An Empirical Assessment of the EFQM Excellence Model as A TQM Framework

Nowadays, quality award models such as the MBNQA and EFQM Excellence Model are used as a guide to Total Quality Management (TQM) implementation by a large number of organizations. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of empirical result confirming whether these models clearly reflect the main premises of TQM. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the extent to which the EFQM Excellence Model captures the main assumptions involved in the TQM concept, that is, the distinction between technical and social TQM issues, the holistic interpretation of the TQM in the firm, and the casual linkage between TQM procedures and organizational performance. Based on responses collected from managers of 446 Iranian companies by means of a structured questionnaire, we find that: (1) social and technical dimensions are embedded in the model; (2) both dimensions are intercorrelated; (3) they jointly enhance results. These finding support the EFQM Excellence Model as an operational framework for TQM, and also reinforce the results obtained for the MBNQA, suggesting that quality award models really are TQM frameworks.