The impact of a TQM intervention on work attitudes: a longitudinal case study

Total Quality Management (TQM) has been heralded as a new way of managing organizations. While there are widespread endeavours by organizations to implement TQM, a visible lag exists between the adoption of TQM and a systematic evaluation of this phenomenon. The thesis, therefore, addresses a fundamental question in TQM; what is the impact, if any, of a TQM intervention on employee work attitudes? This 'before and after study' examines the impact of a 'soft' TQM intervention on two key elements of TQM: teamwork and continuous improvement. A questionnaire was completed by respondents six months prior to and nine months after the launch of the intervention. The starting point in the evaluation is the development of theoretical models containing hypothesized antecedents of teamwork and continuous improvement which are empirically tested on the data. The intervention is then evaluated on the basis of its direct and indirect effects on the two key elements of TQM. In addition, the impact of the intervention is assessed both at the individual and the organizational level. At the individual level, the intervention was found to have a significant effect on team orientation as well as on a number of dimensions of continuous improvement, including general orientation to quality, improvement as part of the job and intrinsic motivation. However, a significant overall improvement at the organizational level was not evidenced in any of these variables. This raises the possibility that a longer time lag may be required for the individual level effects to develop into an overall organizational improvement. Additional important findings emerged from this evaluation. First, a consistent finding throughout is the importance of supervisory behaviour in affecting employee attitudes. Second, employee assessment of the intervention is a more significant predictor of subsequent changes than employee participation in the intervention per se. Finally, the prior experience and attitudes of individuals have a significant effect on how the intervention is assessed, which subsequently affects changes in attitudes, highlighting the fact that organizational change interventions do not occur in a vacuum

When organisations break promises to an employee, others may feel it too

Employees pay attention to how their co-workers are treated. Depending on the circumstances, what happens to colleagues can disrupt and undermine the quality of the relationship an employee develops with the organisation. Sandra Costa and Jacqueline Coyle-Shapiro write that organisations and managers must be aware that the social context shapes individual work relationships

The employee–organization relationship and organizational citizenship behavior

Drawing upon social exchange theory and the norm of reciprocity, we review the employee–organization relationship (EOR). A number of EOR frameworks share common theoretical ground yet have developed independently: psychological contracts, perceived organizational support, employment relationship, social and economic exchange, and idiosyncratic deals. We examine the empirical evidence linking each of the frameworks to employees’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Relationships based on minimal investment (quasi-spot contracts and transactional psychological contracts) and psychological contract breach are negatively related to OCB. Economic exchange is unrelated to OCB. Relationships that demonstrate investment, support, fulfillment of obligations, and granting of idiosyncratic deals are positively related to OCB because they signal a trusting and benefit conferring relationship. We outline challenges and future research directions that address the “value addedness” of the EOR frameworks

Eyes wide open: perceived exploitation and its consequences

Drawing on the array of literature on exploitation from several social science disciplines, we propose a new way of seeing employer-employee relationships by introducing the concept of perceived exploitative employee-organization relationships, distinguish it from related concepts, and conduct five studies to develop a scale and test our theoretical model of the effects of such employee perceptions. Contributing to the Employee-Organization Relationships and workplace emotions literatures, perceived exploitation is defined as employees’ perceptions that they have been purposefully taken advantage of in their relationship with the organization, to the benefit of the organization itself. We propose and find that such perceptions are associated with both outward-focused emotions of anger and hostility toward the organization and inward-focused ones of shame and guilt at remaining in an exploitative job. In two studies including construction workers and a time-lagged study of medical residents, we find that the emotions of anger and hostility partially mediate the effects of perceived exploitation on employee engagement, revenge against the organization, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions, whereas the emotions of shame and guilt partially mediate the effects of perceived exploitation on employee burnout, silence, and psychological withdrawal

Will a Good Citizen Actively Support Organizational Change? Investigation of Psychological Processes Underlying Active Change Support

The present study investigated motivational factors of employees active change support (ACS). It also investigated good citizens response to the change by highlighting convergence and divergence of motivational factors between ACS and traditional extra-role behavior. The findings based on 166 staff responses and 346 supervisor assessments in a hospital that recently implemented a sharedgovernance structure suggest that active change support is a result of an active thinking process that involves perception of potential benefit from change but not necessarily the consequence of conventional predictors of extra-role behaviors (i.e., positive attitudes). The findings also suggest that good citizens are not necessarily the supporters of organizational change and that in actuality they confront motivational dilemma especially when they hold high quality relationship with their employer because they are reluctant to challenge the status quo

Leader-member exchange and perceived organizational support

This study examined a model of the relationships between leader-member exchange (LMX), perceived organizational support (POS), socialization tactics, and work outcomes. First, it was hypothesized that LMX would have a positive impact on POS, and that this relationship would be moderated by socialization tactics. Second, it was predicted that POS would mediate the effects of LMX on indicators of newcomer adjustment (i.e., affective commitment and intent to leave). Using a two-wave longitudinal survey of 159 newcomers, LMX was positively related to POS, and socialization tactics were found to moderate this relationship. In terms of consequences, POS was found to fully mediate the relationship between LMX and affective commitment. However, POS did not mediate the relationship between LMX and intent to leave the organization

Consequences of the psychological contract for the employment relationship: a large scale survey

The renewed interest in the concept of the psychological contract has come to the fore in attempts to describe, understand and predict the consequences of changes occurring in the employment relationship. Recognising that the employment relationship includes two parties to the exchange process, we set out to examine the content and state of the psychological contract from both the employee and employer perspective. The two perspectives permit an examination of the mutuality of obligations, which has not received much empirical attention to date. The research methodology consists of two surveys conducted in a large local authority directly responsible and accountable for a range of public services including education, environmental health and social care to the local population. The key findings suggest that the majority of employees have experienced contract breach. This view is also supported by managers, as representatives of the employer, who further indicate that the organization, given its external pressures, is not fulfilling its obligations to employees to the extent that it could. Overall, the results indicate that employees are redressing the balance in the relationship through reducing their commitment and their willingness to engage in organizational citizenship behaviour when they perceive their employer as not having fulfilled its part in the exchange process