An assessment of Total Quality Management in the financial services of United Kingdom and Brazil :a framework for implementation is proposed employing Quality Function Deployment

Abstract

There is currently worldwide interesti n the implementationa nd effectivenesso f the quality management movement in financial service organisations. Especially the effect Total Quality Managemen(tT QM) hasu pon transforminga n industryw hich is in a stateo f considerables tructuralc hangea, nd in which the competitioni s intense. The first stageo f the researchin volves the assessmenot f the statuso f TQM in bankingo rganisationsin the UK and Brazilian financial servicess ector.A questionnaire was used to investigate the perception of branch managers concerning the implementation and majors issues of TQM within the financial services industry in the UK and Brazil. Structured interviews with senior managers in charge of planning and developing the quality initiatives in the organisations surveyed were performed to investigatet he strategiesa ndm odelso f the TQM implementation. The collection of datai n this studyw asc onductedin two parts: (1) In 1995 the fieldwork in the UK was carried out this involved a survey questionnaire with branch managerso f fifteen 11ighS treetf inancial serviceo rganisationsa nd a set of interviewsw ithin two of the organisations urveyed. (2) In 1996 the Brazilian fieldwork was carried out. This involved the survey questionnairew ith branch managerso f ten High Street financial serviceo rganisations and a set of interviewsw ithin seveno f thoseo rganisationss urveyed. The analysis of the data obtained enable the identification of the current approachesto the implementationo f TQM; the effects of TQM in the financial services sector in the UK and Brazil; and the current strategiesa pplied and conceptualm ethods used for implementing TQM in those organisations. The second stage of the research presents the development of a TQM implementation framework employing the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) methodology. This has been designed to assist in the selection and formulation of the most comprehensiveT QM implementationa pproachf or a banking organisationsin both countries. The framework was designed as a proposal document to be used by quality practitioners,t op managerso f organisationsa nd quality managemenrte searcherws ho are implementing TQM.