Date of Award

12-1988

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. Edgar A. Kelley

Second Advisor

Dr. J. Bosco

Third Advisor

Dr. C. Warfield

Abstract

This case study investigated the short term effectiveness of Quality of Work Life participation groups in a Midwest manufacturing division of a major worldwide automotive corporation. Six traditional procedural measures were used to evaluate performance. These measures of performance were: employee attendance, written grievances, scrap produced, quality audits, customer complaints, and productivity.

Six hypotheses were formulated for this study: (1) Employees in departments with employee participation groups will improve their attendance more than employees in departments that do not have employee participation groups. (2) Employees in departments with employee participation groups will decrease the number of formal grievances more than employees in departments that do not have employee participation groups. (3) Employees will reduce scrap more in departments with employee participation groups than employees in departments without employee participation groups. (4) Quality audits will improve more in departments with employee participation groups than in departments without employee participation groups. (5) Customer complaints about products produced in departments with employee participation groups will be reduced more than in departments without employee participation groups. (6) Employees in departments with employee participation groups will improve productivity more than employees in departments without employee participation groups.

A conclusion of the study was that employee involvement in employee participation groups may not improve procedural measures of performance. Short term effectiveness may be influenced by other organizational programs and goals used by the company to make cultural changes in operating philosophy.

Many companies are using employee involvement to improve organizational effectiveness. Employee participation groups are a forum for employees to make positive change in their workplace. The Quality of Work Life method is not specifically defined for each environment. The appropriateness of an employee involvement program is dependent on desired organizational outcome. Procedural measures used in this study may not measure the desired outcome that an organization wants when employee involvement programs are instituted.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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