Critical Success Factors Affecting the Implementation of TQM in Public Hospitals: A Case Study in UAE Hospitals

Abstract

Ahmad Aburayya, Muhammad Alshurideh, Amina Al Marzouqi, Osama Al Diabat, Alanood Alfarsi, Roberto Suson, Said A. Salloum, Dhoha Alawadhi and Aisha Alzarouni

The implementation of quality management strategies is a global phenomenon, particularly in organizations in developing countries, who have used different quality management systems to improve the quality of their services and to satisfy their customers. In the healthcare sector, the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy can help to enhance patient safety and help healthcare organizations improve performance and adopt cost-effective management practices. This research paper aims to identify and measure the Critical Successful Factors (CSFs) that affecting the implementation of TQM in hospitals. A literature review on TQM was examined to identify the CSFs for its implementation in healthcare between 2010 and 2020. In addition, this study employed quantitative methods to achieve its research objectives. A questionnaire was designed to gather empirical data from senior staff in hospitals adopting a self-administered technique to measure the CSFs that affecting TQM implementation. Of the 600 questionnaires circulated in two public hospitals in Dubai, 356 questionnaires were analyzed, producing a response rate of 59.3%. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were applied to analyse the data employing central tendency (Mean), measures of dispersion (Standard Deviation) and Principle Component Analyses (PCA). The findings in this study revealed that an effective TQM implementation in hospitals require abundant top management commitment, employee involvement, training and education, recognition and reward, process management, strategic planning, information analysis, organization culture, continuous improvement, and customer focus. The results in this study further indicated that among the ten TQM implementation CSFs, top management commitment and customer focus were found to be the most CSFs affecting the implementation of TQM in hospitals with highest mean value of 4.8 and 4.7, respectively. This study has contributed to the existing TQM literature concerning the CSFs affecting the implementation of TQM in the healthcare context, particularly in hospitals. In addition, the findings of this research paper provide vital knowledge to hospital managers with a precious understanding of the factors that enable TQM implementation in hospitals.