Exploring the Underlying Dimensions of Job Satisfaction in Quality Management Practices

Abstract

Humans issues involved in quality management are an important determinant of operational performance as it is crucial for quality improvement. Accordingly, the relationships between quality management (QM) and job satisfaction (JS) have recently received an attention in the QM literature. However, the available researches tried to study such relationships by merely relating their respective factors, obtaining critically dispersed findings and contributing in fragmented knowhow about the issue. The main objective of the present study is to examine the mechanics of relationships between QM & JS and create understandings on how one is constituted within the corpus of the other. A case study was carried out in the manufacturing organizations of Ethiopia. Data triangulation was used in the form of questionnaire survey and focus group interviews of shop floor workers. The study identified the underlying dimensions that are believed to realize JS. All of the dimensions were crosschecked with the fundamental ideas in the QM theory and shown to be constituted in it. It augments the existing understanding of the connection between QM and JS. Through the increased knowledge from this study, managers can maximize organizational gains via human resource perspectives.