AN EMPLOYEE SURVEY MEASURING TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT-PRACTICES AND CULTURE - DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION

This article presents a survey instrument designed to measure total qu ality management (TQM) and supporting organizational culture. In this study, 13 a priori dimensions of TQM and 10 a priori dimensions of org anizational culture or climate were operationalized in a 113-item surv ey designed to measure the level of culture and TQM as experienced by individual members. The instrument was successfully administered to a diverse sample of organization members. A factor analysis of results f rom 886 respondents indicates that seven TQM and five culture dimensio ns, comprising only 56 of the original items, account for most of the scale variance. This produces a relatively compact instrument that all ows researchers and practitioners to measure perceived culture and TQM implementation among all types of employees, work contexts, and TQM p rogram levels. Revised index scores were found to be significantly rel ated to stage of formal TQM program, thus supporting scale validity. S uggestions for using the instrument are presented.