Since the 1970s, quality management has focused on the well being and happiness of employees and people who work in an organization. Before that, quality management was solely focused on products, the business structure, and efficiency. The reasons quality management expanded to involve employees are not hard to find.
Why employees should be part of quality management initiatives?
• Greater productivity: If the employee feels valued and his or her inputs are deemed important, he or she gives their best to the organization. They have greater enthusiasm for their work and they feel that their personal goals should match those of the organization. The independence and self-sufficiency fostered by organizations ensures that employees have greater productivity and face less instances of disruption that could bring down the organization as a whole. If employees are capable of independent decision-making, it leaves higher management free to tend to their own duties.
• Better team building: Team building is one of the biggest challenges that organizations face today. Employees are drawn from diverse backgrounds, with varying education levels, work experience, and other factors. Getting employees to work together as a team, papering over their differences and working toward a shared goal is one of the core responsibilities of management. If employees feel that each one of them will benefit from working together with the other person, they give their best and this ensures that teams are able to come up with their own solutions to problems and even suggest new answers to age old questions being faced by the organization.
• Greater confidence: Confidence is important, if employees are to give their best. An employee who feels a lack of confidence will hesitate to undertake independent decision-making, seek assistance where required, or give their input. Since confidence and self esteem are very important, organizations should make higher morale and employee confidence a part of their quality management efforts.
There are two aspects to performing quality management through better employee management. The first is in making the employee feel a part of the organization. The second aspect refers to delegating important responsibilities to employees, so that it leaves the management free to undertake the data responsibilities.
Encouraging greater involvement of employees
Since employees are the ones who are actually working on site, any problems that occur on site should be resolved with employee involvement. In this type of quality management, employees are encouraged to give their suggestions and input, so that the workplace can see positive changes. Suggestions can be in the core area of employee expertise, such as their jobs, or it could relate to something else, such as how the workplace can be improved and how other employees can be made to feel more motivated. Businesses often fail to spot the expertise and resources in-house, when they forget that the people who work for them have many other types of knowledge other than the ones they advertised on their resume.
Encouraging decision-making
Sometimes, given the large businesses, it is not easy for management to take quick decisions and execute them on the floor. That is why it is important that employees be taught to take decisions on their own, with minimal managerial intervention. This does not mean that management is not involved at all in the process. However, giving employees the right training, knowledge, and self-esteem boost ensures that the right decisions are taken at the right time.
These few quality management steps will go a long way in ensuring that employees give their best to their jobs and they feel valued. This will lead to reduced absenteeism, greater employee health and well-being, and a fulfilling, productive workplace environment.
