Total Quality Management presents the basic principles and tools associated with TQ and provides many illustrations and end-of-chapter cases that can… - James W. Dean Jr.

This study examines two alternative views—universal and contingency—of the human resources (HR)-performance relationship in manufacturing settings. Results from a survey of 97 plants primarily support a contingency approach to human resource management (HRM). An HR system focused on human capital enhancement was directly related to multiple dimensions of operational performance (i.e., employee productivity, machine efficiency, and customer alignment), but subsequent analysis revealed that this main effect was predominately the result of linking human-capital-enhancing HR systems with a quality manufacturing strategy. Other manufacturing strategies also moderated the HR-performance relationship.

We introduce this theory-development forum by comparing total quality and management theory at both global and topic-specific levels. Our analysis suggests that management research could be enhanced by incorporating some insights of total quality into management theory. We also conclude, however, that management practice could be improved by incorporating insights from management theory into total quality efforts, and that, in fact, total quality has already incorporated many such insights. Finally, we suggest some directions for theory development and research on total quality.

Management theory is a multidisciplinary academic field, whose links to practice are controversial (eg, Astley & Zammuto, 1992; Barley, Meyer, & Gash, 1988; Hambrick, 1994).