Tom Redman

Service quality and human resource management

Service organisations are striving to increase the quality of the services they offer. They are also using a wide variety of people management techniques. These two activities can sometimes come into conflict. This article examines a variety of management practices, particularly from human resource management (HRM), used by the service sector, and assesses their potential impact on service quality and total quality management (TQM). Many techniques are identified as being potentially supportive of quality improvement but some pose threats, particularly those most closely associated with cost minimisation and the less subtle forms of managerial control. In order to encourage research in this area a number of research propositions and an agenda for further research are developed.

Managing human resources for TQM: possibilities and pitfalls

Examines the implications of total quality management for the management of people. The implementation of TQM requires the development of a high commitment employee relations strategy and involves an attempt to build a culture of continuous improvement among employees. Argues that employee relations strategies have a key role to play in the success of TQM initiatives. Cautions against underestimating the difficulties faced in winning commitment. Emphasizes that the successful implementation of TQM is likely to require far‐reaching changes, not only in employee relations policies, but also in management style and work organization.

Commitment to the union: a survey of research and the implications for industrial relations and trade unions

This paper presents an overview of the literature on union commitment. The aim is to survey the main approaches, findings and implications of the research. The nature and dimensionality of union commitment are examined, and the antecedents and consequences of union commitment are discussed in detail, including a review of the implications for union participation. There is also a discussion of the possibility of dual commitment to union and employer, and of the ‘multiple constituencies’ view of commitment. An attempt is made to link the union commitment findings to the wider industrial relations literature on, for example, why people join unions and the ‘union renewal’ thesis. The article concludes by discussing the implications of the literature for union–management relationships and for unions themselves, and with some suggestions for future research.

Living in the shadow of OD: HRD and the search for identity

The paper attempts to describe the similarities and differences between organizational development (OD) and human resource development (HRD). While it is argued that HRD practitioners need to acquire some of the skills of OD consultants, these are likely to be limited to the development of personal skills and learning in the attempt to achieve intrapreneurialism and personal transformations. We argue that HRD is living in the shadow of OD because it is slow to recognize its roots in the debates of that discipline. It is therefore suggested that HRD will recognize its true potential only when it identifies its core knowledge and skills. We argue that HRD can find its essential identity in four main ways: by focusing on the organizations business strategy; by devolving responsibility to line managers; by adopting an employee-centred approach to learning; and by emphasizing workplace learning. However, a wider behavioural understanding and a greater degree of reflectiveness in relation to the politics of ch...

Quality management in services: is the public sector keeping pace?

Quality management has been in vogue within manufacturing for over a decade. Service industries have more recently been making heavy investments in this area. Also there are major initiatives from the public sector to improve quality. Investigates the take‐up of quality management techniques in the public sector, their perceived effectiveness and the consequent impact on the managers running the programmes (private sector services are used as a basis for comparison). Results of survey responses from 394 service organizations show that the uptake of quality management techniques is now similar between public and private sectors, as is the perception of the impact on managerial work. A major difference occurs in terms of perceived effectiveness and results of the quality programmes. In this latter area the public sector fares somewhat worse.

Upward and Onward: Can Staff Appraise Their Managers?

Upward appraisal involves staff having a formal input into their manager’s or supervisor’s performance appraisal. Reviews the rationale for the adoption of upward appraisal systems for manager’s, and identifies a number of key factors likely to contribute towards the more widespread use of upward appraisal. Describes upward appraisal systems in practice, reviewing what they are used for, who is appraised, what is appraised, and how the appraisals are conducted. Then discusses the effectiveness of upward appraisal, paying particular attention to its acceptability to managers, subordinates and trade unions. Finally, considers whether the transplant of what is largely an American practice can be more widely achieved in the UK and proposes some areas for future research.

Managing strategic change through TQM: learning from failure

This article argues that the study of total quality management (TQM) failure is a valuable vehicle to extend our knowledge of strategic change management. The article reviews the literature on TQM and, after reporting the findings from an in-depth case study concludes by discussing the meaning of ‘failure’ and the lessons for managing strategic change that can be learnt from the study of TQM decline.

University-Industry Partnerships in Management Development. A Case Study of a "World-Class" Company.

Examines the factors which underpin the success of industry‐academic partnerships in management development. Uses data drawn from an in‐depth case study of Cummins Engine Company Limited. Reviews the literature on company‐university partnerships and work‐based learning in management development and provides information on the background of the case‐study organization. Reports on the experience of developing management training programmes for supervisors and middle managers. Concludes by discussing the practical implications of forging closer links between industry and academia.

Trends in recruitment: a ten‐year retrospective view

Examines the changing employment market in personnel by comparing recruitment advertisements with their counterparts of ten years ago. Variations over time reflect changes in the values of employers and changes in the nature of employment. Finds that the public sector is now more prominent in recruitment, HRM is developing as a specific function, experience requirements are becoming more specific and the Institute of Personnel Management (IPM) qualifications are more in demand. Overall effectiveness of job advertisements has also improved slightly, but there appears to be ample scope for further development.

Getting personal in personnel recruitment

Observes that the use of personal characteristics in job advertisements is discouraged within the prescriptive literature. Examines the extent to which advertisers for personnel specialists apply them in practice, and the range of characteristics put to use. Findings show that 80 per cent of advertisements contain reference to at least one personal characteristic. Concludes that social skills, particularly communication, appear to be the most important characteristic of personnel specialists, but there is, nevertheless, variation between differing job areas. Concludes that, although advertisers seem to follow stereotypes when putting together advertisements, they do not make particularly good use of personal characteristics.