Emergence in TQM, a concept analysis

PurposeThe question answered in this paper is: what does the concept of emergence mean in the context of total quality management? The purpose of this paper is to develop a definition for emergence by discovering the structure of the phenomenon and to suggest its implications for total quality management.Design/methodology/approachThe concept analysis follows the method proposed by Walker and Avant (2014). A first step of the method is a general search on the internet and a literature review executed in scientific databases. Due to the limited search results in the field of quality management a support search has been done in three quality management journals and the method of berry picking was added.FindingsThis concept analysis provides attributes of the concept of emergence as well as antecedents and consequences. Emergence is the phenomenon where out of a network of interacting internal and external elements in the course of time arises a coherent new pattern, that is unpredictable, unexpected, unplanned and irreducible to the separate parts. To make emergence happen an organization needs to react to a complex environment that is in un-order far-from-equilibrium. It needs to be (part of) a complex adaptive system. Emergence might rather lead to a (dynamic) bandwidth wherein the result moves, than to a (static) new order.Research limitations/implicationsIn the literature review little is found about the consequences of emergence. A hypothesis is formulated in this area that needs further research.Practical implicationsOnly as the authors know and agree upon the definition and meaning of the concept of emergence and the characteristics of the Emergence Paradigm the authors can effectively adjust or develop quality management instruments and tools to support or facilitate emergence in complex organizations.Originality/valueThere is a limited amount of literature on systems theory and complexity theory in quality management. Even less on the phenomenon of emergence. There is no concept analysis on the subject of emergence.