A re-examination of the relationship between Quality Management and Human Resource Management: how QM evolved beyond the production domain

This paper is the first stage of a multi-phased project, and it attempts to provide an overview of the literature discussing the relationship between quality management (QM) and human resource management (HRM). More specifically, I re-examine and synthesise how QM has evolved to consider the importance of HRM as part of the quality manufacturing pursuit. Given these aspirations, I conducted a systematic literature review based on a computer search in two databases – JSTOR and Science Direct. The analysis of forty peer-reviewed articles (including seven books) shows that the evolution of QM has been rather controversial in terms of recognising HRM’s importance to quality manufacturing. In particular, a significant shift away from HRM since the start of the Industrial Revolution, and a consequent revitalisation of its (HRM’s) salience within the QM context from the 1950s onwards was revealed. Moreover, today, the broad QM literature argues that HRM is probably the single most important factor to successful implementation of modern QM approaches such as TQM. At the same time, although a much greater attention to HR practices might be expected in the QM literature (given the afore-mentioned scientific developments and claims), my synthesis shows that this is not the case.