Effects of organizational culture on total quality management and six sigma approach

In today's conditions where competition is intense, enterprises benefit from some management approaches and methods in order to survive and to differentiate from their competitors. Among these management approaches and methods, Total Quality Management (TQM) and Six Sigma approaches are noteworthy. The effective use of TQM and Six Sigma applications is also related to the type of organizational culture. In the first part of the study, concepts related to organizational culture and organizational culture concepts are discussed. In the second part of the study, Total Quality Management is emphasized and examined in detail including related concepts. The third part of the study covers the Six Sigma approach and other concepts related to this approach. The fourth part of the study formed the research part. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of organizational culture types on TQM and Six Sigma applications. Competing Values Framework (CVF) model was used to determine the types of organizational culture of participating enterprises. Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award model was used to examine the Total Quality Management practices of the enterprises. In order to measure the Six Sigma applications, Six Sigma role culture category was added and the enterprises were analyzed according to this category too. The study was carried out in the Izmir province due to both time and material constraints, and the sample was selected from Turkey Fortune 500 (2016) list. The results showed that the type of culture that dominated the majority of the participating enterprises was Hierarchy culture. After the culture of the hierarchy, the dominant culture in the participating enterprises was the market culture. In summary, it was observed that the participants were more likely to associate their business with hierarchy and then the market culture. When the relationship between organizational culture types and Total Quality Management application categories is examined, it is seen that the culture of adhocracy is the only culture type to be associated with all Total Quality Management application categories. Market, hierarchy and clan cultures were also found to be related to all the total quality management categories except for one quality application category (customer and market focus). In addition, it has been seen that the Total Quality Management practices of all enterprises are carried out in certain degrees. Among the Total Quality Management practices, customer and market focus and measurement, analysis and information management categories are used together by many companies. Furthermore, the results have shown that all culture types are supportive of Six Sigma role culture and Six Sigma practices.