Guest editorial: What does combining soft and hard TQM take to achieve organizational excellence?

Achieving organizational excellence has been widely considered more of an art than a science. Total quality management (TQM) – a management philosophy centered around the principles of continuous improvement, teamwork and customer focus – embodies a tension toward organizational excellence. Implementing TQM necessitates a customized design of management practices, adapting teamwork, continuous improvement and customer focus to the firm’s distinguishing attributes to advance its organizational processes and enhance available sources of competitive advantage.