Evaluating the Practicality of Applying Crosby's 14-step Quality Improvement Programme in a Maltese Micro-Manufacturing Firm

Master's Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject Business economics - Business Management Corporate Governance grade: 80 University of Leicester course: Master of Business Management - Quality Management language: English abstract: Executive SummaryManufacturing companies including a local micro-enterprise - Quality Postform Ltd are persistently facing competitive pressures as a consequence of customers demanding higher quality products. The emergence of Quality Management has been attributed by many researchers and Quality Gurus including Phil Crosby as a strategic imperative for typical organisations to survive within a highly competitive environment. Nevertheless research carried out throughout the past years is relatively restricted regarding the practicality of micro-manufacturing firms in implementing Crosby's Quality Improvement Programme which is claimed to be highly beneficial in typical situations. This dissertation seeks to investigate this scenario from both a descriptive and critical perspective towards Quality Postform Ltd. The research provides a critical evaluation of the academic contributions towards the quality management concept. Distinct disputed viewpoints have been identified focusing on Crosby's 14-Step Quality Improvement Programme. From one end of the spectrum supporters uphold that claimed benefits have been acknowledged. Alternatively others sustain that in essence a Quality Improvement Programme is counter-productive in terms of its application within Small and Medium sized Enterprises. However the researcher has identified four key pre-requisites in order for micro-firms to effectively implement Crosby's programme. These include: management commitment the acknowledgement of a quality problem the organisation's readiness to embrace change together with the suppliers' readiness to support the quality programme. The methodology applied to assess the presence of these four pre-requisites at QPL was to compile primar