Total Quality Management In Property Development Projects In Vietnam

Despite of a half-year difficulty, Vietnam real estate market is now considered a long term potential market as foreign investors are keen on developing more projects. From the picture of real estate development in 2008, it showed that all trading in this sector are almost frozen, together with the increasing of interest from the banks and material prices, domestic investors are put in troubles. Meanwhile, foreign capital from the outside investors is continuously put in Vietnam’s real estate market with an impetuous speed.

Many foreign developers are still looking for opportunities to penetrate Vietnam's realty market, and many companies are now interested in HCM City's outskirts such as Thu Thiem and Cu Chi District. Developers are also keen-on complexes of apartments, offices and commercial centers, resorts, industrial parks and residential areas. These segments' supply and demand are not well matched. Consequently, if having visibility strategy such as focusing on target customer, paying attention on marketing and having ability to bring out a high quality product, then chance of success is a seeable thing.

According to Goetsch (2002) “Total Quality Management (TQM) is an approach to doing business that maximizes the competitiveness of an organization through continuous improvement of its products, services, people processes, and environment”. Kotler, 1999 noted that the foundation of TQM is satisfaction renders by products or services and products (or services) are nothing offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that satisfy a want or need.

TQM is not a new concept in the manufacturing sector. However, it does not mean that management system which have worked well in the manufacturing sector can be directly well-applied to construction. This is due to the nature differences between the two sectors. Construction industry has its own unique feature while manufacturing calls for repeat processes with products primarily put out in large batches. On the other hand, construction work is undertaken in the main single batch or projects. Although many of the basic processes are repeated from job to job (e.g. concreting and plastering), the specifics of application are always changing (Low & Peh, 1996).

In construction industry, where customers’ requirements are increasingly complex and expectations are uncertain, the application of such tools becomes difficult. Vietnam’s Property market is now considered a complex and “hot” environment for investors. Hence, application of TQM will be a competitive advantage (Low & Peh, 1996). If TQM can be implemented into property development field in a right way, it can help to improve the quality as well as the productivity of the project. It is a need to identify suitable TQM factors that are applicable to these projects in order to take the best efficiency of implementation.

Ms. Nguyen Viet Nhan made a case study that focused on the property developing projects in Ho Chi Minh City to (1) find out TQM factors that are applicable to property developing projects; (2) find out the perception and practices of TQM in Vietnam property development; and (3) develop TQM framework that is applicable in Vietnam property development.

The results of her study clearly indicated that Leadership and commitment by top management is the most critical factor for the successful implementation of TQM in Vietnam property development organizations. Once it is known exactly where the organization is, the manager can take steps to improve the overall effectiveness of quality management system. This study also found out that the first five critical problems of TQM implementation are (1) Customer focus; (2) Relationship with supplier, contractor and subcontractor; (3) Leadership and commitment of top management; (4) Employee involvement and commitment; and (5) Education and training. These five priority factors should be given more attention in order to achieve a satisfactory level.
Her thesis abstract is copied and posted.

ABSTRACT
This study investigates the factors affecting successful implementation of TQM in property developments projects. The primary objectives of this study illustrate the development of TQM, introduce the common TQM model and evaluate the items in property development management's TQM model that are believed to be most successfully and most unsuccessfully implemented. In the later part of the study proposes a new TQM model that is applicable in Vietnam market. The result finding is expected to be powerful information for future research directions especially as an indicator for the development of a suitable TQM framework for the property development projects in Vietnam.

The survey was carried in Ho Chi Minh City and the suburban provinces of Ho Chi Minh City. 145 samples from medium-large scale projects were selected for the analysis. All respondent‟s results were analyzed using SPSS version 15.0. Theory using in this survey is grounded from literature review and expert‟s experience. There are twelve factors which affect successful TQM implementation were identified from the survey. The findings indicated that the most important element in TQM framework is Commitment and Leadership by Top Management. The others critical dimensions of TQM are Employee Involvement and Commitment, Education & Training, Communication to improve quality, Policy, System & Process, Customer focus, Relationship with supplier, contractor and subcontractor, Quality Audit & Evaluation, Improve jobsite quality, Work environment & Culture, Team working for, Continuous improvement, and Resource management. The findings also indicated that there was a difference on TQM perception between project manager and site engineer in some dimension of TQM. These are Customer focus, Quality Audit and evaluation, and Relationship with supplier, contractor and subcontractor. A gap the analysis was carried to examine the importance and actual status of these TQM factors. The results indicated that there are a big gap between actual practice and perception. The top five factors that have largest gaps were Customer focus, Relationship with supplier, contractor and subcontractor, Leadership and commitment of top management, Employee involvement and commitment, Education and training. Improving the satisfactory levels of these factors may lead to a successful TQM implementation. Finally, a framework for implementing TQM is recommended.