Int J Original Res 2016; 2 (6): 296-307. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ORIGINAL RESEARCH Volume : 2 | Issue : 6 | 2016 ENRICH JOURNALS www.enrichjournals.com Corresponding Author: B. Ngwenya; Ph.D. Senior lecturer, Faculty of Business, Postgraduate Department, Solusi University, Zimbabwe. Citation: Ngwenya B, Sibanda V, Matunzeni T. Challenges and benefits of total quality management (TQM) implementation in manufacturing companies: A case study of delta beverages, in Zimbabwe. Int J Original Res 2016; 2 (6): 296-307. Conflict of Interest: None Copyright: © 2016, Ngwenya B et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. ARTICLE : BUSINESS MANAGEMENT Challenges and benefits of total quality management (TQM) implementation in manufacturing companies: A case study of delta beverages, in Zimbabwe Authors: B. Ngwenya 1 , V. Sibanda 2 , T. Matunzeni 3 1 Ph.D. Senior lecturer, Faculty of Business, Postgraduate Department, Solusi University, Zimbabwe. 2 MSc. Senior lecturer, Faculty of Commerce, Graduate School of Business, National University of Science and Technology. 3 GMBA. Student, Graduate School of Business, National University of Science and Technology. ABSTRACT Total Quality Management (TQM) has become the management craze of the 21st century. Glowing reports of substantial successes have provided a considerable source of motivation for many organizations to pursue TQM. The purpose of this study was to document the challenges and benefits of TQM implementation in a beverage manufacturing firm in Zimbabwe, and the effect of these practices on operations. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire on shop floor employees and middle and top management. The shop floor employees’ questionnaire was distributed to 50 shop floor employees in the plant. The middle and top management questionnaire was distributed to 15 middle and top management in the plant. The respondents expressed their opinions concerning the challenges and benefits of implementation of the TQM system. Its successes and failures were clearly articulated. The findings of the study showed that the implementation of TQM practices in a beverage manufacturing firm in Zimbabwe, a less developed country with a peculiar case of multi–currency usage, works and has documented undisputable results. Recommendations are that Delta Beverages (Ltd) needs to ensure that there is a total buy in from the employees as well as training all employees on the implementation of TQM best practices as well as engaging everyone so that TQM is not seen as a production programme only but a TOTAL PLANT programme. This will ensure that all the barriers due to support departments are timeously closed out. Furthermore, Delta Beverages as a whole need to be on point when it comes to recognition and rewards so that employees do not feel discriminated against as is the case right now. Key words: total quality management, manufacturing sector, benefits, challenges Article ID: IJOR10622MS