The other side of quality: ‘soft’ issues and the human resource dimension

This article discusses the implications of total quality management (TQM) for the management of human resources. It argues that the dominance of operations management writers amongst the leading proponents of total quality management has led to insufficient attention being paid to this area. While lip service is paid to human resource considerations there is little detailed examination of such issues. The article further suggests there may be tensions between the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ sides of TQM. It also points to the need for the personnel function to provide greater input into TQM processes but recognizes this is problematic.