Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101788

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Ain Shams Engineering Journal

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Roadmap for the implementation of total quality management (TQM) in

ISO 9001-certified construction companies: Evidence from Turkey
Cenk Budayan a,⇑, Ozan Okudan b
a
Department of Civil Engineering, Middle East Technical University Northern Cyprus Campus, Kalkanli, Guzelyurt, Mersin 10, Turkey
b
Department of Civil Engineering, Yildiz Technical University, Esenler, Istanbul, Turkey

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper aims to develop a roadmap for ISO 9001-certified construction companiesn to move towards
Received 18 December 2020 effective Total Quality Management (TQM) implementation. Although ISO 9001-certified companies are
Revised 11 February 2021 more ready for TQM implementation, there is no roadmap developed for these companies to move
Accepted 17 March 2022
towards TQM. Therefore, in this study, 8 main critical success factors (CSFs) and 24 sub-CSFs of effective
Available online 30 March 2022
TQM implementation were determined through a literature review and expert review meetings. Then, to
reveal the application-level differences of these CSFs, a questionnaire survey was prepared and dis-
Keywords:
tributed to participants working at 75 Turkish construction companies. The 16 of 75 construction com-
ISO 9001 certification
Total quality management
panies were selected among members of the Turkish Quality Association (Kalder). Finally, a total of 40
Critical success factors completed questionnaires were received and t-test analysis was performed on the survey data. The
T-Test results revealed that the most significant differences observed between these companies are giving qual-
Roadmap for TQM implementation ity awareness education to employees, training of employees on how to use quality management meth-
Construction industry ods and tools, quality data related to products provided by suppliers, and measurement of internal
customer satisfaction. Consequently, a roadmap was proposed based on the revealed differences. With
this roadmap, first, ISO-certified companies should provide quality awareness education to employees,
train employees on how to use quality management methods and tools, collect quality data related to
products provided by suppliers, and measure internal customer satisfaction to move towards TQM.
Ó 2022 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier BV on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-
nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction struction companies. Therefore, construction companies should

overcome these challenges to survive in the market.
Constant technological development and innovations have been Although the cost has been considered the only criterion in con-
transforming the environment and improving living conditions. tractor selection for a long time, due to the changes in customers’
Due to the dynamic nature of society, standardizing the production preferences, many new criteria related to product quality, service
of goods and services based only on the ‘‘basic” needs is no longer quality, and reputation have emerged in recent years [2]. Contracts
fulfilling customers’ expectations. Instead, they demand improved are not only awarded by considering cost, but also by considering
service quality, faster construction process, and innovations in non-financial criteria in recent years. In this respect, construction
technology [1]. These changes in the behavior of consumers also companies must improve their capabilities to satisfy these criteria.
affect the construction industry and create new challenges for con- ISO 9001 which is a set of criteria for a quality management system
has therefore been deemed a way of improving these capabilities
[3]. Besides, organizations can use ISO 9001 to demonstrate their
⇑ Corresponding author. ability to provide products and services that meet customer and
E-mail addresses: cbudayan@metu.edu.tr (C. Budayan), okudan@yildiz.edu.tr regulatory requirements [4]. In this respect, obtaining an ISO
(O. Okudan). 9001 is considered a type of quality assurance, and ISO 9001 is
Peer review under responsibility of Ain Shams University. demanded by the tenders especially in international projects.
Therefore, the popularity of ISO 9001 has increased in the con-
struction industry in recent years, even the industry itself now
has the 4th highest number of quality assurance certificates com-
Production and hosting by Elsevier pared to other sectors in the world [5].

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2022.101788
2090-4479/Ó 2022 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier BV on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
C. Budayan and O. Okudan Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101788

TQM, another quality management system, has been widely 2. Studies about how the construction companies can
implemented in various sectors. However, the worldwide imple- implement TQM
mentation of ISO 9001 has led companies to equate ISO 9001 to
TQM [6]. Most of the construction companies consider that they In construction management literature, there are several stud-
deploy TQM by obtaining an ISO 9001 certification [1]. Although ies about how TQM should be implemented in construction com-
TQM and ISO 9001 correspond, as stated in literature [7,8], these panies. One of the first efforts for developing a framework for
are still two different quality management systems. Obtaining TQM implementation in the construction industry is made by Bur-
ISO 9001 certification is not enough to fully implement TQM. Thus, ati and Oswald [18]. They pinpointed that there is no single univer-
companies should look beyond ISO 9001 to implement TQM in sal, cookbook approach to TQM implementation in the
their businesses [9]. Oliveira, Corrêa, et al. [10] also pinpointed that construction industry. To fill this gap, the authors aimed to collect
ISO 9001-certified companies do not start implementing TQM in and describe the proven best practices in TQM implementation by
their organizations automatically since they are not aware of the interviewing 17 major companies. Additionally, the authors intro-
continuous improvement element. However, Martínez-Costa, duced four sequential implementation phases. These phases
et al. [8] stated that companies that obtain ISO 9001 have the include exploration and commitment, planning and preparation,
potential to move towards TQM easily due to their internal motiva- implementation, and sustaining. Pheng and Teo [9] investigated
tions. Besides, achieving ISO 9001 is considered as a solid first step the implementation of TQM in construction companies by consid-
for the transition towards TQM due to the increase of awareness in ering 7 elements of TQM. Pheng and Teo [19] proposed a frame-
quality issues, the contribution of employee training, and encour- work for construction companies by examining two construction
agement of continuous improvement [11,12]. In other words, they companies applying TQM. Besides, they identified five measures,
have already achieved some TQM elements by obtaining ISO 9001 namely top management commitment, customer involvement
[12]. However, there are still important TQM elements required to and satisfaction, employee involvement and empowerment, cus-
be improved to implement TQM in ISO 9001-certified construction tomer and supplier relationship, and process improvement and
companies. In this respect, ISO-certified construction companies management, which can be used for measuring the performance
need a roadmap different from non-ISO-certified companies during of TQM. Metri [16] developed a decision framework that aids con-
the transition towards TQM. struction companies to adopt the TQM philosophy. The framework
Although the number of ISO-certified construction companies included 10 CSFs that are crucial for TQM implementation. Koh and
has increased in recent years, TQM implementation level is still Low [20] identified eight elements of TQM implementation and
low in the construction industry in comparison to other industries investigated the TQM implementation level in construction com-
[13,14]. This low implementation stems from the lack of standard- panies based on eight TQM elements via a questionnaire survey.
ization, staff mobility, geographical dispersion, complex contrac- At the end of the study, based on the findings, they proposed an
tual relationships, and diverse participated parties [1]. However, empiricist framework. Altayeb and Alhasanat [15] developed
TQM allows companies to achieve better control of processes, another decision framework for TQM implementation in various
resulting in consistency from design to delivery. Besides, it leads phases of project planning, design, and construction. Initially, a
to increased measurement of performance, and improvements in computer model was developed to assess the current strengths
customer perception of the company. Due to these benefits, TQM and weaknesses of each component. Then, a set of CSFs were devel-
can be regarded as an ideal quality management system to solve oped to guide decision-makers. Recently, Othman, et al. [17] devel-
the problems of the construction industry. Harrington, et al. [13], oped another decision framework including a set of CSFs as in line
supporting this, pinpointed that low-level implementation of with the Malaysian Governments’ transformation policy of the
TQM is one of the major reasons for the industry’s poor perfor- construction industry. The authors adopted a case study and ques-
mance, high level of waste and rework, and low level of customer tionnaire survey as a methodology. Consequently, in the construc-
satisfaction. tion management literature, most of the frameworks related to the
Although TQM can provide many benefits, it also requires a high implementation of TQM depend on the CSFs of TQM, therefore the
amount of investment. Therefore, the implementation of TQM is CSFs proposed in the literature should be investigated for develop-
also an investment decision. Construction companies should have ing a roadmap.
a roadmap for locating their limited resources on the key aspects
of TQM. In literature, there are many studies about how TQM
should be implemented in construction companies. However, stud- 3. CSFs of TQM
ies mostly investigate how non-ISO-certified construction compa-
nies can implement TQM without considering the effect of ISO 3.1. The studies related to CSFs of TQM
9001 [15–17]. Whereas ISO-certified construction companies
should be considered separately due to their structural differences There are many studies investigating CSFs of TQM by consider-
as a result of ISO certification. In other words, the key areas ing different contexts, such as different countries, industries, com-
required to be improved in ISO-certified construction companies pany sizes, respondents and sample sizes [21]. Therefore, firstly,
can be different from that of other construction companies. There- the studies conducted for construction industry were investigated.
fore, these key areas should be investigated for ISO-certified com- Arditi and Gunaydin [22] proposed seven basic CSFs for TQM
panies specifically. Consequently, decision-makers in ISO 9001- implementation and three construction-specific factors. These fac-
certified construction companies must have a strategic plan for tors were training, statistical methods, customer service, team-
the transition towards TQM. Otherwise, they can hardly achieve work, supplier involvement, cost of quality, management
TQM implementation [14]. commitment and leadership, quality of codes and standards, draw-
To fill this gap, this study aims to develop a roadmap for ISO ings and specifications, and constructability analysis. Metri [16]
9001-certified construction companies. This roadmap highlights proposed ten success factors, namely top management commit-
which key areas of the organization should be improved to imple- ment, quality culture, strategic quality management, design qual-
ment TQM effectively. Based on this roadmap, decision-makers can ity management, process management, supplier quality
determine key areas to be improved and allocate their resources management, education and training, empowerment and involve-
accordingly. ment, information and analysis, and customer satisfaction, for suc-
cessful TQM implementation. Altayeb and Alhasanat [15] proposed
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8 major CSFs to evaluate the implementation of TQM in the Pales- Top Management Commitment and Leadership: This factor
tinian construction industry. Besides, they considered 81 sub- refers to the measurement of how many individuals on higher
factors under these major TQM factors. At the end of their study, levels of an organization’s hierarchy involve and support the qual-
they concluded that seven CSFs with 38 significant sub-factors ity improvement in the organization [21]. Studies indicate that
are required to implement TQM successfully. The last study was there is a positive relationship between the degree of top manage-
conducted by Othman, et al. [17]. Authors aimed at determining ment commitment and the success of TQM implementation
critical factors affecting TQM implementation in the construction [19,22,27]. Therefore, ‘‘top management commitment and leader-
industry so that professionals can achieve effective TQM imple- ship” is considered as one of the important success factors of
mentation. Accordingly, 8 CSFs were initially proposed. Then, these TQM. When the top management actively participates in quality
factors were prioritized based on a questionnaire survey. Results of management and improvement activities, the culture of quality
the statistical analysis showed that employee-related factors were which is essential in making quality a core value in the organiza-
the most important factors affecting TQM implementation. tion is created. Besides, the top management should create an envi-
There are also studies conducted for different industries. For ronment in which employees can involve in quality management
instance, Karuppusami and Gandhinathan [23] performed a litera- and generate ideas to contribute to the improvement of the quality
ture review and analysis of the CSFs of TQM by examining 37 stud- within the business [30]. Finally, the top management should focus
ies. They extracted 56 CSFs at the end of the analysis. Talib and on long-term business success. The competition to meet short-
Rahman [24] conducted one of the most extensive literature term goals can lead to internal conflicts, adversarial relationships,
reviews. They determined 9 factors and proposed two new factors: reduced communication, and accusations when these goals are
employee encouragement and benchmarking. Another study for not achieved [22].
determining CSFs of TQM implementation was performed by Employee Involvement and Teamwork: Employee involve-
Hietschold, et al. [21]. They extracted CSFs by considering 62 stud- ment is one of the critical principles of TQM [1]. Especially,
ies. During this analysis, 11 central CSFs were determined. Another empowerment of employees should be at a satisfying level to uti-
systematic review of CSFs of TQM was conducted by Aquilani, Sil- lize the ideas of talented employees. With the help of employee
vestri, et al. [25]. They evaluated 103 articles published from 1993 empowerment, employees certainly respond to potential produc-
to 2016. They determined 59 CSFs, and they classified these factors tion errors more quickly. In return, this minimizes costs associated
under 11 groups. Lastly, Georgiev and Ohtaki [26] aimed at deter- with a response time of employees to the potential errors [21].
mining CSFs for the manufacturing industry in Japan. Authors Supplier Management: Supply quality is an important aspect
determined 12 CSFs by conducting a case study of three manufac- of TQM because the quality of the outputs of each party has an
turing Japanese companies. impact on the outputs of other parties involved in the same pro-
cess. For instance, in the construction industry, the quality of the
project delivered by the contractor is directly related to the quality
3.2. CSFs and Sub-CSFs of TQM of plans and specifications prepared by the designer; to the quality
of equipment and materials provided by suppliers; and to the qual-
Although there are many studies about CSFs of TQM, there is no ity of work performed by subcontractors. Therefore, close, and
common list used in all these studies [21]. Therefore, the proposed long-term relationships with these suppliers are likely to ensure
CSFs of TQM for construction industry and other industries were the high-quality of the final product [22,31]. However, in the con-
unified under eight categories. Besides, the proposed sub-CSFs for struction industry, most of the suppliers are selected based on cost
these CSFs were elaborated. merely. Unfortunately, focusing solely on monetary benefits dam-
Customer Focus and Satisfaction: This factor aims at identify- ages the mutual trust between suppliers and contractors so that
ing and meeting the current and emerging customer needs [27]. long-term relationships can hardly be established. Therefore, not
Customer focus and satisfaction should be considered as two only the cost but also alternative criteria are suggested to be
important success factors of TQM. As the definition implies, TQM adopted by the professionals in the pre-qualification phase. In this
is a customer-oriented practice. Even, a national award (the Mal- way, it is ensured that problems confronted due to competitive
colm Baldrige National Quality Award), in which TQM has been bidding can be mitigated or eliminated [1]. Furthermore, by estab-
codified, has considered customer focus and satisfaction as an lishing cooperative relations with suppliers, companies can
important criterion [28]. increase their performances [32]. Considering the benefit, suppliers
To be successful, companies should satisfy the expectations of should become part of the quality improvement process. Conse-
their customers in the most possible way. Additionally, improving quently, contractors and suppliers should cooperate to achieve
the product and service quality by following customers’ emerging the quality improvement goals of the company.
requirements is a promising method. However, having a clear Training and Learning: Achieving TQM requires a commitment
understanding of customers, in other words, forecasting cus- to learning [33] since TQM considers quality in the company as a
tomers’ current and future requirements is crucial to maintain suc- shared responsibility of the entire employees. Therefore, all
cessful customer focus and satisfaction rates. Therefore, Samson employees are expected to have sufficient knowledge to contribute
and Terziovski [29] proposed that companies should design their to decision-making and quality improvement processes promptly
processes and activities following the requirements of their cus- and comprehensively. Similarly, all staff should be subjected to
tomers. In the construction industry, customers can be considered appropriate training programs concerning the use of quality man-
as either internal or external [22]. Internal customers are the cus- agement methods and tools [22]. However, in general, due to the
tomers who participated in the construction process; they are transient construction workforce, the training of staff is overlooked
affected by the performances of other parties involved in this pro- by construction companies. Arditi and Gunaydin [22] propose that
cess. For instance, the designer is the internal customer, and the basic quality awareness should be established in the construction
designer’s performance is affected by the project requirements industry to overcome this problem. This can be achieved by provid-
provided by the owner. External customers are the ones who ing quality awareness training. Additionally, this training can also
demand the final product for their purposes. Therefore, companies improve the quality awareness of top management, which, in
should not only consider external costumers but also internal cus- return, enhances the contribution of the top management. The
tomers since the latter play a crucial role throughout the cycle of importance of organizational culture changes to obtain TQM in
the construction project. construction is discussed widely in the literature. Training and
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learning are the two parameters that play a critical role in culture ple realities can be extracted from individual perspectives and
change. Specifically, offering training to employees to improve the interaction of these perspectives.
their problem-solving skills is considered as one of the most Epistemology, meanwhile, deals with the theory of knowledge
important actions that a company can take to change the organiza- and the perception of reality and evaluation of the methods [40].
tional climate in a company [34]. It also comprises two positions. These positions are positivist and
Process Management: Instead of the result-oriented manage- interpretivist. According to the positivist position, reality can be
ment approach, this factor has recently become a central manage- observed, studied, and modeled. In other words, the mathematical
ment approach since companies can obtain better results by explanation of reality is possible. However, interpretivism is a
eliminating the operating errors that exist in their processes [21]. stance which asserts that reality can be interpreted and under-
Especially, companies should identify the key processes and stood. Since the mathematical explanation of the construction
improve them systematically [22]. Besides, companies should industry is not possible due to its extremely dynamic, complex,
determine the causes of scrap and rework so that they can elimi- and turbulent nature, interpretive theory is more convenient for
nate these causes to reduce rework and scrap [32]. However, due construction management studies [41]. Thus, the interpretive
to the heavy fragmentation in construction projects, the coordina- approach was adopted in this study since it can cope well with
tion between parties is a big challenge in performing the processes the complexities of the construction industry [42]. Accordingly,
effectively [35]. Therefore, companies should also focus on the the methodology presented in Fig. 1 was followed, and perceptions
causes of miscommunication between parties. After identifying and viewpoints of senior management personnel were mainly uti-
the sources of miscommunication, companies should take correc- lized to develop the roadmap of TQM implementation for ISO-
tive actions to improve their processes [36]. certified construction companies.
Benchmarking: This is a factor that refers to the comparison of
best practices in terms of the processes performed by competitors 4.1. Research development
and companies themselves. In this way, companies can identify
their relative performance and determine the imperfections pre- In the literature, many studies about how construction compa-
sented in their existing processes. Besides, companies can identify nies can implement TQM are available, however, most of the stud-
the best practices in the market and adapt them to their organiza- ies ignore the effects of ISO certification on construction companies
tions so that effective benchmarking can be performed. During the while they are proposing a framework for TQM implementation. In
implementation of the benchmarking process, companies should other words, studies investigate how construction companies can
regularly monitor the most recent improvements of the products implement TQM by ignoring the structural differences between
and processes available in the market. With the help of bench- the companies emerging due to the ISO certification. Based on this,
marking, companies gain the opportunity to reshape their bound- a roadmap for ISO certified companies is a requirement for success-
aries of quality and observe their weaknesses, hence, identify key fully transition towards TQM implementation.
parameters to enhance their quality. Consequently, companies To develop a roadmap for the application of TQM in ISO 9001-
should engage in extensive benchmarking to improve their quality certified construction companies, differences between ISO 9001-
management. certified construction companies with and without the TQM
Quality Information and Performance Measurement: Infor- approach on the CSFs of the TQM were investigated. Considering
mation is a key part of quality management systems since the these differences, two hypotheses were proposed in this study.
decision-makers act based on available information rather than H1: The companies can achieve all CSFs of TQM by obtaining an
their opinions and/or preferences to implement TQM effectively ISO 9001.
[22]. Moreover, the persistent flow of information is a pre- H2: The companies need to show extra efforts and allocate
requisite to providing continuous improvement. Without a persis- more resources to achieve the CSFs of TQM after obtaining ISO
tent flow of information, companies cannot realize their past mis- 9001.
takes and therefore would face difficulty in shaping their present
and future performances which may end in an inaccurate evalua- 4.2. Literature review
tion of the quality of their products and services [21]. Finally,
Lakhal, Pasin, et al. [37] proved that information and analysis affect Based on the literature survey elaborated above, an initial list
the performance of companies. Construction companies can obtain which contains a total of 43 factors was obtained. However, to pre-
information by using two main resources. The first one is their vent duplicates, these factors were re-evaluated to remove, merge,
internal processes. The internal processes are crucial information and/or rename some factors that have similar meanings. For
resources in collecting and analyzing data obtained from compa- instance, the initial list included some similar factors including ‘‘in-
nies’ activities. Secondly, construction companies should monitor formation and analysis” and ‘‘information/analysis/data”. Then,
suppliers and collect data showing their performance since the these two factors were merged to propose a new variable, named
performance of suppliers are correlated with the performances of ‘‘quality information and performance management”. Finally, 24
companies [38]. sub-factors were identified to reveal the different aspects of these
factors. The entire main and sub success factors are shown in
Table 1. Also, the following table shows the studies which state
proposed factors as CSFs of TQM.
4. Research methodology
4.3. Questionnaire design
Ontology and epistemology are two philosophical branches that
are used to develop a research approach. Ontology is a philosoph- A questionnaire consisting of two sections was developed for
ical study of being. It deals with the nature of reality or existence in this study. In the first section, respondents answered questions
general and its categories and their relationships [39]. Ontology about their capabilities and competencies as well as their compa-
has two positions, namely, objectivist and constructivist. Objec- nies. As shown in Table 2, the questions were related to companies’
tivism asserts that scientific methods can reveal only one reality. size, staff headcount, and type as well as respondents’ experience
It embraces realism and it is commonly applied in traditional man- in an ISO 9001-certified company, and construction industry. This
agement thinking. Contrarily, constructivism proposes that multi- section was crucial to ensure that the responses collected were
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Fig. 1. Research methodology.

accurate and trustworthy. The second section was about the CSFs Top 250 International Contractors” list published in 2019 by
of TQM presented in Table 1. In this section, respondents were ‘‘ENR- Engineering News-Record”. Besides, given the fact that ISO
asked to evaluate the application levels of the proposed 24 CSFs 9001 is mandatory for most international projects, Turkish con-
in their companies. The application levels of CSFs were evaluated struction companies are well-familiar with ISO 9001 as well as
based on a 1-to-5 Likert scale where 1 denoted the lowest level other quality management systems. For instance, as of 2018, 333
and 5 denoted the highest level. companies in the Turkish construction industry have valid ISO
9001:2015 certification [5]. Based on these statistics, it is not con-
4.4. Data collection troversial to assert that the Turkish construction companies can be
the work item of this research owing to their experience in both
The construction industry is one of the leading industries in international construction projects and quality management sys-
Turkey. Furthermore, Turkish construction companies are inten- tems. The target population of this study is therefore selected as
sively active in the international market. According to a report Turkish construction companies that have been qualified for ISO
released by the Turkish Constructors Association [52], Turkish con- 9001.
struction companies have undertaken 10.147 projects in 126 coun- At the initial stage of data collection, ISO-certified construction
tries, with a total value of 401.3 billion USD. Additionally, 44 companies that are members of the Turkish Quality Association
Turkish construction companies were enlisted in ‘‘The World’s (KalDer) were initially invited as the potential participants. An

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Table 1 management systems. However, since the number of construction

Identified CSFs of TQM in this study. companies registered to this organization is limited, online
CSFs of TQM References research was conducted to increase the number of data and
Customer Focus and Satisfaction (CFS) A, B, E, F, G, O, improve the reliability of the conducted research. The research
R, T identified other construction companies that are ISO 9001-
Our company knows our external customers’ current and H, I, T certified but not a member of KalDer. During this review, compa-
future requirements, and these are disseminated nies’ experience, completed projects, and availability of TQM were
throughout the workforce. (CFS1)
In design processes and activities, our company regards the G, P, T
also examined along with the ISO-certification. At the end of the
requirements of external customers. (CFS2) review, 75 construction companies were identified to be conve-
Our company systematically and regularly measures B, F, O, S nient for this study. 16 of these construction companies were
internal customer satisfaction. (CFS3) Kalder members while the rest of them were non-Kalder members.
Top Management Commitment and Leadership (TMCL) A, B, E, F, G, O,
Participants in these 75 companies were also selected by using
S, T, V
Our top management actively participates in quality G, I, J, X the purposive sampling technique. Broadly, there are two groups of
management and improvement activities. (TMCL1) sampling techniques: probability sampling techniques and non-
Our top management strongly encourages employee G, P, X probability sampling techniques. Probability sampling techniques
involvement in quality management and improvement use random selection to select units from the sampling frame
activities. (TMCL2)
while non-probability sampling techniques refer to the subjective
Our top management focuses on improving quality to G, L, R, X
pursue long-term business success. (TMCL3) judgment of the researcher. Since ISO 9001 and TQM require high
Employee Involvement and Teamwork (EIT) B, E, F, G, H, P, S expertise, the research should be conducted as a qualitative study
Our company encourages employees to improve quality G, I, J instead of a quantitative study, and the purposive sampling tech-
(EIT1)
nique, a type of non-probability sample, is typically used in quali-
Ideas from work teams are actively used in assisting G, P
management. (EIT2) tative research [53]. Besides, due to the requirement of high
Members of our company can share their ideas freely and G, I, J expertise, the population of this study is limited, therefore the
are rewarded for practical suggestions. (EIT3) sample cannot be selected randomly to extract deep knowledge
Our company stresses teamwork and team spirit. (EIT4) G for the research question. Whereas, by using a purposive sample
Supplier Management (SM) B, E, F, G, O, P,
technique, a sample that can be logically assumed to be represen-
R, V
Our company strives to establish close and long-term B, G, L, P, R tative of the population can be obtained [54]. This is often accom-
relationships with suppliers. (SM1) plished by developing series of criteria that are used to identify
Our suppliers are evaluated according to quality, delivery G, L, P eligible respondents for a questionnaire survey. Accordingly, three
performance, and price, in that order. (SM2)
criteria were developed in this study, and experts who satisfy these
Our suppliers are involved in our quality improvement G, L, P
process. (SM3)
criteria were invited to participate in the questionnaire survey.
Training and Learning (TL) A, B, E, F, G, H These criteria were critical in ensuring the suitability of the partic-
Most employees in our company are trained on how to use B, D, G, I, L ipants for this study. Firstly, participants were expected to work at
quality management methods and tools. (TL1) managerial positions in their companies since they are more likely
Our company gives quality awareness education to B, D, G, I
to know the processes conducted in their companies. Secondly,
employees. (TL2)
Our company gives problem-solving education to D, I they were expected to have experience in ISO-certification for at
employees. (TL3) least four years. This criterion was crucial to ensure that they have
Process Management (PM) A, E, F, G, O, R, enough knowledge and experience in ISO 9001 and its application.
S, T, V
Finally, participants were expected to have at least a bachelor’s
The coordination between the employees who participated I, L
in quality improvement is strong. (PM1)
degree since having sufficient educational background is an impor-
Our company identifies causes of scrap and rework. (PM2) H, K, L tant indication of their competency.
Our company improves systematically key processes to B, J, K At the end of the questionnaire survey, a total of 40 completed
achieve better product quality and performance. (PM3) questionnaires, which makes the total response rate of 53.33%, was
Our company takes immediate corrective action when a K, L
received. Profiles of the respondents and their companies are
quality problem is identified. (PM4)
Benchmarking (BM) G, U shown in Table 2. As illustrated in Table 2, companies that partic-
Our company is engaged in extensive benchmarking of C, F, G, T, U ipated in this study could be considered as highly experienced
processes used in previous projects. (BM1) companies (average experience = 27.31 years). Most of the compa-
Our company regularly monitors improvements in the G, I
nies were large companies. Thus, they were expected to have deep
quality of products and processes in the market. (BM2)
Quality Information and Performance Measurement B, F, G, O, P, T
knowledge of quality management procedures. Respondents held
(QIPM) various senior positions, so they had diverse knowledge about
Our company regularly collects and analyzes data related to G, I quality processes within their company. In this section, the respon-
products provided by suppliers. (QIPM1) dents were also asked whether their companies implement TQM or
Our company collects and analyses data obtained from G, I, M
not. 22 of the respondents stated that their companies adopted
activities. (QIPM2)
TQM while 18 of the respondents stated that TQM was not adopted
A: Altayeb and Alhasanat [15]; B: Arditi and Gunaydin [22]; C: Das, et al. [31]; D: in their companies.
Elghamrawy and Shibayama [43]; E: Fotopoulos and Psomas [44]; F: Harrington,
et al. [13]; G: Hietschold, et al. [21]; H: Hoonakker, et al. [1]; I: Ismyrlis, Moschidis,
et al. [45]; J: Jaca and Psomas [46]; K: Jayaram, et al. [36]; L: Kaynak [32]; M: Lakhal, 4.5. Data analysis
et al. [37] O: Lau, Tang, et al. [47]; P: Martínez-Costa, Choi, et al. [48]; R: Meftah
Abusa and Gibson [49]; S: Pheng and Teo [9]; T; Samson and Terziovski [29]; U: In this study, an independent t-test analysis was performed to
Talib and Rahman (2010); V:Yong and Pheng [50]; X: Zhang, Waszink, et al. [51]. determine the significant differences in terms of application levels
of CSFs between companies with and without the TQM approach.
In this way, differences between companies in terms of
independent and non-profit organization, KalDer was founded to
application-level of CSFs of TQM were highlighted and a roadmap
develop a quality culture in Turkey. Association members are con-
was developed considering these differences.
sidered as the pioneer companies in terms of quality management.
As stated above, 40 questionnaires were collected within the
Thus, its members are expected to have deep knowledge of quality
scope of this study. The number of questionnaires is sufficient to
6
C. Budayan and O. Okudan Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101788

Table 2
Profile of companies and respondents participated in this study.

Average Standard Deviation

Number of years working in an ISO 9001-certified 7.17 2.15
company
Staff Headcount 1547.45 150.44
Experience of the company (years) 27.31 3.38
Experience of the respondents (years) 18.22 2.44
Type of the construction company General Specialist Trade Package Construction Material
Contractor Contractors Builders Manufacturer
24 (60.00%) 3 (7.50%) 7 (17.50%) 6 (15.00%)
Size of the company Small Medium Large
3 (7.50%) 18 (45.00%) 19 (47.50%)
Position of the respondents Manager Quality Department Manager Engineering Department Manager
11 (27.50%) 24 (60.00%) 5 (12.50 %)

conduct statistical analysis since the central limit theorem is satis- revelated that 6 CSFs do not have homogeneity of variances. How-
fied when the sample size is greater than 30 [55,56]. Besides, this ever, SPSS also provides t-test results when equal variances are not
sample size is appropriate for t-test, since conducting a t-test even satisfied. Therefore, the results calculated based on equal variances
with extremely small samples (n < 5) is feasible and provides reli- not assumed were used for these 6 CSFs. Consequently, the dataset
able results to make conclusions [57]. Besides, respondents were was found suitable for independent t-test analysis, and the results
selected elaborately based on the methodology explained above, of the analysis were shown in Table 3.
instead of random sampling. Although random sampling could
increase the sample size by using a larger uncontrolled group, it 4.6. Development of the roadmap
would have resulted in a more generalized and unreliable response
due to respondents’ limited knowledge about the subject. Random 4.6.1. Verification of hypotheses
sampling could involve cold-called respondents reluctant to partic- The average application level of each CSFs in companies imple-
ipate in questionnaire surveys [58]. Furthermore, the other prob- menting and not implementing TQM is shown in Table 3. Based on
lem caused by random sampling is a high degree of this table, different application levels of CSFs can be observed
inconsistency [59]. Therefore, the quality of the data, instead of between these companies. Besides, Table 3 also shows that compa-
the size of the data set in evaluating the reliability of specific stud- nies with TQM apply these CSFs more intensively than companies
ies, should be considered [60]. Consequently, it is not controversial without TQM. Although application levels of CSFs in the non-
to assert that the sample size used in this study is sufficient. implementers of TQM are lower than the ones implementing
Independent t-test, one of the parametric statistical methods, TQM, most of CSFs are applied above average (3.00) in these com-
was selected for comparing the means of two groups due to their panies. Furthermore, non-TQM implementers apply some CSFs of
advantages over other statistical methods. Firstly, as Nunnally TQM in their companies at a high level., such as using the require-
[61] pinpointed, parametric methods with ordinal data provide ments of external customers (CSFS2 = 4.39) and establishing close
reasonably reliable results. In addition to reliability, interpreta- and long-term relationships with the suppliers (SM1 = 4.44). This
tions of the parametric methods are also easier compared to other verifies the first hypothesis. Therefore, ISO 9001 creates conscious-
methods. Consequently, conclusions drawn from these methods ness about quality in the company and a good climate to imple-
are more valid and accurate [62]. ment it, which leads companies towards achieving some
There are six pre-requisites to conduct an independent t-test elements of TQM.
analysis [63]. First, these pre-requisites should be examined before On the other hand, the application levels of some CSFs in com-
performing the t-test. The first pre-requisite is that the dependent panies without the TQM are lower than average (3.00). For
variable should be measured on a continuous scale. Since applica- instance, these companies do not give quality awareness education
tion levels of CSFs were measured by using a Likert scale, the first to their employees (TL2 = 2.06) and train their employees about
pre-requisite was verified. Secondly, the independent variable how to use quality management methods and tools (TL1 = 2.39).
should consist of two categorical independent groups. In this In this respect, it can be asserted that the second hypothesis is also
study, there were two categorical independent groups, namely verified. However, evaluating average application levels of CSFs
companies implementing TQM and non-implementers of TQM. cannot be a sufficient method to test the second hypothesis, there-
The third condition was that the observations must be indepen- fore, the significance of differences in application levels of CSFs
dent. In other words, each group must have different participants. between these groups was analyzed by using an independent t-
Since only one participant was invited from each company, it was test.
ensured that observations were independent. Thus, the third con- According to the t-test results shown in Table 3, significant dif-
dition was satisfied. Fourthly, the outliers in the data set were ferences were observed between companies with and without
detected by examining the boxplots of CSFs. SPSS uses a step of TQM based on significance levels (p < 0.05). Only application levels
1.5 interquartile range. However, Hoaglin and Iglewicz [64] of establishing close and long-term relationships with suppliers
demonstrated that the 1.5 multiplier was inaccurate and suggested (p = 0.177) and taking corrective actions (p = 0.206) are not signif-
that 2.2 is likely more valid in most of the cases. Thus, the outliers icantly different. Consequently, the second hypothesis is verified.
were examined by considering 2.2 multipliers, and no outliers
were observed in the data set. Then, the normality of each CSFs
4.6.2. Proposed roadmap
was examined by using the Shapiro-Wilk test of normality. Unfor-
At the final stage of this study, a roadmap that shows the steps
tunately, none of the CSFs were identified as normally distributed.
which should be followed by the ISO certified companies for the
However, the t-test is ‘‘robust” to violations of normality [63], so
transition towards TQM was proposed. Based on the t values, the
this pre-requisite was also satisfied. Finally, the homogeneity of
CSFs were classified into five priority groups as shown in Fig. 2.
variances for each CSFs was tested using Levene’s test. Levene’s test
The first group (Very High Priority) consists of four CSFs, namely
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C. Budayan and O. Okudan Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101788

Table 3
TQM elements of the clusters.

CSFs Companies implementing TQM Companies not implementing TQM t value Significance(p)
CFS1 4.55 3.94 3.072 0.004
CFS2 4.77 4.39 2.568 0.015
CFS3 4.50 3.22 4.996 0.000
TMCL1 4.23 3.22 2.844 0.007
TMCL2 4.68 3.61 3.926 0.001
TMCL3 4.55 3.94 3.311 0.002
EIT1 3.91 3.17 2.615 0.013
EIT2 3.96 3.00 3.087 0.005
EIT3 4.41 3.61 3.059 0.004
EIT4 4.36 3.39 3.098 0.005
SM1 4.68 4.44 1.375 0.177
SM2 4.32 3.06 4.492 0.000
SM3 4.50 3.39 4.355 0.000
TL1 4.23 2.39 5.504 0.000
TL2 4.05 2.06 8.248 0.000
TL3 3.64 2.56 3.041 0.004
PM1 4.09 3.22 3.247 0.002
PM2 4.09 3.33 2.389 0.022
PM3 4.23 3.67 2.440 0.019
PM4 3.77 3.33 1.287 0.206
BM1 4.36 3.61 3.723 0.001
BM2 4.14 3.22 2.814 0.008
QIPM1 4.73 3.50 5.867 0.000
QIPM2 4.82 3.83 4.840 0.000

Fig. 2. Roadmap for 9001 certified companies.

systematically and regularly measuring internal customer satisfac- 5. Discussion of findings

tion (t-value = 4.996), training of employees on how to use quality
management methods and tools (t-value = 5.504), giving quality For companies implementing TQM, the level of quality aware-
awareness education to employees (t-value = 8.248) and, collecting ness education turns out to be rather intense with a rate of 4.05,
and analyzing data related to products provided by suppliers (t- where this level is only 2.06 for companies not implementing
value = 5.867). The ISO certified companies with and without TQM. This shows that companies implementing TQM try to create
TQM have the highest differences in the application of these four a quality culture within their organizations by increasing the
factors. In other words, these CSFs are not achieved in the ISO cer- awareness of their employees. However, ISO 9001 on its own is
tified companies without TQM at the desired level. Therefore, at not effective to establish this environment, and the creation of
the first step, the ISO-certified companies should invest in Very the quality culture is beyond the ISO 9001 [65]. For training and
High Priority CSFs to move swiftly towards TQM. After making pro- learning, similar patterns are indicated. According to Fig. 3, show-
gress in these factors, these companies should focus on the High ing the main t-values of sub-CSFs for each main CSFs, training and
Priority factors. Finally, CSFs placed at the last group have already learning have the highest average t-value (average t-value = 5.60).
been achieved in all ISO certified companies at similar levels, These results show that obtaining an ISO 9001 on its own is not
therefore the companies can make little progress in the transition sufficient to improve training and learning abilities in construction
towards TQM by investing in these CSFs after obtaining an ISO companies. Although procedures about training under ISO 9001
certification. exist, Gotzamani and Tsiotras [66] stated that these procedures

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C. Budayan and O. Okudan Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101788

Fig. 3. Mean t-values of main CSFs of TQM.

do not focus on workforce development. Instead, they focus on nies to establish long-term relationships with their suppliers.
improving the quality via passive methods [67]. However, organi- However, there is a significant difference between these companies
zational learning is one of the most important TQM principles for in terms of their relationships with the suppliers. The companies
construction companies to implement TQM effectively [47]. Conse- implementing TQM managed to integrate suppliers during the
quently, construction companies should bolster organizational development of construction processes, whereas companies not
learning beyond the requirements of ISO 9001. Especially, quality implementing TQM incorporate their suppliers during this stage
awareness education should be provided to employees to create at a limited level. This difference may stem from the variance of
a quality culture. trust between the parties. Therefore, an inference from ISO 9001
The other main difference between companies with and with- does not contribute to the establishment of trust between the com-
out CFS is quality information and performance measurement (av- panies. On the other hand, TQM forces companies to establish a
erage t-value = 5.35). Companies implementing TQM collect and relationship with their suppliers based on mutual trust. Din,
analyze data related to products provided by suppliers more inten- et al. [69] also compared the effect of ISO 9001 on the partnership
sively. Therefore, ISO 9001 highlights the importance of obtaining by comparing construction companies with and without ISO 9001,
and analyzing data related to quality. According to Marquardt [68], and they have identified that ISO 9001 does not contribute to
ISO 9001 requires statistical techniques. However, it does not developing trust-based partnership approaches. Finally, due to
necessitate the use of these techniques since using statistical tools their different interpretation of quality philosophy, companies
is not a necessary criterion to get ISO 9001 [67]. Therefore, techni- implementing TQM place strict requirements on suppliers and sub-
cal knowledge and experience of ISO 9001-certified companies contractors to achieve quality. Meanwhile, companies not imple-
about these statistical techniques are limited. Besides, companies menting TQM do not apply these strict requirements. Martínez-
show little emphasis on the application of these techniques. Conse- Costa, et al. [48] considered that ‘‘long-term relationships with
quently, companies intending to move towards TQM should invest suppliers” and ‘‘relying on a small number of high-quality suppli-
in improving their abilities on this CSF and apply these techniques ers” are two distinct things, and they should be considered sepa-
in their processes. rately. Consequently, companies should establish long-term and
According to Fig. 3, the main t-values of process management- trustworthy relationships with their suppliers and select them
oriented CSFs are the lowest (2.34). This finding indicates that according to strict quality requirements.
companies take immediate corrective actions in their processes
at the same level. Therefore, ISO 9001 contributes to the improve- 6. Limitations of the study
ment of the processes undertaken in all companies. In other words,
although companies that participated in this study have a different Most studies have limitations stemming from design and/or
philosophical approach to quality, they can exploit ISO 9001 to methodology constraints. These limitations influence the interpre-
improve their process management. In this sense, ISO 9001 tation of the findings so that they must be stated clearly. Hence,
becomes a process that accommodates a list of norms to guide the potential limitations of this study are presented as follows:
companies on how to manage their operations. Therefore, the most
significant contribution of ISO 9001 for the improvement of com- 1. The roadmap developed is based on the judgments of Turkish
panies’ performance is expected to be in the process management construction practitioners. Factors specific to the Turkish con-
category. This statement can be supported further by the work of struction industry may affect the judgment of the practitioners.
Din, Abd-Hamid, et al. [69] where he observed that ISO 9001 pos- This limitation can be considered to have a marginal effect
itively contributes to the processes of construction companies, on the result since the requirements of obtaining an ISO
especially for their project management processes. certification are globally standard. In other words, all the com-
Although supplier management is not one of the least signifi- panies should follow the same steps in obtaining an ISO
cant CSFs (average t-value = 3.41), the long-term relationship with certification.
the supplier factor does not vary significantly between these com- 2. The sample size might be another limitation of this study. How-
panies. All companies intend to establish long-term relationships ever, the researchers selected the participants carefully to elim-
with their suppliers. Mahadevappa and Kotreshwar [70] also iden- inate and/or reduce the effect of this limitation. Accordingly,
tified that ISO 9001-certified companies are willing to work with a three criteria were used for measuring the competency of the
few dependable suppliers and maintain long-term relationships participants. The experts who did not satisfy most of these cri-
with them. This willingness shows that ISO 9001 motivates compa- teria were not invited to the questionnaire survey.

9
C. Budayan and O. Okudan Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101788

7. Conclusions the transition towards TQM, the question of how much financial
and non-financial resources are required to be allocated for this
In this study, by using a conceptual framework that has eight transition remains unanswered. Thus, future studies could investi-
main CSFs and 24 sub-CSFs, and conducting a t-test analysis, differ- gate the amount of financial and non-financial resources required
ences between ISO 9001-certified companies implementing and to implement TQM in an ISO 9001-certified construction company.
not implementing TQM were revealed. Based on these differences, In this way, decision-makers will be given a clear picture of the
a roadmap was developed. According to this roadmap, the ISO TQM transition so that they will be encouraged to implement
9001 certified companies intending to move towards TQM can TQM in their ISO 9001-certified construction company.
focus on the CSFs not achieved by just obtaining ISO 9001.
The most significant differences observed between these com-
Declaration of Competing Interest
panies are giving quality awareness education to employees, train-
ing of employees on how to use quality management methods and
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
tools, quality data related to products provided by suppliers, and
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
measurement of internal customer satisfaction. Therefore, at the
to influence the work reported in this paper.
initial stage, these companies should improve these CSFs to move
towards TQM. They should give awareness education to their
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