During the last three decades, firms around the world have witnessed the emergence and diffusion of a series of non-technological innovations designed to improve management practices within organizations. One of these is quality management, which has unquestionably become of particular significance and prevalence in all activity sectors. Quality management involves the adoption of a philosophy that comprises a focus on customers and the continuous improvement of production processes, as well as on the implementation of a range of techniques and approaches, such as statistical process control (SPC), seven basic tools, quality function deployment (QFD), etc. The academic literature on quality management has provided considerable empirical evidence of the positive impact that the adoption of different quality management systems and models has had on various dimensions and measures of firm performance (Samson and Terziovski, 1999, Sun, 2000, Prajogo and Sohal, 2003 and Tarí and Sabater, 2004).
Firms develop their ideas and practices of quality management within two main frameworks (Martínez Costa et al., 2008): on the one hand, the implementation of quality management systems, the best example of which may be the system based on ISO 9000 quality standards series; and on the other, the scheme provided by excellence models (or Total Quality Management Models) (Sadikoglu and Zehir, 2010), the most prevalent of which in Europe is the EFQM model.
Another significant development in recent years is the expansion of flexible systems of work organization (Osterman, 1994, Gittleman et al., 1998 and Handel and Levine, 2004). These systems comprise a series of practices whose principal aim is to transfer high decision-making power to workers and foster their involvement in the activities of the company by means of (both ascending and descending) information-exchange and communication between employer and employees. Together with this, workers must become more multi-skilled and capable of performing a greater number and wider variety of tasks; this also requires that employees receive more information about the general operations framework whereby the firm carries out its activities. As a consequence, decisions are taken by those that detect problems and, therefore, have a more refined knowledge of their potential causes. This enables the firm to implement a faster response and to avail of greater flexibility when dealing with unexpected circumstances. Moreover, as long as these practices are conceived as employee-centred, they may be expected to lead to increased motivation and job satisfaction and greater commitment to the employer.
Practices commonly included in these systems are self-directed teams, problem-solving groups (such as quality circles) and information meetings among employers and employees. Their positive effects on productivity and firm performance are reflected in the conclusions to many studies based on samples of firms from different sectors (Black and Lynch, 2001, Black and Lynch, 2004, Cappelli and Neumark, 2001, Richard and Johnson, 2001 and Way, 2002).
In spite of the significance acquired by quality management and flexible work practices, the relationship between the two has rarely been addressed in the research literature. Nevertheless, the scarce empirical evidence available suggests that these two innovations tend to be implemented jointly and that they could be part of a common approach to business management (Wood, 1999, Bayo-Moriones and Merino, 2001 and De Menezes and Wood, 2006).
The limitations of existing research underscore the need for more focused analysis of the influence that quality management may have on the adoption of flexible work systems. This is of particular relevance in relation to ISO 9000 and EFQM, whose relationship with innovative work practices has received little or no attention in empirical research terms.
The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact that these two approaches to quality management have on the incidence of flexible work systems. Furthermore, the intention is to evaluate the magnitude of the effects of these two systems on new work practices. To this end, the information gathered through a survey carried out in a final valid sample of 665 Spanish business establishments with at least 20 employees from the manufacturing, building and service sectors is analysed.
This paper contributes to the existing research literature in several ways. First and foremost, it provides additional evidence regarding the influence of quality management on human resources management and, more particularly, on the incidence of flexible work practices. Secondly, so far as we know, this is the first paper to consider the influence of the two approaches used by nearly all firms that decide to implement quality management in their activities, which enables us to explore whether or not the effects of both approaches on work organization are the same. Finally, the sample of companies analysed is not limited to a particular sector, which increases the significance of the conclusions reached, and may enable the application of such innovative practices to a larger number and wider variety of firms.
The paper is structured as follows. The following section studies the implications of quality management for work organization from a theoretical perspective. Several hypotheses regarding the impact of ISO 9000 and EFQM on the adoption of flexible work practices are then formulated. Section 3 describes the main characteristics of the database used in the empirical analysis; the variables used in the estimations are defined and the methodology used to test such hypotheses explained. Section 4 sets out and discusses the results obtained in the estimations of the empirical models. Finally, the main conclusions are presented.
Since the beginning of the quality movement, the importance of certain human resources management practices, especially those related to work organization, has always been pointed out as a key element in the endeavour to reach improvement goals in the organization. Thus, it is felt that certain practices, such as those that promote employee involvement or empowerment, work organization around teams, or those that generate better communication within the organization, should be implemented at the same time as quality management systems or models.
Generally speaking, there are two ways in which firms in Western countries are developing quality management issues. On the one hand, the implementation and certification of quality systems according to the ISO 9000 standard undoubtedly comprise the most popular methodology. On the other hand, evaluations based on the European Foundation for Quality Management Model (EFQM) are gaining ground in improvement processes.
The objective of this paper has been to analyse the impact that the two quality management approaches have on five specific work organization practices. With this purpose in mind, five empirical models have been estimated in order to test three hypotheses: the first, about the relationship of ISO 9000 and such work practices; the second, about the impact of EFQM on such work practices; and the third, to explore which of the two quality management models, ISO 9000 or EFQM, has greater influence on the incidence of the practices under review.
As established by the hypotheses formulated in the theoretical part of the paper, the empirical findings show that the presence of quality models ISO 9000 and EFQM has a significant and positive effect on the adoption of flexible work practices. In the case of the ISO 9000 standard, this effect takes place through improvement groups and the implementation of suggestion systems. Regarding the EFQM model, in addition to these practices, there is also a significant correlation with the percentage of employees that take part in work teams for new project development and on the organization of informative meetings between top management and employees.
From these results it may be concluded that there is some disparity between the most commonly used models for quality management, ISO 9000 and EFQM, as far as their impact on the individual use of flexible work practices is concerned. It seems clear that firms that have adopted the EFQM model are more inclined to implement these practices, with the exception of autonomous work teams for ordinary tasks. Therefore, in our empirical analysis, the hypothesis that the EFQM model is more advanced than ISO 9000 with regard to fostering the implementation of innovative practices in work organization is confirmed.
Our results confirm that the high significance attributed to aspects of human resource management since the beginning of the quality movement (Crosby, 1979, Deming, 1982 and Juran et al., 1990) is not merely rhetorical, but is reflected in reality. That the requirements established in the models and frameworks of ISO 9000 and EFQM are fulfilled in practice is also clear. Moreover, our findings are consistent with those reached in previous empirical research analysing the relationship between quality management and flexible work practices. For example, articles such as Wilkinson et al. (1998), Kufidu and Vouzas (1998), Bayo-Moriones and Merino (2001) and Tarí and Sabater (2006) found that in those firms where the degree of implementation of quality management was greater, there was a higher incidence of work practices aimed at promoting employee involvement and empowerment.
Of the five flexible work practices considered here, teamwork for ordinary tasks is the only one that is not associated with the development of quality management in the firm. The implementation of practices designed to promote employee involvement and to improve both upwards and downwards communication (improvement groups, informative meetings and suggestion systems) is clearly influenced by the adoption of quality management systems. However, quality management does not have the same effect on teamwork whose purpose is to grant employees greater autonomy and decision-making power.
A pertinent question in this regard is why practices that promote employee involvement in the firm are more clearly associated with Quality Systems and models than those practices that assign them greater responsibilities, if the theoreticians of the quality movement assign similar importance to both. There are several possible explanations for this fact.
First of all, the results obtained may imply that the decision to implement such work practices depends more on the features of production process or the characteristics of employees than on the adoption of a particular management system, no matter how much emphasis is placed by top management. Secondly, that employee involvement practices present fewer difficulties in terms of implementation should also be acknowledged. Unlike work teams, their implementation does not involve a radical change in the everyday production processes within the organization. In addition, the benefits and improvements in products and processes obtained after the implementation of practices such as improvement groups may be more visible and immediate.
The evidence presented in this paper may also contribute to the debate regarding the potential value and use of developing quality management on the basis of quality systems or excellence models (Gotzamani and Tsiotras, 2001, Martínez Lorente and Martínez Costa, 2004, Heras et al., 2006 and Martínez Costa et al., 2009). Assuming that both concepts of quality are perfectly compatible and even complementary, the results obtained suggest that excellence models and their greater impact on flexible work organization practices may better contribute to increasing the added value of firms than the mere fulfilment of the requirements set out in a standard. If such models promote the adoption of practices that the human resources management literature regards as leading to better firm performance, their contribution might be greater than if all that the firm does is accomplish certain standards, no matter how valid they may be.
Although the empirical analysis carried out here is based on data from a significant number of establishments in the manufacturing, building and service sectors, there are some limitations in the paper that might be mitigated in future research work. Firstly, since cross-sectional data is used, it is impossible to establish the causal direction between ISO 9000 and EFQM implementation and the use of flexible work organization practices. Secondly, the database used does not include information on the implementation characteristics of the management systems or models within firms (in terms of intensity, time, groups of workers covered, etc.).
These limitations and our findings suggest several lines for future research. Firstly, the analysis of the impact of ISO 9000 and EFQM needs to be applied to other human resource management practices apart from work organization. For example, selection, training and compensation are core areas in personnel management that could vary depending on the kind of quality management approach taken by the firm.
Secondly, the use of longitudinal data would enable more exact analysis of the relationships between ISO 9000 and EFQM and flexible work organization practices. There is a clear need to disentangle the nature of the association between these two variables in order to know whether they tend to be implemented simultaneously or whether one may be adopted earlier than the other.
Thirdly, a logical complement of our research is to analyse the performance effect of flexible work practices in both ISO 9000 and EFQM contexts. The findings would be extremely valuable for practitioners and would help ascertain whether or not the relationships found in our paper are rooted only in performance considerations.
Fourthly, all employees have been dealt with uniformly in this paper; that is, the adoption of flexible work practices has been considered globally. It would be interesting to analyse whether the findings in our paper occur for all the different groups of workers in the firm: production workers, technicians, supervisors, middle managers, etc.
Finally, the effects of quality management on employees, regarding aspects such as job satisfaction or job intensification have scarcely been studied. Although this was not the objective of the paper, it clearly opens the door for future research on the mediating role flexible practices may play in the analysis of the impact of quality management on employees. Given that the results obtained show that the two quality management systems and models analysed are linked to the adoption of innovative work practices, the effect that these work systems have on employee well-being will likewise determine the influence of quality management on them.
