Employee Participation in TQC: An Integrative Review

Abstract

Employee participation is now considered a key element in the successful implementation of new management strategies in manufacturing industry. Relevant literature on the various forms of employee participation is reviewed with emphasis on its role in Total Quality Control (TQC). The complexity of the relationship between employee participation and satisfaction and some of the change processes associated with the introduction of TQC are also discussed. This information provides the background for a subsequent article, also published in this special issue of IJQRM , which presents a longitudinal study of the effects on employee participation and job satisfaction when TQC was implemented in a large Australian manufacturing organisation.