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Principles of TQM
Principles of TQM
People at all levels are the essence of an organization and their full involvement enables their abilities to be used for the organizations benefit.
Most managers would agree that the effectiveness of their organizations would be at least doubled if they could discover how to tap the unrealized potential present in their human resources.
(Douglas McGregor)
The total quality management approach offers a substantial potential for improvement if accompanied by an appropriate human resources effort. It is becoming a maxim of good management that human factors are the most important dimension in quality and productivity improvement. People really do make quality happen
Importance of people involvement has been recognized by all the nowadays popular quality management and business models:
Results
Leadership
Processes
Some HR approaches are in place in every organization. What are the main pitfalls then?
Lack of clear communication regarding peoples responsibilities, but especially authorities and accountabilities Responsibilities and authorities not balanced People made accountable for and dependant on things that they have no or little influence on. Pay poorly related with the individuals performance Lack of empowerment. Too centralized decision making
Some HR approaches are in place in every organization. What are the main pitfalls then?
Poorly established communication regarding whats going on and what are the results achieved Lack of consistency in HR related activities (suggestion schemes, climate surveys etc.). Slogans that are controversial to daily practices Lack of training, or often overestimation of the importance of technical training
Some ideas on principles for modification of the existing performance appraisal systems
Customer expectations, not the job description, generate the individuals job expectation Results expectations meet different criteria than management-by-objectives statements Performance expectations include behavioral skills that make the real difference in achieving quality performance and total customer satisfaction Employees are active participants in the process
Compensation systems should also be reviewed to support TQM. Historically, compensation systems have been based on:
Pay for performance Pay for responsibility (a job description)
Each of these is based on individual performance, which creates a competitive atmosphere among employees. In contrast, the TQM philosophy emphasizes flexibility, lateral communication, group effectiveness, and responsibility for an entire process Individual or team compensation? Gain sharing, profit sharing, and stock ownership are among the systems designed to create a financial incentive for employees to be involved in performance improvement...