectation Information and Data maangement 4 6 The quality management system contributes to Communication collection and integration of information which across the are then used for organisational decision making organisation Information and Data 4.66 maangement 5 7 The Schedule of Power (SOP) is modified so as Delegation and to provide managers authority commensurate empowerment with their responsibilities 1 8 Employees are empowered to take corrective Delegation and decisions on the spot without looking up to 1.66 empowerment managers for their approval 4 Table A5.3 (contd)

366

Table A5.3(contd)
Question and factor no. Question WAP ICF Raw Factor Raw Factor score score score score

9 There is complete formal and/or de-facto Delegation andautonomy to the head of this unit for taking empowerment decisions which affect the working of this unit. 0 10 There is great emphasis on employee training for Continuous continuous learning of new things improvement 4 11 Improvement of all operations including Continuous personnel and financial activities are monitored in improvement MRM 4 12 Number of suggestions come from staff to Continuous improve the cross-functional work processes 3.33 improvement which are then implemented . 2 13 People in the work unit receive promotions Results and because they deserve them. recognition 0 There is a system of quick reward/recognition of 14 Results and people in the work unit for outstanding recognition performance 4 15 The reward / recognition policies are viewed with Results and widespread satisfaction. 3 recognition 5 16 Leader(s) in the organization ask people about Leadership ways to improve the work produced, by setting examples of quality performance in their day-today decision-making and activities. 5 17 Senior managers providing clear vision and Leadership values that promote quality 1 18 The manager provides the direction for or Leadership improvement and accordingly, workers are motivated to take initiative. In case of any difficulty, worker interacts with the manager to to 2.66 improve the situation 2 19 Use of corrective and preventive action Process mechanism of ISO for process improvement improvement 4 20 Use of pareto analysis and other statistical Process techniques improvement 5 21 Key processes in the organization are regularly Process benchmarked and undergo quality auditing 4.33 improvement 4 22 Quality and not price is the prime criteria in Supplier focus supplier selection 2 2.33 Table A5.3 (contd)

4.33

.66

2 2

1.33

0 2

1.33 2

367

Table A5.3 (contd)

Question and factor no. Question WAP ICF Raw Factor Raw Factor score score score score 1 0

23 Long term relationship with suppliers is Supplier focus encouraged 24 Suppliers are treated as customers whose feed Supplier focus back are important in the quest for improvement 25 Team work Emphasis on team based problem solving approach rather than individual/department based problem solving approach 26 People in the work unit share responsibility for Team work the success and failure of their work 27 Members of different department voluntarily Team work come forward to jointly solve an organizational problem. 28 The organization emphasizes doing things right the Value & ethics first time. 29 managers in the organization live up to high Value & ethics ethical standards 30 People in the organization are committed to Value & ethics produce high quality output rather than adopting short cuts which ultimately affect quality 31 People in the work unit take pride in their work Work culture 32 Making a mistake is not feared. It is recognised Work culture as a part of learning. 33 A lot of inter level and inter department Work culture discussions take place to build consensus before a policy is instituted. 34 Meeting and exceeding customer Strategy expectation is accorded a higher strategic priority than short-term production target. 35 Streamlining the working ( i.e. business) Strategy processes of the organization 36 Leaders in the organization try to plan ahead for Strategy technological and organisational changes that might impact the organizations future performance.
total

5 2

5 0

4 2 1

3.66

0 0 2

1.33

3 2 2

0 1 0

.66

2.66

1.33

3 2

0 0

2 123

2.33 41

1 64

.33 21.33

Note: Factor score = sum of raw scores for a factor/3. Table A 5.3 Score obtained by WAP and ICF on the TQM transition questionnaire Source: developed from survey data.

368

Appendix 6. Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire

Southern Cross University Graduate School of Management Tweed, Gold Coast Australia Informed Consent Form

Mr.

Dear Sir,

I am pursuing a doctoral study in management with a topic titled Total Quality Management as the basis for organisational transformation of Indian Railways. As a part of this study, a survey on leadership is being carried out by me. The purpose of the survey is to understand about the leadership style of senior managers who have worked in railways and who have been able to make a difference to their organizations. Anecdotically, you have been considered as a leader who has made significant difference in his area of work in the Indian Railways. As a student of leadership, it is worthwhile to formally study your leadership style. In this connection, enclosed please find a questionnaire called leader form which you are required to fill. Also attached is another questionnaire called ratter form and transformational leadership in Indian context. They will be given to managers who have worked under you. The managers will assess you leadership style. It is being sent to you so as to seek your consent for the same. May I request you to spare some time and respond to the enclosed questionnaire. I would like to assure you that this survey is being taken only for academic purposes. The confidentiality of the responses will be maintained. While I look forward to you responses to the questionnaire, you participation is totally voluntary and you are free to withdraw from completing this survey at any time.. Any complaints or queries regarding this project that cannot be answered by the person responsible for this research project should be forwarded to: Mr John Russell

369

Ethics Complaints Officer Graduate Research College, Southern Cross University PO Box 157, Lismore, 2480 Ph: (02) 66203705 Fax: (02) 6626 9145 Email: jrussell@scu.edu.au

You are requested to send the filled questionnaire by registered post at the Varanasi address given below ( as I have not received some replies sent by ordinary post).

Thanking you, Researcher: Madhu Ranjan Kumar Dy. CMM/ N.C. Rly/ email- madhu_ranjan@yahoo.com Postal address: Bunglow no. 50, DLW,Varanasi 221004 Ph: 0542-2641017

Supervisor Dr Shankar Sankaran, Associate Prof. Graduate School of Management, SCU, Tweed Head, Gold Coast, Australia, e mail:- ssankara@scu.edu.au ________________________________________________________________________
The questionnaire was developed by Bass of Binghamton University, New York.. The permission to use the questionnaire is greatfully acknowledged.

I have read the information above and agree to participate in this study as a leader whose management style is to be assessed using the Multi Factor Leadership questionnaire. I am over 18 years of age.

370

Name

Name of Witness (who shall be independent of the project)

Signature of the Witness:

Date:

I certify that the terms of the form have been verbally explained to the subject, that the subject appears to understand the terms prior to signing the form, and I asked the subject if he needed to discuss the project with an independent person before signing and he declined.

Signature of the researcher:

Date:

371

Appendix 6.1 Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Leader Form

My Name:__________________________________________________________Date:_____ This questionnaire is to describe your leadership style as you perceive it. Please answer all items on this answer sheet. If an item is irrelevant, or if you are unsure or do not know the answer, leave the answer blank. Forty-five descriptive statements are listed on the following pages. Judge how frequently each statement fits you. The word "others" may mean your peers, clients, direct reports, supervisors, and/or all of these individuals. Use the following rating scale:

Not

at all 0

Once in a while 1

Sometimes 2

Fairly often 3

Frequently, if not always 4 4

1. I provide others with assistance in exchange for their efforts....0 1 2 3

2. I re-examine critical assumptions to question whether they are appropriate 0 1 2 3 4 3. I fail to interfere until problems become serious. .0 1 2 3 4 4. I focus attention on irregularities, mistakes, exceptions, and deviations from standards0 1 2 3 4 5. I avoid getting involved when important issues arise .0 1 2 3 4 6. I talk about my most important values and beliefs ..0 1 2 3 4 7. I am absent when needed 0 1 2 3 4 8. I seek differing perspectives when solving problems .0 1 2 3 4 9. I talk optimistically about the future . . ...0 1 2 3 4 10. I instil pride in others for being associated with me 0 1 2 3 4 11. I discuss in specific terms who is responsible for achieving performance targets0 1 2 3 4 12. I wait for things to go wrong before taking action. 0 1 2 3 4 13. I talk enthusiastically about what needs to be accomplished.0 1 2 3 4 14. I specify the importance of having a strong sense of purpose 0 1 2 3 4

15. I spend time teaching and coaching 0 1 2 3 4

372

contd . .. Not at all 0 Once in a while 1 Sometimes 2 Fairly often 3 Frequently, if not always 4

16. I make clear what one can expect to receive when performance goals are achieved.0 1 2 3 4 17. I show that I am a firm believer in "If it ain't broke, don't fix it.".. 0 1 2 3 18. I go beyond self-interest for the good of the group,0 1 2 3 4 4

19. I treat others as individuals rather than just as a member of a group. 0 1 2 3 4 20. I demonstrate that problems must become chronic before I take action 0 1 2 3 4 21. I act in ways that build others' respect for me.0 1 2 3 22. I concentrate my full attention on dealing with mistakes, complaints, and failures. 0 1 2 3 23. I consider the moral and ethical consequences of decisions,. 0 1 2 3 4 4 4

24. I keep track of all mistakes .0 1 2 3 4 25. I display a sense of power and confidence .0 1 2 3 4 26. I articulate a compelling vision of the future,..0 1 2 3 4 27. I direct my attention toward failures to meet standards ,.0 1 2 3 4 28. I avoid making decisions,0 1 2 3 4 29. I consider an individual as having different needs, abilities, and aspirations from others0 1 2 3 30. I get others to look at problems from many different angles. 0 1 2 3 31. I help others to develop their strengths.. 0 1 2 3 32. I suggest new ways of looking at how to complete assignments.. 0 1 2 3 33. I delay responding to urgent questions, 0 1 2 3 34. I emphasize the importance of having a collective sense of mission 0 1 2 3 4 4 4 4 4 4

35. I express satisfaction when others meet expectations 0 1 2 3 4 36. I express confidence that goals will be achieved0 1 2 3 4 37. I am effective in meeting others' job-related needs ,..0 1 2 3 4 38. I use methods of leadership that are satisfying , 0 1 2 3 4 39. I get others to do more than they expected to do , .0 1 2 3 4 40. I am effective in representing others to higher authority ,. 0 1 2 3 4 373

contd Not at all 0

Once in a while 1

Sometimes 2

Fairly often 3

Frequently, if not always 4

41. I work with others in a satisfactory way ,.. 0 1 2 3 4 42. I heighten others' desire to succeed ,.. 0 1 2 3 4 43. I am effective in meeting organizational requirements.. 0 1 2 3 4 44. I increase others' willingness to try harder. 0 1 2 3 4 45. I lead a group that is effective 0 1 2 3 4

374

Appendix 6.2 Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Rater Form

Date: Service:

Rly unit (div/workshop/HQ/depot/others): Grade:

Designation: No. of years of service done in rly:

Age

Location:

Education:

Forty-five descriptive statements are listed on the following pages. Judge how frequently each statement fits the person who is your immediate superior at your work place. You have worked under the person for . years. He is in (SS/JAG/ SAG/HAG/GM/ board member) grade. Use the following rating scale:

Not at all

Once in a while

Sometimes

Fairly often

Frequently, If not always

code Sr.no.

THE PERSON I AM RATING. . .

CR 1. Provides me with assistance in exchange for my efforts.0 1 2 3 4 IS 2. Re-examines critical assumptions to question whether they are appropriate. ...0 1 2 3 4 4

MEP 3. Fails to interfere until problems become serious .... 0 1 2 3 MEA4. Focuses attention on irregularities, mistakes, exceptions, and deviations from standards .0 LF 5. Avoids getting involved when important issues arise. 0 1 2 1 2 3 3

4 4 4 4 4

IIB 6. Talks about their most important values and beliefs0 1 2 3 LF 7. Is absent when needed 0 1 2 3

IS 8. Seeks differing perspectives when solving problems.. 0 1 2 3 IM 9. Talks optimistically about the future 0 IIA 10. Instils pride in me for being associated with him/her 0 CR 11. Discusses in specific terms who is responsible for achieving performance targets ..0. 1 2 3 1 1 2 2 3 3

4 4

contd

375

Not at all Once in a while

Sometimes

Fairly often

Frequently, If not always

MEP 12. Waits for things to go wrong before taking action .0 IM

13. Talks enthusiastically about what needs to be accomplished.. 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 4

IIB 14. Specifies the importance of having a strong sense of purpose

IC 15. Spends time teaching and coaching ..0 CR 16. Makes dear what one can expect to receive when performance goals are achieved. 0 1 MEP 17. Shows that he/she is a firm believer in "If it is not broken, don't fix it."0 1 IIA 18. Goes beyond self-interest for the good of the group 0 1 2

2 2 3

3 3 4

4 4

IC 19. Treats me as an individual rather than just as a member of a group .. 0

1 2

MEP 20. Demonstrates that problems must become chronic before taking action .. 0 1 2

IIA

21. Acts in ways that builds my respect for him . 0

2 3

MEA 22. Concentrates his/her full attention on dealing with mistakes, complaints, and failures. 0 1 2 3 4

IIB

23. Considers the moral and ethical consequences of decisions 0

MEA 24. Keeps track of all mistakes0

IIA

25. Displays a sense of power and confidence 0

IM

26. Articulates a compelling vision of the future

MEA 27. Directs my attention toward failures to meet standards0 1 LF 28. Avoids making decisions . 0 1

2 2

3 4 3 4

contd

376

Not at all Once in a while

Sometimes

Fairly often

Frequently, If not always

IC

29. Considers me as having different needs, abilities, and aspirations from others 0 1 2 3 4

IS

30. Gets me to look at problems from many different angles 0

IC

31. Helps me to develop my strengths ..0

IS

32. Suggests new ways of looking at how to complete assignments . 0

3 4

LA 33. Delays responding to urgent questions 0

3 4

IIB 34. Emphasizes the importance of having a collective sense of mission 0

3 4

CR 35. Expresses satisfaction when I meet expectations 0

3 4

IM 36. Expresses confidence that goals will be achieved 0

3 4

EFF 37. Is effective in meeting my job-related needs..0

3 4

38. Uses methods of leadership that are satisfying 0

3 4

EE 39. Gets me to do more than I expected to do 0

3 4

EFF 40. Is effective in representing me to higher authority 0

3 4

41. Works with me in a satisfactory way 0

3 4

EE 42. Heightens my desire to succeed 0

3 4

contd

377

Not at all Once in a while

Sometimes

Fairly often

Frequently, If not always

EFF 43. Is effective in meeting organizational requirements ... 0

2 3 4

EE 44. Increases my willingness to try harder.. 0

3 4

EE 45. Leads a group that is effective 0

3 4

Reliability and validity: The reliability and validity of MLA questionnaire are extensively dealt with in Bass and Avolio (2000). They are briefly reproduced below.

Reliability: The reliability of different components of Multi Factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) is indicated below.

Total Sample (N = 2154) Scale Mean SD Reliability II(A) II(B) IM 2.56 .84 .86 2.64 .85 .87 IS IC CR MBEA MBEP LF EE 1.11 .82 .82 EFF SAT 2.57 1.28 .94

2.64 2.51 2.66 2.20 1.75 .87 .91 .86 .90 .93 .90 .89 .87 .77 .74

.89 2.60 2.62 .74 1.16 .83 .91 .72 .91

Table A6.2.1 Reliability Scores for MLQ 5x Source: Bass & Avolio (2000, p.16).

The inter-correlation between different components of the MLQ are shown below.

378

II(A) II(B) II(A) II(B) IM IS IC CR MB MB LF EE EFF SAT .79* .85* .76* .82* .68* .68* .51* .25* .86* .84* .82* .69** -0.3 .69* .44* .22*

IM

IS

IC

CR

MBE MBE

LF

EE

EFF

.85* .87* .73* .73* .46* .21* .84* .70* .69* .41* .18* .75* .74* .44* .27* .03 .62* .32* .19* .28* .18* .03 .06 .74* .45* .23* .15*

TableA6.2.2 Intercorrelations among MLQ Factor Scores Source: Bass & Avolio (2000). Validity: Bass and Avolio (2000) used Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to test the convergent and discriminant validities of each MLQ 5X scale by examining the structural relations among latent constructs. It confirmed the 9-factor conceptual model proposed by them. Their item selection process also included an extensive content analysis. Further, Bass and Avolio also ran a series of CFAs to determine if there were other competing models which better describe transformational leadership. Specifically, they tested several competing models to see which factor structure solutions best represented the current MLQ 5X data. The competing models included: one general or global leadership factor model; a two correlated factors model (active versus passive leadership); a three correlated factors model (transformational, transactional leadership and non-leadership); and a nine correlated factors "full range of leadership" model (IIA, IIB, 1M, IS, IC, CR, MBEA, MBEP, and LF). Each CFA was based on the maximum likelihood estimation method. The Table A6.2.3 shows the comparison of several fit measures as well as the chi-square test results of the competing factor/model solutions. All of the fit measures and chi-square tests 379

improved as the model progressed from a one-factor solution to the full range leadership model solution (nine factors model). According to Bass and Avolio (2000) improvement became substantial as one progressed from the two-factor model to the three-factor model and again from the three- factor model to the full nine-factor model. In particular, the goodness of fit index (GFI) of .91 for the full model exceeds the .90 cut-off criterion recommended in the literature (Bentler, 1990; Bollen, 1989). Also, the root mean squared residual (RMSR) of .04 of the full model satisfies the cut-off criterion of less than .05 recommended by Joreskog & Sorbom (1989). Thus it is reasonable to conclude that the MLQ leadership model can be used for assessing transformational leadership among the Indian Railways managers.

Fit measure

One factor two factor model model 5,260/593 0.77 0.74 0.08

three factor model 3,529/591 0.86 0.84 0.05

Nine factor (full range) model 2,394 /558 0.91 0.89 0.04

Chi square/ df GFI* AGFI** RMSR***

5,674 /594 0.75 0.72 0.07

Table A6.2.3 Comparison of overall fit measures among several factor models Source: Bass and Avolio (2000)

*Goodness of fit index Residuals

**Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index ***Root Mean Squared

380

Factor Item II(A)21 II(A)31 II(A)61 II(A)67 Item II(A) 0.73 0.71 0.85 0.65 Item II(B) 3 II(B)23 II(B)33 II(B)71

Factor II(B) 0.63 0.76 0.70 0.72 Item IM25 IM35 IM64 IM72

Factor IM 0.69 0.68 0.79 0.77 Item IS17 IS47 IS57 IS73

Factor IS Item 0.71 IC 9 0.73 IC39 0.79 IC49 0.81 IC59 Factor Item LF 0.73 0.83 0.37** 0.88 LF 2 LF18 LF42 LF50

Factor IC 0.60 0.82 0.77 0.73 Factor

Factor CR Item MBEA 6 MBEA22 MBEA30 MBEA46

Factor Item MBEA 0.59 0.37** 0.60 0.65 MBEP MBEP20 MBEP36 MBEP44 MBEP52

CR16 CR40 CR56 CR80

0.65 0.65 0.70 0.78

0.57 0.51 0.71 0.68

*Item numbers are for the MLQ5x form and for the current study. ** This item loading was below minimum cut-offs, but retained to provide a broader assessment of the construct.

Table A6.2.4 The squared parameter estimates of the full range of leadership model. All of the indicators loading on each construct were statistically significant, indicating that these respective scales each have satisfactory levels of internal consistency.

Source: Bass and Avolio (2000).

381

MLQ Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Scoring Key (5x) Short

My Name:_______________________________________________________Date:__________

Scoring: The MLQ scale scores are average scores for the items on the scale. The score can be derived by summing the items and dividing by the number of items that make up the scale. All of the leadership style scales have four items, Extra Effort has three items, Effectiveness has four items, and Satisfaction has two items.

Idealized Influence (Attributed) total/4= Idealized Influence (Behaviour) total/4= = Inspirational Motivation total/4 = Intellectual Stimulation total/4 = Individual Consideration total/4 = Contingent Reward total/4 =

Management-by-Exception (Active) total/4 = Management-by-Exception (Passive) total/4

Laissez-faire Leadership total/4 = Extra Effort total/3 = Effectiveness total/4 = Satisfaction total/2 =

1. Contingent Reward... 0 1 2 3 4 2. Intellectual Stimulation..0 1 2 3 4 3. Management-by-Exception (Passive..)... ..0 1 2 3 4 4. Management-by-Exception (Active)0 1 2 3 4 5. Laissez-faire Leadership...0 1 2 3 4 6. Idealized Influence (Behaviour).0 1 2 3 4 7. Laissez-faire Leadership.. 0 1 2 3 4 8. Intellectual Stimulation.0 1 2 3 4

9. Inspirational Motivation0 1 2 3 4 10. Idealized Influence (Attributed)..0 1 2 3 4 11.Contingent Reward.. 0 1 2 3 4 12. Management-by-Exception (Passive). 0 1 2 3 4

382

contd 13. Inspirational Motivation...0 1 2 3 4 14. Idealized Influence (Behaviour).. 0 1 2 3 4 15. Individual Consideration. 0 1 2 3 4 16. Contingent Reward. 0 1 2 3 4 17. Management-by-Exception (Passive).. 0 1 2 3 4 18. Idealized Influence (Attributed).. 0 1 2 3 4 19. Individual Consideration0 1 2 3 4 20. Management-by-Exception (Passive)..0 1 2 3 4 21. Idealized Influence (Attributed).. 0 1 2 3 4 22. Management-by-Exception (Active). 0 1 2 3 4 23. Idealized Influence (Behaviour)0 1 2 3 4 24. Management-by-Exception (Active).. 0 1 2 3 4 25. Idealized Influence (Attributed)0 1 2 3 4 26. Inspirational Motivation 0 1 2 3 4 27. Management-by-Exception (Active)0 1 2 3 4 28. Laissez-faire Leadership. 0 1 2 3 4 29. Individual Consideration 0 1 2 3 4 30. Intellectual Stimulation.0 1 2 3 4 31. Individual Consideration.0 1 2 3 4 32. Intellectual Stimulation.0 1 2 3 4 33. Laissez-faire Leadership. 0 1 2 3 4 34. Idealized Influence (Behavior).. 0 1 2 3 4 35. Contingent Reward ..0 1 2 3 4 36. Inspirational Motivation0 1 2 3 4 37. Effectiveness.. 0 1 2 3 4 38. Satisfaction .0 1 2 3 4 39. Extra Effort0 1 2 3 4 40. Effectiveness0 1 2 3 4 41. Satisfaction.. 0 1 2 3 4 42. Extra Effort0 1 2 3 4 43. Effectiveness 0 1 2 3 4 44. Extra Effort. 0 1 2 3 4 45. Effectiveness.. 0 1 2 3 4 383

Appendix 6.3 Scores obtained on the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (rater form)
Leader Leader

J P Pandey( Alambagh) Pradhan (Bhopal) No of respondents Dimensions Satisfaction Extra effort Effectiveness Idealised influence (attribute) SAT EE EFF IIA 3.66 3 3.5 3.5 3.33 3.5 3.16 3.25 3.08 3.55 3.83 3.87 3.87 3.87 3.5 3 1.87 3.75 n 2 2

Idealised influence (Behaviour) IIB Inspirational motivation Intellectual Stimulation Individualised consideration Contingent reward Management (active) Management (passive) Laissez Faire LF by exceptionMEP by IM IS IC CR exceptionMEA

3.41

0.58 0

.625 0

384

Appendix 7. Organization chart of Indian Railways (Entries in violet are field managers. Entries in black are head quarter managers. Most
of the field managers work under the dual control of their immediate superior field manager and their headquarter manager. For example a Divisional Operating Manager (DOM) works under his immediate superior - a Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) and also under his headquarter superior Chief Operating Manager. DRM and GM are from any department other than medical and security). GM

COM CCM

CSC

CEE

COS

CME

CPO FA& CAO CSTE

PCE CMO

CMM Dy CMM

CWM Dy CMM

CWE, CRSE Dy CME

DMM APO

IPF

WME WEE WPO SFM

DMM IPF

DRM

DOM

DCM

DSC

DEE

DMM

DME

DPO

DFM

DSTE

DEN

MS

GM General Manager, COM Chief Operations Manager, CCM Chief Commercial Manager, CSC Chief Security Manager, CEE Chief Electrical Engineer, COS Controller of Stores, CME Chief Mechanical Engineer, CPO Chief Personnel Officer, FA & CAO Financial Advisor & Chief Accounts Officer, CSTE Chief Signal & Telecommunication Engineer, PCE Principal Chief Engineer, CMO Chief Medical Officer, CMM Chief Materials Manager, CWE Chief Workshop Engineer, CRSE Chief Rolling Stock Engineer, Dy. CMM Deputy Chief Materials Manager, Dy. CME Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer, DMM Divisional Materials Manager, APO Assistant Personnel Officer, SFM Senior Finance Manager, IPF Inspector of Protection Force, WME Workshop Mechanical Engineer, WEE Workshop Electrical Engineer, WPO Workshop Personnel Officer, DOM Divisional Operating Manager, DCM Divisional Commercial Manager, DSC Divisional Security Commissioner, DEE Divisional Electrical Engineer, DME Divisional Mechanical Engineer, DPO Divisional Personnel Officer, DFM Divisional Financial Manager, DSTE Divisional Signal & Telecommunication Engineer, DEN Divisional Engineer, MS - Medical Superintendent

385

Appendix 8. Intimation about co- action researchers Southern Cross University Graduate School of Management Tweed, Gold Coast, Australia Informed consent form
dt 20.4.2004 Sub: intimation about co- action researchers

To, Mr. Sunil Agrawal,Deputy Chief Materials Manager General Stores Depot, North Central Railway, Jhansi, India Dear Sir, For the purpose of implementation of ISO 9000 standard in a structured way at Jhansi warehousing unit of North Central Railway, a team of co-researchers for the action research team is requested to be made. The learning gleaned from this action research will constitute a part of the doctoral study in management which the undersigned is pursuing on a topic titled Total Quality Management as the basis for organisational transformation of Indian Railways from Southern Cross University, Australia. I would like to assure you that the learning gleaned from this action research study will be used only for academic purposes. While I look forward to co-researchers, their participation is totally voluntary and they will be free to withdraw at any time. However, the information gleaned till will be used. If you have any query, kindly do contact us. Further, any complaints or queries regarding this project that cannot be answered by the person responsible for this research project should be forwarded to:

Mr John Russell Ethics Complaints Officer Graduate Research College, Southern Cross University 386

PO Box 157, Lismore, 2480 Ph: (02) 66203705 Fax: (02) 6626 9145 Email: jrussell@scu.edu.au

Researcher: Madhu Ranjan Kumar Dy CMM/ N.C. Rly, e_mail- madhu_ranjan@yahoo.com Postal address: Bunglow no. 50, DLW, Varanasi 221004 ph: 0542-2302807 Supervisor Dr Shankar Sankaran, Associate Prof. Graduate School of Management, SCU, Tweed Head, Gold Coast, Australia, e mail:- ssankara@scu.edu.au

387

To,

Madhu Ranjan Kumar Dy COS/ NCR

Ref: your letter regarding ISO implementation at Jhansi depot through action research

With reference to your letter, the following members of Jhansi depot will be associating themselves for the ISO implementation as the co-researcher. Their participation is voluntary.

1. Sunil Agrawal-

Deputy Chief Material Manager

2. Shashi Bala Srivastava Divisional Material Manager 3. Rajiv Chaturvedi 4. U.C Pandey 5. B.B. Kalra 6. A.U. SiddiquiDivisional Material Manager Depot Material Superintendent 1 Depot Material Superintendent - 1 Assistant Materials Manager

Sunil Agrawal Deputy Chief Materials Manager Jhansi depot, North Central Railway India

388

Appendix 9. List of ISO certified units in the Indian Railways

1 2 Units Certified Under ISO Quality System (corrected upto 15.10..2003) B D F G H I Date of Staff Certificat- Standard strength ion

Type of Unit W.Shop/Diesel S.No. shed/Training Centre

Rly.

Name of Unit

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 2 2.1

Res. Centre PU PU PU PU PU PU PU PU PU PU PU

RDSO RCF RCF RCF RCF DCW CLW CLW ICF ICF RWF RWF

Units already Certified Production Units/RDSO RDSO/LKO 2500 Kapurthala 5800 Kapurthala 5800 Kapurthala 5800 Kapurthala 5800 Patiala 3900 Chittaranjan Chittaranjan Chennai Chennai RWF/ Yelahanka RWF/ Yelahanka 14230 14231

08.07.1999 6/30/98 26.09.01 21.07.99 12.7.02 08.9.1998 13.7.96 26.4.02

9001:1994 9001:1994 9001:2000 ISO-14001 ISO-14001 9002:1994 9001:1994 14001:1996

13,687 20.1.2003 9001:2000 13,687 24.12.2001 14001:1996 2345 19.11.94 9001 2346 28.6.99 14001

Workshops Mechanical Workshops W/S W/S W/S W/S W/S W/S W/S W/S W/S W/S W/S C&W Carriage W/S Wagon W/S CR CR CR WCR WCR WCR WCR ER NR NER NER SCR SCR SCR Parel Matunga Matunga Bhopal Bhopal Jhansi RSK W/Shop Liluah Kalka Gorakhpur Izatnagar Lallaguda Tirupati Guntupalli 1850 9600 9600 2200 2200 700 435 8400 NA 669 80 NA NA NA 25.02.02 03.07.01 20.6.02 12.6.01 9001:2000 9001:2001 14001:1996 9001:2000

21 2.1.1 22 2.1.2 23 2.1.3 24 2.1.4 25 2.1.5 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 2.1.6 2.1.7 2.1.8 2.1.9 2.1.10 2.1.11 2.1.12 2.1.13 2.1.14

14.4.2003 14001:1996 13.6.01 21.9.01 2.1.2003 NA 17.9.2001 7.1.2002 19.1.2000 21.5.99 24.3.99 9001:2001 9001:2001 9001:2000 9002 9002:1994 9001:2000 9002 9002 9002

389

Appendix 9 (contd)
S.No. 35 36 37 38 39 2.1.15 2.1.16 2.1.17 2.1.18 2.1.19 Type of Unit W.Shop/ Diesel shed/ Training Centre W/S W/S C&W W/S W/S Loco W/Shop W/S W/S W/S C&W W/S C&W W/S W/S W/S W/S W/S W/S Rly. SWR SWR SWR SR SR SER SER ECoR WR WR WR WR WCR WR WR Name of Unit MYS MYS Hubli Perambur Parambur Dsl. POH/KGP Coil Mfg. Section Kharagpur, Roller Bearing Section, Wheel shop Mancheswar Ajmer Ajmer Lower Parel Mahalaxmi Kota Pratapnagar Dahod Date of Staff strength Certificat- Standard ion NA NA 3354 NA NA 50 57 1870 NA NA 4814 NA 550 2298 NA 9002 31.3.2003 14001 28.10.99 9002:94 NA 9002 NA 9001 02.01.01 21.3.2002 10.1.2003 27.6.2001 NA 9002 9002 9001 9002 14001

40 2.1.20 41 2.1.21 42 2.1.22 43 2.1.23 44 2.1.24 45 2.1.25 46 2.1.26 47 2.1.27 48 2.1.28 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 2.1.29 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3 2.2.4 2.2.5 2.3

Mar.2000 9002:1994 May-00 9002:1994 NA 9000 Sept.2001 9002:1994 Jan.2002 9002:1994

Engg. W/S Engg W/S Br W/S Br W/S CPOH

CR CR NR NR NCR

Engineering Workshops Manmad 918 Sithouli NA Jalandhar 624 Lucknow 840 Allahabad 117 S&T Workshop

23.12.2000 9002:94 NA 14001 21.1.2000 9002:1994 20.4.2001 9002:1994 NA 9002:1994

59 2.3.1 60 2.3.2 61 2.3.3 62 63 2.4 64 2.4.1 65 2.4.2 66 2.4.3 67 2.4.4 68 69 3 70 3.1 71 3.2 72 3.3 73 3.4 74 3.5

S&T W/S S&T W/S S&T W/S

SR SR SR

Podanur (All sections except Q Relays) Podanur (Q Relays) Podanur (Q Relays)

716 161 161

24.10.2002 9002:1994 24.6.1998 9002:1994 23.11.2001 9002:1994

Electrical Workshops Loco W/S TM W/S EMU W/S Loco W/S CR ELW,Bhusawal 1609 559 NA NA 17.1.2002 9001:2000 17.1.2002 9001:2000 25.9.02 9000:2000 NA 9001

CR TMW,NKRD,Nagpur NR Ghaziabad SCR Lallaguda

DLS DLS DLS DLS DLS

Diesel Sheds & Diesel Training Schools ER Andal 750 5.5.2003 9001:2000 NR Tuklakabad 1182 18.2.2000 9002:1994 NR Ludhiana 1500 6.12.2000 9002:1994 NR Alambagh 1034 26.12.2001 9002:1994 NR Shakur Basti 163 6.7.2001 9002:1994

390

Appendix 9 (contd)
S.No. 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 Type of Unit W.Shop/ Diesel shed/ Training Centre DLS DLS DLS DLS DLS DLS LOFP/SC DLS DLS DLS DLS Dsl Trg Sch Dsl Trg Sch Rly. NWR SR SR SCR SCR SCR SCR SWR WR WR WR WR WR Name of Unit Bhagat Ki Kothi Golden Rock Erode Gooty Guntakal Kazipet Secunderabad KJM Ratlam Vatva Sabarmati Sabarmati Ratlam Date of Staff strength Certification NA NA NA 1000 700 1000 99 NA 983 848 959 14 33 NA 9.9.1998 21.9.2002 31.5.2001 28.5.2001 31.5.2001 28.5.2001 20.2.2001 31.3.2003 2.11.2001 29.10.01 29.10.01 31.3.03 Standard 9002:1994 9002 9002 9002 9002 9002 9002 9002 9001:2000 9002:1994 9002:1994 9002:1994 9001:2000

83 3.14 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4

ELS ELS EMU Shed EMU W/Shop ELS

CR NCR NR SR SCR

Electric/EMU/MEMU Sheds ELS,AQ,Ajni 902 Sept.2002 Kanpur 1070 11.5.2001 Ghaziabad NA 3.10.2002 Avadi Lallaguda 442 768 24.10.2000 3.12.2002

9001:2000 9002:1994 9000:2000 9002 9001:2000

94 4.5 95 96 5 97 5.1 98 5.1.1 99 5.1.2 100 5.1.3 101 5.1.4 102 5.2 103 5.2.1 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 5.2.2 5.2.3 5.2.4 5.2.5 5.3 5.3.1 6 6.1 6.2 7 7.1

ROH Dpt ROH Dpt ROH Dpt ROH Dpt

NR SR WR WR

Carriage & Wagon ROH Depot KJGY 172 Jolarpettai NA Vatva Sabrmati 179 362

04.05.02 NA Mar.2002 Mar.2002

9002 9002 9002:1994 9002:1994

Coaching Depot C/ Dpt C/ Dpt C/ Dpt C/ Dpt C/ Dpt W/ Dpt WR WR WR WR WR Bandra 324 Dec.2001 Mar.2002 Jan.2001 Jan.2002 Feb.2002 31.5.2003 9002:1994 9002:1994 9002:1994 9002:1994 9002:1994 9001:2000

Ahmedabad 516 Mumbai Central 881 Indore 243 Kankaria 516 Wagon Depots CR Kalyan Freight Depot NA Training Institutes Bhusawal NA Podanur NA Store Office Perambur 80

Trg Inst Trg Inst

CR SR

NA NA

9002 9002

Pur Off

SR

23.8.2002

9001:2000

391

Appendix 9 (contd)
Type of Unit Date of Staff W.Shop/ S.No. Rly. Name of Unit CertificatDiesel shed/ strength ion Training Centre 118 8 Trains 119 8.1 Train CR Bhopal-Nizammuddin NA NA 120 121 9 Construction Units 122 9.1 Con ECOR Bhubhaneswar NA NA 123 9.2 Con ECOR Bhubhaneswar 340 17.2.2003 124 125 10 Operating / Commercial Activity Centres 126 10.1 Res.Enq NCR Jhansi NA Jul-03 127 10.2 Ret.Rm NCR Gwalior NA Jul-03 128 10.3 Stn WCR Habibganj, Rly. Stn NA 15.05.03 129 10.4 Cntl Off WCR Bhopal NA Aug.2003 Divisional Control unit, 130 10.5 Cntl Off WCR NA 15.05.03 BPL 131 132 11 Running Rooms 133 11.1 Running Rooms NCR NA Jul-03 Jhansi Standard

9001:2000

9001:2000 9001:2000

2001:2000 2001:2000 9001:2000 2001:2000 9001:2000

2001:2001

392

Appendix 10. Organisational Chart of Jhansi workshop unit of Indian Railways

CWM

Dy CMM

Dy CME

WPO

WAO

IPF

DMM

WME, WEE

AAO

CWM- Chief Workshop Manager, Dy CMM Deputy Chief Materials Manager, Dy CME Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer, WPO Workshop Personnel Officer, WAO Workshop Accounts Officer, DMM Divisional Materials Manager, WME Workshop Mechanical Engineer, WEE Workshop Electrical Engineer, AAO Assistant Accounts Officer, IPF Inspector Protection Force.

393