Total quality management intensity and its impact on HRM practices in manufacturing firms

This paper examines the impact of the intensity level of TQM activities on the degree of emphasis that TQM adopters place on eight HRM practices. Specifically, the paper tests if manufacturing firms with varying levels of TQM intensities differ in their emphasis on job enrichment, worker safety, giving workers more planning responsibility, giving workers broader range of tasks, changing management/labour relation, management training, supervisor training, and worker training. The analysis in this paper is based on data collected from more than 150 firms in three industrial sectors in the USA. Factor analysis shows that the eight HRM practices comprise two factors: training and job enrichment (F1), and employee empowerment (F2). Cluster analysis, based on the relative intensity of TQM, produced three clusters that were named High TQM (group 1), Moderate TQM (group 2), and Low TQM (group 3). Furthermore, the analysis of variance shows that there are significant differences in the degree of emphasis on these HRM practices among firms with varying TQM intensity. These findings have useful implications for both academics and practitioners.