Study of HRM in TQM

Exicutive summary

Human resource management and total quality management having been identified as
�new� approaches have attracted a great deal of practitioners� interest. Total
quality management has become a frequently used term in discussions concerning
quality. The term used for today�s new concept of quality is total quality
management or TQM. TQM is considered to be an important management philosophy,
which supports the organizations in their efforts to obtain satisfied customers. A
fundamental aspect of the soft dimensions of TQM is Human Resource Management
(HRM). Human resource management is responsible for how people are treated in
organizations. It is responsible for bringing people into the organization, helping
them perform their work, compensating them for their labors, and solving problems
that arise. The TQM approach brings changes in the attitudes and expectations of
the managers about the roles of human resource managers. TQM can avoid the dangers
of demotivating people but care should be taken to ensure that TQM does not also
became a recipe in which certain visible techniques replace the substance of
customer focus, team work and decision-making. This paper outlines the basic
principles of Total Quality Management. The main idea is to establish a
relationship between Human Resource Management and Total Quality Management and the
role of the human resource department to an implementation of total quality
management.
 Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Rapidly changes in environmental factors create a significant impact on business

organization. Due to this reason every company considered and prioritized their
requirements. TQM and HRM both aspects are considered as important part of
management and business research for past few decades. Total quality management
(TQM) and human resource management (HRM) both approaches have potential to affect
organizational and employees� desired outcome. Boselie and Wiele (2002), found
interlinkage between HRM and TQM. Produce quality of products has become necessity
of every organization. Human resource management department play a central role in
developing quality across the entire organization. Driving companies successfully
in global markets quality has become a necessary tool. Quality can improve,
enhance, managed through TQM implementation. Total quality management strive
customer satisfaction by delivering zero defects in products/services. Quality
improvement is the prime objective of every specialist (quality engineers, product
designers, and process engineers). A number of scholars, practitioners� and
commenter�s suggested that only those organizations integrate HRM functions and
manage TQM will be able to survive in this competitive world (Redman and Mathews,
1998). According to Palo and Padhi (2005) said that professionals of HR department
played a central role in creating and communicating the vision of TQM to the entire
organization. Company-wide HRM can implement TQM in two fundamental ways. First, by
including TQM philosophy and principle within its departmental operations; second,
HRM department can arrange longterm training and development program company-wide
for successfully implementation of TQM system. With the help and support of senior
management HR department spread quality culture, throughout the company. HRM can
manage quality through recruitment selection, performance appraisal, and reward and
recognition process of employees.

Today, as one of the results of globalization, quality in itself gets a

continuously growing power, as it may be the tool of success in business life in
international and national level as well. On one hand, globalization in business
coincides with increasing number of international transactions managed by
multinational companies, and on the other hand, one can find more and more
competitors on the market. Therefore, nowadays the emphasis is on the capability of
adapting change models, development strategies, internal and external environmental
factors, which affect the business life, instead of focusing on the individual or
organizational knowledge. In order to change toward a positive direction,
increasing operating effectiveness, companies should consider their environmental
factors and their footprint on the whole organization. According to Senior (2002),
PETS test is an important and valuable asset of collecting, analyzing and
evaluating these environmental factors. �P� stands for political factors, analyzing
the legislational, governmental decisions, including the analysis of international
and national legal provisions and proceedings. Above all, �P� also stands for state
regulations regarding taxation,
Medicaid, social aid and other public, state-driven decisions. �E� stands for
economical factors, emphasizing the analysis of competitors, suppliers on the
market, employment and unemployment rate in the strategically important regions,
level of income, the actual government�s eco-political strategy (taking on
consideration other countries economical strategies, especially those, who are
affecting our own economical development as they are more powerful, developed),
moreover the ownership relations in the given economical environment is also a
considerably important factor in decision and position formulation. �T� stands for
technological factors, such as information technology, level of internet
development, adaptation and usage, computerization, or new mode of production, also
it also includes infrastructural development in the given country and region. �S�
stands for socio-cultural factors, such as trends in demography, change of
lifestyle, policy and actual behaviour regarding minorities, gender issues, also
business ethics.

Generally, one can conclude that after the analysis of the formerly introduced
factors, many businesses face with similar problems, questions: how shall we adapt
and operate effective change processes? Many of them believe that the change of the
formal organization will lead to success; also they tend to link it with new
company missions, new image and the supporting strategies, trainings, or new
payment-systems. The key of success relies in the harmonization of human behavior,
responsibilities, and tasks on one hand, and processes on the other hand. When we
speak about change-management (and not about crisis-management, where rapid and
overall changes have life-saving power), instead of radical changes, it is more
resulting to introduce incremental changes, where the following 7 factors should be
taken on consideration:

1 Scale of Change: one or some relevant organizational factors change;

2 Measure of Change: small modification regarding the changing values;
3 Level of Change: one or some hierarchical levels are involved in the
organization;
4 Way of Change: changes are realized step-by-step;
5 Speed of Change: comparatively slow changes;
6 Basic aim of Change: supporting the organisation�s external and internal
adjustment to the environment (economic, social, competitive environment, etc.),
also to develop the organisation�s structure and its sub-systems;
7 Control of Change: Top/middle-management is taking the leading roles in change
processes.

As I emphasized it above, the key of successful changes relies on the

harmonization of human capital, responsibilities and procedures; therefore, the
required fitting behaviours are set according to the roles and rules that the
employees should take within the organization. If all individuals within the
organization receive their task and responsibilities, also they can �operate�; work
in progressive groups, there is a good chance to develop a new organizational
culture, atmosphere, which can be the stabil basis of overall changes. Therefore,
the approach of changes should focus on the systematization and the re-organisation
of the company processes. As a consequence, this improvement process should start
with the re-formalisation of the mission statement, and then through the success
factors, analysis of the problems, this monitoring activity should be extended over
the critically important processes and operation levels. This is the most effective
tool of the employee involvement in the change processes.

Total Quality Management

The introduction of total quality management (TQM) has played an important role in
the development of contemporary management. Total Quality Management (TQM) is the
optimization and integration of all the functions and processes of a business in
order to provide for excited customers through a process of continuous improvement.
Total Quality is defined as, a people-focused management system that aims at
continual increase in customer satisfaction at continually lower cost. Dow et al.
(1999) developed a TQM model in order to explore the impact of TQM practices on the
firm�s quality performance. They indicated that quality practices can be
categorized into nine dimensions: workforce commitment, shared vision, customer
focus, use of teams, personnel training, cooperative supplier relations, use of
benchmarking, advanced manufacturing systems, and use of just-in-time principles.
TQM can be defined as a set of techniques and procedures used to reduce or
eliminate variation from a production process or service-delivery system in order
to improve efficiency, reliability, and quality (Steingrad & Fitzgibbons, 1993).
The old concept is reactive, designed to correct quality problems after they occur
and the new concept is proactive, designed to build quality into the product and
process design. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a continuous process of
improvement for individuals, groups of people and the total organization. TQM is
about changing the way things are done within the organization�s life time. People
must know what to do, how to do it, have the right methods to do it and be able to
measure the improvement of the process and the current level of achievement in
order to improve the process

Quality is a dynamic concept and so is its management. Total Quality Management

(TQM) has been accepted throughout the world these days. It calls for continuous
improvement of quality with the cooperation of workers through innovation in
product and technology so as to meet the changing requirements of the customers.
The launching of ISO: 9000 series standards by the International Standards
Organizational is an attempt to help the industrial organisations in adopting Total
Quality Management to improve their quality and productivity and to serve their
customers efficiently. �TQM may be defined as creating an organizational culture
committed to the continuous improvement of skills, team work, processes, product
and services quality and customer satisfaction.� TQM refers to meeting the
requirements of customers consistently by continuous improvement in the quality of
works of all employees. For achieving total quality, three things are essentials:-

a). Customer Orientation :- TQM aims at satisfying the customers� requirement which
never remain constant, but keep on changing with the change in time, environments,
circumstances, needs, fashion etc. Thus meeting the changed environments of
customers is a continuous goal of the producer.

b). Continuous Improvement :-The change in customers� requirements may be in terms

of desire for better quality product / services, bigger size, reduced cost, etc. So
a service provider has to cope with the new requirements. The management has to
take care of competition in the market so that customers do not shift to other
service provider.

c). Involvement of All Employees:- The enhancement of skills of employees will

not only improve quality, but also bring down the cost of products through
efficient use of machines and materials and reduction of wastages. The employees
must also be conscious about the need for improvement in the quality of work.
Quality Circle (QC) is an outstanding example in this regard. It is because of
employees' involvement in improvement of quality that TQM is referred to as
people�s process. No doubt TQM is planned by the top managers, the people at the
middle and lower levels must be taken into confidence before launching the TQM.

Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management is one of the most essential responsibilities of each and
every manager in an organization. It purely involves people for getting things done
through them in an organized manner. Human resource management is defined as a
strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization�s most valued
assets � the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to
the achievement of its objectives. According to Edwin B. Flippo, �Human resource
management is the planning, organizing, directing and controlling of the
procurement, development, resources to the end that individual and societal
objectives are accomplished�. �HRM is a managerial perspective which argues the
need to establish an integrated series of personnel policies to support
organizational strategy.� Buchanan and Huczynski (2004: 679). HRM is as a set of
loosely related ideas, concepts, and techniques held together by the common
underlying premise that, within any organization, maximization of the utilization
of human resources is crucial to maintain and enhance competitiveness in a world
where those who do not compete successfully simply do not survive. The HR
department can play a significant role in the change process by establishing a
specific programme that is responsible for dealing with the change. HRM is often
associated with the introduction of new and innovative forms of work organization.
The management interest in quality is not new but using quality as a key element in
the battle for competitive advantages is of recent date.

For more than 13 years (mostly since the declaration of the Structural Adjustment
Programme in 1991-1992), organizations in India have come under mounting pressure
to boost their business performance, measure themselves against world class
standards and direct their efforts on the customers. To abet this process,
organizations have embraced an assortment of approaches or philosophies. One of
such approaches is total quality management (TQM). TQM is an encompassing
management approach whose principal tenets are to satisfy (internal and external)
customer needs through strategies of employee empowerment and performance
measurement (Milakovich, 1991; Garrity, 1993; Barzelay, 1992; Keehley, 1992).
People are at the vanguard of TQM (Dale et al., 1997; Schlenker, 1998; Poonawalla,
1999). No matter how sophisticated the quality strategy of the organization is, it
will not pass with excellence unless people are earnestly concerned and committed
to it. The role of HR professionals revolutionizes under the quality management
systems because of changing expectations of stakeholder with regard to human
resource management (HRM) responsibilities. At the outset, they have to act upon
one of the most arduous tasks, i.e. to bring psychological transition in people
(Shiba et al., 1993). Implementation of TQM requires re-engineering of
manufacturing processes and products (a part of BPR), adoption of Just-In-Time
(JIT), benchmarking with world class companies, production at zero defect level,
and above all, yielding continuous improvement in activities and processes through
team spirit. Espousing these practices require employees to awfully change their
working approaches they have gone along with for years. In this context, HR
professionals have to play a critical role in managing the psychological
transition, motivating and enlivening people to achieve total quality. Second, the
total quality approach contends for a more proactive people-focused approach in
which HR professionals adopt total quality to become strategic partners in
improvement and business planning. The ?ourishing companies have used TQM to put
the specter of Taylorism behind them, recognizing that TQM could provide a holistic
approach (Macdonald, 1995). In nutshell, they have to align total quality human
resource strategic management with business strategic management (Petrik and Furr,
1995; Oakland and Oakland, 2001). Integrating HR strategy and strategic planning is
fundamental to achieving business excellence (Kanji, 1995). Third, they should act
as internal consultants to other departments in the organization as members of
cross-functional teams so that individual business units are billed directly for
personal services they use (Kandula, 1997). Fourth, they must endeavor to unlock
the potential of employees and utilize them to productive activities. Ordinary
people can be made to do extra ordinary things by involving them in the TQM
practice (John, 2002). Fifth, HR must play a key role in building an organization�s
TQM culture. In some organizations, HR managers champion TQM by sponsoring
educational initiatives, communicating successes and bringing in outside
consultants to redesign work processes. Other HR departments take a more direct,
hands-on role in implementing TQM, training employees in leadership and team
building. Several recipients of the Baldrige National Quality Award have HR
departments that revolutionized policies for selecting, training, evaluating and
rewarding employees in a way that supports TQM strategies (Blackburn and Rosen,
1995).

A major structural change in our financial systems is the infusion of competition.

Within the organisations, there is heightened competition with the introduction of
new generation of private sector . Despite the preponderant share of domestic banks
organisation in India, foreign organisation have been a source of competition, at
least potentially, given their use of sophisticated technology, risk monitoring
analysis, and exposure management. In financial systems worldwide, today buzzwords
are Competition, Consolidation and stability. Here comes the importance of HRM. We
need to make HRM as our strategic partner in this initiative. The greatest
management Challenge for the Indian industry today is to make optimum use of Human
Resource. The quality of human resource is no doubt a critical feature in the
success of the or. New ways of industry requires new competencies. The existing
skills are hopelessly out- dated. Now, the intellectual capital of banks will come
into play. We need to take into account individual needs of the customers. In our
employees we need to instill a spirit of enterprises, a change that financial
systems worldwide are undergoing structural transformation. Technological
innovation, deregulation of financial requires shedding of bureaucratic approaches
and imbibing professionalism. The biggest challenge in man- management would be to
create exit routes for staff that are incapable or unwilling to walk that extra
mile to imbibe these skills. The cardinal principle of Human Resource Management
is to consider each employee as a human being who has needs, aspirations and
expectations which he likes to be fulfilled by his association with the
organization. Organization must also recognize the right of expression of the
workers and give them adequate opportunity to have a say in the management of
affairs directly affecting their lives. Thus, management of human resources
encompasses not only employment, training, compensation, appraisal, maintenance,
etc., but also achieving good human relations which are a prerequisites to
attainment of higher quality and productivity.

HR in TQM Philosophy

If we look at the theoretical models of TQM-such as W. E. Deming, P. Crosby-we see

a common link: they position HR as important part of total quality leadership and
management. They believe that
� Employees need continuous high-level trainings and education...
� The high-scaled, also creative employees can assure continuous improvement and
development through their knowledge, as they can always monitor and utilize the
processes and system, where to improve it. I believe that a more scaled worker, who
fits to his position, has a better chance to do his job than his counterpart; he is
more likely to scan the �dummy� products and services in the system, and there is a
higher chance that he can push the company to take out these products in the long-
run. � All workers should be motivated to keep self-control and � monitoring. Such
an internal checking can be also the tool of continuous improvement, the company
will be more able to produce high-quality products; there should be a higher
emphasis on quality criteria, instead of focusing on statistical data and indexes.
� The organization provides the workers with non-financial, however motivating
benefits, the employees appreciate these extra recognitions. This can be a holiday
trip, extra Medicaid, or doctoral checking in order to fulfill the current job
accurately (Fe: eye-control, computer-glasses), corporate dinners, trainings.
� There should be open-communication within the organization at all levels and
towards all directions. As a consequence, most of the problems can be solved easier
and faster, therefore the reaction time can be shortened; this may have an
important role in the changing life of the organization. Moreover, sometimes the
�invisible�, sometimes the realizable walls can be broken within the organization
through open-communication. In order to meet this requirement, it is helpful to
develop working-teams, in which each strategically important department represents
itself with an expert worker; therefore the problems can be seen from various
aspects.
� Use the philosophy of �internal customer� in practice, therefore the organization
authorizes the employees to share their ideas regarding the company, its strategy,
operating activities, etc. This also means a certain change in mentality, where
there will be less and finally no place for fear regarding reprisals.
� The organization follows such philosophy, where each member of the company has
the right to mistakes, instead of using tools of punishment. As this second format
pushes the employees to hide the mistakes and usually the companies may create a
quality culture that has positive affect on the companies� environment.

There is a common tie among the basic elements of the TQM philosophy: the human
being, the human factor, as the main figure of the realization of the changing and
developing processes is the Man. When researchers and experts of the field usually
speak about TQM, they tend to emphasis the technical importance of TQM. However,
the personal side is very important; usually there is no real word about it in the
analisations! TQM links effectively the technical and human factors, human
resources, and this second factor is the essence of success of Total Quality
Management, although many organizations do not realize at the beginning, only in
the proceeding phases as they usually focus on the technical elements.

Total Quality Management �the HR Problem

Total Quality Management (TQM) is now widely recognised as one of the major
innovations in management practice over the last decade. For the most part,
however, the principal contributions to the analysis of TQM and its operation have
come from people in the Operations Management area (for example, Oakland, 1989,
Dale & Plunkett, 1990, Dale, 1994). Arguably, this has led to a preoccupation with
the so-called �hard� production-orientated aspects of TQM as opposed to its
�softer� Human Resource Management (HRM) characteristics. This means that less
attention has been focused on people-management issues such as appropriate
supervisory styles, compensation/payment systems, teamwork, industrial relations
and the implications for different managerial functions. Ishikawa (1985) referred
to TQM as a �thought revolution� in management. Similarly Oakland (1989) has
described it as a �new way of managing� and has claimed that after the industrial
revolution and computing revolution of yesteryear �we are now without doubt in the
midst of a quality revolution�. However, whilst TQM has been much talked up by
gurus/consultants and indeed practitioners promoting their companies, there is
growing evidence of its spreading influence if not of its effectiveness. For
example, a British Institute of Management survey analysing the future of middle
managers found 60% of managers and employers saying it was being implemented.
Almost half of corporate respondents and over one-third of individual managers
agreed that of the suggested techniques and managerial changes, the biggest impact
on the future would be TQM (Wheatley, 1991). A subsequent Institute of Management
survey reported that 71% of respondents claimed they had a Quality Management
Campaign, and a further 11% were planning to introduce one. The phenomenon is a
recent one with only 10% having a campaign dating back more than five years
(Wilkinson, Redman & Snape, 1993). Yet there is increasing evidence that TQM has
not fulfilled its promise (see recent surveys and reports eg Kearney, 1992, Miller,
1992, Cruise, O�Brien & Voss, 1992, The Economist Intelligence Unit, 1992,
Wilkinson et al, 1993). Furthermore many of the problems arising appear to have
been those relating to Human Resource (HR) issues such as management style,
attitudes and culture. One possible explanation for this is that TQM has developed
from a quality assurance ideology and consequently focuses on the �hard� measurable
aspects such as costs and production/operation performance to the relative neglect
of the so- called �soft� aspects. Thus the limitations of TQM can be at least
partially attributed to the neglect of human resource policies in the organisation
and a failure to align the HR policies with TQM to ensure integration. These
critical �soft� issues are apparent from most reports and research yet remain
relatively unexplored in comparison with the use of quality management tools and
techniques and quality systems (Wilkinson, 1992). In recent years, TQM has been
taken up by a number of HR writers who have seen it as an opportunity for the
function to play a strategic role. Until recently the personnel profession appears
to have been slow to see the implications for the function. This may have been
because they saw it as refashioned quality circles (with which they had negative
experience) or more likely because it was seen as essentially quality
control/assurance and consequently regarded as a job for operations managers
(Wilkinson, Marchington, Ackers & Goodman, 1992). However, the past few years has
seen both a shift in emphasis to human resource issues within the quality area and
the growing interest of personnel specialists. The former reflects two factors.
First, a shift from quality assurance to TQM with a consequent greater emphasis
being placed on issues such as employee involvement. Second, growing evidence which
suggests that TQM has major problems in the so-called soft areas (Plowman, 1990,
Kearney, 1992, Cruise O�Brien & Voss, 1992) and in particular culture, involvement
and communication. According to Cruise O�Brien and Voss: Quality depends on broad
based employee involvement and commitment. New and innovative human resource
policies were reported by managers in a number of organisations, but these were not
often related to quality. . . . Divorce of human resources from quality, except in
name, could seriously retard the spread of quality through the firm. This would
appear to present the personnel function with a window of opportunity, even if it
has little involvement from the start of TQM. In this sense, the shift of focus to
human resource issues may not have come about at the behest of the personnel people
but because others have recognised a need for their involvement, albeit at a late
stage. Thus, a number of writers have begun to identify the opportunities which TQM
might offer for the function. Giles and Williams argue that �Quality has high
personnel content. It gives strategic importance to policies and processes that
personnel managers have traditionally considered to be their own patch� and thus
�quality management is pure strategy on a plate waiting for some personnel input�

PRINCIPLES OF TQM

Total Quality Management (TQM) is an approach that seeks to improve quality and
performance which will meet or exceed customer expectations. This can be achieved
by integrating all quality-related functions and processes throughout the
organization. TQM uses strategy, data, and effective communications to integrate
the quality discipline into the culture and activities of the organization.
Different organizations have different approaches to implement Total Quality
Management. The following principles are common to all the organizations which must
be adhered for the successful TQM implementation.

A. Customer oriented: Total Quality means complying with customer requirements i.e.
both internal and external customers, and quality oriented management will need to
meet customer requirements. Different customers would be having different needs,
preferences and expectations. Customer expectations for a design or specifications
must be transformed in order that the organization may adapt these expectations to
activities required for production. Design and specifications are equally
important. An organization may provide the right design quality, a product which
customers would want to buy but could lose out by not having the right
specifications required. Similarly, a product providing the right specifications
only may not meet customer design requirements.
B. Total employee involvement: All employees in the organization should participate
in working towards the common goals. Total employee commitment and responsibility
towards work can only be obtained after fear has been driven from the workplace,
when empowerment has occurred, and management has provided the proper environment.
The involvement of the employees in the organization will deliver high performance
work systems and integrate continuous improvement efforts with normal business
operations.

C. Continuous Improvement: To comply with customer needs and requirements it

involves continuous improvements of products and processes. The most efficient
method to create improvement is to let the staff performing the particular work
identify and implement the particular improvement in their daily work. Continuous
improvement in the working environment helps the employees to take the
responsibility for the development and a change in the organization.
D Process oriented: A fundamental concept of TQM is to focus on process thinking.
A process is a series of steps that take inputs from suppliers (internal or
external) and transforms them into outputs that are delivered to customers as per
their expectations. The steps required to carry out the process are defined, and
performance measures should be continuously monitored in order to detect unexpected
variation by the management.

E. Fact-based decision making: Decision making is an important element in TQM. In

order to know how well an organization is performing, data on performance measures
are necessary. TQM requires that an organization continually collect and analyze
data in order to improve decision making accuracy, achieve consensus, and allow
prediction based on the past data or facts. The facts that are effecting the
organization are to be considered while taking any kind of decisions by the HR
manager.

F. Organizational Communication: During times of organizational change, as well as

part of day-to-day operation, effective communications plays an important role in
maintaining morale and in motivating the employees at all levels. Communications
involve strategies, method, and timeliness. Open communication should be
administered because without this, the informal grapevine would then be the
ultimate source of the company.

G. Organization Approach: A critical part of the management of quality is the

strategic and systematic approach to achieving an organization�s vision, mission,
and goals. This process includes implementation of groups, commitment to quality,
planning of cross functional workgroups, changing staff role towards a customer
oriented role, teamwork and an extended cooperation with suppliers about continuous
quality improvements. The management of the organization needs quality planning as
a component in their strategic planning.

H. Measuring/Preventing: Measuring or monitoring the cost of quantity and customer

satisfaction denotes a recent effort in total quality management. The cost of
quantity is a financial measure of the quality performance and it can be monitored
by preventing the expenses like checking and testing incoming components,
inspecting products prior to their leaving the organization, routine inspection
maintenance; failure expenses waste, scrap, double work; inspection, and estimate
activities. IV. HRM CHALLENGES ASSOCIATED WITH IMPLEMENTING TQM Implementation of
total quality management may sound like a well executed strategy in organisations,
but it was not an uncomplicated experience on the part of the human resource
department. The HR Department has to face certain challenges during the
implementation of TQM in an organization:

Globalization: Globalization requires organizations to move people, ideas,

products and information around the world to meet customer needs. New and important
ingredients must be added to the mix when making strategy: volatile political
situations, contentious global trade issues, fluctuating exchange rates and
unfamiliar cultures. Globalization is one of the important challenges faced by the
HR manager during the implementation of TQM.

Motivating knowledge workers: Motivating workers with high recognition needs in

the direction of total quality management required an extraordinary effort on the
part of human resource department. The performance of the workers could be improved
and increased by proper motivation. It is however, necessary to create an
environment in which all the employees can contribute to the limits of their
ability. Subordinates must be encouraged to participate in the process of decision
making, continuously broadening their self-direction and self-control. These would
not only lead to direct improvement in operating efficiency but would also ensure
them to groom for higher responsibilities.

Employee satisfaction: Satisfaction of employees is imperative to achieve total

quality management. In the organizations staff satisfaction is elevated through
various measures such as reward and recognition schemes, a fair grievance handling
scheme, suggestion schemes, incentive schemes, group incentives, maintenance of
good working and environmental conditions, etc. Some attempts are to be made by the
human resource department to build up confidence and generate optimism in every
employee so as to recognize that the job they are doing will be worth the effort
and will lead to the achievement of total quality management.

Communication barriers: In large organizations with an extremely wide network of

offices across the world, the success of implementation of total quality management
will critically depend on a successful communication exercise. The HR department
has to take this as a serious challenge, and consequently developed some
communication exercises to communicate the total quality management message to the
organization network. So that the issues related to the communication can be
resolved.
Vastness of organization: Total quality management is the responsibility of every
employee, and it has to be accomplished in all aspects of action and work in the
organization. If any employee fails to achieve total quality, or total quality has
not been achieved in any activity or process, it has to be substantiated that total
quality management is a failure in the organization. This would become a challenge
to the managers, including those of the human resource department.

Competitive markets: A competitive market is a driving force behind many of the

other obstacles to quality. The HR manager has to face this challenge while
implementing the TQM in an organization. One of the effects of a competitive market
is to lower quality standards to a minimally acceptable level. All the
organizational functions have an element of quality. If the quality of works
performed is poor, unnecessary cost is incurred by the company. TQM should work by
inspiring employees at every level to continuously improve what they do, thus
rooting out unnecessary costs.

Lack of proper authority and leadership: Leadership quality is an essential

element in implementing the TQM in any organization. Excess layers of management in
the organization would quite often lead to duplication of duty and responsibility.
This would make the employees of an organization to leave the quality
implementation to be a management�s job. In addition, quality has not been taken as
a joint responsibility by the management and the employees. As a result the
employees who are directly involved in the production of goods or delivery of
services are not motivated enough to incorporate quality issues that have been
raised by the customers they serve since they do not feel as part of the continuous
process of quality improvement.

Inadequate resources: Many of the organizations do not involve quality in their

strategic plan. A little attention is paid to TQM in terms of human and financial
resources. Much of the attention is drawn to increasing profit margins of the
organization and little attention on whether the expected quality is supplied to
the customer. A small budget allocation is made towards employee training and
development which is critical for total quality management implementation. Employee
training is often viewed as unnecessary cost which belittles the profits margins
which is the primary objective for the existence of businesses and as a result TQM
has been neglected as its implementation �may not necessarily bring gains to the
organization in the short term�.

Lack of customer focus: Most strategic plans of organizations do not focus on the
customer needs. They tend to concentrate much on profitoriented objectives within a
given time frame. A little market research is done to ascertain the product or
service performance in the market relative to its quality, as such surveys are
regarded as costly by the organizations and thus little concern is shown to quality
improvement for consumer satisfaction.

Lack of proper planning: The absence of a sound strategic plan has often
contributed to ineffective quality improvement. It is observed that a large number
of organizations are either unable or unwilling to plan effectively for quality
improvement. Poor planning and specifications lead to a project that costs more,
takes longer to complete, and causes more frustration than it should. Companies
using TQM should always strive towards impressing upon the management the need to
spend money and time on planning. If management took reasonable time to plan
projects thoroughly the quality can be achieved.

Lack of management commitment: A quality implementation program will succeed only

if top management is fully committed towards the customer expectations. Lack of
commitment in quality management may stem from various reasons. Major obstacles
include the preoccupation with short-term profits and the limited experience and
training of many executives. Top management should, therefore, embrace quality
improvement programs no matter how far reaching the programs may appear the
monetary implications therein. Competition alone should not be considered as the
single factor that drives managers into implementing quality initiatives.

Deficiency of cultural dynamism: Every organization has its own unique way of
doing things. This is defined in terms of culture of the organization. The
processes, the philosophy, the procedures and the traditions define how the
employees and management contribute to the achievement of goals and meeting of
organizational objectives. Indeed, sticking to organizational culture is integral
in delivery of the mission of the organization. However, culture has to be reviewed
and for that matter re-adjustments have to be done in tune with the prevailing
economic, political, social and technological realities so as to improve on
efficiency. In adequate cultural dynamism has made total quality implementation
difficult because most of the top level management of many organizations are rigid
in their ways of doing things.

FRAMEWORK TO MEET THE CHALLENGES OF HRM IN IMPLEMENTING TQM A Framework to meet the
challenges associated with human resource management in implementing TQM is as
STRATEGIC ROLE OF HRM IN IMPLEMENTING TQM

To implement TQM in the organization it needs support from the top management and
all staff members. The first thing which the HR department should realise from the
outset is that TQM is a long-term business strategy. The role of the HR manager in
improving quality can be considerable as it is a primary internal change. In
developing TQM the management should make a commitment to measure the performance
of a product relative to its quality through customer surveys, which can help
managers to identify design, manufacturing or any other process that has a bearing
on the quality of a product or service, and therefore provide an opportunity for
continuous improvement.

Recruitment and Selection Process

The first step in implementation of TQM in an organization is it necessary to

create a clear and concise recruitment policy, which helps to ensure a sound
recruitment process. In today�s rapidly changing business environment, a well
defined recruitment process helps the organizations to respond to its human
resource requirements in time. A recruitment and selection process of an
organization should focus on recruiting the best potential people at the right
place and ensure that every employee is treated equally with dignity and respect.
The selection should be transparent, task oriented and merit based and approved by
the competent authority. Optimization of manpower at the time of selection process
is essential.

Training and Development

HR Department has to undertake intensive training of personnel in understanding

the application of TQM methods & its tools at all levels of the management. The
organizations have to realize the need and importance of corporate training and
development process. The principal objective of training and development is to make
sure the availability of a skilled and willing workforce to an organization. The HR
department has to focus on analyzing the training needs and preparing the budget
for each department. The manger has to evaluate effectiveness of training programs,
providing recommendations for improvement. Planning, developing, and provide
training and staff development programs, using knowledge of the effectiveness of
methods such as classroom training, demonstrations, on-the-job training, meetings,
conferences, and workshops will help in increasing the efficiency of the employees
in the organization.

Employee Involvement

The HR department has to initiate that each and every employee involve in TQM
activity. It is very important that the employee understands the quality
requirements of his job and the customer. This is possible provided his involvement
in the job is very high and he is a very committed and empowered employee. HR has
to facilitate the culture of team work either in the form of quality circles,
quality teams, task force, suggestion schemes or any such others innovative
employee involvement schemes for TQM activity. Employees are more likely to show
commitment when jobs are meaningful and involve significant responsibility and
where employees are able to get direct feedback on their performance. TQM emphasis
on flexibility and teamwork may also require a move away from detailed fixed job
descriptions.

Recognition and Rewards

The HR manager has to place much emphasis on giving rewards and recognizing the
employees who perform well. The manager of the organization has to communicate
regularly with employees about the developmental opportunities being offered. They
serve as a means of worker recognition, which the company has to take seriously.
Recognition of individual employees and teams publicly for their accomplishments,
providing financial incentives or gifts or awards for excellence performance beyond
normal duties, and seniority recognition programs would help in achieving the
quality in the management of an organization.

Leadership and Top Management commitment

The HR manager should have good leadership quality while implementing the TQM in
any organization. The top management should also show commitment towards the
application of quality standards and techniques. The top management�s job has to
take the responsibility and organize all the employees to maintain the quality in
the organization and motivate them in providing quality goods and services. The HR
manager has to continuously monitor the process of quality improvement and fully
committed towards the customer expectations. The management should take certain
initiatives such as proper training facilities, compensation and rewards,
performance appraisals, proper communication during the implementation of TQM.

Education and Communication

Communication should definitely be one of the focus points during the

implementation of TQM. The organizations place great emphasis on educating the
employees about maintaining the quality standards through a variety of elements
such as videos, magazines, newsletters, notice boards, story boards and so on, so
as to promulgate and reinforce the quality. Open communication will help in
maintaining good relations with the employees and achieve better quality. However
it is inadequate for senior management to express their commitment solely through
communicating vision and mission statements. Through continuous communication and
educating the HR department can achieve the customer expectations.

Development of Total Quality People

Another important role of HR department is to see the internal customer

satisfaction. All the departments and the people are to be oriented towards
achieving total quality and the attitude of "Help us to help you better" must be
developed on the philosophy of internal customers. Here lies the importance of HR
in developing total quality people i.e. people with positive attitude, values in
consonance with organizational mission and change the mindset so that the
foundation becomes very strong. The HR initiative in TQM activity should be
oriented to demonstrate the efficacy of WinWin relationships as contrasted to Win-
Lose or Lose-Lose relationships and thereby enabling effective spirit of team work.

Maintain employee relations

One of the distinctive features of human resources program in implementing TQM is

that the management makes no distinctions between exempt and nonexempt employees.
Employee Relations involves the body of work concerned with maintaining employer-
employee relationships that contribute to satisfactory productivity, motivation,
and morale. Employee�s relations can be encouraged to improve the quality and
reduce the overall cost of the organization by involving employees. The
organization can survey the union members about their opinions regardless of
whether or not they have any supervisory responsibility. It is important that how
HR manages the relation with employees so that employee should feel proud and gain
a sense of ownership.

Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal is seen playing an important role as a tool to communicate

to managers whether quality standards are being met, given the importance of the
customer evaluation of managerial performance in the overall appraisal. Evaluating
and rating the performance of the employees is essential, as the management can
focus more on their weaknesses and work to strengthen those areas. The management
should make the policy to issue performance reviews while providing employees with
the feedback that they needs to perform better at their jobs. This will help in
motivating the employees and attain the quality at the workplace.

Accredited quality management system

Many organizations consider ISO 9000 certification as the first step in the
implementation process of TQM. The ISO 9000 series certification can be defined as
the starting point for entering the competition; the ongoing journey towards TQM
must deliver the competitive advantage. A documented quality system as part of a
TQM strategy can contribute to TQM by managing the organization�s processes in a
consistent manner. When an organization maintains the ISO certified standards, it
means it delivers quality products or services according to the customer needs and
expectations.

Measuring customer wants and satisfaction

Customers are an economic asset. Customer satisfaction plays a central role in the
company�s TQM. The implementation of quality management in any organization
requires listening to the customers and trying to satisfy their needs. The emphasis
on customer satisfaction or customerdriven quality is considered by many gurus and
writers as a major success of the quality management effort. A strategic concept,
customer satisfaction is concerned with such achievements as customer retention and
market penetration. The main aim of the HR manager should be to retain the customer
and this is possible when the customer wants are satisfied.

Quality control techniques

The HR department can use several statistical quality control tools and techniques
in achieving quality management in the organization. Statistical process control is
one of the cornerstones of the model for TQM developed by the European Centre for
Total Quality Management. Statistical Process Control is not only a tool kit; it is
a strategy for reducing variability, part of never-ending improvement. The aim of
statistical process control and control charts is first to achieve a stable process
and then to reduce successively process variation. By using these tools the manager
can maintain quality in managing the organization.

Interface between HRD and other departments to support TQM

Partnership of HRD with other departments is a must to support TQM progress.

Because, TQM does not con?ne itself to any functional speci?cation, instead it
spreads to the entire business of the company. In RINL/VSP, the HRD department
plays the role of a facilitator as well as a participant in implementation of TQM
in the organization. In such endeavor, HR professionals partner with other
departments to support TQM. As a partner, they not only preached the TQM mantra,
but also practiced it themselves in their own functional areas. �Action is more
pronounced than words� is what made TQM as a program acceptable to all departments.
Companionship is the cardinal approach that HR professionals have followed in
RINL/VSP to spread TQM message. A handful illustration of partnership of HRD
Department with the line departments would make it more comprehensible. Quality
Action/Advantage Teams (QATs) have been constituted in the organization with
managerial personnel from cross-functional disciplines as well as HRD. TQM
facilitators have been chosen not only from HRD Department, but also from all other
departments to conduct quality workshops. Likewise, at the outset quality policy of
the organization had been discussed amongst all the managers, which was facilitated
by the HR professionals and quality policies were formulated and practiced
afterward. Thus, partnership between HR and other departments is palpable in all
activities of TQM.

Role of HR professionals as internal consultants

HR professionals also serve as internal consultants to other departments to

facilitate better implementation of TQM. The following action points taken by the
HR professionals demonstrate their role as internal consultants. .
HRprofessionalsactedasfacilitatorsandtrainersinconductingqualityworkshops. . At the
time of entering into MOU by different departments with their customer/supplier
departments, HR professionals act as internal consultants and advise the
departments pertaining to formulation of draft MOU and raising points for
discussion and resolutions. . HR professionals act as internal consultant in the
area of cost reduction and reduction of activity cycle. . HR professionals also
suggest ways and means to improve work climate index as obtained from �Voice of
Employees� survey conducted every year

Need of Study

Purpose � The main objectives of the present research were to: look at the
strategic role-played by the HR professionals at various stages of TQM
implementation; identify precisely how do they operate as internal consultants;
study the interface between HRD and other departments to support TQM; and uncover
various human resources challenges associated with TQM implementation in the sample
organization.

Mamegerial usefulness of study

The study ?nds out that the HR professionals helped out the top management in
aligning HR and quality policies; formulating quality friendly policies, systems
and procedures; crafting and communicating the TQM mission and vision; generating
quality awareness among employees; get organized the organization as well as
employees for TQM implementation; developing managerial support to quality action
plans (QAPs); organizing quality workshops and TQM training programs; and shifting
the conventional mind-set of employees, etc. in the sample organization. They act
as internal consultants to other departments in quality matters. Implementation of
TQM in the company has engendered a number of HR challenges for instance,
motivating knowledge workers, mobilizing key managerial personnel, obtaining
employees satisfaction, overcoming communication barriers, resolving problems
associated with PSU trappings and vastness of the organization, etc
Literature review

Many authors and researchers now concede that effective people management and
development is one of the primary means to achieving total quality. Such as,
Caudron (1993) from his research project found that human resources system often
get in the way of cultural change that is one of the goals of TQM. Organization
needs to align human resource systems with quality goals. To achieve this end, the
author suggests different methods like: communicating about quality through the HR
Department; communicating information about quality efforts work best when done in
a small group setting in which it can be personalized; training offered should
focus on building quality skills with equal attention paid to behavioral skills and
quality tools need for change in performance-management systems; and recognition.
Another survey was conducted by Caudron (1993a, b) on human resource practices in
companies that have won Baldrige Award. The result suggests that human resources
must partner with other departments in the organization to support TQM effectively.
Options include, using human resource representatives as internal consultants to
other departments, as members of cross-functional teams, or restructuring the whole
department so that individual business units are billed directly for personal
services they use. The human resources� role in total quality in municipal
governments was examined by Anonymous (1993). The study exposes as quality pervaded
the city hall, most governments moved toward strategic planning and goal-setting
using quality teams. Schonberger�s (1994) study found that the conventional HRM
practices con?ict with TQM and should be changed. In terms of people and their
roles, things that need to shift are: to make process improvement part of
everyone�s job (not just a management/specialist responsibility); for managers to
evolve into facilitators; and use of multifunctional teams instead of single teams.
In terms of Human Resource Department, the shift needed are: letting line people
handle most personnel functions; shrink the number of job classi?cations; focus on
training for everyone; and spend less time on employee relations and wage/classi?
cation issues. One HRM-TQM survey carried out which was responded by HR managers in
245 companies. Survey participants reported on how well their HR departments have
implemented seven TQM principles. The responses provide a good barometer of how TQM
has changed the internal operations of HR departments. Most HR departments in the
sample had adopted the TQM philosophy of viewing other departments as customers,
but few have translated that philosophy into speci?c actions. Less than one-third
of respondents had embraced the other TQM principles. Dividing the sample according
to overall organizational commitment to TQM revealed a strong, positive
relationship between organization-wide commitment and implementing TQM principles
within HR. The HR departments with the most signi?cant progress in implementation
of TQM principles were in companies with strong TQM commitments (Adapted from
Blackburn and Rosen, 1995). Dansky and Brannon (1996) investigated the relationship
between TQM and HR effectiveness in home health agencies and found an af?rmative
relationship between the two. Partha (1997) investigated the rami?cations of TQM
and the role that HRD department has to play when a company embarks upon TQM. He
found that the TQM approach emphasizes planned changes through human resources,
hence the HRD professionals are the ideal resource persons to start with. An
earlier study which
How HR professionals drive TQM 469 comprised 20 new technology-based small-medium
enterprises (NTBFs) found that majority of respondent companies had no strategic
approach to HRM. Another research conducted in French hospitals accentuates
recommendations to follow so that TQM well ?t with human resources managers in
hospitals (Escolan, 2000). Oakland and Oakland (2001) highlight some of the main
people management activities currently being undertaken in the sample award winning
companies.ThecoreHRactivitiesinclude:effectivecommunication,teamwork,planned
training and development, strategic alignment of HRM policies, employee
empowerment, and continuous improvement. Vouzas (2004) investigated the status of
the quality improvement efforts in selected industrial organizations in Greece and
analyzedthe �Hrelements� relatedtotheseefforts. The study of

HRfunction in Greek industrial organizations has been seriously neglected for years
and the role of the personnel professionals in quality improvement efforts has been
overlooked.

Chapter 2
Aim and objectives of study

Aim
The overall aim is to study the challenges, role and the aspects of the human
resource department tasks in regard to an implementation of total quality
management in an organization. Certain recommendations are made for implementing
TQM in any organization.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main objectives of the present research were to: look at the strategic role-
played by the HR professionals at various stages of TQM implementation; identify
precisely how do they operate as internal consultants; study the interface between
HRD and other departments to support TQM; and uncover various human resources
challenges associated with TQM implementation in the sample organization.
Research objectives The main objectives of the present research were: . to examine
the strategic role played by the Human Resource Professionals at different stages
of TQM implementation in the sample organization; . to identify precisely how do
they function as internal consultants; . to study the interface between HRD and
other departments to support TQM; and . to uncover various human resource
challenges associated with TQM implementation in the organization.

Chapter 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

As the dissertation work truly based on secondary data (Desk research), we

concentrate our effort to collect secondary data. Secondary data is available from
other sources and may already have been used in previous research, making it
easier to carry out further research. It is time-saving and cost-efficient: the
data was collected by someone oilier than the researcher. Administrative data and
census data may cover both larger and much smaller samples of the population in
detail. Information collected by the government will also cover parts of the
population that may be less likely to respond to the census (in countries where
this is optional). A clear benefit of using secondary data is that much of the
background work needed has already been carried out, such as literature reviews or
case studies. The data may have been used in publish texts and statistics
elsewhere, and the data could already he promoted in the media or bring in useful
personal contacts. Secondary data generally have a pre-established degree of
validity and reliability which need not be re-examined by the researcher who is
reusing such data. Secondary data can provide a baseline for primary research to
compare the collected primary data results to and it can also be helpful in
research. The aim of this study to analyze (�A Study of HRM in TQM �). To
accomplish the study aims, this research is based on the examination of various
journals. As we believe that journals are the recourses that are most commonly used
to acquire information and release new findings, conference papers, Master Theses,
doctoral dissertations, text books, news reports, and unpublished working papers
arc also considered for the evaluation of the work. Due to the depth and diversity
of this area of research, journals, and thus a literature search was conducted
using the following electronic databases.
1. J-Gate.
2. Google Scholar.
3. Emerald Full text.
4. Science Direct.
5. IEE F/ lEE Electronics Library.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research methodology is the frame working solution on the

decision making problem. It helps in explaining the tools and techniques used for
study

RESEARCH DESIGN

Preparing a �research design� is an important stage in the process of conducting

research. Research design is a plan, structure, and strategy of investigation
conceived so as to obtain answers to research questions and to control variance.

Every article that was retrieved though the search process was carefully reviewed
before making a decision regarding its inclusion in the survey. We classified each
article using a single category for a each diversity characteristics.

LIMITATIONS OF STUDY
1) All the functions are only related with the personnel dept.
2) Limitation about the working hour of the worker in the factory.
3) Limitation about the time & absenteeism.
4) Company not allowing to disclose confidential information.
5) Time factor was the major limitation of this survey.

Because during survey any activity of reorganization which is directly or

indirectly related to the production process should not disturb due to survey.

RECOMMENDATIONS

During the implementation of TQM the HR manager has to act as a democratic leader.
The HR department should try to achieve the quality based on the customer
expectations, and at the same time the employees interest also. The managers should
adopt situational leadership style as well as humanistic approach for leading the
employees to achieve the organization goals. Based on the several case studies the
following are few recommendations for HR department while implementing the TQM
policies:
1. The HR department can create awareness about TQM by arranging workshops,
seminars and conducting training classes.
2. The managers should focus on the succession and contingency plans.
3. Create a clear and concise recruitment and selection policy.
4. Develop and implement policies and activities consistent with the culture.
5. Emphasis on customer satisfaction or customer-driven quality should be made.
6. Ensure that the quality improvement process is consistent with the other human
resource activities.
7. Maintain employer-employee relationships that contribute to satisfactory
productivity, motivation and morale.
8. Rewards and recognition is one of the best tools to motivate employees and
achieve quality.
9. Flow of Communication should be from top to down that will help in making
conducive atmosphere within the organization.
10. Establish a senior HR council and executive operating committee.
11. Develop a leadership programme that ensures that the change clearly includes
the top management.
12. Maintain the quality control techniques and ensure it is quality accredited
system.

CONCLUSION

The theoretical analysis reveals the implications there are in building a quality
culture. The analyze implies that building a quality culture would require a
matching human resource strategy, which would involve the human resource
management, the organizations way of working as well as the human resource policies
and practices. There are certain studies which reveal the different roles of the
human resource management and shows that the implementation of total quality
management has posed quite a lot of human resource challenges to human resource
employees such as, motivating knowledge workers, obtaining employees satisfaction,
overcoming communication barriers, solving problems associated with vastness of the
organization. A successful TQM program is unique, and it should motivate middle
management to focus on long-term strategies rather than short-term goals. From the
above study it is clear that to implement TQM in the organization it needs support
from the top management and all staff members. Different organizations can adopt
different approaches to implement Total Quality Management. By adopting certain
strategies the HR manager can overcome the barriers while implementing the TQM in
an organization.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books:

1. Philip Kotler- �Human Resource Management� 13th edition a south Asian

Perspective.
2. Nirali Prakashan- Research Methodology.

WEBSITES:
www.Google.com www.Googlecholer.com www.wikipedia.com

NEWS PAPERS:

Economic times
Business Standard