Summary: A growing number of federal agencies are adopting Total Quality Management (TQM); about 68 percent of the government installations GAO surveyed reported that they were working on TQM, with most focusing on the early phases of that approach. Installations, as defined by the Office of Personnel Management, are units headed by an individual who is not subject to on-site supervision by a higher level installation head and who has some degree of authority in the performance of personnel management. The rest of the government installations are not now implementing TQM, but about half said that they plan to do so in the future. Although TQM is being initiated on a fairly wide scale, employee involvement remains sparse. Installations further along in implementing TQM reported more involvement in TQM activities, such as training, improvement teams, and measuring performance. Also, respondents reported both fewer barriers and more employee involvement as they progressed further into TQM implementation. More importantly, although many respondents said that they are reaping benefits as a direct result of TQM, the level of reported benefits increased substantially for installations further along in implementing TQM.
