ORGANIZATIONAL APPROACH TO TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY OF DIAMOND BANK PLC

CHAPTER ONE/INTRODUCTION
1.1 PREAMBLE
The information super highway has turned the world into a global village. Organisations are facing the kind of competition that was not envisaged a few years ago. They have to compete with goods and services from all over the world and satisfy a more educated and sophisticated customer. What is satisfactory to the customers today may not be regarded as such tomorrow as their expectations are continuously changing. In addition, there has been consistent breakthrough in science and technology over the last couple of decades. This has also affected information dissemination and management, as things earlier thought impossible now look ordinary.
Moreover, the fall-outs of a deregulated global competition have offered customers choices among various alternatives. Today, customers demand high quality and low price. Since no one organisation can boast of holding franchise to the development and delivery of quality products/services, many organisations have embraced the Total Quality Management concept as a way of survival.
One tenet of this management philosophy, which many organisations have adopted as a fundamental business strategy, is the concept of continuous improvement. No organisation can afford to be competitive if it does not continuously improve on its products/services, processes and people.
There is therefore, an urgent need for an organisation-wide approach and commitment to quality improvement. In addition, there is the need for quality improvement to be a continuous exercise or phenomenon. Over the years, this realisation has led to the development of the “Total Quality Management Concept”.
The questions bothering a great number of Nigerian Management Scholars and Practitioners are:

1. If TQM is all about continuously improving value to customers, why has DBPlc as an organisation shown lukewarm attitude to this management philosophy?
2. Where it has been implemented, why has DB PLC refused to set aglow the initial zeal of commitment to continuous quality improvement beyond the prime years of its implementation?