Pakistans 10th International

Convention on Quality Improvement

November 27~28, 2006 Lahore, Pakistan

STRATEGIES FOR HUMAN RESOURCE

PRACTICES IN THE CONTEXT OF
TOTAL QUALITY MOVEMENT
S. Venkataraman
Vice President - HR
DELPHI-TVS Diesel Systems Ltd.,
Chennai, India.
E-mail: sv.pers@delphitvs.com

piqc.com.pk

Pakistans 10th International Convention on Quality Improvement

ICQI`2006

STRATEGIES FOR
HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES IN THE
CONTEXT OF TOTAL QUALITY MOVEMENT
AUTHORS

S. Venkataraman
Vice President - HR
DELPHI-TVS Diesel Systems Ltd.,
Chennai, India.
E-mail: sv.pers@delphitvs.com

BACKGROUND

With the advent of an open economy, that is described and understood as

Globalization, we have been seeing sea changes in the overall economy. The way
we conduct business - customer centric; innovative work practices and processes;
engagement of various constituents in business including employees, in the
processes; - leading towards Total Quality Management, is the perceptible
change.
Ours is the consumption-oriented Society. Therefore production has to gear up to
match consumption pattern of Society. With the economy having been
liberalized, the customer is demanding quality in product, services and delivery
as well as responsiveness for addition of value at every stage of consumption
including quality of life. It has brought to focus a shift in Shared Values and
balance of justice as a sine qua non in conducting the business and creating
wealth.
The resultant effect of open economy and globalization, is reflected loud and
clear in,

Competition in the market place.

Need for competitiveness all around.

Quality Management as an essential requirement, encompassing the quality

of products and services; processes and environment.

A need to understand people expectations and align it to business systems;

sensitize and respond to it.

Meet an ever-increasing aspiration of people involved in business, for higher

quality of life.

In this context, the role of Human Resources takes a pivotal position. Human
Resources are simply, people endowed and equipped with a wide range of
abilities and attributes. It is by coordinating the contributions of physical
(technology) and monetary resources (finance) with those of people (Human
Resources), the actual conversion to products and services, which people at large
demand, takes place.

QUALITY
INITIATIVES

What are the contemporary quality initiatives and continuous improvement

techniques being adopted by the organizations to meet the ever-increasing
demands of the customer? Standards and Certification in quality like ISO 9000: QS
9000: Environmental Certification like ISO 14000 : changed methodologies in
manufacturing, like cellular manufacturing, single piece flow, JIT etc., and Total
Productive Maintenance (TPM); Total Quality Management (TQM) are some of the
current practices. Total Quality Movement encompasses these.

Pakistan Institute of Quality Control

Pakistans 10th International Convention on Quality Improvement

TOTAL QUALITY
MOVEMENT

ICQI`2006

With the ushering in of the quality era, the quest for total quality performance,
becomes a race without a finish line.
While the customers supremacy is getting acknowledged, their quality
consciousness reflects in their ever-changing preferences. They are an
unintended consequence of their travel through increasingly complex
environments. A duty is therefore cast on the organizations to consider how to
produce what it sells, in the purest and cheapest forms, to make it available in
the quickest time, so as to build life long partnership with customers.
It beholds on organizations to erect for themselves some exclusive standards of
excellence. Such standards help them to differentiate with competitors and form
cutting edge of the business. A constant unrelenting and uncompromising effort
directed towards making it a way of life within the organization becomes the
need of hour. That is Total Quality Movement.
The above is made possible in the organizations that align the employees to the
organizational goals and unleash their potential. The employees not only upgrade
their competencies but also develop the pride in them, that sustains their
motivation to continuously commit themselves for organizational goals. Their
commitment gets reflected in continuous improvement of quality and
performance. In other words, the employees get empowered, not only to meet
organizational goals and its sustainability, but also to take charge of themselves,
for continuous superior performance, by constant value addition.
To make it happen, the organizations pursue policies and practices of people
connected with business, on Shared Value Concept. The employees while
engaging in practices and processes, to deliver quality products and services to
its customers and constituents in tandem with organizational goals, achieve what
is beyond it, namely commitment and organizational culture.

TOTAL QUALITY
MANAGEMENT
(TQM)

The basic tools that are employed to ensure the success of TQM are aimed not at
the organizational, but at the individual level. Each employee is encouraged to
identify his role in the organization - a responsible decision maker, working
towards not only his goals, but also towards the companys success. So people
need to know: what to do; how to do it; what are the right tools to do it; how to
measure performance and how to receive feedback on current levels of
achievement.
These exercises are all part of encouraging people to take responsibility for the
quality of their own work. TQM recognizes that Systems, Standards and
Technology in addition to Quality has no independent existence. It is people and
people-based management makes quality.

STRATEGIES FOR
HUMAN
RESOURCE
PRACTICES

The strategies in business can be said to be, to manage the present, selectively
abandon the past and create future. The same can be related to Human Resource
Practices as, skill for managing the present; unlearning and learning new skills
and acquiring new skills that are required for the future.
Human Resource Practices that impact quality performance need to be tailored
to such a fashion, as to inject innovativeness and creativity in such practices. It
therefore calls for not common sense, but in fact uncommon wisdom. Aside from
being one of the means of investing in human capital, the physical and goodwill
of employees become important assets.
Quality through improved use of human resources would involve training, a teamoriented work environment, wide employee participation, effective two-way
communication, and an effective recognition and reward system. Deming (1986)
considered to be one among the total quality trinity advocates that building

Pakistan Institute of Quality Control

Pakistans 10th International Convention on Quality Improvement

ICQI`2006

quality into the product improves productivity and decreases costs and increases
customer satisfaction. The other two constituting the Trinity, namely, Joseph
Juran (1988) and Feigenbaum (1991) also insist on total quality as a way of
managing an organisation. While Jurans approach focuses on reducing the cost
of quality, Feigenbaum places his emphasis on long-term commitment to quality.
Subscribing to the old adage prevention is better than cure, Feigenbaum
considers that quality problems could be overcome by preventive rather than
corrective measures. Total quality performance is a function of employee
empowerment, meaning that an effective employee recognition system will
produce dedicated and customer-focused employees.
The passionate engagement of employees in an organization that is committed to
Total Quality Movement is a real indicator of the Human Resource Practices. The
practices cover Employee Selection, Right Induction, Training & Development,
Career Advancement, Performance Management Culture; Measures of
Performance, Appropriate Rewards, the Pride of Employees and last but not the
least Harmonious Labour Relations and Healthy Work Environment.

EDUCATION,
TRAINING AND
DEVELOPMENT

Companies committed to TQM invest heavily in training and education. Training

and education have become an important responsibility of the Human Resource
Function as empowered employees require new knowledge and skill, which would
not have to be cost justified. Procurement involves the selection of the right man
for the right job. Total quality performance requires investment in human capital
through a significant training which results in a measurable increase or
improvement in a persons contribution to the organizational goals. Training
generally includes quality awareness, leadership, project management,
communications, team work, problem solving, interpreting and using data,
meeting customer requirements, process analysis, process simplification, waste
reduction, error proofing and other issues that affect employee effectiveness,
efficiency and safety. With a view to obviate the possibility of training often
ending up being ineffective, existing skill level needs to be assessed keeping in
view the specific requirements of the organization before designing a training
package. Training is perceived as a means towards an end and therefore it needs
to focus on developing new attitudes so as to enable employees to equip
themselves with self-directed as well as transferable skills. In the absence of
internal receptivity, implementation of managerial innovations equated with
progress may prove to be a wild goose chase. This simple truth is brought out
metaphorically by Mao-Tse-tung (1967; 213-214) as follows:
External causes are the conditions of change and internal causes are the basis
of change. External causes become operative through internal causes. In a
suitable temperature an egg changes into a chicken, but no temperature can
change a stone into a chicken, because each has a different basis.
Training therefore must attempt not only to cultivate an effective relationship
between the men who manage and the men whom they manage, but also to
educate employees about the nature of quality initiatives expected of them, with
focus on continuous learning and improvement in performance of job.

CULTURE AND
EMPLOYEE
ENGAGEMENT

Employee involvement is one approach to improving quality and productivity.

Employee involvement is not a replacement for management nor is it the final
word in quality improvement. It is a means to better meet the organizational
goals for quality and productivity at all levels of an organization.
Employee involvement is not fad that will go away soon. It is a way of life,
crucial to TQM, and can mean the difference between being competitive and
going out of business.
The range of activities involved in employee involvement approaches are: sharing

Pakistan Institute of Quality Control

Pakistans 10th International Convention on Quality Improvement

ICQI`2006

information; providing input on work related issues; making suggestions and selfdirected responsibilities such as setting goals, making decisions and solving
problems, often in cross functional teams. Employee involvement offers many
advantages over traditional management practices like: replacing the adversarial
mentality with trust and co-operation; developing the skills and leadership
capabilities of individuals; creating a sense of mission and fostering trust;
increasing employee morale and commitment to organization; fostering creativity
and innovation; helping people understand quality principles and instilling these
principles into the corporate culture; allowing employees to solve problems at
the source immediately and improving quality and productivity.

EMPLOYEE
PARTICIPATION

Effectiveness and efficiency, after all, represent doing the thing right and
doing right things respectively. Workers participation may contribute to better
utilization of the human resources. Performance comprises all behaviours, which
are directed toward task or goal accomplishment. One particular aspect that
looks complicated, but can be made simple is creation of high-trust inter-group
relations, which not only increase performance, but also feed upon each other
thus establishing a circle

LEADERSHIP
DEVELOPMENT

As quality becomes a central theme, commitment to quality can be fostered

through leadership. Leadership with risk-taking proclivities help accomplish
extraordinary things by ordinary people and such leadership may be viewed as
possessing the ability to turn sand into gold or failure into success. Bennis (1993)
refers to this disposition as wallenda factor. As one of the basic components of
training, leadership is cast with the task of imparting problem-solving techniques
aimed at quality improvement. That leads to grass root level leadership
development.
On the job training may be used to reinforce training. The true test of training
effectiveness is towards quality performance and therefore by establishing a
linkage between training and quality performance, it can be shown that quality
performance is a consequence of HR Practices.

EMPOWERMENT

Total Quality Movement had its roots in quality circles which introduced the
concepts of empowerment and teamwork. Besides the processes and conditions
of empowerment, culture and structural intervention are the other components
that ensure parity in power relations and thus make empowerment effective. The
Seven Cs, namely, Commitment, Contribution, Communication, Cooperation,
Conflict management, Change management, and Connections are identified as
key elements of effective teams to succeed (Zoglio, 1993). As confidence begets
confidence, empowerment rests on culture of trust and collaboration. One of the
primary tasks of leadership is to empower employees whose intelligent and
creative work would pay dividends to the organisation. Consultation, delegation
and decision making which constitute empowerment are an essential part of what
is called participative management.

CONTINUOUS
IMPROVEMENT

Improvement in the traditional sense has been sought for only when the
performance falls below some required standards. This system has proven to be
successful until the emergence of total quality management, where improvement
is sought for on a continuous basis. The indications are that there is always scope
for continuous improvement. The commitment to continuous is never an empty
slogan; it requires the organization to dedicate a significant portion of its time

Pakistan Institute of Quality Control

Pakistans 10th International Convention on Quality Improvement

ICQI`2006

and resources to improvement

In ever changing expectation of the customers, for supremacy of products, the
continuous improvement techniques deployed by operating personnel take the
center stage of any Total Quality initiative. Small group activities and Kaizen
Circles fill in this requirement and they are required to be nurtured to get the
total involvement and commitment of employees

COMMUNICATIO
N

Creating total quality improvement that lasts lies precisely in communication.

Communication and incentives are the two-ways by which employees are
motivated to perform tasks and pursue organizational objectives.
Customers satisfaction engenders their loyalty, which is equally critical since
retaining customers is cheaper than attracting customers. However, the missing
link is identified to be communication of a common quality vocabulary that
helps provide
organization-wide quality definitions based on customers
expectations. Motivation thus becomes not only as an integral part of human
resource development, but also as one of the ingredients that is critical for total
quality performance.

COLLECTIVITY
FUNCTION

While self-assertion through voluntary organisation shows its imprints in bilateral

dissensus, converting such a situation into one of bilateral consensus calls for
making the unions understand and divert their united power towards enrichment
of organisational effectiveness and efficiency. Employees participation thus
secured may contribute to better utilisation of the human resources. In as much
as unions can help decisions to grow out of discussions, a positive union
management relationship serves as a lubricant to an organisations ability to
adapt and grow in its shared pursuit of common goals. Recognition of this type of
reciprocal relations born of interdependency confers mutual benefits in the sense
that the output from one becomes an input to the other. With the laying of the
foundation for diffusive harmony and quality consciousness in place, counterproductive habits can be addressed effectively through training.

CUSTOMERS

Quality is seen as a very important strategic objective as well as a very important

advantage in consideration of the fact that it generates customer satisfaction and
profits. Customers satisfaction engenders their loyalty, which is equally critical
since retaining customers is a prerequisite to attract new customers. The road to
success is laid when there is a perfect match between quality offered and the
quality actually desired. Thus, customers must perceive that besides quality,
they have received value for their money. Band (1991) considers value creation
as the ultimate customer strategy. Ultimate customer strategy involves the
integration of quality, service and customer satisfaction. From a total quality
perspective, all strategic decisions a company makes are customer-driven. A
customer-driven company moves from talk to action with its focus directed
towards the customer, his wants, and preferences. It thereby gains an
understanding of his use of its products and services. In other words, customer
focus becomes the cornerstone of quality management. Development of new
techniques to obtain customer feedback is a natural corollary in the context of a
company becoming customer-centric. A firm also must recognise that internal
customers are as important in assuring quality, as are external customers. Feed
back from internal customers will go directly to internal suppliers. In total
quality organisations as against traditionally run organisations, it is common for
employees to visit customers sites in order to have first hand information from

Pakistan Institute of Quality Control

Pakistans 10th International Convention on Quality Improvement

ICQI`2006

customers about how well products and services meet their needs.

CULTURE

It is said that culture is what we are. The question as to what we are is shaped by
society through various agencies. It is socialisation through which we are made to
become what we are. In any society where technological leap forward
becomes a continuous process, the educational and occupational background of
employees constitutes the most important socialisation variables. Peter Drucker,
(1951; 263) views that of the triple personality of a business enterprise, the
third personality expresses itself from below out of face-to face relations based
on shared interests, sentiments, beliefs and values among various groups of
employees. The work groups with such intricate pattern of relationships existing
among them try to impose their image on the organisation, which is termed as
personalising process (Bakke, 1953). The organisation on the other hand, through
a process termed the formal socialising process endeavours to mould every
employee into the image of the organisation, which results in the merger or
fusion of the two (Bakke, 1953). With the homogenising influence of culture,
which means socialisation, employees learn to internalise the dominant
standards, beliefs, values, norms, practices and expectations that make up the
culture of the employing organisation. In other words, the norms governing
values, activities and goals constitute the culture of an organisation. Besides
decision making, strengthening the organisational culture rests on leadership. It
is therefore the principal responsibility of leadership to create, maintain and
shape organisational culture (Schein, 1992).

SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY

The purpose of any business activity is to create wealth. In common parlance it

is understood as profit. Many a time the purpose of business is also understood,
nay, misunderstood as profit making. But profit making by itself is not an
undesirable objective, as the end result of business activity, by way of profits
helps in enriching the lives of all constituents who are connected with the
business.
The profit, when gets translated to enrich the lives of people
connected with the business, it is termed as wealth.
With the economies
opening up world over, the very concept of wealth creation has undergone a
change. While human resource was considered one of the major components in
the creation of wealth in business, for effective utilisation of other resources
viz., raw materials, plant and machinery and finance, the supremacy of
technology and knowledge employee make a difference in the way the business is
conducted. Thus, the human resources are considered as cutting edge of
business. It has elevated itself into an enviable position, and therefore
maximising the potential of human resources has become the need of the hour.
This not only helps in maximising the wealth creation but also elevate the dignity
of human beings to an unparallel pedestal to a strategic level. If creation of
wealth is made possible by strategic elevation of human resources or in other
words maximising the human potential, the corollary phenomenon is, ploughing
back the wealth to human resources at large i.e., Society. It is also implied that
if society is empowered with wealth created by business, business activity by
itself benefits the society.
The current emphasis world over is social
responsibility of business which is nothing but adopting acceptable and
appropriate standards of production and services including the environment for
the benefit of the society at large.

CONCLUSION

High performance teams are identified to possess such attributes as participatory

leadership, shared responsibility, a sense of common purpose, high
communication, future-focused, focused on task, creative talents and rapid
response. The answer, in the midst of otherwise competing equals, lies in total
quality performance backed by human resource practices. Thus, the Total Quality

Pakistan Institute of Quality Control

Pakistans 10th International Convention on Quality Improvement

ICQI`2006

Movement process will not only improve productivity and thereby help blunt the
edges of competition, but will also ensure better return on investment. Making
full use of human capital through human resource practices is the one and only
way to build the bridge toward achieving excellence in business.

Bakke, E.W.
1953. The Fusion Process, Yale University
Labour Management Center, New Haven, Connecticut.

Band,W.A.
1991. Creating Value for Customers: Designing
and Implementing a Total Corporate Strategy, Wiley, New York.

Bennis, W
1993. An invented Life: Reflections on
leadership and Change, reading, MA: Addision Wesley.

Deming.W.E.
1986. Out of the Crisis, Cambridge M.A:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology center for Advanced Engineering
Study

Feigenbaum, A.V
1991. Total Quality Control 3rd revised
edition, McGraw Hill, New York.

Juran, J.M.
Press, New York.

Mao-Tse tung
1967. Quotation from Chairman Mao-Tse tung,
Peking, Foreign Language Press.

Peter Drucker, 1951.

Schein,E.H.
1992. Organizational Culture and Leadership:
A Dynamic View, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass

Zoglio, S.W,
1993. Teams at Work: 7 Keys to Success,
Doylestown, PA:Town Hills Press.

REFERENCES

Pakistan Institute of Quality Control

1988.

Juran on Planning for Quality, Free

The New Society, London, Heinemann.