TQM practices and employees' role stressors

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of total quality management (TQM) practices on role stressors in Iranian manufacturing SMEs in order to determine the relationship between the multidimensionality of TQM practices and role ambiguity, role conflict and role overload.

Design/methodology/approach

Questionnaires are administrated to 410 employees of 100 different manufacturing SMEs in Iran.

Findings

The results support important negative association among some of TQM practices (such as employee involvement, information analysis, process management, supplier management, strategic planning and customer focus) and role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload. By utilizing multiple regression analysis, information analysis, supplier management, employee involvement, process management, customer focus, strategic planning are found to have significant and negative relationship with role stressors. Leadership and human resource focus are found to have significant and positive relationship with role stressors.

Practical implications

This model is perfect for practical usage by SME managers to estimate the perceptions of role stressors of employees in TQM oriented firms. The findings recommend that manufacturing should look into ways of improving the major roles of TQM practices in order to decrease the negative role stressors of employees.

Originality/value

TQM practices emerge to be related to role stressors (role ambiguity, role conflict and role overload), attending to an obvious noticeable gap in the previous studies of TQM and the psychological welfare of employees.

Citation

Fallah Ebrahimi, Z., Wei Chong, C. and Hosseini Rad, R. (2014), "TQM practices and employees' role stressors", International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 166-183. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQRM-04-2013-0067