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nt, Respect for all employees and finally implementing the Deming cycle of Plan-Do-Check-Act. Carrying on from this concept, (Zheng & Zhao) also recognise that there are 'soft' and 'hard' elements. The soft elements are describes as strategic, leadership and culture. These points agree with Oakland, as Oakland believed in these theories as his entire principles match up to that of what Zheng and Zhao have wrote about. The hard elements are Benchmarking, Just-In-Time and statistical process control. The difference is clear. The harder elements are those of numbers and clear facts where-as the softer side is what you can't touch but it is how you can influence people mentally. (Powell 1995) questions the economic value of Total Quality Management.

Within the 1000 fortune firms, many managers believed that TQM had improved performance. However, both evidence and studies have seen varying degrees of success. These have ranged from companies facing bankruptcy due to costs or abandonment of TQM.

Total Quality Management in Construction 施工全面质量管理
There is much resistance to TQM in the construction industry. (Somerville and Robertson 2000) found that product diversity was a problem. This was because constructions are all unique and need personalised needs of the customers. Therefore the satisfaction of the customer can then vary. (Badan-Hallard 1993) defined the cost of quality. This is because there isn't much understanding because contractors feel that TQM is an extra cost. They do not necessarily realise that companies do not pay for quality but they pay for the lack of quality in constructing. On the other hand (Beggar 1990) argues that the costs associated with implementing the TQM system within an organisation could be substantial dependant on organisation size and the nature of the company. He also claims that the costs for not achieving the correct level of quality can cost owners an extra 12% on total cost of project. But on the other hand, companies have now realised that it is important to involve contractors at an early stage. (Akintoye et al 2000). Because of this the (ECU 1996) found that in Europe. 85% of retail stores were re-designing their supply chains. 80% stated that their supply chain had become 'significantly more important'. (Harrington et al 2012) The issue with TQM within the construction industry is that is a technique was developed within manufacturing and the construction industry is very different so this then makes it difficult to implement due to the mobility of staff, diversity of projects, geographical issues and relationships in the supply chain. (Lakhe and Mohanty 1994) discussed TQM implementation. They wrote of how there was a lack of sufficient knowledge and information about TQM. They also found difficulty in measuring the effectiveness of TQM. Because of this there was a failure by management to maintain interest and commit over the long term. Because of this, this leads to lack of internal communication. Finally insufficient training means that staff had doubts of employees about management intentions.

But as there are also benefits of implementing TQM in construction, (Bardoel and Sohal 1999) have reported benefits from Australian construction organisations. Some of the benefits that were reported are reduced construction time, reduction in damaged goods, and better control of processes. But the major benefits that were seen within manufacturing, s