QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN R&D: A CRITICAL LITERATURE REVIEW

The purpose of this study is to explore the nature of research topics and methodologies employed in existing studies of quality management (QM) in Research and Development (R&D). Using a systematic review methodology, this paper analyse the literature to identify the performance of R&D organizations. The literature review reveals that researchers have mainly explored only how to implement quality principles and practices in the R&D environment and made little effort to analyse the effectiveness of QM in an R&D set-up. QM practices discussed in the literature consist of top management commitment, R&D workforce involvement, training, a process-based approach, teamwork and cross-functional teams, fact-based measurement and feedback mechanisms, R&D client focus, and good communication with suppliers. The paper provides researchers with valuable information about how this research area has evolved, what main themes have been discussed in the literature, and what management practices are effective in pursuing quality efforts in R&D. This study also makes a contribution to the development of quality theory in R&D by pointing out the necessity of performance measurement and suggesting important areas for future study.