Management Paralysis and the Good Idea Fairy

Because both total quality management (TQM) and the Malcolm Baldrige approach both require that companies and organizations use a “fact-based” or “evidence-based” or “data driven” approach to setting strategy and making decisions, some type of integrated performance measurement system (El Mola and Parsaei, 2010) seems like a requirement for ongoing operations. [By the way, there apparently is something called “evidence-based medicine.” Going on those words alone, one must shudder at the opposite. But, if anything is true, it is that when words are used to obscure, one must wait for the truth and real intentions to be revealed.]

An integrated performance measurement system must be action-oriented, meaning that not only can it be used to track performance but can also be used to identify slow-downs, excessive costs, and other areas that require improvement.

In addition, an integrated performance measurement system must be able to measure performance based on processes that span across an entire company or organization and not be relegated to single departments. That’s called a process-oriented metric. It is not clear whether an integrated performance measurement system can propose a restructuring of an organization or company so that these cross-department processes do not cross so many departments, and whether such a restructuring is eventually worth it.

The voice of the customer (VOC) and market forces must be considered in any quality management system such as TQM and Malcolm Baldrige approach. Parast et al. (2024) imply that some companies or organizations have a difficult time converting those into actionable items. Instead of a customer-satisfaction loop or a market-analysis loop, companies get stuck in what engineers call “analysis paralysis” – they never make it pass the data collection stage.

Something similar to this is what I call “management paralysis.” This is when management hasn’t developed strategy for some product, or when old management leaves the company and takes their strategies with them. Goetsch & Davis (2021, p. 295) use the phrase “voice of the company,” and with management paralysis, the voice of the company is mute.

Here is a good example: in October 2021, Apple introduced a “notch” in the screen of their MacBook and MacBook Pro products. The idea is that this notch would be a place to hold higher resolution cameras, as well as face tracking and face detection technology. Here we are in August 2025 and none of that has happened. One must conclude that the Good Idea Fairy paid a visit to some mid-level manager and gave him the "vision" of putting the notch into otherwise outstanding computers, and either there was a change in management or an underbaked strategy. Or, the Good Idea Fairy is paid by the hour!

References

El Mola, K. & Parsaei, H. (2010). Integrated performance measurement systems: A review and analysis. The 40th International Conference on Computers & Industrial Engineering, Awaji, Japan, 2010, pp. 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCIE.2010.5668237

Goetsch, D. L. & Davis, S. B. (2021). Quality management for organizational excellence: Introduction to total quality (9^th ed.). Pearson.

Parast, M. M., Safari, A., & Golgeci, I. (2024). A comparative assessment of quality management practices in manufacturing firms and service firms: A repeated cross-sectional analysis. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 71, 4676-4691. https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2022.3221851

Speedy Implementation of TQM

The corporate culture that results from demanding that employees and managers demonstrate values like integrity, respect, trust, and responsibility would make that organization smoothly earn the respect of employees, managers, suppliers, customers, and other relevant parties. That organization would be trustworthy, and that means it would be trusted by customers to reliably produce high-quality goods or services.

Like both Goetsch & Davis (2021) and Deming et al (2018) state, moving to total quality in a company or organization is a long-term process. Does it have to be, though?

Consider Apple Inc, which was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in 1976. Very quickly Apple established a reputation of developing high quality and innovative products, especially under CEO Steve Jobs.

Unfortunately, internal machinations lead to Jobs leaving the company in 1985, being replaced by John Sculley.

Under Sculley’s leadership, the company floundered. In 1997, Apple was close to bankruptcy, and in response they purchased NeXT Inc, the computer company founded by Jobs after his exit from Apple. This brought Steve Jobs back into Apple, and Jobs brought Apple back to profitability. Jobs simplified the computer product lineup, downsized the management team, introduced the iPod music player, began offering music streaming, and later introduced the iPhone and iPad product lines. (Isaacson, 2011)

Jobs was apparently familiar with the works of both Dening and Juran, but he seems to have changed their philosophy.

Was Jobs’ return sufficient to return Apple Inc to its position as a premiere microcomputer manufacturer? I’m not sure, but something that helped the situation was Jobs’ activities during his time away from Apple. First, Jobs founded NeXT Inc, also a microcomputer manufacturer. What made NeXT different was the technology they developed: the first web browser and the first web server. Second, Jobs founded Pixar Animation Studios. These two companies demonstrated Jobs’ innovative way of thinking, and any doubts that Apple Inc was a fluke were dispelled.

Apple became profitable shortly after Jobs’ return, earning $309 million profit that year (Hobson, 2023). The company began producing quality products almost immediately, and he convinced those who were disillusioned with the Apple products Sculley produced to return. This really is a deus ex machina event, where Apple’s existence was saved by an unexpected and improbable event.

References

Deming, W. E., Cahill, K. E., & Allan, K. L. (2018). Out of the Crisis. The MIT Press.

Goetsch, D. L. & Davis, S. B. (2021). Quality management for organizational excellence: Introduction to total quality (9^th ed.). Pearson.

Hobson, N. (2023, 19 April). 25 Years Ago, Steve Jobs Saved Apple From Collapse. Fast Company & Inc. https://www.inc.com/nick-hobson/25-years-ago-steve-jobs-saved-apple-from-collapse-its-a-lesson-for-every-tech-ceo-today.html

Isaacson, W. (2011). Steve Jobs. Simon & Schuster.