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TheRhetoricandRealityofTotalQualityManagementMarkJ.ZbarackiUniversityofChicago©byCornellUniversity,0001-8392/98/4303-0602/$!,00,IthankKimberlyD,Elsbach,JamesV,Jucker,JamesG,March,GerardoOkhuy-sen,andRobertI,Suttonfortheirhelponpreviousversionsofthispaper,ialsothanktheStanfordCenterforOrganiza-tionalResearch,StanfordUniversity'sOf-ficeofTechnologyLicensingResearchincentiveFund,theStanfordIntegratedManufacturingAssociation,andtheUni-versityofChicagoGraduateSchoolofBusinessforsupportingthisresearch.SpecialthankstoMarkBergen,StephenSchioesser,andGeorgeWu,aswellasChristineOliverandthethreeanonymousreviewersforveryhelpfuladviceindevel-opingtheideasinthisversion.Ipre-sentedanearlierversionofthis-paperinApril1994attheSocietyforIndustrialandOrganizationalPsychologyinNash-viRe,TennesseeandinAugust1994attheannualmeetingsoftheAcademyofManagementinDallas,Texas,Thisarticleinducesamodeloftheevolvingrhetoricandrealityoftotalqualitymanagement(TQM)infiveorgani-zationstoshowhowinstitutionalforcescandistortthetechnicalrealityofTQM.Usinginterviews,organizationaldocuments,andobservation,tfollowthesocialconstruc-tionofTQMintheseorganizationstotracetherelation-shipbetweenthetechnicalpracticesandrhetoricofTQM.Themodelshowsthatmanagersconsumearheto-ricofsuccessaboutTQM,usethatrhetorictodeveloptheirTQMprogram,andthenfiltertheirexperiencestopresenttheirownrhetoricofsuccess.Consequently,thediscourseonTQMdevelopsanoverlyoptimisticviewofTQM.ThemodelsdemonstratehowindividualactionsanddiscourseshapeTQMandfuelinstitutionalforces.*[W]eareabsolutelyconvincedthatTQMisafundamentallybet-terwaytoconductbusinessandisnecessaryfortheeconomicwelt-beingofAmerica.TQMresultsinhigher-quality,lowercostproductsandservicesthatrespondfastertotheneedsofthecustomer.—^TheCEOsofAmericanExpressCompany,IBMCorporation,TheProcterandGambleCompany,FordMotorCompany,Mo-torolaInc.,andXeroxCorporationinanopenlettersenttoHar-vardBusinessReviewin1991Thetermiscounterproductive.Myworkisaboutatransforma-tioninmanagementandabouttheprofoundknowledgeneededforthetransformation.Totalqualitystopspeoplefromthinking.—^W.EdwardsDeming(quotedinSenge,1992)Thephenomenalspreadoftotalqualitynnanagement(TQM)hasgeneratedanironiccontroversy.ThecontroversypitsTQMadvocates,whoseeitasauniquelyeffectivemethodforimprovingorganizationalperformance,againstopponents,whoseeitonlyasthelatestofmanyorganizationalfads(HackmanandWageman,1995).Theironyisthatthecontro-versysetsadvocatesofTQMagainstscholarswhoseexper-tiseencompassestheveryrootsoftheTQMmethods.Ad-vocatesofTQMhaveusedTQMtobuildapositionfromwhichtheycriticizeacademicsfortheirfailuretostudyTQM(Robinsonetal.,1991).Yetthoseacademicsshouldunder-standTQMbetterthantheadvocates,becauseTQMem-ploystechnicalmethodsscholarshavestudiedforyears(DeanandBowen,1994;HackmanandWageman,1995).Meanwhile,someoftheoriginalexpertsinthequalitymove-ment,whocontinuetopreacharenewalofbusiness,havecometodetestthetermtotalqualitymanagement(Senge,1992).Andasorganizationalscholarshavescrambledtoun-derstandtheTQMphenomenon,theyfindthemselvesgrap-plingwithdiffuseandambiguousdefinitionsofTQM.MostorganizationalscholarswhohaverespondedtothecallforTQMresearchhavefocusedtheirtheoreticaleffortsonrefin-ingdefinitionsofTQM(DeanandBowen,1994;Sitkin,Sut-cliffe,andSchroeder,1994;Spencer,1994;HackmanandWageman,1995)andofquality(ReevesandBednar,1994).Thecontroversyhascreatedtwocompetingrhetoricalposi-tionsandgreatdifficultyreconcilingthetwo.SuchproblemsarenotuniquetoTQM.Empirically,variousmanagementfadssuggestthatTQMrepresentsthelatestinstanceofanenduringproblem.Hackman(1975),nearthepeakofhisworkonjobenrichment,predicteditscomingdemise.LawlerandMohrman(1985)triggeredanexplosion602/AdministrativeScienceQuarterly,43(1998):602-636RhetoricuidRealityofcontroversybyanticipatingthedeclineofqualitycircles.Zipkin{1991}puzzledovertheoveriyenthusiasticandinap-propriateuseofjust-in-time(JIT)manufacturing.And,morerecently,reengineeringseemstohavefollowedthesamepatternofexpansiverhetoricunmetbytherealityofuse.Otherexamplesabound,includingT-groupsandmanage-ment-by-objectives(HackmanandWageman,1995).Theoret-ically,recentresearchonmanagementfashion{Abrahamson,1991,1996)seekstounderstandthesedynamics.TQMre-ftectsaconsistentthemeinrecentorganizationaltheory:aconcernthatthesefashionsconsistmainlyofhype.Suchconcernshavegeneratedconsiderableconcernabouttheroleoforganizationaltheorists{e.g.,Beyer,1992;Donaldson,1992).AccordingtoAstleyandZammuto(1992),organiza-tionaltheoristsandmanagersengageinseparatelanguagegames.''Managersgeneraterhetoric,organizationaltheo-ristsgeneratetheory,andthetwoproductscannotberecon-ciled(AstleyandZammuto,1992).Accordingtotheresearchonmanagementfashion,ongoingrelationshipsbetweenfashionsettersandfashionusersfuelademandformanage-rialfashions.Consequently,thecontentofthefadsappar-entlymeanslessthanthevalueofmaintaininganappear-anceofrationalityandremainingattheforefrontofmanagerialthought(Abrahamson,1996).'recognizethatthereissomelegitimatedisputeoverthewaythatAstleyandZammuto(1992)haveused