Leadership and HR Focus in TQM Research in Australia: An Assessment and Agenda

Empirical studies indicate that only a handful of the soft TQM elements contribute to organisational performance. The elements of soft TQM, such as executive commitment, loyalty, teamwork and empowerment, training and education, are essentially leadership and human resource (HR) aspects. The objective of this study is to examine the state of leadership and HR focus in TQM research in Australia from published literature and to determine the areas for future research. The literature search covered 31 reputable referred journals over the years 1985 –1999 and identified 90 articles which focused on aspects of total quality management (TQM). However, it was not possible to identify the primary focus of 23 articles which were either conceptual papers and did not address any specific criterion of the Australian Business Excellence (ABE) Framework, or addressed all criteria in general. Hence these articles were not considered for further analysis. The rest of the articles (67) were classified using the seven criteria of the ABE Framework and it was found that about 40% of the reviewed articles had leadership and HR as primary focus. The review shows that considerable attention has been devoted to research in strategic direction, organizational culture of the leadership category and, involvement and commitment, and effectiveness and development of the people category. Further research is necessary in areas such as top managements’ role in environmental issues and community contribution, health, safety and well-being of employee, and disseminating leadership throughout the organization.