Total quality management and its impact on middle managers and front-line workers

Abstract

Reports on a survey of 67 middle managers and 174 front‐line workers, conducted in Hong Kong, which aimed to investigate the perceived impact of total quality management (TQM) programmes on job satisfaction. Both middle managers and front‐line workers considered that the TQM programme had led to a variety of changes that made their jobs more demanding, gave them more responsibility but less job autonomy. TQM programmes did not make their jobs more interesting and they did not perceive any great change in salary, job security or promotion opportunities. However, middle managers perceived more changes than front‐line workers in terms of working relationships with employees, job responsibility and participation in decision making. Employees with different length of service in an organization were found to differ significantly in terms of perceptions of the impact of TQM on their jobs. New employees perceived less change when compared with employees with longer working experience in an organization.