The rise and fall of total quality management in the Chinese construction industry

Although the Chinese construction industry has organized a total quality management (TQM) campaign, the anticipated continuous improvement in quality fails to be realized in the industry. There are some obstacles to the successful implementation of TQM in a planned economy including those stemming from both within (internal) and outside (external) an organization. This study aims to unveil these major obstacles by a survey analyzed with the Delphi technique. These obstacles include the mandatory requirement by the government; acute competition in the construction market; commitment and leadership of top management; bidding policies; labor training; unique specialties of the industry; statistical methods; organization structures and teamwork; and resource input. The study reveals that external factors are more crucial than internal factors in hampering the successful implementation of TQM. Based on the analysis of quality management approaches and the pitfalls of quality certification in the construction industry of China, this paper proposes that active implementation of a quality management system is more effective than passive implementation in the pursuit of continuous quality improvement.