The Relationship between Employee Motivation and Quality Management - Research Proposal Example

ABSTRACT As total quality management (TQM) continues to theoretically evolve and be accepted by management thinkers and practitioners as an effective approach to business management, the concurrently increasing emphasis on people cannot be overlooked. Having learned the bitter lessons of the scientific management approach and specifically of Taylorism, managers have conventionally accepted to date the idea that organizations produce their outcomes through their people. On this account, the crucial element of the quality performance by the employees and workers is the organization’s ability to motivate its people towards desired actions and behaviors and increase the organizational members’ level of quality consciousness. Intending to clearly establish the relationship between human motivation and total quality management by qualitative research method, this paper sifted through the pertinent literature in view of answering the following research questions: How closely are employee motivation and quality management connected in the context of the workplace? Should there be a strong connection between the two, how do we motivate employees more so as to improve the organization’s quality management? With a weak connection between the two, which of them has a deeper impact on the general performance of the company? Significantly, this paper concluded that employee motivation and quality management are indeed very closely connected. This is the primary message of the literature that this paper consulted. And, it is interesting to note that there is actually no literature that states otherwise. In fact, the common thread of ideas that runs through the books, journal articles and Internet postings on the topic is that quality management taps on human resource to bring fruition its aim of bringing about improvement or development in the quality of an organization’s processes, procedures, relationships, and outputs. And, this can happen only in situations when the employees or workers are of high level of motivation. Equally important is this paper’s conclusion that as there as many theories on motivation as there are theorists that make a study on this subject, so there are multiple ways of inducing employee motivation and improving the organizations’ quality management. This does not mean, however, that there is no way by which the employees’ motivation level may be improved or raised to a further level. What appears, in fact, is that inducing, sustaining and directing employee motivation is situational – which, in effect, requires that the management knows very deeply their workers and their workers’ needs and wants. 1. INTRODUCTION The evolution of the theory and practice of total quality management (TQM) has seen the ever growing emphasis on people as the primary determinant of quality products and/or services by any organization. Depending on whether one finds vestiges of concern for employees and workers particularly in Taylorism and generally in the scientific management movement or sees Frederick Taylor and the management theory that he began as the very reason for the emergence of human resource movement in the history of management thoughts, the concern for the well-being of employees and workers was a 20th century development. Specifically since the Hawthorne Studies, research studies on different aspects of the existence and functioning of human beings particularly those that affect or are affected by employment and/or the workplace have been undertaken by both the academics and the practitioners of the science of management. Now, with men and women being very dynamic and individual or unique, it is no doubt that these studies have yielded numerous results. While most of these studies have either completed or supplemented their predecessors, there are also those that either challenge an earlier one or negate a previously related endeavor. With W.E. Deming’s enterprise that gave birth to what we now call the Total Quality Management (TQM), the question of human person is even more considered. For, despite the progress that the world has already seen in technologies involving machines and information technology, business organizations in particular still concede that the ultimate determinants of the quality of their products and services is their people. Not surprisingly, TQM essentially pins the effectiveness of its processes on the human resource of the organizations. 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE TOPIC AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS Even before the word “motivation” was coined, there was already recognition about the importance of influencing workers to accomplish tasks for organizations they belong to. In fact, the importance of motivating workers or employees was not rendered superfluous by the very Industrial Revolution in Europe and America that permanently shaped not only the future of manufacturing technologies, but also the landscape of doing and managing business. Actually, there are some authorities who argue that Frederick Taylor – the Father of the Scientific Management Movement – made as his other contribution the concept of ascertaining that employees or workers are paid on time and adequately. Accordingly, more than a manifestation of the soft spot of Taylor, it is an indication that the advocate of the “one best way” of doing tasks was aware of the need to satisfy the human needs of the human resource of manufacturing organizations. Critiquing the scientific management movement’s scanty regard for workers, the human resource movement was formed by academicians, researchers, and even practitioners of management who saw the writing on the wall – so to speak – detailing the indispensability and the ultimate importance of workers and employees in the life and operations of any organization. Beginning from this epoch, with the coming and going of different management schools, it is the belief on the utmost significance of human resource of organizations that has been remained constantly unchanged. This is no different from the contributions made by W. Deming and the succeeding management researchers and thinkers who crystallized the concept of total quality management (TQM). Total quality management has its prescribed processes, underpinned by the resolute belief of the managers on the need for quality performance of the members of the organization. And, as it is conventionally known, the sure formula for quality performance requires not just the competence of the workers and employees, but also the level of motivation that the managers should induce in them. Hence, it becomes understood on account of the many studies on the subject that total quality management has connection with human motivation. However, further adjectival qualifications on this connection or relationship between these two factors of organizational members’ performance is very much limited. In fact, it is yet to be determined whether this connection is strong or weak. Now, this paper advances that should the connection be strong it is important to know how the employee motivation will be increased so as to improve quality management. And, in case when the connection is established to be weak, it is crucial to determine whether it is human motivation or quality management that more deeply or significantly determine the general performance of the members of the organization. Along this line, all throughout this thesis the concern is to address the following research questions: 1. How closely are employee motivation and quality management connected in the context of a workplace? 2. Supposing the connection between the two is strong, how do we increase employee motivation in order to improve quality management? 3. Supposing the connection is weak, which of two – that is, human motivation and quality management – has a deeper impact on the general performance of the company? By addressing these research questions, this paper hopes to analyze the relation between these two factors in the success of any organization. 1.2 METHODOLOGY AND STRUCTURE This research paper is qualitative in its approach. It employs not just a single method, but at least three methods of gathering data and information relative to the subject matter of this thesis. Its interview of managers, as well as its choice of literature, ensures that motivation and quality management are studied in their natural setting – that is, in the context of workplace. While it simplistically means that this paper does not rely on numbers and statistical formulae to establish its position relative to its research questions, the qualitative research approach of this paper specifies – among others – the role of the researcher, the manner by which the data were gathered and the method by which the data was analyzed. The researcher for this paper dwelt with academic literature in the fields of quality management and human motivation in the context of the workplace, as well as the different theories of motivation. Books in the library, articles published in many journals and reputable Internet postings were all accessed by the researcher for the purpose of piling up data for this thesis. To ensure that the data considered for this paper have grounding, the researcher made certain that case studies as well as real life examples are considered. The researcher similarly thought of possibly staging personal interview involving company managers, who are thought to be in better position to shed light on the direct relationship between motivation and total quality management as they deal primarily with employees and are tasked to ensure that their workers are motivated and their performance serve the end of quality management for the organization. It is expected that the qualitative approach for this paper provides results that are rich and detailed, and that they may offer many ideas and concepts to inform this thesis. It neither subjects the data it has gathered to statistical analysis nor reports its findings in terms of percentages and projects it to a broader population. Instead, the research approach by this paper considers its results in terms of themes or, as specific to this research, threads of ideas depicting the concrete practices relative to motivation and quality management. This paper is organized into four major parts. It has its introductory part – delving into the background of the research, elaborating on the research questions that this paper hopes to address, and qualifying the research approach that it has opted for. The introductory part sets the parameter by which the succeeding chapters on motivation, total quality management, and the theories on human motivation and total quality management should be understood. The (second) chapter (of the paper) on motivation attempts to synthesize the myriads of definitions that have been provided by the theorists on the subject matter of human motivation. It is able to point out that at the base of human motivation is actually human need, presenting itself as a gap which requires to be filled up otherwise it will continuously present itself as a void or a vacuum. Frederick Taylor narrowly understands it as purely economics. Elton Mayo holds that it is social need. Abraham Maslow postulates that this gap is actually five groups of human needs. Frederick Herzberg differentiates between what may keep workers from leaving the organization, and what actually motivates them. Victor Vroom comes up with a more complicated view, arguing that what motivates workers is not only the satisfaction of their human needs but also how their needs are being met or fulfilled. B.F. Skinner asserts that it is about what causes pain and joy. John Stacy Adams factors in the social equity between and among workers. While scholars do not agree on the one technical definition of motivation, they are unanimous in determining the role that human motivation plays in the individual and collective performance of the members of any organization. In fact, they also agree that it is one tool that should be mastered by managers in view of achieving very effectively the goals of the organization. Significantly, the discussion on motivation by this paper intelligently differentiates the perspectives of the employer and the employees. Even in the practical plane, the fact that employers and employees are two distinct groups in the workplace presumes that their viewpoints on what brings about, sustains and directs human motivation are essentially different. What is constant, though, is that both parties concede that pecuniary motivation may be fundamental, but money is never the ultimate motivator. The third major part of this paper dwells on total quality management. While in its composition the paper dispenses with a detailed account of this management approach’s chronological development, it nevertheless provides a very academic treatment of its rudiments. What it brings to the fore is the fact that quality management is an approach; hence, while it is known for the processes that it spawns, it cannot be equated with any singular set of process. Now, total quality management may be that but the role that it plays in the workplace or the organization is very much certain. It raises the bar of performance by the workers and employees. Quality management – when properly and correctly implemented – lessens employee turnover and raises their level of satisfaction in working with and for the organization. It is noted in the preceding that total quality management is an approach, and – as such – cannot be tied to a singular set of processes. This is evidently clear especially since total quality management is applicable to different industries – or is applicable to distinct workplace situations. The truth of the matter is that the processes of total quality management may be essentially the same – if not merely similar. But, because they are adapted to different situations, so their forms differ. The processes that apply to public sector are distinct from what is acceptable in manufacturing industry, and are also different from what is expected for service industry – let alone for hospitality industry or hotel service management. The fourth chapter is about the theories of motivation and total quality management. Specifically, this part of the thesis focuses on the theories by Douglas McGregor, Abraham Maslow and William McDougall. Chronologically preceding McGregor and Maslow, McDougall posited that human actions are actually purposive. Now, this line of idea easily lends itself to total quality management theory and practice. Quality management is similarly purposive. Its essence is total control over quality of products and services. It is defined by its continuous development approach. As the implementation of the quality management is a human action, it is done with a purpose. The significant contributions of McGregor and Maslow are the nomenclatures that they provide for what underlies the purposive-ness of human behavior. McGregor classifies workers or employees into two groups. Each of the groups has its purpose of its human behaviors. One dislikes to work; the other loves to be employed. One intends to run away from work; the other loves to be engaged in employment. Without stating the obvious, McGregor holds that one group of workers actually supports the ideals of the quality management. Maslow, for his part, classifies the human needs into a pyramidal set up consisting of five groups of distinct needs. Significantly, Maslow says quality management is going to be served by ensuring that management ascertains that the lower-level human needs – and, slowly, the upper-level ones – are met and satisfied. The fifth part of the paper provides the compendium of the thesis. In providing the summary of the thesis, it directly and categorically answers the three research questions posed at the outset by this paper. Likewise, it recognizes the delimitations of the paper and proposes directions of future researches on this subject matter. Read More