American industries are in the process of a quality revolution. Most companies are busy implementing Total Quality Management (TQM) programs. However, the experience of both Japanese and American companies indicates that successful TQM implementation depends on an understanding of implementation processes, which itself relies on an understanding of organizational self-organizing, for it is through this process that TQM gets diffused and becomes a core component of an organization's culture. Self-organizing is a so-called process-oriented approach, based on theory from cybernetics (Ashby, 1962; Steier & Smith, 1985; von Foerster, 1960), dissipative structure theory (Prigogine & Stengers, 1984), and chaos theory (Gleick, 1987). As developed in this research, the concept \"self-organizing\" is extended into the study of TQM implementations, focusing on the diffusion mechanisms of TQM into human organizations, called the organizational self-production model.
It is submitted that the organizational self-production process consists of four interrelated mechanisms: participation, involvement and interaction; reflection and interpretation; generation of organization-self knowledge; and action under that knowledge. In this research, this process is measured in five dimensions: participativity, individuality, interdependability, informationality, and accountability. Empirical results collected in this research indicate that the organizational self-production perspective yields new and interesting insights. Both content analysis of interviews and statistical analysis of surveys demonstrate that the five dimensions provide useful variables for organizational research, yielding positive correlations with both operational and cultural indicators of TQM diffusion. Furthermore, the findings imply that the organizational self-production perspective provides a theoretical foundation for workplace re-engineering.
","abstract_html":"<p>American industries are in the process of a quality revolution. Most companies are busy implementing Total Quality Management (TQM) programs. However, the experience of both Japanese and American companies indicates that successful TQM implementation depends on an understanding of implementation processes, which itself relies on an understanding of organizational self-organizing, for it is through this process that TQM gets diffused and becomes a core component of an organization's culture. Self-organizing is a so-called process-oriented approach, based on theory from cybernetics (Ashby, 1962; Steier & Smith, 1985; von Foerster, 1960), dissipative structure theory (Prigogine & Stengers, 1984), and chaos theory (Gleick, 1987). As developed in this research, the concept "self-organizing" is extended into the study of TQM implementations, focusing on the diffusion mechanisms of TQM into human organizations, called the organizational self-production model.</p> <p>It is submitted that the organizational self-production process consists of four interrelated mechanisms: participation, involvement and interaction; reflection and interpretation; generation of organization-self knowledge; and action under that knowledge. In this research, this process is measured in five dimensions: participativity, individuality, interdependability, informationality, and accountability. Empirical results collected in this research indicate that the organizational self-production perspective yields new and interesting insights. Both content analysis of interviews and statistical analysis of surveys demonstrate that the five dimensions provide useful variables for organizational research, yielding positive correlations with both operational and cultural indicators of TQM diffusion. Furthermore, the findings imply that the organizational self-production perspective provides a theoretical foundation for workplace re-engineering.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Zhao, Baizhong"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Engineering Management & Systems Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Frederick Steier","Laurence D. Richards","Resit Unal","Kae Chung"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":1993,"date_issued":"1993-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"1993-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:35:23Z","subjects":["Total quality management (TQM)","Evaluation","Organizational culture","Business Administration, Management, and Operations","Industrial and Organizational Psychology","Industrial Engineering"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/emse_etds/161","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Frederick Steier","Laurence D. Richards","Resit Unal","Kae Chung"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Zhao, Baizhong"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-10-14T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Engineering Management & Systems Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Total quality management (TQM)","Evaluation","Organizational culture","Business Administration, Management, and Operations","Industrial and Organizational Psychology","Industrial Engineering"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/emse_etds/161"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["American industries are in the process of a quality revolution. Most companies are busy implementing Total Quality Management (TQM) programs. However, the experience of both Japanese and American companies indicates that successful TQM implementation depends on an understanding of implementation processes, which itself relies on an understanding of organizational self-organizing, for it is through this process that TQM gets diffused and becomes a core component of an organization's culture. Self-organizing is a so-called process-oriented approach, based on theory from cybernetics (Ashby, 1962; Steier & Smith, 1985; von Foerster, 1960), dissipative structure theory (Prigogine & Stengers, 1984), and chaos theory (Gleick, 1987). As developed in this research, the concept \"self-organizing\" is extended into the study of TQM implementations, focusing on the diffusion mechanisms of TQM into human organizations, called the organizational self-production model.
It is submitted that the organizational self-production process consists of four interrelated mechanisms: participation, involvement and interaction; reflection and interpretation; generation of organization-self knowledge; and action under that knowledge. In this research, this process is measured in five dimensions: participativity, individuality, interdependability, informationality, and accountability. Empirical results collected in this research indicate that the organizational self-production perspective yields new and interesting insights. Both content analysis of interviews and statistical analysis of surveys demonstrate that the five dimensions provide useful variables for organizational research, yielding positive correlations with both operational and cultural indicators of TQM diffusion. Furthermore, the findings imply that the organizational self-production perspective provides a theoretical foundation for workplace re-engineering.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Diffusion of Total Quality Management: An Organizational Self-Production Perspective"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Frederick Steier","Laurence D. Richards","Resit Unal","Kae Chung"],"dc:creator":["Zhao, Baizhong"],"dc:date.available":["2019-10-14T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["American industries are in the process of a quality revolution. Most companies are busy implementing Total Quality Management (TQM) programs. However, the experience of both Japanese and American companies indicates that successful TQM implementation depends on an understanding of implementation processes, which itself relies on an understanding of organizational self-organizing, for it is through this process that TQM gets diffused and becomes a core component of an organization's culture. Self-organizing is a so-called process-oriented approach, based on theory from cybernetics (Ashby, 1962; Steier & Smith, 1985; von Foerster, 1960), dissipative structure theory (Prigogine & Stengers, 1984), and chaos theory (Gleick, 1987). As developed in this research, the concept \"self-organizing\" is extended into the study of TQM implementations, focusing on the diffusion mechanisms of TQM into human organizations, called the organizational self-production model.
It is submitted that the organizational self-production process consists of four interrelated mechanisms: participation, involvement and interaction; reflection and interpretation; generation of organization-self knowledge; and action under that knowledge. In this research, this process is measured in five dimensions: participativity, individuality, interdependability, informationality, and accountability. Empirical results collected in this research indicate that the organizational self-production perspective yields new and interesting insights. Both content analysis of interviews and statistical analysis of surveys demonstrate that the five dimensions provide useful variables for organizational research, yielding positive correlations with both operational and cultural indicators of TQM diffusion. Furthermore, the findings imply that the organizational self-production perspective provides a theoretical foundation for workplace re-engineering.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/emse_etds/161"],"dc:subject":["Total quality management (TQM)","Evaluation","Organizational culture","Business Administration, Management, and Operations","Industrial and Organizational Psychology","Industrial Engineering"],"dc:title":["Diffusion of Total Quality Management: An Organizational Self-Production Perspective"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Engineering Management & Systems Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:35:23Z"}