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Investigating the human resources context and content on TQM, business excellence and ISO 9001:2000

Fotis Vouzas (Senior Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece)

Measuring Business Excellence

ISSN: 1368-3047

Article publication date: 4 September 2007

2553

Abstract

Purpose

The main objective of this paper is to theoretically investigate the human resources (HR) context and content on total quality management (TQM), business excellence and ISO 9000:2000.

Design/methodology/approach

The HR‐quality relationship has largely been ignored or underestimated. This paper investigates the existing literature and digs into the various approaches and frameworks in order to evaluate the rhetoric and the reality of this relationship. The examination of differences, similarities and convergence is of high importance in understanding the contribution of HR issues to all of these quality approaches.

Findings

Besides the “good stories” of implementation of the European Quality Award (EQA) model, the ISO 9000:2000 certification and TQM, the paper reveals a number of problematic areas in relation to effective HR utilization such as: low utilization of employees' skills and knowledge, lack of a vision and a mission for HR followed by systematic design and implementation of strategic human resource management (HRM) practices.

Research limitations/implications

This is the first step towards an understanding of the current status of the HR context and content on TQM, business excellence and ISO 9000:2000. The paper addresses a series of issues concerning organizations worldwide in their road to quality improvement and business excellence. There is a need to further evaluate organizations by measuring their HR performance and the degree of quality implementation in the future.

Practical implications

The paper is aiming at both Quality and HR people within the organization. Quality cannot be achieved without fully utilization of organization's HR, and the HR function needs a new vision and practices that are focused on internal customer satisfaction.

Originality/value

The paper provides a reliable and objective depiction of the current status of the HR context and content on TQM, business excellence and ISO 9000:2000 through the examination and analysis of a state‐of‐the‐art literature review studies, including all the various approaches, practices and perceptions recorded so far in the literature ‐some of them based on empirical data and some deriving from rhetoric and “good‐stories” or “how things ought to be” perspective.

Keywords

Citation

Vouzas, F. (2007), "Investigating the human resources context and content on TQM, business excellence and ISO 9001:2000", Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 21-29. https://doi.org/10.1108/13683040710820728

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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