Total wuality management gives the oppurtunity for Human resources mangement to play a role on organisations.

The Strategic Role of Human Resource Management

in Organizations Implementing In the course of the past few decades quality has been a key issue in commerce and industry . Focus on quality as the lead to business performance and economic growth both in individual firm and on a national scale is now widely supported in public policy and at the business circles level (Tata , Prasad Thorn 1999 ,

. 440 . Among different quality strategies implementing by the businesses Quality Management (TQM ) is , in essence , an effort to improve such strategies to their uppermost level

(North , Blackburn Curran 1998 ,

br 40 . Taking into account this system task , TQM is usually defined as an integral customer-driven management approach to quality aimed at turning the corporate culture and all configuration of the enterprise into a br

. 2 Tata , Prasad Thorn 1999 ,

. 442 Madu 1993 ,

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In its turn , this goal involves not only the technological aspects , but also the human facets of the organization . Here human resource management (HRM ) appears on stage which is the modern approach to governing personnel stipulating that the staff is a strategic asset of any company , and the latter has to invest it its development to raise its worth to the highest possible level (Beckford 2002 ,

. 314 . At the same time Dictionary of Business (1996 ,

. 246 ) defines that the HRM 's most important task consists in "achiev[ing] individual behavior and performance that will enhance an organization 's effectiveness . When we compare the definitions of these two management approaches , it becomes clear that they converge in many respects . Thereupon scholars admit that TQM gives the opportunity for HRM to play a strategic role in the organizations (Madu 1993 ,

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The purpose of this study is to explore how TQM stipulates for the growing importance of HRM in achieving its objectives and why effective HRM is considered to be of strategic value for successful implementation of TQM . Toward this end we will examine how the functions of HRM evolved in the organizations implementing TQM , scrutinize what factors contributed to this process , analyze what is the new mission of HRM within TQM strategies realization , and make the conclusion

A TQM Strategy and Its Implications for HRM 's Role in the Organizations

As we see from the definition the 'centre of a wheel ' for the TQM strategy is customer satisfaction which stipulates the organization 's orientation to quality perfection , resolving problems at a source just-in-time production , and incessant improvement . The instruments and methods applied by the organization to achieve these objectives all bank upon employee empowerment and involvement as quality involves everybody (Beckford 2002 ,

. 115 . There are three main arguments for that firstly , it is proved by empirical studies that organizations implementing quality initiatives are inclined to enlarge both training and the application of financial inducements secondly , extension of time devoted to employees ' training as well as rise in budgets for it are commonly proposed and recognized as vital for the successful implementation of the TQM strategy and , thirdly , the use of incentive pay , which TQM implies with several definite worker-oriented values plays positive role as it "facilitates values-alignment (Chandler McEvoy 2000 ,

. 48 . TQM implementation required the additional technical and interpersonal skills , thus , HRM departments developed the training programs assisting the personnel to cope with them (Tata Prasad Thorn 1999 ,

. 447

Such significance of the human component in improving quality performance resulted in the fact that HRM departments were among the leading proposers of TQM and related initiatives in 1980s when TQM concept gained its pace (Kraut Korman 1999 ,

. 9 . Scholars admit that then wide-ranging shift in employment models took place due to much greater inclination to employ workers who were qualified professionals and had the sufficient skills to provide high performance and , thus , to meet TQM standards rather than to employ unpracticed personnel and train those for a long time (Beckford 2002 ,

. 121 . But is was not enough to acknowledge that there is a human side to TQM , let alone merely to give lip service to it . Managers had to understand that they contribute nothing of value to an organization 's customers or clients . They create value only insofar as they give service providers and frontline workers the wherewithal to do their jobs (Gibson Kirkman 1999 ,

. 112 . Hence employees had to be put first-ahead even of quality . This trend determined new demands on HRM

HRM departments met the new challenges adequately . Many of them initiated a practice being considered in the past as conflicting to the strategies of preserving competitive advantage - benchmarking HR practices in other companies . Thus , General Electric signed benchmarking agreement with Southwest Airlines , other examples are Intel , DEC , and Texas Instruments (Gibson Kirkman 1999 ,

. 110 . These efforts by large businesses clearly testify that they realized the strategic role of HRM seeing that the staff is one of the key elements in performing the task of maintaining "never-ending commitment to continuous improvement [ .] if TQM is to be achieved (Madu 1993 ,

. 3 . With the fast deployment of TQM strategies in the US and other developed countries since 1990s HRM departments put into their practice fundamental changes and transformed their roles , structures , actions and functions (Dictionary of Business 1996 ,

. 85 . That time elapsed when HRM units were assigned to four main HRM policy fields such as flexible job design , worker training , pay-for-performance compensation and employment security (Burke 2004 ,

. 29 , or when amateurish HR practitioners executed administrative functions contributing little for the organization 's business success . Instead the proactive HRM multifunctional units with highly skilled staffing focused upon improving organizational performance , quality issues and effectiveness by means of continuous growth and development (Gilley Maycunich 2000 br

. 150 . Moreover , having in mind the TQM requirements to involve all the possible resources to improve quality , HRM had to ensure human resource utilization , i .e . personnel 's full potential should be utilized , employee involvement and team-work be encouraged (Tata , Prasad Thorn 1999 ,

. 444

Constantly growing strategic importance of HRM as TQM has been deploying was not surprising because TQM concept pays significant attention to the human issues , such as "human resource practices inherent in managing people , organizational structure and culture , employment and displacement , and the implementation process (Madu 1993 ,

. 264 within organizations realizing that this is the sphere where many quality initiatives fail

The acceptance of this approach in TQM had the distinct impact on the role of the HRM department in the organizations . It was obvious this unit of organizational structure assumed the role to guarantee that the personal and cumulative skills set of the personnel is equivalent to the new demands of the organization . The HRM functions of training recruitment , promotion and retention policies became the key to consistent goods and services quality (Beckford 2002 ,

. 286 . Hence from the very commencement of TQM implementation HRM stopped to maintain narrowly specialized focus and became strategic business partners strategists , and change agents within the organizations intensively assisting their organizations to evolve

It is especially apparent taking into account that fundamental changes are inevitable in the organizations starting to implement TQM (Williams 1995 ,

. 144 . The changes usually cover new processes to implement more advanced technologies , but at the same time these are impossible without flexible and efficacious human resource development by means of education , training and retraining (both on the job and in the classroom ) as well as without improved authority sharing through team-work and larger responsibilities for employees . Without reinforcing skills and capabilities of the personnel organizational performance would fail to improve (Gilley Maycunich 2000 ,

. 155 . These new directions necessitate HRM departments applying advanced methodologies in personnel training to provide them with skills and knowledge useful for accomplishment of new organizational goals and quality requirements (Madu 1993 ,

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New Functions of HRM within Its Strategic Role in the Organizations

To be deeply involved in the whole organization 's commitment to quality and measures to adjust all the operations to the task of meeting customers ' demands HRM departments created the new structure for the human recourse functions which , as Gilley and Maycunich (2000 ,

. 151 argue , consist in "integrating HR activities with the management process making HR part of the management team outsourcing services to facilitate higher [ .] efficiency and quality establishing a customer-service orientation [and] establishing a cross-functional career approach . Accomplishing these new functions HRM departments got the responsibility to change the whole corporative culture of the organization at all levels with the purpose to promote the movement of the organization towards customer-supplier relationships by means of continuous training for every staff member and application of modern methods of supervision (Beckford 2002 ,

. 121 . They make efforts to train and retrain employees continuously on the various aspects of quality . Such form of training program as in-service training is widespread . It educates employees on the application of quality techniques and quality philosophies in line with organizational quality objectives . They are taught how to take active part in designing their jobs and in measuring job performance (Madu 1993 ,

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TQM implementation also demands application of the new methods of motivation for employees - not only material but also moral . In a few words , those can be characterized as measures to provide employees with the knowledge , skills and encouragement to take responsibility for the quality of their own work . Here the role of HRM is to support quality giving employees the knowledge and skills necessary to perform a high-quality job , ensuring feedback on their performance and providing them all with the facilities to contribute efficiently to achieving the quality objectives (Kanji 2002 ,

. 47 . The essential element of moral motivation applying by HRM unit is cultivating organizational climate of innovation . Many scholars argue that TQM strategy gives more positive outcomes if climate is modified and managed to elicit personnel commitment and satisfaction consistent with the TQM values (Tata , Prasad Thorn 1999 ,

. 445 . Besides , in the sphere of financial motivation HRM unit has to implement compensation and recognition programs based upon TQM-based aims , promote personnel involvement , and recompense expected behavior . At the same time performance reviews have to be refocused from an assessment of past performance to an emphasis on what management should undertake to assist employees in their future job-related quality efforts (Williams 1995 ,

. 143

Conclusion

Taking into account the above considered it is clear that TQM implementation can be successful in a certain organization only provided that HRM plays the strategic role in it . Thus , we ascertained that while in the past the field of HRM strove for too long with traditional utility analyses that never acted up to their potential , with the broad implementation of TQM strategies by progressive companies all over the world HRM gained a new spurt and met this challenge sufficiently and with responsiveness . As we investigated growing importance of effective HRM took place due to a complex of factors such as increased value of appropriate staff for successful TQM implementation , necessity to adopt effective HRM approaches to hire workers who fit with the organization 's commitment to quality and strategic goals as well as to develop leaders who can create this commitment to quality , trust , success and a motivating work environment

As the TQM strategies have been implementing in constantly growing number of the organizations it is increasingly obvious that the only sustainable advantage which the organization has is its people Traditional management attempted to improve performance by controlling employees , and it confused fear with discipline . New strategic role of HRM within TQM implementation ensures that planning , organizing staffing , and directing take place by promoting teamwork , coaching listening and leading processes are measured instead of people , and performance measurements are integrated into daily activities to meet real needs . Ambitious TQM strategies require insightful , forward-looking leaders , skilled management , well-thought-out HRM structures , programs and policies designed to motivate employees to perform at peak levels - all that proves the strategic value of HRM for successful implementation of TQM

Reference List

Beckford , J . 2002 , Quality , 2nd edn , Routledge , New York

Burke , R . J . 2004 'New Directions in Human Resource Management , in R J . Burke C . L . Cooper (eds , Reinventing Human Resources Management Challenges and New Directions , Routledge , New York , pp . 17-34

Dictionary of Business 1996 , 2nd edn , Oxford University Press , New York

Chandler , G . N Mcevoy , G . M . 2000 'Human Resource Management , TQM and Firm Performance in Small and Medium-Size Enterprises Entrepreneurship : Theory and Practice , vol . 25 , no . 1 , pp . 43-52

Gibson , C . B Kirkman , B . L . 1999 'Our Past , Present , and Future in Teams : The Role of Human Resource Professionals in Managing Team Performance , in A . I . Kraut A . K . Korman (eds , Evolving Practices in Human Resource Management : Responses to a Changing World of Work Jossey-Bass Publishers , San Francisco , pp . 90-117

Gilley , J . W Maycunich , A . 2000 , Beyond the Learning Organization Creating a Culture of Continuous Growth and Development through State-Of-The-Art Human Resource Practices , Perseus Publishing Cambridge , MA

Kanji , G . K . 2002 , Measuring Business Excellence , Routledge , London

Kraut , A . I Korman , A . K . 1999 'The 'DELTA Forces ' Causing Change in Human Resource Management , in A . I . Kraut A . K . Korman (eds Evolving Practices in Human Resource Management : Responses to a Changing World of Work , Jossey-Bass Publishers , San Francisco , pp . 3-22

Madu , C . N . 1993 , Management of New Technologies for Global Competitiveness , Quorum Books , Westport , CT

North , J , Blackburn , R . A Curran , J . 1998 , The Quality Business Quality Issues and Smaller Firms , Routledge , New York

Tata , J , Prasad , S Thorn , R . 1999 'The Influence of Organizational Structure on the Effectiveness of TQM Programs , Journal of Managerial Issues , vol . 11 , no . 4 , pp . 440-464

Williams , L . C . 1995 , Human Resources in a Changing Society : Balancing Compliance and Development , Quorum Books , Westport , CT

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