Examining the Association between Quality and Productivity Performance in a Service Organization

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to examine the compatibility of productivity and quality management practices in a service organization. The results of this study highlight the close association between quality and productivity performance and suggest that investments in quality should indeed result in productivity gains. The quality management variables that were found to be the strongest predictors of productivity performance were those pertaining to consistent delivery of work output in a complete fashion, internal process satisfaction, quality measurement at every step of the process, emphasis on doing things right the first time, organizational focus on process improvement, and employee involvement in the decision-making process.