TQM/CQI effectiveness at team and departmental levels

Structured interviews regarding continuous quality improvement (CQI) efforts were conducted with team leaders and department heads at a large medical center. The purpose of the interviews was to identify factors that were commonly associated with effective improvement efforts. Six factors were significantly related to team effectiveness: team leader attitude toward CQI, team leader skills and understanding of CQI, team CQI skills, team leader attendance in statistical process control (SPC) training, team complexity, and goal specificity. Factor analysis suggested that goal specificity, team complexity, and team leader attendance in SPC training were most associated with effective improvement efforts. For departments, only department head attitude toward CQI was significantly related to effectiveness of improvement efforts. Implications of these and other fundings are discussed, and directions for future research are suggested.