Reading Report: Applying TQM to a Ministry Context

Over the past week I've been working on a class project where I have to apply a contemporary management technique to a particular organization. Since I've spent my career in the nonprofit world, I chose to focus on a ministry organization, and the technique that I chose, with advice from a fellow student and the professor, is total quality management.

I had become familiar with TQM in the 1990s, but I hadn't looked at it closely, nor had I considered its possible utility in the management of ministry. So far I've found the following journal articles to be enlightening:

• • Bedwell, R. T., Jr. (1993, June). Total quality management: Making the decision. Nonprofit World, 11(3), 29–31.

  • Chater, M. (1999). Theology and management. Modern Believing, 40(4), 64–69.

  • Gasser, W. W. (2002). What is a healthy church? Journal of Ministry and Theology, 6(1), 105–121.

  • Katz, R. (1995, October). What nonprofits should know about TQM. Nonprofit World, 13(5), 4–5.

  • Kearns, K. P., Krasman, R. J., & Meyer, W. J. (1994). Why nonprofit organizations are ripe for Total Quality Management. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 4(4), 447–460. doi:10.1002/nml.4130040407

  • Kinast, R. L., & Schloegel, J. (1998, July). Combining faith and business. St. Anthony Messenger, 106(2), 18–21.

  • Vokurka, R. J. (2000). The applicability of Total Quality Management principles to church management: A case study. Journal of Ministry Marketing & Management, 5(2), 21–33. doi:10.1300/J093v05n02_02

For the most part, though these sources somewhat dated, they're readily available in a good library's databases. I have some additional literature on my reading list--notably, some books and dissertations. I may recommend some of those sources in a later post.

In my last post, I listed some journal literature that I had found useful when writing a paper on the application of total quality management to local church ministry. Over the past week I've consulted some additional sources--mostly books and dissertations. I found the following items to be helpful:

• • Ahn, T. T. (2001). The evaluation of Total Quality Management (TQM) in a Korean-American Christian ministry (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 3014506)

  • Babbes, G. S., & Zigarelli, M. (2006). The minister’s MBA: Essential business tools for maximum ministry success. Nashville: B&H.

  • Jones, E. E. (1993). Quest for quality in the church: A new paradigm. Nashville: Discipleship Resources.

  • Kallestad, W. P., & Schey, S. L. (1994). Total quality ministry. Minneapolis: Augsburg.

  • Pinwell, D. (1997). Towards quality of service. In D. Clark (Ed.), Changing world, unchanging church? An agenda for Christians in public life (pp. 150–151). London: Mowbray.

  • Praschan, D. C. (2000). Leadership and a learning organization: A CIMPLE model (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 3000416)

Want to learn more about ministry management and related topics?

Click the buttons below to see relevant entries in my bibliography, SmithFile.