Abstract:
Micro, Small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are important to national
development as they produce a huge percentage of the national output and provide
an even greater proportion of employment. They play a significant role in economic
growth, innovation, poverty alleviation and raise standard of living. Research has
shown that most manufacturing SMEs that adopt and implement TQM practices
exhibited a significant positive relationship and confirmed that TQM practices are
indicators of firm performance. The study examines the benefits of TQM
implementation, and the challenges these manufacturing SMEs face in their attempt
to implement TQM practices. The study which was exploratory in nature used
descriptive survey and a structured interview to collect data from the SMEs who
were purposively selected for the interview. The study purposively selected fifty
(50) owner-managers for the interview, but due to the COVID-19 health pandemic,
only five (5) participated in the interview. A sample size of 5 respondents were
selected for exploratory study in Accra metropolitan area of the Greater Accra
region to respond to the interview instrument. The tool for qualitative data
analysis was NVivo version 11. The study discovered that manufacturing SMEs
adopted and implemented TQM practices in their organisations. The TQM practices
which were analysed were: organisational leadership; strategic planning and
development; customer focus; human resource focus; continuous improvement and
process management. The study established that effective implementation of TQM
practices led to financial performance of these manufacturing SMEs as there was a
significant positive relationship between the TQM practices and firm performance.
The study although confirmed a direct positive relationship between quality
management practices and firm performance, there were numerous challenges that
serves as barriers to TQM implementation in the organisations. The challenge of
downsizing was the most reported among the SMEs. It is recommended that
manufacturers in the SME sector must be aware of the prospects of quality
management practices since the success of its implementation depends largely on
its awareness. It is also recommended that SMEs identifies challenges that face its
implementation of TQM, so as to eliminate any barrier to its implementation.
