Title: The relationship between quality management and health – exploring the underlying dimensions

Authors: Yvonne Lagrosen, Ingela Backstrom, Stefan Lagrosen

Addresses: University West, Department of Engineering Science, SE461 86 Trollhattan, Sweden. ' Mid Sweden University, Department of Engineering, Physics and Mathematics, SE-831 25 Ostersund, Sweden. ' University West, Department of Economics and Informatics, SE461 86 Trollhattan, Sweden

Abstract: The first purpose of this study was to verify the relationship between workplace health and quality management, particularly the values |leadership commitment| and |participation of everybody| whose importance previous research has pointed to. The second purpose of the study was to examine the constituents and mechanics of the relationships between health and those values. A case study was carried out in a Swedish manufacturing company using data triangulation in the form of in-depth interviews and focus-group interviews on three levels. The findings show that the perceptions of the quality management values were significantly correlated with the employees| perception of their health. This finding substantiates earlier studies indicating a relationship between quality and health. Important dimensions of |leadership commitment| and |participation of everybody|, regarding health, were identified and described in models. The paper provides additional understanding of the connection between quality management and health, particularly regarding the role of leadership.

Keywords: employee health; total quality management; TQM; values; workplace health; leadership commitment; participation; Sweden; manufacturing industry; employee perception.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2010.030737

International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2010 Vol.5 No.2, pp.109 - 123

Published online: 01 Jan 2010 *

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