The critical role of information systems in organizations has focussed attention on the need to manage quality in systems development. Existing quality management practices have been found inadequate to meet the escalating demands in systems delivery performance (Cusumano, 1991; Matsumoto, 1987). Problems such as poor quality,low productivity, cost over runs, late deliveries and user dissatisfaction have become common in systems development (Hamid & Madnick, 1989). These problems highlight the critical need to reengineer the systems delivery process (Rockart & Hofman, 1992). Several IS organizations have responded to this challenge by adopting Total Quality Management (TQM) practices. Success of TQM initiatives in organizations like Corning Inc (Shrendick et al, 1993) and Dun & Bradstreet suggests a positive relationship between quality management practices and quality performance. However, the reported failures of TQM programs in organizations like Florida Power and Kodak (Grant et al, 1994) suggest that systematic study is necessary to develop a richer understanding of how TQM works and when it is effective. The quality management literature adopts an universalistic perspective that TQM involves a set of principles and practices that are applicable across organizations (Juran, 1986). However, recent empirical studies (Bensen et al, 1991; Flynn et al, 1994) and theoretical work (Sitkin et al, 1994) highlight that quality management is context-dependent and organizations that have recognized this have been relatively successful in implementing TQM programs (Ernst & Young, 1992).This contingent perspective which is rooted in systems theory suggests that quality management practices vary across organizations. Understanding these variations is perhaps the first step towards theory development in this area. Accordingly, this study focuses on developing a descriptive profile of quality management practices in the context of systems development. The rest of the paper is organized as follows: first, a description of the empirical study is presented; this is followed by a discussion of the data analysis; next the results and findings of the study are presented and their implications are discussed
