TQM Is Alive but Not as We Know It: The Use of a Novel TQM Model in a Private Healthcare Company

UK healthcare has been facing an unprecedented quality crisis in recent times. In this context, the author setout to develop and evaluate the use of a novel total quality management (TQM) model in a private healthcare firm with the aim of improving patient care. By integrating contemporary organizational theories with TQM, an innovative model called EALIM--ethical, adaptive, learning and improvement model--was devised. Using an action research study, qualitative data were gathered in three research cycles, (1) pre-implementation, (2) implementation, and (3) post-implementation. Initial results showed EALIM's adoption generated a moral organizational perception among employees, increased organizational commitment, emergence of a learning culture, and improvements in patient self-advocacy and independence. However, other findings indicated poor leadership produced variability in service quality. Although outcomes from this study clearly indicated that EALIM generated organizational improvement, commitment from all internal stakeholders is required to achieve sustainable quality patient care.