How do you rate the progress of TQM in India?
The progress of the TQM movement in India has been very satisfactory. Most Indian companies in the cluster have taken lesser time in adapting to change than I had expected. If these cluster companies continue the TQM effort for a few more years, they will become eligible to secure international recognition of the kind brought by the Deming Prize andothers. However, the movement needs to expand its scope to include a wider number of industries and sectors, to have any real impact. Not too many companies in the subcontinent are on the goal-pursuing path.

In terms of implementing and absorbing TQM practices, how do you rate Indian companies compared to their Japanese and European counterparts?
Although the speed of change and learning is on the higher side in Indian companies, the Europeans are much stronger when it comes to operations. Some of the more glaring difference are with respect to attitudes. Where most Japanese companies have started thinking in terms of taking responsibility and looking for corrective measures when things go wrong, shirking responsibility is very common place in case of Indian companies. We are attempting to change the ``I am not responsible'' attitude to ``I am responsible and I have to do something about it,'' attitude, in the case of the TQM cluster companies in India.

So far, the implementation has been ina manufacturing environment. What is being done to bring TQM to the services industry?
Quality is very crucial in the service industry. There is a large scope for Daily Work Management to better processes in the sector where the delivery time to the customer is much shorter than the manufacturing sector. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) plans to accommodate a TQM cluster for the service industry in Mumbai next year.

Will there be significant differences between the application of TQM in service and manufacturing industries?
TQM in the manufacturing sector is not too different from that in the service sector. The key focus of TQM in the service industry continues to be on man, material and resources as in manufacturing. However in case of services, there is a greater emphasis on management as against manufacturing where production is more crucial to the system.

Finally, the application and the impact of TQM in service companies is faster than manufacturing companies as there areno gestation periods involved.

Has Indian industry accepted that there is a link between TQM and healthy bottomlines?
There is certainly a correlation between the company's performance and the application of TQM. The essential purpose of TQM is to add value to the customer, which results in better product performance in the market hence adding to the company bottomline. If a company is able to increase productivity and efficiency while cutting down on costs with the help of DWM, profits are bound to go up.