TOP MANAGEMENT, EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT,JOB SATISFACTION,

AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN TQM ORGANIZATIONS:AN

EMPIRICAL STUDY.
ISAIAH O.UGBORO, KOFI OBENG
School of business and economics, north Carolina A and T state university,
Greensboro.NC 27411.USA
Revised 1june 1996, received in revised form 1 december 1999;accepted 1 april
2000.
INTRODUCTION: Today, more than the long term survival of manufacturing
and service organization is considered to be inextricably linked to the ability of
these organization to produce goods and services that meet or exceed
customers quality expectations. TQM because of its focus on customer
satisfaction, arguably is the most widely discussed approach to directing
organizational effort towards the goal of customer satisfaction. The study
surveyed organizations that formally introduce TQM as a means for identifying
the management strategies and practices that are effective in bringing about
employee empowerment, employee job satisfaction and ultimately customer
satisfaction. The objective of this study is to provide empirical assessment of the
assumed relationship between top management leadership and commitment
employee empowerment, job satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Such
assessment should provide guidance to organizations in the design of
empowerment of their TQM programs. Another objective is to provide empirical
assessment for the TQM based literature.

PURPOSE: TO determine the relationship between top management

and improved level of job satisfaction and customer satisfaction.
Effective strategies for achieving employee empowerment and job
satisfaction, together with top management leadership roles in a TQM
environment, are identified and discussed.
HYPOTHESES: The premise of this study is that the adoption of TQM as a
competitive strategy by an organization is a strategic decision. Therefore it
require top management leadership and commitment to create an
organizational climate, culture to promote employee empowerment and
focuses on total quality and customer satisfaction. There is no question too that
the top management leadership roles are essential to employee empowerment.
Infact one cannot empower employee without active top management
involvement since empowerment involve power or role sharing. If employee are
sufficiently empowered, it could translate into better employee behavior, which
subsequently could lead to increased customer satisfaction. Formulate the
following hypothses to express the relationship between top management
leadership and employee empowerment.
Hypothses 1: Top management leadership and commitment to total quality
principles of participative management are positively associated with employee
empowerment.
HYPOTHSES 2: Employee empowerment is positively associated with job
satisfaction.
HYPOTHSES 3a: Employee empowerment is positively associated with customer
satisfaction.
HYPOTHESES 3b: Employee job satisfaction is positively associated with
customer satisfaction.

METHODS: Testing the above hypotheses requires data on empowerment,

job satisfaction and top management leadership and commitment. The data
were obtained from organizations that were chosen on the basis of their
commitment to and implementation of the key elements of TQM espoused by
Crosby(1979,1984) Deming and Juran . These elements include the definition of
quality covering the full range of the production and service delivery system.
Top management leadership and commitment to the total quality vision, values
and customer satisfaction, employee empowerment, continuous improvement
and involvement of supplier and customer in the organization TQM efforts and
equitable reward system. We chose members of the Association for quality and
participation who are responsible for TQM in their respective organization as an
ideal population of the study. Consequently a questionnaire was designed and
send with prepaid return postage to approximately 800 members, randomly
selected from the association membership.
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: with TQM focus on quality products and
service that meet our exceed customer expectation, organization effectiveness
has become synonymous with customer satisfaction.
TOP MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP: Leadership and commitment
were measured by designing questions to determine the extent to which
top management is responsible for creating and sustaining an
organizational climate or culture that supports the tenets of TQM. Five
statements were developed to assess leadership roles. These statements
referred to top management assumption of responsibility for initiating
and maintaining quality goals and culture, continuous communication of
top management vision and commitment to TQM to employees, the
presence of policies and strategies based upon total quality concepts,
credible reward system that recognize employees for quality related
achievements, and policies to encourage employees to participate in the
TQM process.
RESULTS: Of the 800 mailed questionnaires, 300 responses were obtained. Out
of this, 250 were usable; the rest were not because respondents either failed to
answer all questions or declined to participate. Most respondents were
dissatisfied with career reward and recognition schemes. If employee were
satisfied with their job from being empowered and from top management
leadership, we have argued that it could translate into increased customer
satisfaction.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The overall result of this study support the
findings of earlier studies that suggest the existence of relationship between top
management leadership, employee empowerment and employee job
satisfaction.
Another finding is that employee involvement and participation in TQM is
facilitated by employee satisfaction with communicate at lower organizational
level.
Besides these findings our study shows that employees are generally receptive
to the idea of empowerment. The value of this study is the empirical basis it
provide for some frequently suggested management practices and strategies
for achieving employee empowerment and participation in TQM organizations.
The finding provide a prescriptive outline for design and implementation of
employee empowerment and top management leadership of a TQM program.