Shopfloor workers' experiences of and responses to quality management
Linda A. Glover
2134/16469
https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/thesis/Shopfloor_workers_experiences_of_and_responses_to_quality_management/9496517
Whilst a high percentage of organisations claim to be using practices associated with
quality management, there has been a lack of research that explore shopfloor accounts
of their experiences of quality management (Clark et al., 1998; Bacon, 1999). This
research examines shopfloor worker experiences of and responses to quality
management in two manufacturing companies, with a focus upon human resource
issues. The study examines how the 'rhetoric' of quality management was
experienced in the workplace. It reveals that shopfloor responses were shaped not
only by the formal translation of quality management into the workplace, but also by
other factors. These included the degree of acceptance from the trade union (or
consultative committee). This issue has been raised in the literature (Edwards et al.,
1998). However, responses were also affected by lateral relationships that fall outwith
the formal management/employee interface. This has not been widely recognised to
date. Specifically, informal workplace relationships formed another filter through
which quality management was judged. Furthermore, responses were also moulded by
perceptions of the needs of key external stakeholders. These included the customer,
and non-work based stakeholders including the family and in one case presented here,
the local community.
This study suggests that in order to produce a deeper understanding of employee
experiences of work, both vertical and lateral relationships must be acknowledged and
accounted for. This approach helps explain why workers may retain their loyalty to a
firm, despite downsizing, insecurity and day-to-day frustrations or why they may
appear to have assimilated the quality management rhetoric, at the same time as
feeling an intense alienation from work.
2014-12-11 10:35:02
Shopfloor workers
Employees
Quality management
Human resource management
Experiences
Responses
Business and Management not elsewhere classified