Managing Human Resources for Quality

Introduction

Globalisation in the line of work is driving companies toward a new view of quality as a
necessary tool to compete successfully in worldwide markets. Today, developing quality
across the entire firm can be an important function of the Human Resource
Management (HRM) Department. The proponents of Total Quality management (TQM)
define quality in terms of customer requirements of “fitness for use” (Juran, 1988), and
the “TQM organisation” as being committed to continuously improving customer
satisfaction. Those employees without direct contact with external customers are
encouraged to view their colleagues as customers, linked via a chain of internal
customer relationships to the External customer. Organisations are urged to move away
from supervisory approaches to quality control, and all employees, from top
management to the shop floor, are to develop commitment to continuous improvement
as an integral part of their daily work (Oakland, 1993). There is a need to develop a
“quality culture” (Dale and Cooper, 1992; Glover, 1993; Hill, 1991).

Schuler and Harris (1992) argue that TQM promises to empower front-line employees
giving them more responsibility and information and so undermines middle managers’
traditional role in implementing and monitoring the instructions of top management.
Instead, middle managers are to perform the key function of providing leadership and
support for front-line employees, which requires new skills and attitudes on their part.
For employees, TQM means taking on greater responsibilities, often for the same pay
and there is a fear that TQM may involve job losses. Sensitivity to quality starts with
senior management training followed by the training of middle-and lower- level
managers. To be successful, a TQM system must be wholeheartedly accepted by top
management, who, in turn must convey their commitment to all organisational
members. HRM can play a vital role in implementing and maintaining a total quality
management process. HR managers are responsible for recruiting high-quality
employees, the continual training and development of those employees, and the
creating and maintenance of reward systems.

1
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

Organisational culture

The implementation of TQM is usually inherent in terms of a need to manage the

organisation’s culture.

However, much of the academic literature emphasizes the difficulties in changing

organisational culture, and recent years have seen a debate on whether or not culture
can be managed (Ogbonna, 1992-1993; Williams et al., 1993). Some authors point to
the existence of subcultures and competing occupational cultures, influenced by factors
both internal and external to the organisation, questioning the notion of a single, shared
culture which is easily controllable by management (Meyerson and Martin, 1987). Even
to the extent that it is useful to refer to a single “organisational” culture, there may be
problems for the culture management view, in that the existing culture may be resistant
to change, and thus act as a barrier to the successful implementation of TQM. At the
very least, accounts of TQM implementation need to address the issue of resistance to
change and avoid an overly-simplistic view of the possibility of managing culture. In the
context of quality management, the values and beliefs underlying an organisation’s
culture are able to shape its philosophy and policies of managing business, which in
turn influence the development of the organisation’s quality management practices
(Waldman, 1993). It has been argued that for an organisation to realize the value of
implementing quality practices, it must have a culture that is capable of fully supporting
their implementation. According to Flynn et al, (1995) and Kaynak, (2003) quality
management is a multidimensional construct which is composed of multiple quality
practices. These quality practices have different functions and roles regarding
continuous improvement. For example, a typical quality practice – workforce
management – is to use the entire capacity of workers and to encourage employee
commitment to organisational continuous improvement efforts.

2
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

Recruitment and selection

“Recruitment is the process of developing a set of organisation-oriented activities that

seeks to promote to and engage the most suitable candidate with the abilities,
competencies and attitude required to carry out a given job-related task” (James,1996).
For a quality oriented organisation, candidates should have characteristics such as
teamwork, problem solving skills and should be able to develop or apply the concept of
statistic.

“Selection is the mutual process by which the individual and the organisation become
matched to form the employment relationship” (Petrick, 1995). The selection process is
simple as it decides what the job involves and what abilities are necessary and use
indicators to established selection techniques. However when apply to TQM; an entirely
new dimension is introduced. People who will be suitable to operate in a quality
environment may require additional characteristics such as attitude, values personality
type and analytical ability.

Gaining competent employees at all levels of the organization is more than a matter of
training; it stems from changes in recruitment and selection philosophy (Ashkenas et al.,
1995). Although Ashkenas et al. (1995) don't describe specific recruiting approaches
that aid in achieving this cohesive culture, they state the importance of thoroughly
screening applicants, sometimes with the help of customers, based on skills and
personality traits that match the technical and cultural needs of the organization.

Successful recruitment and selection of employees with the proper knowledge, skills,
abilities, and attitudes compatible with a TQM philosophy can be a driving force
supporting continued program effectiveness. In recruiting for all departments and for all
organizational levels, the HR department can identify people who will promote the TQM
philosophy. Candidate qualities to target in recruiting include a willingness to receive
new training and to expand job roles, to try new ideas and problem-solving techniques,
to work patiently in teams within and across departments, and to be enough of a team

3
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

player to be evaluated and rewarded on a team basis. Acquiring high quality talent and
skills is critical to the success of the organization. As the market becomes more
competitive and the needed skills grow diverse, employers need to be selective in their
decisions because poor decisions can produce long term effects

Recruitment and selection present unique challenges. Not only is it necessary to

consider tasks and traits in the traditional mode, but team competence and ability to
learn, plus accompanying motivation, are vital attributes. It has been suggested that the
job description would be replaced by the team description or combinations of job and
team descriptions. Relationships with other natural work units in related flows,
intermediate and end output customers might also be stated.

The recruitment and selection process

According to Armstrong (2001) the overall aim of the recruitment and selection process
should be to obtain at minimum cost the number and quality of employees required to
satisfy the human resource needs of the company. The three stages of recruitment and
selection are:

 Defining requirements
 Attracting candidates
 Selecting candidates

Thus, an organisation which is willing to recruit employees with a quality frame of mind
should search for employees with characteristics needed. And the recruitment and
selection process should be based on quality and involves several steps as mentioned
above.

4
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

1. Defining requirements

Job Description

The job description will help to attract the right person to apply for job and for a quality
oriented organisation the potential recruits should the skills that will be indicated what is
needed in term of quality from them and what their work will consist of doing.

Job specification

Job specification, defines the education, training, qualifications, experience and,

competences/ competencies required by the job holder. A job specification for an
organisation aiming at TQM should include specification based on quality and which can
be under the following headings:

• competences/competencies
• qualifications and training — the professional, technical or academic
qualifications

• Experience
• Organizational fit — the corporate culture that should be based on quality.

2. Attracting candidates.

There are two basic way of finding applicants.

• Internal recruitment
• External recruitment

Internal recruitment is a situation where the company can give its own employees
promotion or give them the change to switch to another job. For a firm aiming at quality,

5
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

internal recruitment will be suitable if there are experienced person with the right skills
and will already have the company culture of quality.

External recruitment is a situation where the company recruit’s a new person for the
post.

3. Selecting Candidates

 Aptitude Tests

Aptitude tests are job-specific tests that are designed to predict the potential an
individual has to perform tasks within a job. The company can use this test to predict
who can work for them by giving them a test based on quality to perform.

 Attainment Tests

Attainment tests measure abilities or skills that have already been acquired by training
or experience. The organisation can use attainment test to know who already have the
skills and ability to perform a task without defects.

Assessment Centres

Furthermore assessment Centres also can be used in choosing a quality way of

thinking employee. Assessment centres have been described by Lewis (1985) as a
selection procedure using multiple methods. An assessment centre is a program of
tests, work simulation situations, exercises and interviews which are designed to
measure and assess a wide range of different abilities, skills, behavioural characteristics
ad potential required for effective performance in the job.

6
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

Training for quality

Training is the critical variable in the success or failure of a company’s quality

improvement programme. It enables a company’s workforce to acquire the skills needed
to improve and maintain the quality production process. The adoption of quality
management practices has long been associated with an increase provision of
employee training. According to Deming (1982) and Ishikawa (1984) there is much
emphasis on the importance of employee development, education and training for the
improvement of quality performance and firms seeking to implement quality
management have consistently found it necessary to improve their training effort.

One of Deming’s 14 points on quality management is to institute training on the job.

Human resources cannot be appropriately utilised if the employees are not properly
trained therefore, training is essential for ensuring quality. Human resources cannot be
appropriately utilised if employees are not properly trained therefore training is essential
for ensuring quality. The human resources (HR) function bears the responsibility for
implementing the quality training strategy. The implementation activities include the
selection of subject matter, training design and delivery, and establishing an evaluation
process.

Employees require training in order to manage the enlargement of their work role
following delegation of responsibilities for quality and they also require some non-
technical skills to be able to participate in quality improvement activities. Moreover they
also require a broader range of skills to in order to flexibly respond to changing
customer and market requirements. Such training is important not only to ensure
successful adoption of quality practice but also to ensure the achievement of broader
quality mission of improved firm competitiveness. Training therefore should contribute
towards the effectiveness of the quality management system.

7
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

An underlying principle of quality is to have an unswerving focus on the customer.

Training for quality demands the same. A clear understanding of who the customers
are, what their needs are, and what the features should be of a training strategy as well
as the subsequent training subject matter that responds to those needs are critical
components in training for quality. A contemporary and integrated training system for
quality requires an organisation to design the system using a process that incorporates
all of the basics of quality planning.

Developing the strategic training plan for quality is critical to the success of any TQM
implementation. A strategic training plan addresses these key areas: quality awareness,
executive education, management training, technical training, resources, budgeting, and
staffing.

 Quality Awareness

This addresses the foundation and principles of quality: the definition of quality; the
quality processes of improvement, planning, and control (the Juran Trilogy); customer
focus; measurement and data collection; reward and recognition; teamwork; and
introduction to quality tools. Quality awareness training is critical to the success of any
TQM implementation. The training should start at the top of the organisation as the
introductory component of the executive education.

 Executive Education

If quality awareness is the beginning of the training journey for the executive team then
where does the journey end? It doesn’t! Quality training is a systematic process that is
continuously evolved and integrated into the organisation’s professional development
process. Executive education includes the primary subject matter of a TQM system.

8
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

 Management Training.

Management-level employees are usually the first candidates for quality training.
Individuals from these levels usually make up the first group of employees to “break the
ice” in learning and using quality management concepts and techniques. On the other
hand the executives are trained in broad strategy and concepts, in preparation for their
leadership roles. Management training focuses on both the technical and human side
of quality. Management’s quality knowledge must go beyond the strategic quality plan to
include quality improvement tools. Additionally, they must be trained to be sensitive to
the organisational culture.

 Technical Training.

This type of quality training consists of a wide variety of tools and techniques that
enhance the employees’ ability to collect and analyse data and present the resulting
information for decision making. Because concern for quality has permeated virtually
every industry and organisation, these tools and techniques vary greatly in type and
application. There are, however, a core group of them that are applicable in most
industries.

 Resources.

Every quality training program needs resources. There must be a purposeful effort to
identify the staffing and materials funding necessary to achieve quality training goals.
Organisations have begun to understand the value of an organised and focused quality
training program. They also realise that there has to be a resource commitment made
that is visible and actionable by those responsible for carrying out the training.

9
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

 Budgeting.

Training for quality requires a dedicated financial commitment. These finances can be
centralised or decentralised. However, they need to be committed specifically to the
strategy and tactics that support training for quality. Identifying and budgeting for what is
to be achieved, rather than letting the amount of money available drive how much
training will be done, gives the executives a different perspective on training for quality
and budgeting. It allows them to make return-on-investment decisions that can
dramatically change the organisation’s view of the value of training for quality.

 Staffing

The personnel requirements necessary to support training for quality have changed
significantly over the past decade. Formerly, there was dedicated staffing for all aspects
of training for quality, from development of materials to delivery. Now these
departments have tended to grow and have become targets to consolidate the
corporate training function.

10
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

Employee Involvement

Employee involvement is one approach to improving quality and productivity. It is a

process designed to empower members of an organisation to make decisions and to
solve problems appropriate to their level in the organisation (Pace, 1989). The logic of
employee involvement is that the people closest to a problem or opportunity are in the
best position to make decisions for improvement if they have control of the improvement
process. At the heart of TQM is the concept of intrinsic motivation-involvement in
decision making. This is where knowledge of motivation with regards to Maslow
Hierarchy of Needs and Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory helps us to understand better
the concept of employee involvement to achieve process improvement.

Employee Involvement is positively related to various aspects of quality management

and should be emphasized in quality management programmes. To participate
effectively, employees must be given more responsibility. This requires the delegation
of certain decision making and administrative powers to employees at various levels.
Without the necessary power, EI cannot be utilised for making continuous
improvements and will be limited to just making suggestions.

Employee Involvement must, however, be implemented within certain strategic

contexts. It is meaningful only after a strategic concept has been established and
communicated to all employees. Employees need to share strategic information to
direct their efforts at the operational level. It is the responsibility of top management to
evaluate customer value and determine the company's goals and the task of middle
management to turn the goals into operations tasks. Without the necessary power,
employee involvement cannot be utilised for making continuous improvements and will
be limited to just making suggestions.

11
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

Motivation

To optimize the action of human resources in a company and to effectively make these
the most important of its resources, their qualities need to be maximised and their
defects minimised. This requires the company to invest in human beings, by offering
training and seek to motivate them.

Motivation has been defined as “getting results through people” or “getting the best out
of people”. The second definition is slightly preferable since “the best” which people
can offer is not necessarily synonymous with “the results” which we might initially want
from them (Everard and Morris, 1990). Motivation should be based on the perception of
the individual and the reactions of employees to the company’s needs (Lammermeyr.U,
1990), for example, that of producing quality.

Poor quality is frequently a function of motivation. Poorly motivated people tend not to
be focused on the work and, therefore make more mistakes. In the most extreme cases
of low motivation, employees may actually feel hostility for the organisation and
intentionally carry out acts of sabotage that may directly affect quality.

According to Crosby (1979), quality is not only a problem of motivating people and
having them participate, but it is also linked to the style of management and the existing
organisational environment. To successfully motivate employees, managers also need
to be fully committed to production with quality, because we can only motivate others if
we ourselves are motivated. This justifies the participation of managers in the effort to
achieve quality.

The idea of enriching job is that of incorporating new tasks with greater complexity and
of giving more responsibility to work posts in an attempt to do away with the
consequences of monotonous work. The aim of the organisation of work is to see to it

12
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

that the worker is more attentive to and accepts more responsibility for what he is
producing, so that there will be fewer defects and greater compliance.

Motivation theories
Herzberg’s two factor theory
Hygiene factors Motivators
Dissatisfaction Satisfaction
• company policy • feeling of recognition,
• quality of supervision • achievement,
• relationship with the boss • responsibility,
• the relationship with peers • job enrichment
• status, salary • advancement
• job security • growth

• work conditions • work itself

(Source: the motivation to work by J Abraham-2nd edition)

Frederick Herzberg proposed the two factor theory in order to explain the behaviour of
people at work. These are the hygiene and motivator factors. Motivational factors
result from the satisfaction obtained in performing the work in the light of the possibility
of using the full potential that people are capable of.

The hygiene factors are located in the environment and cover the conditions within
which employees perform their work. For Herzberg, hygiene acts by removing dangers
to the health from people’s environment, and thus they perform a mainly preventive
function. Therefore, promoting hygiene factors will serve to remove impediments to
positive attitudes at work.

When hygiene and motivational factors are related, it is possible to understand that the
former necessarily need to be secured so that feelings or dissatisfaction at work can be
reduced to the minimum possible extent. However, motivational satisfaction will only
13
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

appear from the moment everyone feels he or she is working towards their self-
realisation. Herzberg concluded that the opposite of job satisfaction is not
dissatisfaction but lack of satisfaction.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Abraham Maslow developed a theory of motivation based on a ‘hierarchy of needs’. He

theorized that people have five types of needs activated in a hierarchical manner.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

(Source: Management by Robert Kreitner - 2006 pg: 378)

Maslow believed that human beings are motivated to seek satisfaction of the lower
levels of needs first and once that level of need is satisfied it is no longer a motivator;
and that person is then motivated by the next level up the hierarchy. However,
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs had various shortcomings. He proposed that human
needs may be ordered in a hierarchy and that a lower order need must normally be
satisfied before a higher order need is pursued.

To follow through Maslow’s ideas, management must therefore motivate the workforce
by establishing the level at which unfulfilled needs are operating and gear their incentive
schemes to that point.

14
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

Performance Appraisal

Individual performance appraisal is basic to the human resource management systems

of most large organisations. Moon (1993) succinctly defined appraisal “...as a formal
documented system for the periodic review of an individual’s performance”.
Performance appraisal is an important part of performance management. It is one of the
tools that can be used to manage performance. It is essential for the effectiveness
management and evaluation of staff. Appraisal helps develop individuals, improve
organisational performance and feed into business planning. Formal performance
appraisals are generally conducted annually for all the staff in the organisation. Each
staff member is appraised by their line manager and directors are appraised by the
CEO, who is appraised by the chairman.

Marchington and Wilkinson (1996) describe performance Appraisal as a cyclical

process: determining performance expectations; supporting performance; reviewing and
appraising performance; and finally, managing performance standards. In the health
sector, performance management may have the following stages (Weightman, 1996):

 Job Descriptions are written, agreed and reviewed regularly.

 Objectives for the work group are taken from the organisation’s strategic
objectives.
 Individual objectives are derived in turn from the work group objectives, and
jointly formulated between the appraiser and appraise.
 A development plan devised by the manager and the individual to meet personal
objectives. The emphasis is on management support and coaching.
 An assessment of objectives with ongoing formal reviews on a regular basis.
 An annual assessment that affects rewards.

15
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

Performance appraisal can be used for numerous purposes including: rewards;

discipline; coaching; counselling; negotiating improvements in performance; improving
the work environment; raising morale; clarifying expectations and duties; improving
upward and downward communications; reinforcing management control; helping
validate selection decisions; proving information to support HR activities; improving
perceptions of organisational goals; and selecting people for promotion and
redundancy. In short, it would appear to be a “panacea” (Taylor, 1998, p. 185)

Additionally, the Human Resource Manager should provide a good and constructive
appraisal meeting where the appraisee’s do most of the talking and the appraiser listens
actively to what they say. Also, the whole period is reviewed and not only the isolated
events.

Overall, performance management practices need to change significantly if a quality

emphasis is to be built into an organisation. Therefore, traditional individual
performance appraisal system is more supportive of individual excellence. The Human
Resource Management department needs to lead this change process. It needs to be
assumed that the new performance management system meets the needs of the
organisation and not just the needs of the human resource function for data and
numbers on individual performance levels.

16
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

Reward and recognition

It assumes that a person will be motivated to work if rewards and penalties are tied
directly to his or her performance, thus the awards are contingent upon effective
performance. Top management could guide employees’ behaviour (Palmer, 2001) via
rewarding and recognising outstanding employee behaviour (Pasuraman, 1986).

According to Philip Crosby, the purpose of recognition is to ensure credit is given where
due to raise motivation and commitment. It is non-financial appreciation to those who
meet their quality goals or perform outstandingly.

Rewards and recognition is one of the key levers that any organisation can use to
encourage appropriate behaviour, recognise excellence, and emphasise both positive
as well as undesirable practices for individual and team basis. The organisation should
employ various forms of reward and recognition including interesting and varied job
content, symbolic actions, performance-based share options, and a significant
percentage of variable pay components linked to individual staff and teamwork
contributions and company’s financial performance.

When the rewards are dependent on only one or two limited targets, all efforts are
directed at those, even at the expense of others. If short-term profitability is the sole
criterion for bonus distribution or promotion, it is likely that investment for longer-term
growth areas will be substantially reduced. Similarly, strong emphasis on reward for
output may result in lower quality. However, the fear of not being rewarded, or even
being criticized for performance that is less than desirable may cause some to withhold
information that is unfavourable but nevertheless should be flowing into the system to
improve quality.

17
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

Many firms are continuing to try to blend TQM with their old established pay-for-
performance systems. Deming (1986) is adamantly opposed to pay systems like merit
pay or pay for performance. He believes that pay-for-performance encourages
individual employees to meet their own personal or professional goals at the expense of
the organisation. Individual competition may increase, while the cooperation and
teamwork necessary for TQM to succeed may decline.

Moreover, recognition is an appreciation of the contributions of the employees and work

teams to the being of the organisation as a whole. The contributions of employees for
quality must not be ignored. Due recognition and appreciation in various forms should
be accorded to them in terms of awards. Quality awards are means by which
companies can achieve recognition for their efforts. Best known of the quality awards
are: The Deming prize, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) and the
European Quality Award.

The three models of quality awards provide a universal framework for evaluating
aspects of quality management practices in an organisation. They provide the
organisations with a means to measure their position against a set of universal criteria,
and to identify their strengths, and weaknesses in the areas of quality practices and
business results.

18
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

Employee Relations

Globalisation is one of the factors affecting the employee relations, otherwise known as
the industrial relations. Strategic management is important because changes in
employee relations has resulted to increased bargaining power of the employees,
flexibility in working time as well as changing job functions and this has occurred due to
the increase in competition, product processes changes due to consumer awareness
combined with the increasing essence in quality, productivity and skills. An integration of
all these factors has had impact on the practices and policies of the management. While
managing change in the firm, the employee involvement in making sure the change is
effected is very important while the management has to ensure that the skills processed
by the employees are compatible with those required in the market to meet the
customer needs.

With the increased importance of the employee relations, the human resources is has
shifted its focus to quality, innovation and reduction of the cost. The importance of
human resource management (HRM) is reflected in the personnel management in the
firms. Employee relations (ER) is better viewed as a long term goal rather than short
term because it deals with the way the HRM treats the people in long term view. In
successful companies like General Motors it's noted that how the workers are treated is
a key item feature in the long term beside other factors like the corporate culture and
the objectives.

Today in most industries, the HRM is recognised since it's of big concern to the
company since it's not meant to only ensure that the employees comply with the laid
down policies but also win commitment of the workers, this therefore makes the ER a
worthy investment. HRM strategies are affected or influenced by the decisions made in
relation to the structure, strategy and considering the external factors like the legal
system, labour market position and the influence of trade unions.

19
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

Conflicts (whether they are negative or positive) will arise in organisations whenever
interests collide -- and when these differences affect the relationship between
interdependent people, they must be constructively managed (Hellriegel, Slocum and
Woodman). Effective conflict management is perhaps the key "human" factor in quality
improvement. The basics of conflict management include improving communication,
teamwork, and a systematic approach to solving the disagreement. Thus, a good
management and prevention and good employee relations at in an organisation will
make conflict management and less conflict to arise and this will impact on the quality.

Has unions always been a barrier to the effective implementation of TQM?

In some cases, union representatives have seen the introduction of TQM as a

management issue which does not directly concern the unions, but as TQM is
implemented, and the organisational and employee relations implications become
clearer, union representatives may become increasingly concerned (Wilkinson et al.,
1992). Unions nationally have expressed concern about the impact of initiatives such as
TQM, employee involvement, HRM and customer service programmes (IRS
Employment Trends, 1992), since such developments threaten to establish rival
channels of communication and emphasize individual and small group over collective
issues. Unions have also been concerned about the detailed impact on their members,
for example about the risks associated with the wearing of name badges and
dispensing with security screens in service organisations, about the possible use of
customer feedback information to discipline employees, and about the implications of
more flexible working hours (Heery, 1993). Employees and their unions may also fear
the possible impact of TQM on the intensity of work, and may see it as involving
increased responsibility and pressure with little or no additional reward. However,
unions are not necessarily opposed to TQM. In 1994, the TUC published a report on
HRM which suggests that management and unions can engage in a co-operative
partnership in designing and implementing organisational change, and a report from the
Involvement and Participation Association, endorsed by senior managers and union

20
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

leaders, also urges a partnership at workplace level (Marchington, 1995). Such views
presumably envisage a form of enterprise unionism committed to the enhancement of
productivity and quality, based on a firm acceptance of the common interests of
management and employees.

Teamwork

Team working, both as a mechanism of quality improvement and as a form of work

organisation, is common to most accounts and features particularly prominently in the
work of Juran. (However, the appropriateness of team-based work organisation under
different conditions is not normally discussed.) With the use of teams, the business will
receive quicker and better solutions to problems; provide more permanent
improvements in processes and operations. In addition, in teams, people feel more
comfortable bringing up problems that may occur, and can get help from other workers
to find a solution and put into place. Being involved in a team would boost the morale of
employees and make them explore possibilities of gaining friends in the workplace.
These would also be healthy for the company, when each member treats each other as
family.

The notion of teamwork is central to TQM. A total quality culture is described as

emphasising holistic behaviour oriented towards co-operation (Bushe, 1988) and high-
trust social relationships (Hill, 1991). At the individual level, this would manifest itself in
a team orientation, collectivist values versus individualism; in behavioural terms, an
individual would take initiatives above and beyond the call of duty, share information
with and help co-workers (Waldman, 1994). This type of behaviour previously classified
as organisational citizenship behaviour is oriented towards improving group and
organisational effectiveness (Organ, 1988) and as such is consistent with a total quality
culture.

Teamwork applies to all organisational members. It may be viewed from three

perspectives: teamwork within a natural working group, between different departments,
and between managers and employees. The focus here is on teamwork within a natural
working group. Within the context of TQM, teamwork is an important outcome and a
21
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

condition for continuous improvement. It facilitates collaborative efforts to solve quality

problems (Waldman, 1994), places overall responsibility for quality with the team thus
alleviating the potential for individual blame (Wilkinson, 1992), allows greater sharing of
information within the work group (Oakland, 1989) and facilitates greater co-operation to
improve continuously the functioning of the work group.

Empowerment alone is not enough, because many people cannot manage everything
on their own, organisations must foster a team environment with dynamism and flexible
boundaries in which employees can overcome the liabilities inherent in hierarchical,
individual-focused management systems. Teams can also overcome the dysfunctions of
individual members. A team can discipline a problem team member far better than a
supervisor can. It is far more difficult to dispute the combined judgement of a number of
equals than it is a supervisor’s.

22
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

Employee Retention

Selecting and retaining great staff is the key for business success. Talented people who
continue to develop skills and increase their value to your organization and to your
customers are your most important resource. Here's how to select and retain these
people and create an environment in which they continue to thrive.

Communication

Employees should be involved as active participants when implementing a quality

assurance program. This will give them a sense of control within their work
environment. "The 'not invented here' syndrome can be detrimental to the
implementation of quality. If people feel that they did not participate in the development
of a process improvement plan, it is more likely to be rejected," they stated.

Feedback Systems

It is important that the members of quality teams understand that not every one of their
ideas with respect to implementing a quality program will be accepted by management.
It is important, however, that a system is put in place that allows feedback to be
communicated by participants, and lets them know that while their ideas might not
always be accepted, they will be considered and weighed significantly in the decision
making process. Employees must know why their hard work is being accepted or
rejected and that their suggestions are not only important but vital to the quality process
improvement plan.

23
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

Two-Way Communication

The development of a feedback system implies that an important part of implementing a

total quality management program is two-way communication. The two-way process
includes describing why the process is relevant, why it is being implemented, and in
what ways it will benefit employees and the company. The authors consider two-way
communication one of the most important parts of implementing a successful quality
program in a printing company. Making sure that all employees understand the need for
change, how they will be involved and that all of their questions and concerns are
answered is paramount.

Health and Safety, Employee Welfare and Satisfaction

A quality oriented organisation needs to maintain a work environment and an employee

support climate that contributes to the well being, satisfaction and motivation of all
employees. Thus, it should address ad improve workplace health safety and ergonomic
factors and also involve employees in identifying these factors and in improving
workplace safety.

24
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

25
 Managing Human Resources for Quality

CONCLUSION

Thus it can be concluded that quality can no longer be viewed as the responsibility of
one department only. It is a companywide activity that permeates all departments, at all
levels. The key element of any quality and productivity improvement program is the
employee. Consequently, HRM in a TQM program is essential. Because of its
fundamental employee orientation, HRM should seek the responsibility for implementing
TQM programmes rather than risk losing their influence over the key element of TQM
that is the Internal Customers (Employees). Thus, managing HR for quality is very
important not only for the organisation to perform better in terms of increased customer
satisfaction, but also for the internal customers to feel satisfied too.

26