International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management

Modeling Deming’s quality principles to improve performance using interpretive

structural modeling and MICMAC analysis
Nishant Mukesh Agrawal,
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Nishant Mukesh Agrawal, (2019) "Modeling Deming’s quality principles to improve performance using
interpretive structural modeling and MICMAC analysis", International Journal of Quality & Reliability
Management, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQRM-07-2018-0204
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QUALITY PAPER ISM and

MICMAC
Modeling Deming’s quality analysis
principles to improve
performance using interpretive
structural modeling and Received 31 July 2018
Revised 25 November 2018
MICMAC analysis
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Accepted 4 December 2018

Nishant Mukesh Agrawal

Institute of Management, Nirma University, Ahmedabad, India

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the 14 principles of Edwards Deming and create significant
relationships between them. No research has been reported on the implementation of Total Quality
Management (TQM) using Deming’s 14 principles. To fill this gap, Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) and
MICMAC analysis have been developed to understand mutual interactions among variables and find both the
dependence and driving power of these variables.
Design/methodology/approach – The research paper discusses a blend of practical applications
and introduces a theoretical framework. An ISM-based methodology is used to study and examine
interactions between identified variables, while MICMAC analysis is used to identify the dependence and
driving power.
Findings – This research utilizes Deming’s 14 quality principles, with experts from academia and industry
consulted to identify contextual relationships among variables. The result shows that the stated principles
“take action to accomplish the transformation,” “institute training,” “encourage education to employees” and
“institute leadership” are strategic requirements, while “drive out fear,” “break down barrier between staff
areas” and “eliminate numerical quotas” are tactical requirements. “Adopt the new philosophy,” “create
constancy in improvement of product and service” and “cease dependence on mass inspections” are
operational requirements for TQM applications.
Originality/value – An ISM-based quality framework, dependence power and driving power of variables
using MICMAC analysis have been recommended to the service and manufacturing industry as a new focus
area in the implementation of TQM.
Keywords Total Quality Management (TQM), Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM), MICMAC analysis,
Edwards Deming
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
In the twenty-first century, companies are struggling for improvements in their supply chains.
The key success factor is not only to improve a company’s supply chain but how fast it can
implement changes compared to its competitors. As a result, competition is not between
companies, but between supply chains. Hence, a good leader will drive their team forward to
manage changes in all aspects of business, and improve the efficiency of the organization. As
per Delavigne and Robertson (1994), in this world there are three types of changes: evolutionary
change, revolutionary change and change in the process of evolution. These types of changes
have been studied by Shewhart and later by Deming.

International Journal of Quality &

The author sincerely thanks Dr Sachin Modgil, Dr Rohit Singh and Dr Surendra Kansara for Reliability Management
continuous support in understanding of ISM and anonymous referees whose constructive comments © Emerald Publishing Limited
0265-671X
led to a substantial improvement of the paper. DOI 10.1108/IJQRM-07-2018-0204
 IJQRM Several management scholars continue to write, speak and be aware of the principle of
quality across across all the organizations. Prominent among them are Juran (1989) and
Crosby (1990, 1992), and each of them has developed important ideas which have been
accepted by the industry. However, it is Deming’s “quality” formulation that has become the
rule in guiding the actions of many managers. Deming’s involvement in the quality
movement in Japan is well recognized in both the eastern and the western worlds.
The success story of Japan is partly credited to its adoption, modification and extension of
the scope of Deming’s theory of 14 points of management, producing their own unique
concepts of production and Total Quality Management (TQM). Deming also claimed that up
to 85 percent of the causes of any mistakes, variation, inefficiency problems and waste in
any of business were the result of an organization’s systems (Deming, 1988).
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This paper is focused on modeling the enablers of the 14 principles of Deming using
contemporary techniques widely utilized for multi-criteria decision making, such as
Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM). The remainder of the paper is organized as follows.
Section 2 reports on the theoretical background of Deming’s management theories. Section 3
explains ISM methodology and model development with relationships between variables.
Section 4 explains driving power and dependence power of variables using MICMAC
analysis, followed by Section 5 which explains the results of this research work followed by
a detailed discussion in Section 6. Finally, Section 7 extrapolates some of the contributions
and shortcomings of the research presented.

2. Theoretical background
The influence that the late W. Edwards Deming and his management methods (Deming,
1982b, 1986; Walton, 1986) had on TQM practices in industry has been significant.
Therefore, it is not surprising to learn that even after his passing, Deming and his
contribution to industry is still highly visible which include (Rungtusanatham et al., 2003):
• the Deming Prize, Japan’s national quality award which encouraged the formation of
the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the USA;
• the Deming Electronic Network, an electronic mail network formed by the
spontaneous convergence of various groups, nationally (e.g. Wisconsin, Georgia,
California, etc.) and internationally (e.g. the UK, Russia, France, etc.), and devoted to
the study of Deming’s teachings;
• the Deming Cooperative, an Internet World Wide Web site to publicize information
related to Deming and his teachings;
• the W. Edwards Deming InstituteTM, a nonprofit organization devoted to
encouraging Deming’s quality management philosophy; and
• the Deming Scholars MBA Program at Fordham University, a graduate degree
program aimed at educating and training the next generation of managers in
Deming’s quality management philosophy.
Deming’s contributed not only to the quick regeneration of the Japanese economy after the
Second World War (Yoshida, 1989), but also to the turnaround and continued success of well-
known US organizations (e.g. Ford Motor Company) following the adoption of the Deming
management method. The Deming management method – a phrase created by Walton (1986)
to cover the breadth of Deming’s TQM approach – is most well known as a prescriptive set of
14 points. However, while the 14 principles first appeared in printed form in the early 1980s
(Deming, 1982a), they had been proposed as early as the 1940s (Yoshida, 1989) and
subsequently industrialized and crystallized over a period of four decades. During this time,
Deming’s consulting with firms in Japan and the USA led him to derive generalizations that
 ultimately became the 14 points. The “seven deadly diseases” and the “obstacles” presented ISM and
earlier (Duncan and Van Matre, 1990; Walton, 1986; Yoshida, 1989) noted: MICMAC
There were not, Dr Deming says, always 14. When he first put them in writing 20 years ago, there were analysis
ten or fewer. In his work with Japanese companies, problems were absent that he would encounter only
later in [the US]. It was not necessary to counsel the Japanese to “drive out fear,” […] By the same token,
his admonition […] to “remove barriers to pride of workmanship” was not necessary in Japan.

2.1 Deming management method

In parallel to Deming’s 14 point management method are the so-called “seven deadly
diseases” that hinder organizational performance and present numerous barriers to
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developing quality management (Deming, 1982b, 1986). These diseases include pursuit of
short-term profits, a lack of purpose and too many changes in management personnel. The
14 points in Deming’s management method are imperatives or “commands,” and meant to
serve as tenets of both intra-organizational and inter-organizational behavior (Anderson
et al., 1994). When adopted by firms, these 14 principles can offer a “cure” for the seven
deadly diseases and support organizations in overcoming the obstacles to manufacture and
deliver high-quality products and services (see Figure 1).
The core elements of Deming’s theory include what is known as a Profound Knowledge
system, which is made up of four inter-related parts. These are: an understanding of a
certain system (in other words, a given organization is a system that must be understood by
those within it); an understanding of what variation means in an organization, in terms of
the variability in services and their responses; a theory of knowledge on behalf of
organizational management which must understand and publicly state the philosophy
underpinning its actions; and a collective psychology where management observes and has
an understanding of the behavior of its employees.
Deming also advises that management teams adopt continuous improvement in the style
of “plan, do, act and then study,” or PDAS (Redmond et al., 2008). He articulated the idea that
organizational change must begin with the individual, and that this comes from an
understanding and implementation of the profound knowledge system. To be successful,
TQM has many long-term imperatives. One of these is that leaders in an organization must
have a passion for TQM. Without it, top management’s belief and energy for TQM could be
diverted to other priorities. While Deming insisted that there was no “instant pudding,”

HINDER

The Seven Deadly Diseases

RE
CU
Adopting Deming’s 14
Points Quality
Management
Philosophy OV
ERC
OM
E
Obstacles
Figure 1.
Deming’s 14 points,
HINDER seven deadly diseases
and obstacles
Source: Deming (1986)
 IJQRM several management consultants when establishing themselves with clients recommended
short-term gains instead of long-term changes (Petersen, 1999). As a result of the desire for
short-term gains, process enhancements and reductions in cycle times become very popular,
and in some cases become the ultimate objective for organizations.
Deming’s 14 quality principles are shown in Table I.
Below each of Deming’s 14 quality principles are stated in detail:
(1) Create constancy of purpose for improvement of product and service
Deming recommendeds radical new definition of a company’s role. Instead of making
money, business should survive and provide jobs through innovation, research and
development, constant improvement and maintenance. Long-term business survival is
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certainly one of the most cited aims of senior managers. Creating a short-term reaction to
long-term planning is a primary goal of a business, and this includes approaching a new
project with improved performance and a lower budget compared to previous ones.
Practically speaking, this approach should start with planning and allocate maximum
resources for training and education, based on what the business has learned from its past
experience, and complete risk analysis, cost-benefit analysis and contingency plans. By
implementing these strategies a business can constantly improve its services. It also suggests
managers should focus on a long-term vision and be flexible:
(2) Adopt the new philosophy
Customers’ demands are changing very fast and competition is also growing quicker than ever,
so managers need to adopt a new philosophy according to market conditions and the
technology revolution. Management should commit to a “quality philosophy” rather than
merely expect the work force to do so. Management should also orientate a more forward
direction – not at competitors, but at customers – which will be a game changer for the business.
Companies need to put always customers first rather than react to competitive pressure and
innovate their product as per the needs of the market.
Managers should resist challenges by learning new responsibilities and assuming
leadership for change position. Over a period of time managers will realize that economies of
scale can be achieved by increasingly creating supporting services:
(3) Cease dependence on mass inspections
Defective products are either reworked or thrown out, but both practices are unnecessarily
expensive. In effect a company is paying workers to make defects and then correct them.
So quality will come less from inspection, and more from process improvement. Inspection is
expensive, ineffective and too late in the process. Management should focus on continuous

Sr. No. Principle Sr. No. Principle

A01 Create constancy of purpose for A08 Drive out fear

improvement of product and service
A02 Adopt the new philosophy A09 Break down barrier between staff areas
A03 Cease dependence on mass inspections A10 Eliminate Slogans, exhortations, and targets for
the work force
A04 End the practice of awarding business on A11 Eliminate numerical quotas
the basis of price tags alone
A05 Improve constantly and forever the A12 Remove barriers that rob people of pride of
system of production and service workmanship
Table I. A06 Institute training A13 Encourage education and self- improvement for
Deming’s 14 quality everyone
principles A07 Adopt and institute leadership A14 Take action to accomplish the transformation
 improvement in the production process because the world is moving so fast and technology is ISM and
becoming disruptive. Companies are moving toward automation so the chances of defects MICMAC
being manufactured in the process are going to reduce: analysis
(4) End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tags alone
Sometimes purchasing departments look for the lowest priced vendor which can lead to the
selection of lower quality suppliers. Instead managers should look for the best quality at a
price they can afford and aim to achieve that with a single vendor.
There are fewer chances for a business to survive that delivers a poorly developed product
or service to customers even if it is the cheapest on the market. Poor quality at a “good” price
results in remaking a service or product, imposing greater costs to the organization. Billions of
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dollars are wasted yearly because of an emphasis on price at the expense of quality. Business
will expand only through long-term relationships with suppliers across a supply chain.
Working with the same vendors over time will make business operations more effective,
meaning lower prices and higher returns:
(5) Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service
Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and
productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs. (Deming, 1986, p. 23)
Commitment to quality must come from the top management, and continuous improvement
in production processes should be followed by each and every member of organization.
Quality starts with the intent of management; improvement is not a single effort but a
continuous journey that businesses should follow to reduce waste and improve quality. It is
the role and responsibility of management to keep an eagle eye on continuous improvement
in design, product, process, training, supervising, maintenance, etc. Deming was quick to
point out that organizations that focus on continuous improvement will be truly reactive to
customers’ needs, and maintain higher standards:
(6) Institute training
Institute training should be provided to each and every level of an organization. There was
one survey of European industry (Dale and Cooper, 1993) which found five aspects of TQM
where most employees require training, these aspects are: integration of quality and business
planning, top management commitment in TQM, quality cost and cost effectiveness of TQM,
employee involvement in TQM, and TQM and marketing. Top management of the company
needs to provide sufficient resources to its management teams to train employees so that they
can serve the customer with a better quality product. The involvement of employees in the
training program leads to a better quality process in the organization without any defects:
(7) Adopt and institute leadership
Batley (1994) identified elements of leadership which influence quality, including: performance,
perceived situation, vision and mission, leader behaviors, use of tradition and personal quality:
The job of management is not supervision, but leadership. The aim of management should be to
improve the performance of man and machine […]. (Deming, 1986, p. 54 and 248)
Several times Deming criticized leaders who do not take care of their employees. Leadership
is one of the major components of the organization. It is the element through which
organizations achieve long-term and short-term goals in a competitive environment (Rowley
and Sherman, 2003). Leaders should provide all the necessary resources to employees who
enhance their skills and comfort them in the workplace. There are a significant number of
authors who believe that without leadership one cannot improve quality in an organization
(Dahlgaard et al., 1995; Lakshman, 2006; Spanbauer, 1995). There are several viewpoints on
 IJQRM leadership in this context, one of which is Tofte (1995, p. 474) who said “leadership is a
relationship between the people and all of them have equal opportunity to learn best
leadership practices”:
(8) Drive out fear
The supposition is prevalent the world over that there would be no problems in production or in
service if only our production workers would do their jobs in the way that they were taught.
Pleasant dreams. The workers are handicapped by the system, and the system belongs to
management. (Deming, 1986, p. 134)
This principle infers that fear is a fragment of the organization and may affect everyone.
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Such fear may affect employees’ productivity and efficiency. So when this situation occurs,
whether directly or indirectly, quality will suffer. Fear within the organization affects
productivity and restricts knowledge sharing. Ryan and Oestreich (1991) identified some of
the potential consequences when individuals speak out about fears, and these are:
• loss of employment;
• lack of career or financial advancement;
• loss of credibility; and
• interpersonal rejection.
Deming (1986) believed that fear must be driven out so that every employee can work
effectively for the organization:
(9) Break down barriers between staff areas

People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team, to foresee problems of
production and in use that may be encountered with the product or the service (Deming, 1986, p. 24).
According to Deming (1986) collaboration and team working is imperious in existing
organizations. There are many barriers to collaborative working identified in the literature,
which include poor negotiation skills, professional role demarcation and a lack of knowledge
of each other’s responsibility (D’Amour et al., 2004; Hall and Weaver, 2001; Weinstein, 1998).
Annual performance reviews for individual employees are one of the important barriers
identified by Deming (1986). Deming’s principle on teamwork is not just about problem
solving and decision making, but also about more practical aspects which break down
professional barriers in an organization (Weinstein, 1998; Oandasan and Reeves, 2005).
According to Deming (1986), a different approach is required to set up a team in an
organization which may result in a change of process and structure:
(10) Eliminate slogans, exhortations and targets for the work force
It is not always people who make mistakes, sometime processes force mistakes to be made.
Many times firms have been known to eliminate slogans, exhortations and targets for the
work force, but they never help employees for the good job. According to Deming there is no
replacement for training employees to do a good job – just by giving a slogan and a target to
work force they will not achieve the desired result. The key point is if managers are using
slogans, it must be sincere and not just hype. So, slogans like “zero defects, eliminate waste”
will not help workers to produce better quality or do a better job. Such exhortations only
create adversarial relationships:
(11) Eliminate numerical quota
Numerical quotas will not help employees to do better job. Sometimes numerical quotas cost
as much as the loss in terms of waste of time and productivity. In many of the factories,
 employees work at the optimum rate only in the last hour or two of the day. Workers have ISM and
then completed their quotas for the day, and so a quota system will not improve the MICMAC
productivity of the organization or develop continuous improvement. Removing quota analysis
systems encourages the employee to apply new ideas in the workplace. Numerical quotas
will become a guarantee for inefficiency and high cost, and can also produce a negative
effect which generates frustration. Deming is not telling us to manage without numbers a
company should have aims and strategies but not in isolation:
(12) Remove barriers that rob people of pride of workmanship
People are eager to do a good job and can often feel distressed when they cannot. Internal
competition has created many barriers to cooperation; barriers always exist between the
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employees and their organization. These barriers exist because of poor communication,
ignorance of an organization’s mission and vision, as well as personal jealousies. So
managers should adopt long-term perspectives to remove barriers, and every employee
should work in teams toward common goals of the organization. Pride of workmanship does
exist in the organization and not because of a lack of training, lack of supervision or
resources:
(13) Encourage education and self- improvement for everyone
Organizations should invest in education of their employees, and give them proper on-the-job
training while introducing worship of knowledge. The management of the company recognizes
the importance of training and development. This is the only recipe for the promise of lifelong
employment and organizational success. Organizations should keep their employees
consistently motivated and encourage them to improve their education and training
development. Employees should have an eagerness to learn new practices in the organization.
The return on investment from employee education will always be higher compared to other
returns. Employees in turn should appreciate the good work of other colleagues and help each
other in the process. Automatically employees will grow and simultaneously the organization
will also develop:
(14) Take action to accomplish the transformation
It will require a special top management team to carry out quality missions and implement
strategy. Workers cannot do it on their own, nor can middle-level managers. Top management
must take responsibility to transform a company by implementing the best quality practices in
the organization, and they should create a corporate structure in order to implement their
philosophy. Put everybody in the company to work on accomplishing the transformation.
Transformation of the organization is everyone’s responsibility (Deming, 1986, pp. 23-24).
Organizations must integrate manufactures, suppliers and customers together to transform the
process, culture and structure.

3. ISM and model development

ISM is an interactive learning process where a set of directly related variables are structured as
a comprehensive, systemic hierarchical model known as structural model (Warfield, 1974;
Sage, 1977). It was proposed by Warfield (1976) in order to analyze complex socioeconomic
systems, and since then ISM has been used in various fields to convert complex relationships
into a structural model. This technique helps to impose order and direction onto a complex
relationship among the variables of a system, as discussed by Agarwal et al. (2007), Jharkharia
and Shankar (2004) and Ramesh et al. (2010). The dependency on statistical data to get results
makes structural equation modeling (SEM) ambiguous (Wisner, 2003), but ISM allows
researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the relationships among key issues. Saxena
and Vrat (1992) examined energy conservation in the Indian cement industry by applying the
 IJQRM ISM methodology, and it has since been used by several other researchers in different fields
(Mandal and Deshmukh, 1994; Jharkharia and Shankar, 2004, 2005; Ravi and Shankar, 2005) to
develop a better understanding of the systems under consideration.
Mandal and Deshmukh (1994) used the ISM methodology to analyze some key vendor
selection criteria and have shown the inter-relationships of those criteria and their levels.
Singh and Sushil (2013) identify and analyze the enablers of TQM and its outcome variables
in the Indian airline industry using ISM modeling techniques. Ravi and Shankar (2017)
studied interactions among variables of reverse logistics in the automobile industry also
using ISM methodology.
The various applications of ISM are shown in Table II – ISM methodology is interpretive
because brainstorming expert opinion from academics and industry determines how the
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variables are related. To test the theory put forward, a detailed explanation of Deming’s 14
principles was circulated to the two sets of experts. After ten days, a session was organized to
establish mutual relationships among the variables. A contextual relationship of the type
“construct to” was chosen (does one variable construct to another variable?). Experts were
asked to answer this in terms of “yes” or “no.” If the answer was “yes” it was to be further
interpreted (in terms of answering a “how” question) in a single line. After seven days, the list
of variables and inter-relationship diagram were circulated for any further modification. So, on
the basis of the relationships that were obtained, an overall structure about the complex set of
variables can be generated. The steps involved in the ISM methodology are as follows.
Step 1: identification of set of variables affecting a system or which are relevant to the
study. This can be done with the help rigor literature review, opening of expert from
academic and industry or brainstorming session with experts.
Step 2: define the contextual relationship between variables which indicates whether or
not one variable leads to another.
Step 3: construction of Structural self-interaction matrix (SSIM) for the variables. SSIM
indicates a pairwise relationship between the attributes of the system under consideration.
Step 4: developing a reachability matrix from the SSIM and the matrix is checked for
transitivity. Step 4 is concerned with the construction of the reachability matrix. Transitivity
is the basic assumption made in ISM that leads to the final reachability matrix; it states that if
an attribute A is related to B and B is related to C, then A is necessarily related to C.

Sr. No. Area of Application Contributor

1 Cement industry Saxena and Vrat (1992)

2 Vendor selection Mandal and Deshmukh (1994)
3 Waste management Sharma and Gupta (1995)
4 Reverse logistics Ravi and Shankar (2005)
5 Six Sigma Soti et al. (2010)
6 Supply chain collaboration Ramesh et al. (2010)
7 Third-party reverse logistics providers Govindan et al. (2012)
8 Information security management Chander et al. (2013)
9 Analyzing factors inhibiting implementation of Total Poduval and Pramod (2015)
Productive Maintenance (TPM)
10 Analysis of green supply chain barriers Dube and Gawande (2016)
11 Modeling of critical risk factors in software engineering project Samantra et al. (2016)
12 Modeling the enablers of green supply chain management Malviya and Kant (2017)
13 Integrating quality management in manufacturing and service Goyal, G. et al. (2017)
counterparts
14 Risk analysis and mitigation for perishable food supply chain Prakash et al. (2017)
Table II. 15 Investigation into the hierarchical nature of TQM variables Veltmeyer and Mohamed (2017)
Application 16 Identifying critical success factors for sustainable growth of Shamshad, M et al. (2018)
areas of ISM Indian banking sector
 Step 5: the reachability matrix obtained in the fourth step is partitioned into different levels. ISM and
Step 6: based on the relationships given in step 5 in the reachability matrix, a directed MICMAC
graph is drawn and the transitive links are removed. analysis
Step 7: the resultant digraph is converted into an ISM, by replacing variable nodes
with statements.
Step 8: the ISM model developed in the seventh step is reviewed to check for conceptual
inconsistency and necessary modifications are made.
Mandal and Deshmukh (1994) and Soti et al. (2010) presented the steps in the form of a
flow chart. Figure 2 represents the various stages of ISM in the form of a flow chart.
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3.1 Self-Structural Interaction Matrix (SSIM)

Table III indicates pairwise relationships between the variables of Deming’s 14 principles for
TQM. In this research, two experts – one each from academia and industry – were utilized to

Deming’s quality principles

Contextual relationship (Xi, j) between Opinion of experts

variables (i, j) is established

Reachability
Structural Self-Interaction Matrix (SSIM) Matrix is
is developed developed

Reachability Matrix is partitioned into

different levels
Necessary modification

Reachability Matrix is developed in its

conical form

Transitivities are
removed from the Diagraph is developed
diagraph

Yes
Replace variables nodes
Are there any
with relationship
conceptual
statements
inconsistency?

No
Figure 2.
Represent relationship statement into model Flow diagram for
of Deming’s quality principle preparing ISM
 IJQRM A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14

A1 O O X O O A A A O A O V O
A2 O X X O X A X O O X A V
A3 O A O A O O O A O A A
A4 V O A O O A X O X O
A5 V O A O O O X O X
A6 X O O O O V A O
A7 O X A O O V A
A8 A O V A A V
Table III. A9 O A O V A
A10 X O V A
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Self-Structural
Interaction Matrix A11 V A O
(SSIM) of Deming’s 14 A12 O O
quality principle A13 O

identify contextual relationships among the variables. The ISM modeling technique has been
used with experts’ opinions based on various techniques, such as brainstorming, in
developing contextual relationships among the elements (Charan et al., 2008). As suggested in
the ISM methodology (Warfield, 1974; Mandal and Deshmukh, 1994; Thakkar et al., 2005,
2007, 2008; Talib et al., 2011a, b; Gupta et al., 2013; Sahney, 2015), the following four symbols
have been used to denote the direction of the relationship between the elements i and j:
(1) V is used for the relationship from construct i to construct j but not in both directions.
(2) A is used for the relationship from construct j to construct i but not in both directions.
(3) X is used for both direction relations from i to j and j to i.
(4) O is used for no relation between two constructs which means the relation between
the elements does not appear to be valid.
A similar logic holds for the Deming’s quality principle:
• Variable A9 helps to alleviate variable A13. It implies that if the barrier between staff
areas is removed then it would help self-improvement for everyone. Hence, “V” in
Table III denotes the relationship between variables A9 and A13.
• Variable A2 can be alleviated by variable A8, in other words “drive out fear” would
help to alleviate variable 2 and adopt the new philosophy. Thus “A” denotes the
relationship between variables A2 and A8 in SSIM.
• Variable A6 (“institute training”) and variable A7 (“adopt institute leadership”) would
help complete each other. Thus “X” denotes the relationship between these two variables.
• No relationship exists between variable A3 – i.e. “cease dependence on mass
inspection” and variable A9 – i.e. “break down barriers between staff areas.” Thus,
“O” denotes the relationship between variable A3 and A9 in Table III.

3.2 Reachability matrix construct from SSIM and check for transitivity
The SSIM is transformed into a binary matrix called an “initial reachability matrix” and by
substituting V, A, X, O by 1 and 0 as per the following rules, a binary matrix can be
achieved, and it is presented in Table IV:
• if the (i, j) entry in the SSIM is V, then the (i, j) entry in the reachability matrix
becomes 1 and the ( j, i) entry becomes 0;
 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14
ISM and
MICMAC
A1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 analysis
A2 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1
A3 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
A4 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
A5 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
A6 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
A7 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0
A8 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1
A9 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0
A10 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0
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A11 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0
A12 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
A13 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 Table IV.
A14 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 Reachability matrix

• if the (i, j) entry in the SSIM is A, then the (i, j) entry in the reachability matrix
becomes 0 and the ( j, i) entry becomes 1;
• if the (i, j) entry in the SSIM is X, then the (i, j) entry in the reachability matrix
becomes 1 and the ( j, i) entry also becomes 1; and
• if the (i, j) entry in the SSIM is 0, then the (i, j) entry in the reachability matrix becomes
0 and the ( j, i) entry also becomes 0.
Following these rules, the initial reachability matrix for the variables is complete. The initial
reachability matrix for the main attributes has been derived from the SSIM by substituting
the concerned binary values.
The dependence power is equal to the total number of elements (including itself ) which
help to achieve it. The driving power of the elements is equal to the total number of elements
(including itself ) which help to achieve it. The rank of each variable in the final reachability
matrix along with the driving and dependence power is also shown in Table V.

Driving
A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 power Rank

A1 1 1* 1* 1 1* 1* 0 1* 0 0 1* 0 1 0 9 4
A2 1 1 1* 1 1 1* 1 1* 1 1* 1* 1 1* 1 14 1
A3 1* 1* 1 1 1* 0 0 0 0 0 1* 0 1* 0 7 5
A4 1 1 1* 1 1 1* 1* 1* 1* 1* 1 1* 1 1* 14 1
A5 1* 1 1 1* 1 1 1* 1* 1* 1* 0 1 0 1 12 3
A6 1* 1 1* 1* 1* 1* 1 1* 1* 0 0 1 1* 1* 12 3
A7 1 1* 1 1 1* 1 1 1* 1 0 1* 1* 1 0 12 3
A8 1 1 1* 1* 1 1* 1* 1 1* 1* 1 1* 1* 1 14 1
A9 1 1* 1* 1* 1* 1* 1 1 1 0 1* 0 1 1* 12 3
A10 1* 1* 1* 1 1* 1* 1 1* 1* 1 1 1* 1 0 13 2
A11 1 1* 1 1 1* 0 1* 1* 1 1 1* 1 1* 0 12 3
A12 1* 1 1* 1* 1 1* 1* 1 1* 0 1* 1 0 1* 12 3
A13 1* 1 1 1 1* 1 1* 1 1* 1* 1 1* 1 1* 14 1
A14 1* 1* 1 1* 1 1* 1 1* 1 1 1* 1* 1* 1 14 1
Dependence Power 14 14 14 14 14 12 12 13 12 8 12 11 12 9 171 Table V.
Rank 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 2 3 6 3 4 3 5 Final reachability
Note: 1*, transitivity relationship matrix
 IJQRM The initial reachability matrix is subjected to transitivity check. That is, the interpretations
of relationships developed in the initial reachability matrix are checked to determine if all
relations are correctly assessed. Transitivity of the contextual relation is a basic assumption
in ISM (Singh and Sushil, 2013), and it is very critical to remove the same. In initial
reachability matrix, A3-A10 is 1 and A10-A2 is 1; hence, A3-A2 must be 1. However, initial
reachability matrix shows that A3-A2 is 0. All such gaps present in the initial reachability
matrix have been examined and modified to obtain the final reachability matrix, shown in
Table V.

3.3 Level partition

The last stage in the process being investigated involves the extraction of hierarchical
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ordering from the reachability matrix by level partitioning, and then finding out the
reachability and antecedent set for each construct (Warfield, 1977). The purpose of this
stage is to enable the construction of the digraph from the reachability matrix. The
reachability set for a particular element consists of the element itself and other elements
which can help to achieve it. The antecedent set for a particular attribute consists of itself
and the other attributes which may help to alleviate it. The intersection set for each attribute
is the intersection of corresponding reachability and antecedent sets. Then, if intersection
set and reachability set are the same, that attribute is considered to be level I and given top
position in the ISM hierarchy (Kannan and Haq, 2007). This means the attribute would not
help to alleviate any other attribute above its own level. As soon as the first iteration is
completed, it is classified as level I and discarded. The same process is repeated on the
remaining attributes to determine level II attributes.
These iterations are continued until all the levels of each attribute have been determined,
which are shown in Tables VI–XI. The identified levels help to construct the digraph and in
turn the final model of ISM. After removing the transitivity, the digraph is finally converted
into ISM as shown in Figure 3.

4. MICMAC analysis
MICMAC refers to the Matrice d’Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement
(Hussain, 2011). MICMAC analysis works on the principle of the multiplication properties of
matrices (Diabat and Govindan, 2011; Kannan et al., 2009), and one of the key objectives
of this analysis is to examine and categorize variables of interest in terms of driving power
and dependence power (Mandal and Deshmukh, 1994), wherein all the variables are
classified into four specified clusters (Hussain, 2011) with the following characteristics (full
details in Table XII):
• Cluster 1 contains “autonomous factors” which have neither high dependence nor
high driving power.
• Cluster 2 contains “dependent factors” which have high dependence and low
driving power.
• Cluster 3 contains “linkage factors” (relay variables) which have high dependence
and high driving power.
• Cluster 4 contains “independent factors” (influence variables) which have low
dependence and high driving power. The driving power and dependence of each of
these variables are shown in Table V.
Dependence power and driving power diagram is required to be developed, this
diagrammatic representation is also called MICMAC analysis, which benefits from the
examination and labeling from Deming’s quality principles in terms of driving power and
dependence (Mandal and Deshmukh, 1994; Singh and Sushil, 2013).
 Variable
ISM and
names Reachability_Set Antecedents_Set Intersection_Set Level MICMAC
analysis
A1 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A8 A11 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A8 A11 I
A13 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A13
A2 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 I
A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14
A3 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A11 A13 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A11 A13 I
A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14
A4 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 I
A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14
A5 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 I
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A9 A10 A12 A14 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A9 A10 A12 A14
A6 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A1 A2 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A1 A2 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9
A9 A12 A13 A14 A10 A12 A13 A14 A12 A13 A14
A7 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A2 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A2 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A11
A9 A11 A12 A13 A11 A12 A13 A14 A12 A13
A8 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A1 A2 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A1 A2 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9
A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14
A9 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A2 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A2 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A11
A9 A11 A13 A14 A11 A12 A13 A14 A13 A14
A10 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A2 A4 A5 A8 A10 A11 A13 A2 A4 A5 A8 A10 A11 A13
A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14
A11 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A7 A8 A9 A1 A2 A3 A4 A7 A8 A9 A10 A1 A2 A3 A4 A7 A8 A9 A10
A10 A11 A12 A13 A11 A12 A13 A14 A11 A12 A13
A12 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A2 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A10 A2 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A11
A9 A11 A12 A14 A11 A12 A13 A14 A12 A14
A13 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A1 A2 A3 A4 A6 A7 A8 A9 A1 A2 A3 A4 A6 A7 A8 A9
A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A10 A11 A13 A14 A10 A11 A13 A14
A14 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A2 A4 A5 A6 A8 A9 A12 A2 A4 A5 A6 A8 A9 A12 Table VI.
A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A13 A14 A13 A14 Iteration 1

Variable
names Reachability_Set Antecedents_Set Intersection_Set Level

A6 A6 A7 A8 A9 A12 A13 A6 A7 A9 A10 A13 A14 A6 A7 A9 A13

A7 A6 A7 A8 A9 A11 A12 A13 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A6 A7 A8 A9 A11 A13
A13 A14
A8 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 A14 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 II
A12 A13 A14 A14
A9 A6 A7 A8 A9 A11 A13 A14 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A6 A7 A8 A9 A11 A13 II
A13 A14 A14
A10 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A8 A10 A11 A13 A14 A8 A10 A11 A13
A11 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 II
A13 A14 A13
A12 A8 A11 A12 A14 A6 A7 A8 A10 A11 A12 A8 A11 A12
A13
A13 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A6 A7 A9 A10 A11 A13 A6 A7 A9 A10 A11 A13
A14 A14 A14 Table VII.
A14 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A13 A14 A8 A9 A12 A13 A14 A8 A9 A13 A14 Iteration 2

In Table V, entries of “1” are added along columns and rows showing the driving power and
dependence power, respectively. Subsequently, driving power and dependence power’s
diagrammatic representation is shown in Figure 4. Dependence power is plotted on the X
axis and the driving power (influence) is plotted on the Y axis.
 IJQRM The first quadrant consists of “autonomous variables.” These variables have both weak
driving power and weak dependence, and are relatively disconnected from the system.
In this cluster we do not have any such variables which specify that no variable can be
considered as disconnected from the entire system, and therefore the management has to
pay attention to all the identified variables.

Variable names Reachability_Set Antecedents_Set Intersection_Set Level

A6 A6 A7 A12 A13 A6 A7 A10 A13 A14 A6 A7 A13

A7 A6 A7 A12 A13 A6 A7 A10 A13 A14 A6 A7 A13
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A10 A6 A7 A10 A13 A10 A14 A10

A12 A12 A6 A7 A12 A13 A12 III
Table VIII. A13 A6 A7 A12 A13 A6 A7 A10 A13 A14 A6 A7 A13
Iteration 3 A14 A6 A7 A10 A13 A14 A14 A14

Variable names Reachability_Set Antecedents_Set Intersection_Set Level

A6 A6 A7 A13 A6 A7 A10 A13 A14 A6 A7 A13 IV

A7 A6 A7 A13 A6 A7 A10 A13 A14 A6 A7 A13 IV
A10 A6 A7 A10 A13 A10 A14 A10
Table IX. A13 A6 A7 A13 A6 A7 A10 A13 A14 A6 A7 A13 IV
Iteration 4 A14 A6 A7 A10 A13 A14 A14 A14

Variable names Reachability_Set Antecedents_Set Intersection_Set Level

Table X. A10 A10 A10 A14 A10 V

Iteration 5 A14 A10 A14 A14 A14

Variable names Reachability_Set Antecedents_Set Intersection_Set Level

Table XI.
Iteration 6 A14 A14 A14 A14 VI

Cluster Driving
no. Cluster Characteristics Power Dependence Variables

1 Autonomous These variables are relatively Weak Weak

variables disconnected from the system and may
not be strong
2 Dependent These variables are mostly dependent on Weak Strong A01, A03
variables others and are weak
3 Linkage These variables are extremely unstable so Strong Strong A02, A04, A05,
variables any action on them would affect other A06, A07, A08,
variables and also have feedback on them A09, A11
Table XII. 4 Independent Variable with very strong driving power Strong Weak A10, A14
Clusters and its variables called key variables so they influence
characteristics other enabling variables
 The second quadrant consists of “dependent variables” with weak driving power but strong ISM and
dependence. These variables generally depend on other variables and therefore any action MICMAC
taken on other variables would affect these. In this research study, A01 and A03 variables analysis
were found to be in the category of dependent variables.
The third quadrant has “linkage variables” (relay variables) that have strong driving
power and strong dependence. One of the significant characteristics of linkage variables are
that they are extremely unstable. Thus, any action on them would affect other variables and
also include feedback on them, so managers must take special care in handling these
variables. In the research presented here, variables A02, A04, A05, A06, A07, A08, A09, A11,
A12 and A13 were found to be in linkage variables category. At the same time these
variables are very fluid and dependent. Relay variables are further identified as
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stake variables and target variables. Stake variables are variables within cluster III, more
precisely located around the diagonal. Target variables are also in cluster III, under
the diagonal rather than along the north-south frontier. These variables are rather more
dependent than influent (Veltmeyer and Mohamed, 2017).
The fourth quadrant consists of “independent variables” (influence variables) having
strong driving power but weak dependence power. As independent variables possess high
driving power, policymakers should give more attention to these types of variables as they
can influence other enabling variables. It has been found that variables with very strong
driving power known as key variables fall into the category of independent or linkage
variables. In this investigation, variables like A10 and A14 were found to be in the category
of independent variables.
Some of the variables appeared on the midpoint of the matrix and could be part of any
cluster. Variable A12 was lying on center line of matrix and therefore they can be part of
cluster III or cluster IV.

5. Results
The ISM model reveals that if firms “eliminate slogans, exhortations and targets for the
work force” (A10) and “take action to accomplish the transformation” (A14), variables are
significant for the initiation of implementing quality principles in manufacturing and
service organization. As it appears at the base of the ISM hierarchy, lack of top management
commitment and coordination between departments are the most potent barriers,
possessing high driving power and low dependence power (Muruganantham et al., 2018).
As such, effective top management will play a significant role in the successful
implementation of TQM in organization (Dubey and Singh, 2015; Thakkar et al., 2008;
Dewangan et al., 2015; Goyal et al., 2017; Keshaorao Digalwar et al., 2015; Singh and Sushil,
2013). Studies revealed that it is significant for the top management to take a leadership role
and show strong commitment during the implementation of TQM to inspire employees
toward improved quality standards (Rivers and Bae, 1999; Lee and Asllani, 1997). This can
help the top management in deciding on the priority and focus on those variables which lead
to the desired results in the form of outcome variables.
“Institute training” (A06), “adopt and institute leadership” (A07) and “encourage education
and self- improvement for everyone” (A13) are needed in every phase of the successful
implementation of TQM. Top management involvement will lead training and education to
employees (Singh and Sushil, 2013). Similarly, the commitment of top management, as well as
efficient and visionary leadership, will set create a basis for the implementation of TQM in an
organization (Thiagarajan and Zairi, 1997). Training and education of employees is considered
to be an extremely important investment for TQM success (Baidoun, 2003). Quality begins
and ends with training (Thiagarajan and Zairi, 1997), and therefore training and education
based on total quality must be planned and provided if TQM implementation is to be
completed successfully (Thiagarajan and Zairi, 1997).
 IJQRM “Barriers that rob people of pride of workmanship” (A12) occur due to inadequate and/or
insufficient training or education (Miller, 1991). Meanwhile Deming (1986) believes that
people are mostly not at fault for shoddy workmanship, and that quality is primarily a
function of top management (Krantz, 1989); so human commitment here is to “institute
training” (A06), adopt and institute leadership (A07) and “encourage education” (A13).
These variables lead to the “removal of barriers that rob people of pride of workmanship”
(A12), as per Figure 3.
The MICMAC analysis shows that the “take action to accomplish the transformation”
(A14) variable is an independent variable, as it possesses high driving power – organizations
should therefore focus on it, as they have the ability to influence or affect other variables.
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6. Discussion
The main objective of this research work was to rank the quality principle of
Deming in order to analyze the interactions among variables which support the successful
implementation of TQM in a service and manufacturing organization. To achieve
these objectives, MICMAC analysis of the driving power and dependence power of
variables were classified into four clusters, as shown in Figure 4, and ISM-based
model was developed, as shown in Figure 3. This was completed in order to fully
understand the interactions among different variables so that the management of an
organization may focus on those variables which are more influential for TQM
implementation. This practice can increase both an organization’s productivity and
performance, and will thus help in improving customer satisfaction, thereby increasing
market share. The MICMAC analysis helps to classify and collate variables in terms of
driving power and dependence power. It is seen from Figure 4 that there are no

A1. Create constancy of A5. Improve constantly A4. End the practice of A3. Cease
A2. Adopt the
purpose for improvement and forever the system of awarding business on the dependence on mass
new philosophy
of product and service production and service basis of price tags alone inspections

A11. Eliminate A9. Break down

numerical A8. Drive out
barrier between
quotas fear
staff areas

A12. Remove barriers

that rob people of
pride of workmanship

A13. Encourage education

A6. Institute A7. Adopt and
and self-improvement for
training institute leadership
everyone

A10. Eliminate Slogans,

exhortations, and targets
for the work force

Figure 3.
ISM-based model for
Deming’s 14 quality A14. Take action to
accomplish the
principle transformation
 High
A14
A13 A08
A02
A04
ISM and
A10 MICMAC
analysis
Influent Variables A12 A06 A07
Relay Variables
(Cluster IV) A09
A11 (Cluster III) A05

s
ble
aria
eV
S tak
Target Variables
Regulating
Variables
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Autonomous
Depending
Variables A01
Variables (Cluster II)
(Cluster I)
Figure 4.
Driving

Driving power and

dependence diagram
A03 for Deming’s quality
Low
Low High
principle
Dependence

autonomous variables, which shows that all Deming quality variables play a significant
role in the implementation of TQM program.
Variables such as “eliminate slogans, exhortations and targets for the work force” (A10)
and “take action to accomplish the transformation” (A14) are clubbed together into the
fourth cluster of the driver-dependence matrix diagram (MICMAC analysis). All these
variables have strong driving power and weak dependent power and are called driver
variables (influence variables). Since take action to accomplish the transformation (top
management) variable lies at the bottom of ISM and has the strongest driving power
(Figure 4), it is the most important variable for the successful implementation of TQM.
Variables such as “create constancy of purpose for improvement of product and service”
(A01), “adopt the new philosophy” (A02), “cease dependence on mass inspections” (A03),
“end the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tags alone” (A04) and “improve
constantly and forever the system of production and service” (A05) come into the category
of the outcome variables. These variables are seen at the top of the ISM, and these are
dependent on mid-level and bottom-level variables.
Hence, in order to achieve the preferred result in the form of outcome variables, top
management must focus on variables having high driving power, and frame TQM
implementation strategies based upon these results and findings.

7. Conclusion
In this research investigation an ISM-based model has been developed for the successful
implementation of TQM programs in service and manufacturing organization for improving
customer satisfaction, efficiency and increasing market share. In this paper, Deming’s 14
quality principles have been used to find interactions among variables to implement TQM.
Although a large amount of literature is available on TQM enablers, no study has been
undertaken to understand the interactions among Deming’s 14 quality principles. The major
contribution of this research work is the development of contextual relationships
among variables through a systematic framework which can be used for any service
and manufacturing organization. A major finding of this research work is that the “role
of top management,” “institute training,” “encourage education to employees” and
“institute leadership” are significant variables for successful implementation of TQM in
service and manufacturing organizations. These variables have the strongest driving power
and the weakest dependence power and lie at the bottom of the ISM model.
 IJQRM This study has some important managerial implications which are as follows:
• Linkage variables need to be carefully handled by the top management, as they
possess strong driving power and strong dependence. A total of nine quality
principles have appeared as the linkage variable in this study and thus need to be
adopted by companies.
• Variables like A1, A2, A3, A4 and A5 are weak drivers but strongly dependent on other
quality variables. Thus, these variables depict some of the desired objectives of TQM.
• Findings include development of TQM competent organization, setting up time
framework to deploy quality based on organizational developmental capabilities and
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capacities. The effective use of the model leads to breakthrough strategies in TQM
deployment, which can help to improve the management of resources and ultimately
provide substantial financial benefits.
• The variables identified in this ISM model are quite general, and therefore with
minimal adjustments, they can be used in the context of any other supply chain for
increasing its efficiency and performance.
This research also has some limitations. Two experts were used for developing contextual
relationships among identified variables. Therefore, the expert’s knowledge, their
understanding of industry and its operations might have affected the final results of the
ISM model. ISM methodology has the capability of developing an initial model, which has
been done in this research. SEM, on the other hand, has the capability of statistically testing
an already developed theoretical model. Future research would attempt to validate the
proposed model through the use of SEM. Still, findings are crucial for top management,
production managers and consultants for TQM implementation.

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About the author

Nishant Mukesh Agrawal is currently working toward the PhD Degree in Operations Management at
the Institute of Management, Nirma University, Ahmadabad. He received the Bachelor of Engineering
Degree with Electronics and Telecommunication specialization from the Dr D.Y. Patil College of
Engineering, Akurdi, Pune, and MBA Degree from Durgadevi Saraf Institute of Management Studies,
Mumbai, with Operations Management as specialization. He has two years of academic experience as
Assistant Professor with around 30 months of full time and part time corporate experience. He has
presented various papers at national and international level conferences. He got first rank on dsij.in
(stock market) on November 29, 2012 out of around 8 lakh players across India. He has completed
many online courses on different topics from international universities like University of Pennsylvania,
University of Michigan, Stanford University, etc. He is also active member of Production and
Operations Management Society, American Production and Inventory Control Society and Decision
Sciences Institute. Nishant Mukesh Agrawal can be contacted at: [email protected]

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