A Path Analytic Model of a Theory of Quality Management Underlying the Deming Management Method: Preliminary Empirical Findings*

TLDR

Deming’s 14 Points have shaped quality management, yet empirical evidence of the Deming Management Method’s effectiveness remains anecdotal, largely because a guiding theory has been lacking until recently. This study extends theory development by empirically testing an articulated quality‑management theory underlying the Deming Management Method. Using measurement statements from the World‑Class Manufacturing project, the authors operationalized the theory’s constructs and applied path analysis to the project data to assess the strength of the proposed relationships. The analysis confirms several theoretical links and identifies additional relationships that were not previously proposed.

Abstract

Despite the impact that Deming and his 14 Points have had on the practice of quality management, empirical support for the effectiveness of the Deming Management Method has not advanced beyond the presentation of anecdotal, case‐study evidence. In part, this is because theory to guide the conduct of empirical research has not been available. Only recently has such a theory of quality management to describe and explain the effectiveness of the Deming Management Method been articulated in the literature. This paper continues the journey of theory development; it reports the results of an exploratory empirical analysis of an articulated theory of quality management underlying the Deming Management Method. The constructs in the proposed theory are operationalized using measurement statements developed by the World‐Class Manufacturing research project team at the University of Minnesota and Iowa State University. Path analysis is applied to the World‐Class Manufacturing project data to explore the empirical strength of relationships advanced in the theory. The path analytic results provide support for several of the proposed relationships in the theory, and more importantly, suggest a number of new relationships which have not heretofore been proposed.