Implementation of Quality Management Practices in The Process of Project Management at Small Enterprises in Malaysia

Introduction: The aim of this study is to investigate the implementation of Quality management practices in the process of project management at Small enterprises in Malaysia. It has always been an issue for the organization to execute management practices effectively according to its vision and mission Methodology: A structured questionnaire including 20 close ended questions was specially designed for this study. It consists of three sections: The first section covered strategic planning details and structural characteristics of the organization. The second section included questions designed to measure organizational culture, while the third section included questions to evaluate employee training. The study revealed that the quality management is positively innovative. The study combines quantitative methods. In general, quantitative methods will be used to collect the data; namely, a survey questionnaire. The questionnaire aims to investigate the current status of quality management practices in managing the project management process of small enterprises in Malaysia and to investigate the effect of critical success factors which were identified from the literature the methods are viewed as complementary to each other. Findings: The result shows that data was collected from 121 respondents who have filled up the survey. The final result is assumed to match the developed hypotheses. It starts with the profile of respondents, reliability of the instrument, descriptive statistics, and frequency of the responses, correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis and hypothesis testing. Conclusions/and Recommendations: Recommendations are also made for future research. The study provides the insight into the issue of factors within the general domain of implementation of project management and its success factors.

125 CUeJAR Volume 2 | Issue 1 | 2020

City University eJournal of Academic Research (CUeJAR)

e-ISSN : 2682-910X

CUeJAR Homepage: https://www.city.edu.my/CUeJAR

OPEN ACCESS

Received: 29 th September 2020 | Revised: 10 th October 2020 | Accepted: 30 th October 2020

Implementation of Quality Management Practices in The Process of Project

Management at Small Enterprises in Malaysia

Nur Zafirah Abdul Rahim 1 , Masri Abdul Lasi 2

1 Faculty of Business, City University, Malaysia, zafirah.rahim@city.edu.my

2 Faculty of Business, City University, Malaysia, masri.abdullasi@city.edu.my

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this study is to investigate the implementation of Quality management

practices in the process of project management at Small enterprises in Malaysia It has always been an issue for the organization to execute management practices effectively according to its

vision and mission

Methodology: A structured questionnaire including 20 close ended questions was specially

designed for this study It consists of three sections: The first section covered strategic planning details and structural characteristics of the organization The second section included questions designed to measure organizational culture, while the third section included questions to evaluate employee training The study revealed that the quality management is positively innovative The study combines quantitative methods In general, quantitative methods will be used to collect the data; namely, a survey questionnaire The questionnaire aims to investigate the current status of quality management practices in managing the project management process

of small enterprises in Malaysia and to investigate the effect of critical success factors which

were identified from the literature the methods are viewed as complementary to each other

Findings: The result shows that data was collected from 121 respondents who have filled up the

survey The final result is assumed to match the developed hypotheses It starts with the profile of respondents, reliability of the instrument, descriptive statistics, and frequency of the responses,

correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis and hypothesis testing

Conclusions/and Recommendations: Recommendations are also made for future research The

study provides the insight into the issue of factors within the general domain of implementation

of project management and its success factors

Keywords: Quality Management, Small Medium Enterprises, Strategic Planning, Project

Management, Organizational Culture, Employee Training, ISO

City University eJournal of Academic Research (CUeJAR), 2(1) 2020; 162-XX

1) Introduction

Managing Projects of a Small enterprises is an independent personal facility in property are working to full market competition in local environment and the elements of the production of the outcome of the use is limited compared with those in the industry, and in many countries around the world there are different views of development and criteria through which to determine the project and through classified into several types of projects in terms of size (large, medium and small) and in terms of types and activity Total quality management is a pattern of convenient facilities small enterprises that seek to raise the quality (Myo, Khalifa, & Aye, 2019), but its application requires a new way of thinking which may not agree with what used to it, it is important when applying any new administrative method, like total quality management in particular Malaysia joined recently the World which demands that the small enterprises enhancing the competitiveness of industry in the national market (Khalifa, 2020b) Therefore, small and medium enterprises need to change traditional management concepts and adapting concepts of modern management if they are to achieve their objectives efficiently The importance of the study also stems from the fact that it deals with the subject of great importance

as a getting acquainted missed relatively recent in a field of quality management (Dhaafri, Al-Swidi, & Yusoff, 2016)

Small and medium-sized companies in Malaysia need to develop a clear strategy for many reasons, by organizational culture and diverse expertise and investment opportunities to encourage small enterprises (Tan & Lim, 2012) And avoid conflicts of laws and instability which leads to a loss of confidence among owners of small enterprises and government regulatory agencies on the other hand, the resultant also difficult to predict any future policies and proper planning for expansion in the volume of business of small enterprises (Della Corte & Aria, 2016) The society may intentionally or unintentionally impose obstacles that mitigate the importance of functional business management as a career option (Vázquez-Carrasco & López-Pérez, 2013) Small enterprise systematic quality management that can be reviewed in the light of the requirements of the ISO 9001 quality standard or system of models of excellence is not supported in Malaysia, if you do not have in most cases, which it is a very high level for companies in most cases wide standards low maturity level of quality Implementation of self-assessment on the basis of excellence and models usually involves many people and require large investments in resources For this reason, the process may not be practical for organization culture with limited resources We believe that the adoption of this type of self-assessment is not appropriate choice for small businesses and given the level of complexity Self-assessment on the basis of excellence very sophisticated models for small businesses, because of the way informal the development of quality initiatives in these organizations (Kamel & El Sherif, 2001)

Quality improvement concept is still poorly understood by most employees in training sessions (Alghfeli, Khalifa, Ameen, & Ghosh, 2019), since the corrective actions have sometimes been mistaken for improvement actions the company strives to continually improve its performance (reducing the number of defects and improving productivity) through machine testing and through the increase of employees awareness to training and the need to prevent problems after the improvement actions implementation, their effectiveness is verified, however The methods of quality management adopted by large companies cannot in general be implemented directly in small enterprise due to their distinctive features (Binnawas, Khalifa, & Bhaumick, 2020; C Chang, 2013; Cudjoe, Anim, & Nyanyofio, 2015)

City University eJournal of Academic Research (CUeJAR), 2(1) 2020; 162-XX

2) Literature Review

2.1 Quality Management

Crosby, Evans, & Cowles, (1990) defined quality as a conformance to requirements, Juran (1986, 15) defined quality as fitness for use in terms of design, conformance, availability, safety and field use, Garvin, (1998) proposed eight dimensions of product quality (performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics and perceived quality) QM has evolved as a management paradigm to improve small enterprises effectiveness (Al-Dhaafri et al., 2016; Alharthi, et al., 2019) QM is an integrated management philosophy aimed at continuous improvement of the performance of processes, products and services to achieve and exceed customer needs and expectations It transforms a small enterprises status to a world-class level (Tan & Lim, 2012) and helps small enterprises achieve excellence (Mohamed et al., 2018) Quality management among the project context is one in every of those information topics that inconspicuously cross the realms of project lifecycles, product life cycles and structure processes (Ali, Mahat, & Zairi, 2010) Project success isn't measured on completion of a deliverable, however on however well finish product meet expectations (Falasi, Nusari, Khalifa, Ameen, & Issac, 2019) It makes excellent sense for the project to arrange and do what's required to quality necessities area unit outlined, met and valid (Nusari, et al., 2018) Small enterprises with higher attention to quality area unit a lot of doubtless to possess outlined project management practices; it's solely with the popularity that establishing common processes may be a key ingredient to repeatable success (Rahmah, et al., 2020) Organizations with mature capabilities can have quality management checks and balances engineered right into project management processes and lifecycle methodologies

2.2 Quality Management Practice

The characteristics of quality culture of the Saudi construction industry and present the impact of TQM practices implementation (Binnawas, Khalifa, & Bhaumick, 2019; Trung & Khalifa, 2019) The study’s emphasis on TQM practices implementation outcome in the context of Malaysia small business sector adds to the literature regarding the effect of the implementation of such practices on the sector’s competitiveness (Ali et al., 2010) It also determines the part of quality culture as a mediator between TQM practices and competitiveness and contributes to the knowledge regarding the facilitation of TQM practices implementation outcome Improving the quality can be achieved through implementation of TQM although studies and researches work regarding this improvement is still lacking (Prajogo & Sohal, 2006)

City University eJournal of Academic Research (CUeJAR), 2(1) 2020; 162-XX

Figure 2.1: shows the scope of the TQM

Source: (Goetsch & Davis, 2014)

According to (Abdulla et al., 2020), quality takes three meanings in small business industry: getting the job done on time, confirming that the basic features of the final scheme fall within the obligatory stipulations and receiving the job done within financial plan Every quality project should encompass all three dimensions Basically, quality in small enterprises is straight linked with conformance to stipulations as well as suitability for usage (Khalifa, 2020a) Also, in the small enterprises, quality is often defined as satisfying the requirements of the individuals involved: the designer (Binnawas et al., 2019), the constructor, the regulatory agencies, and the owner Jones and Haven, (2005) stressed that TQM programs signify more than the mere implementation of technical management practices as these programs call for a supporting culture and the organizational members’ attitude in providing customers with products and services (Alfalasi, et al., 2020) For instance, if a firm is desirous of adopting TQM practices but does not have the proper culture to support such practices, its workers can feel powerless to stop manufacture even when they notice faults, and hence, will result in the practice’s failure (Al-Ameri, et al., 2019)

2.3 Project Management in Small Enterprise

Project management began as a tactical tool to facilitate the execution of individual projects and programs, such as building a new facility, installing new hardware or implementing a new software initiative (Alghfeli et al., 2019; A S Chang & Ibbs, 1998) Small enterprises now use project management as a tactical tool to execute projects Projects are essential to the growth and survival of organizations today (Vázquez-Carrasco & López-Pérez, 2013) The steps of project management are applicable to any small enterprise (Falasi et al., 2019): Assess the merits of the organizations various proposed projects, weigh them against each other and select and support those projects whose execution will deliver the greatest value to the bottom line The drivers of a

City University eJournal of Academic Research (CUeJAR), 2(1) 2020; 162-XX

portfolio of projects are:

its return on investment, increase shareholder value or gain market share)

undertake in order to become more efficient or effective; e.g., cost reduction, staff reduction, getting to market faster

decisions, poor customer service, slow time to market

in the desired direction along with the organization

Figure 2.2: an organizational context of portfolio project management

Source: (Silvius, 2013)

Project success is often commented on at the end of the project management phase At this time quality about the project management success will be known because the budget, schedule and quality criteria can be measured (Upton, Teal, & Felan, 2001) Here each of the parties will be able to compare original data requirements to what is achieved In terms of quality standards, it could be monitored by the amount of rework or by the degree of client satisfaction (Abou-Shouk

& Khalifa, 2017) The long-term indicators will not have been realized yet and consequently they cannot be measured (Saunders & Lewis, 2012) Therefore, it is convenient to judge success at this time by whether the project management criteria have been satisfied rather than the project criteria So, project management success becomes synonymous with project success, and the two are inseparable (Silvius, 2013)

City University eJournal of Academic Research (CUeJAR), 2(1) 2020; 162-XX

2.4 Theories in Quality Management

Quality management has only emerged in the management literature over the past 15 years; antecedents of the movement have been in existence for much longer (Khalifa & Fawzy, 2017) Scholars have investigated both direct and indirect effects of QM practices on organization performance (Khalifa & Hewedi, 2016; Morsy, Ahmed, & Ali, 2016) A large body of literature highlights the positive implications of QM practices on performance Studies found that 83% of the surveyed companies had a “positive or very positive” experience with QM, and 79% planned

to “increase or greatly increase” their QM initiatives in the future (Mohamud, et al., 2017) Meanwhile, studies also find evidence pointing towards mixed performance implications accrued from QM practices (Qoura & Khalifa, 2016)

In quality management theories, Meta-analysis attempts to establish the reproducibility of results

by synthesizing and integrating existing findings through the use of effect sizes of the phenomena (Khalifa & Abou-Shouk, 2014) Research findings are influenced, among other factors, by sampling errors, unit of analysis, operationalization of key constructs and the research methodology adopted for investigation This meta-analysis of correlation study delves into the published research that links QM practices and performance to investigate the impact of these factors on the observed relationships (Woo & Ennew, 2005)

Recently, researchers have started an explicit investigation of contextual moderating and mediating effects (Al-Dhaafri et al., 2016; Alghfeli et al., 2019), however, more studies are needed to obtain further clarity Future investigation should evaluate if same moderating variables influence each specific relationship between QM practice and performance or are these moderating effects dependent on specific QM practice and performance measure that is under investigation Spencer (1994) said that QM is a systematic approach to the practice of management, requiring changes in organizational processes, strategic priorities, individual beliefs, individual attitudes, and individual behaviors; therefore, it is important to properly align

QM practices with competitive environments and strategies Quality management theories provide managerial insights on the effective management of quality (Lee, Yoon, & Lee, 2009)

2.5 Benchmarking process

Benchmarking is a systematic and continuous process for measuring products, services or practices against those of the competition so as to gain information to improve quality and performance (Rolstadas, 1998) Benchmarking is a standard by which others may be measured over time and is critical to SMEs performance and effectiveness It is rated as one of the most applied and favored tools of strategic management (Min, Min, & Chung, 2002) A substantial amount of literature is devoted to the benchmarking of management processes, including total quality management (TQM) (Khamalah & Lingaraj, 2007) However, benchmarking has not received much attention in the marketing literature because of a lack of methodologies and the consumer measurement tools to aid in the process (Khalifa, 2019) The benchmark process for quality of SMEs requires both an applicable measurement methodology and a standardized construct Kotler and Gertner, (2002) offer a construct for quality as the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs Products are items consumed for personal or business use, while services are activities that deliver benefits to consumers or businesses (Alneadi et al., 2020) Many consumer offerings blend both product and service, such as restaurants, with separate quality metrics for both the

City University eJournal of Academic Research (CUeJAR), 2(1) 2020; 162-XX

food and service (Hossain, et al., 2020) Tangible products often have service quality elements such as a warranty, delivery, repair and service, etc (Widjaja, et al., 2020) Each quality dimension or characteristic, therefore, can be isolated and assessed as a separate treatment effect

to that of a total quality measure (Abdulla et al., 2020)

Figure 2.3: Total quality paradigm

Source: (Goetsch & Davis, 2014)

In order to make small enterprise competitive, numerous quality models or approaches have been proposed by quality practitioners (e.g Q-Base, Business Growth through Quality, Core Program etc.) (Alkheyi et al., 2020) Even with these models, there is little or no evidence to support the success or otherwise of these models as they apply to small enterprises (Sudigdo & Khalifa, 2020) There is also a disconcerting lack of evidence regarding the specific input of SMEs in the development of these models Therefore, the net benefit of these models is not known Questions related to the implication of quality methods in SMEs, including inspection, quality control, quality management, quality improvement, continuous improvement, teambuilding, quality tools, total quality management, business process re-engineering, benchmarking, best practice etc., remain largely indeterminate (Jones & Haven, 2005)

2.6 Factors affecting quality management practices

Quality management can be described as an approach to project management that is based on certain reinforcing principles, as well as related practices and hands-on techniques (Al-Dhaafri et al., 2016) QM has not yet been adopted in smaller companies to any significant degree (S Hossain, Khalifa, & Abu Horaira, 2018) However, studies have suggested that recent initiatives related to QM can be adopted in both large and small companies (Kumar & Antony, 2008) (Bouchon & Rawat, 2016) A QM initiative refers to intentional efforts involving QM principles and practices (Goetsch & Davis, 2014) For it to be an initiative, and not only isolated improvement projects, these efforts should be meant to be sustaining and part of a larger plan Based on a review of the literature, the purpose of this paper is to identify the factors affecting quality management practices of small enterprise in Malaysia The general strengths of small

City University eJournal of Academic Research (CUeJAR), 2(1) 2020; 162-XX

enterprises are high degree of employee involvement and a management that is close to its employees The involvement of all employees in implementing QM is often argued to be critical

to small enterprise (Salaheldin, 2009) or as stated by training and staff are basic elements of quality improvement (Gharama, Khalifa, & Al-Shibami, 2020)

Quality improvement plans are activities of establishing objectives, requirements and application

of quality system elements (Mears, 1994) These plans should be made in such a way that they can be implemented in practice with focus on eliminating the major problem areas (Molina-Azorín, et al., 2015) As an evolutionary process, it can be effectively implemented with systematic improvement plans As a systematic approach, it should include time dimension, such

as time for preparation, the actual start of the implementation, observation and checking, investigation and analysis of results (Abdulla, et al., 2019) The implementation of Quality Management is a participative management approach It involves a decision to change the mindset of people from existing quality improvement practices to enhanced quality awareness, education, training, involvement, communication, skill up gradation and problem-solving attitude (Alharthi and Khalifa, 2019; Alharthi et al., 2019) It focuses on laying the foundation of quality improvement with emphasis on zero-defect programs, quality control circles, motivation programs, developing mission statements, establishing objectives and practicing quality tools and techniques (Falasi et al., 2019) It demands an unprecedented top management commitment for initiating quality improvement activities as top management plays a significant role in emphasizing commitment of employees, customers and suppliers

3) Methodology

The target population in this study is the customers of small enterprises at Malaysia who are older than seventeen years Simple random sampling is used in this research in order to represent the target population The study population includes 121 employees and students in Malaysia by selecting sample of people to see their responses about quality management practices in small enterprises at Malaysia, Such as managers, employee, household, workers, and students The Small organizations chosen for data collections are located in the areas of Malaysia as per the facilities are located at these regions Therefore, the cost of data collection is low as it does not involve travelling from one place to another to collect data and data can be collected in the shortest duration because there are many respondents The types of employees and the reasons for choosing them were as follows:

and the extent to which they felt that these had been achieved

being achieved

extent to which they considered them successful

Figure 2.4: Research framework

City University eJournal of Academic Research (CUeJAR), 2(1) 2020; 162-XX

Source: (Mears, 1994)

4) Result and Discussion

There The result shows that data was collected from 121 respondents who have filled up the survey A description of the techniques used to analyze the data and the extent and degree to which the findings confirm or infirm the hypothesized relationships With the advent of powerful software, such as SPSS, there is a tendency to go directly to complex, multivariate procedures without first conducting a marginal analysis (descriptive statistics), analysis of variance and correlation

4.1 Respondent Results

Table 4.1: Frequency Statistics

Gender Marital Status Age Education Level Race

Percentiles

Source: Developed for this research

City University eJournal of Academic Research (CUeJAR), 2(1) 2020; 162-XX

Table 4.1 the table shows the sample of the study according to the characteristics and personality traits, and demographic questionnaire divide it to Age, Gender, Marital Status, Education Level and Monthly income

4.2 Reliability

Reliability refers to the consistency and stability in the results of a test or scale A test is said to

be reliable if it yields similar results in repeated administrations when the attribute being measured is believed not to have changed in the interval between measurements, even though the test may be administered by different people and alternative forms of the test are used For example, if you weighed yourself twice consecutively and the first time the scale read 130 lbs And the second time 140 lbs., we would say that the scale was an unreliable measure of weights

In addition, to be reliable, an instrument or test must be confined to measuring a single construct and only one dimension For example, if a questionnaire designed to measure anxiety simultaneously measured depression, the instrument would not be a reliable measure of anxiety

A reliable instrument or test must meet two conditions: it must have a small random error; and it must measure a single dimension

The Cronbach α value for the four dimensions of dependent variable (quality management practices in managing the project management process of small enterprises) from DV 1 to DV4, and independent variable (Strategic Planning) from IV1 to IV4, (Organization Culture) from IV5

to IV8, (Employee Training) From IV 9 to IV11 ranged from 0.658 to 0.667 (refer to Table) Similarly, the reliability for the dependent measures used in assessing the homological validity was 0.658 (Hair et al., 2017) The figures indicate adequate internal consistency associated with most of the measures Once again, the Cronbach α values were compared with leading journals revealing that the produced Cronbach α values were on par with leading journal findings lending further credibility to the generated survey instrument in this study These results are based on 121 respondents

Table 4.2 Cronbach α value

Scale Mean

if Item Deleted

Scale Variance if Item Deleted

Corrected Item-Total Correlation

Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted

Education