Are healthy and successful organizations working accordingly to quality management?

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine whether healthy and successful organizations are working accordingly to Quality Management. The purpose is also to describe in more detail how they are working. Design/methodology/approach -Three Swedish organizations that have shown excellence in leadership, internal partnership, working environment and profitability have been examined, to find out what methodologies they have used for their success. To discover whether these healthy and successful organizations are working accordingly to Quality Management, Deming's 14-point list has been used as an analytical tool. Findings -Identified methodologies used by the healthy and successful organizations are described. Viewed in the light of the analysis, a relationship between the three examined healthy and successful organizations and Quality Management is indicated. Practical implications -Working with the methodologies described here, the three organizations have improved co-worker health. Other organizations could probably adopt the identified and described methodologies to improve the health of their co-workers and effectiveness in the organization. Originality/value -Concerning the performance evaluation and the continuous improvement component in Quality Management, substantial contributions could be made to the health area by applying the tools that the quality area have used over a considerable period to improve the quality outcomes. Quality and health aspects have common success factors, and a focus on high quality could be seen as being positive for health outcomes.

How communicative leadership influences co-workers’ health – a quality management perspective

“…Furthermore, Lindberg (2006), underlines that there would be substantial advantages for individuals, workplaces and society if the number of coworkers affected by physical and mental illnesses could be reduced. In addition, Bäckström, Larsson and Wiklund (2009) state that organizations that were working according to Quality Management had healthy co-workers and low levels of sickness absence.…”

Good Nordic management practices

“…One of these studies combines interviews with workshops (Bäckström et al 2009), one study combines interviews with questionnaires (Krok & Eklund 2010), one study combines interviews with questionnaires and video analysis (Lindqvist 2007), one study combines interviews with observations (Wallo et al 2012), and finally one study combines interviews with a review of documents.…”

“…Finally, one study describes a waste disposal service company (Krok & Eklund 2010) and one study describes the National Road Safety Office (Grundén 2009). In addition, two studies describe both public sector medical care organisations and private companies (Bäckström et al 2009;Larsson & Vinberg 2010. Two of the nine research studies, conducted in private companies, describe private banks (Wreder 2007;Wreder et al 2007) Arnetz (2005) explored which aspects of leadership are important in order to cope with changes and stress factors, during the process of change, when medical care organisations are set to improve their company performance and effectivity. The author concluded that the management's ability to communicate and focus on organisational objectives can improve the overall wellbeing of their employees.…”

“…The meaning of communicative leadership seems to include many aspects; it is about visionary leadership (Bäckström et al 2009), communicating targets (Arnetz 2005Ryd & Fristedt 2007), appraisals and feedback on performance (Arnetz & Blomkvist 2007) and improving the wellbeing of the employees. Communication is necessary to strengthen employee relations (Wallo et al 2012), however, communication need to be clear and easy to understand for employees (Wreder 2007).…”

“…One specific issue, which is frequently discussed in the studies, in relation to successful organisations, is related to how management can create opportunities for learning (Arnetz 2005;Bäckström et al 2009;Krok & Eklund 2010;Larsson & Vinberg 2010;Pihl & Elmqvist 2010;Wallo et al 2012. ) Arnetz (2005) show in their study that learning about organisational objectives during change processes lowers stress and uncertainty.…”