ARE CSR AND TQM COMPATIBLE?

The aim of this paper is to understand how Total Quality Management (TQM) can act as a foundation for developing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) within Public Organizations, especially those wishing to make an approach towards excellence in order to optimize decision-making, to improve human resource management, public finance and quality of public services. TQM can be used as a determinant of the development of a corporate culture ethically sensitive. CSR could be a natural progression for Public organizations that have already started a process of quality. (Hazlett et al., 2007). In the public sector we have too often experienced low quality services, which have generated and perpetuated low expectations. The result has been great dissatisfaction and frustration (Gaster, 1995). In order to survive, contemporary organisations have to satisfy the needs and expectations of their stakeholders (Foley, 2005). Depending on the actual context and dimensions of the public organizations, the stakeholder may include government, employees, clients and consumers, business partners (contractors and suppliers), related institutions, communities, or other actors with a strong influence on the organization (Freeman, 1984; Schilling, 2000; Foley 2005). Due to the demands of their stakeholders, organizations are often encouraged to work with a large variety of issues ranging from the economy, to quality and the environment, and to safety and social responsibility. This paper shows specifically how to incorporate sustainability into a quality system by using a model that shows the relation between investment in quality and the variables fame and reputation. The interest in the nature of the relationship between TQM and CSR is long-standing. In the continuous process of building an efficient, transparent public administration, oriented towards the citizen, public organizations are promoting and introducing the elements of quality management. The aim of the total quality movement is to enable organizations to deliver high quality services in the shortest possible time to market, at minimum cost, and in a manner that emphasises human dignity, work satisfaction, and mutual and long-term loyalty between the organization and its stakeholders. In the paper we have analyzed the connection between TQM and CSR and we consider that TQM has a strong ethical dimension, advocating the importance of considering the interests of stakeholders (Oppenheim & Przasnyski, 1999). First, the definitions of CSR are discussed. Second, the ethics in quality are described, followed by a discussion on existing quality models with regard to CSR. Third, the relationship between TQM and CSR is considered. This study contributes to the development of a theory linking CSR to TQM and underlie how there is a great similarity between TQM and CSR. The TQM concept crosses the ethical and legitimate the instrumental dimension of CSR (Vinten, 1998).