Linking quality assurance to human resource management: a study of SMEs in Malaysia

Purpose – As organizations try to provide quality assurance from ISO certification, the importance of people management through better HR management assumes greater significance. This paper aims to examine this issue. It seeks to compare selected ISO certified SMEs with non-ISO certified SMEs on se...

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Main Author: Hassan, Arif
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Emerald Group Publishing Limited 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/2235/1/Linking_quality.pdf
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author Hassan, Arif
author_facet Hassan, Arif
author_sort Hassan, Arif
collection IIUM
description Purpose – As organizations try to provide quality assurance from ISO certification, the importance of people management through better HR management assumes greater significance. This paper aims to examine this issue. It seeks to compare selected ISO certified SMEs with non-ISO certified SMEs on several HR practices. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 292 employees drawn from ten SMEs, five of them ISO certified, responded to a questionnaire which measured the adequacy of the following HRM systems: career system (manpower planning and recruitment, potential assessment, career planning), work system (role analysis, contextual analysis, performance appraisal), development system (training and learning, performance guidance, knowledge sharing, other means of competency development), self-renewal system (role efficacy, OD practices, action-oriented research), and HRD system (HRD climate, organizational values, quality orientation, reward and recognition). Findings – The results indicated a moderate rating for most of the HRM systems in all the organizations including those with ISO certifications. However, ISO certified companies were perceived to be doing better on managing career system, conducting contextual analysis for goal setting and quality orientation. In the rest of the cases the differences were not significant. Practical implications – The findings suggest that organizations need to go beyond quality assurance to organization-wide quality management through improvement in HR systems and practices. Originality/value – The paper provides empirical knowledge on HR systems and practices and the relationship of these factors with organizational quest for quality in a developing economy.
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spelling oai:generic.eprints.org:22352011-11-16T03:03:03Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/2235/ Linking quality assurance to human resource management: a study of SMEs in Malaysia Hassan, Arif HF5549 Personnel management Purpose – As organizations try to provide quality assurance from ISO certification, the importance of people management through better HR management assumes greater significance. This paper aims to examine this issue. It seeks to compare selected ISO certified SMEs with non-ISO certified SMEs on several HR practices. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 292 employees drawn from ten SMEs, five of them ISO certified, responded to a questionnaire which measured the adequacy of the following HRM systems: career system (manpower planning and recruitment, potential assessment, career planning), work system (role analysis, contextual analysis, performance appraisal), development system (training and learning, performance guidance, knowledge sharing, other means of competency development), self-renewal system (role efficacy, OD practices, action-oriented research), and HRD system (HRD climate, organizational values, quality orientation, reward and recognition). Findings – The results indicated a moderate rating for most of the HRM systems in all the organizations including those with ISO certifications. However, ISO certified companies were perceived to be doing better on managing career system, conducting contextual analysis for goal setting and quality orientation. In the rest of the cases the differences were not significant. Practical implications – The findings suggest that organizations need to go beyond quality assurance to organization-wide quality management through improvement in HR systems and practices. Originality/value – The paper provides empirical knowledge on HR systems and practices and the relationship of these factors with organizational quest for quality in a developing economy. Emerald Group Publishing Limited 2010 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/2235/1/Linking_quality.pdf Hassan, Arif (2010) Linking quality assurance to human resource management: a study of SMEs in Malaysia. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 27 (6). pp. 641-657. ISSN 0265-671x http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1864944&show=abstract DOI 10.1108/02656711011054533
spellingShingle HF5549 Personnel management
Hassan, Arif
Linking quality assurance to human resource management: a study of SMEs in Malaysia
title Linking quality assurance to human resource management: a study of SMEs in Malaysia
title_full Linking quality assurance to human resource management: a study of SMEs in Malaysia
title_fullStr Linking quality assurance to human resource management: a study of SMEs in Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed Linking quality assurance to human resource management: a study of SMEs in Malaysia
title_short Linking quality assurance to human resource management: a study of SMEs in Malaysia
title_sort linking quality assurance to human resource management a study of smes in malaysia
topic HF5549 Personnel management
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/2235/1/Linking_quality.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT hassanarif linkingqualityassurancetohumanresourcemanagementastudyofsmesinmalaysia