An application of Thompson's typology to TQM in service firms

This work is based on the premise that service firms are different. The involvement of customers in the provision of services not only creates an uncertainty that makes service organizations different from manufacturing firms, but, within the broad classification of service organizations, they can also be different from each other. In line with previous research on service firms, we use Thompson's [Thompson, J.D. (1967). Organizations in action. New York: McGraw-Hill] typology of interdependence (pooled, sequential, and reciprocal) as a useful framework for addressing those differences. We deduce that components of TQM content and TQM process should vary according to an organization's degree of interdependence if output uncertainty, expressed in terms of service quality, is to be minimized. Thus, the success of TQM in service organizations is dependent upon the fit among interdependence and the strategy's content and process.