Total quality management in upgrading for public housing: Case study of Singapore

Abstract

The construction of flats for public housing was commenced by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) in 1960. In 1989, the Upgrading Programme was launched to transform old public housing precincts into quality homes comparable to those in the new housing estates. This paper examines Total Quality Management (TQM), a management philosophy that emphasises maximising customer satisfaction through a systematic, consistent and organisation-wide perspective involving everyone and every processes as the key to the successful implementation of HDB's Main Upgrading Programme (MUP). It evaluates the Management of Process Quality and Computer Management Systems adopted by HDB in the MUP and compare them against the TQM framework.