4) The impact of the TQM elements

• Continuous skills development/ Education and training

  Positives:

  • Ability to afford skilled employees.
  • May be able to hire qualified trainers to train employees regularly.
  • Large businesses have human resources department dedicated to skills training and development.

  Negatives:

  • May be difficult to monitor the effectiveness of training.
  • Trained employees may leave for better jobs after they have gained more skills.
  • Poor communication systems in large businesses may prevent effective training from taking place.
• Continuous improvement to processes and systems

  Positives:

  • Can afford to use services of the quality circles to stay ahead of competitors.
  • Large businesses have a department dedicated to improvement of processes and systems.
  • Enough capital resources are available for new equipment required for processes and systems.

  Negatives:

  • Risk of changing parts of business that are working well.
  • Quality control can become complicated with large-scale manufacturing processes.
  • Systems and processes take time and effort to implement in large businesses as communication may delay the process.
• Adequate financing and capacity

  Positives:

  • Can afford to purchase quality raw materials and equipment.
  • Able to afford product research to gather information.
  • Large businesses have sufficient financing to test all processes before its implementation.

  Negatives:

  • Large rapidly growing businesses can consume large amounts of capital as they try to balance normal operations and expansion.
  • Financial capital is wasted when incorrect financial planning processes exist.
• Monitoring and evaluation of quality processes

  Positives:

  • Improve performance and increase productivity/ sales.
  • Large businesses may be better equipped to get things right the first time.
  • Modify interventions that may improve efficient use of resources.

  Negatives:

  • Not visible/ possible to check the quality of all the products.
  • Takes longer to detect problems or respond to weaknesses.
  • Large businesses often divided and departments work in silos.
• Total client/ customer satisfaction

  Positives:

  • Continuously promote/ foster positive business image.
  • Large businesses may be able to gain access to global market.
  • Lead to higher customer loyalty and businesses may be able to charge higher prices.

  Negatives:

  • Not all employees may be involved to total client satisfaction.
  • Reaction time to changing consumer demand may be influenced by delay in market research.
  • Employees who seldom come into contact with customers often do not have a clear idea of what will satisfy their needs.