The status of total quality management (TQM) in Ghana

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent of implementation of quality management in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach After thoroughly reviewing and reading available literatures in the field of interest, semi‐structured interview questions were prepared. Semi‐structured interview was opted for, in order to obtain in‐depth responses from the respondents. To cater for inter‐lingual differences and inconsistencies, a double translation of the completed interview questions was necessary. Findings It was revealed that awareness of quality management is relatively high among the Ghanaian multinational firms that have some degree of expatriate management and they performed fairly well. However, they still trail their international counterparts with similar top management commitment and resource base. On the other hand, the study revealed a low degree of quality awareness among firms owned and managed solely by Ghanaians and their performance, with the exception of long‐established and well‐resourced government enterprises, was poor. Originality/value The paper describes an exploratory study. The finding is that quality management practiced by Ghanaian firms (both multinationals and indigenous) is not a total approach and hence the conclusion is that total quality management, by implication, is not yet being practised in Ghana.