THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT AND PERFORMANCE: THE CASE OF ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES

Abstract

Airline industry by its nature is very vulnerable and sensitive industry, where anything can affect it. With the stiff completion happening in the current situation airlines has to do a lot than just giving service. In order for an airline to have best performance, it should first fulfill the TQM. In this study, TQM has been identified with four pillars, which are satisfying customer, System/ process, People and Improvement Tools. The findings revealed that there is strong correlation between TQM and performance with a correlation coefficient of r= 0.936, which is significant at p<0.01. Ethiopian airlines has successfully implemented TQM and benefited from the result through better performance. When customers are satisfied, the number of passenger will increase every year, which led to the acquiring of new aircrafts and latest technology, which led to expansion of the airline. It was seen that all this happened due to the beginning of implementation of TQM, starting from satisfying employee and customers. So it is recommended for the airline to focus more on the employees who are the base of the airlines, by creating belongingness.