Working with External Quality Standards and Awards: The Strategic Implications for Human Resource and Quality Management

This book looks at how and where human resources (HR) meets quality management, and the implications of this. Most organizations, whatever their size or sector, struggle with demonstrating the value of continuous improvement (CI) and/or HR initiatives at a time when economic conditions are challenging in the global marketplace. Both within the UK and internationally, organizations will use continuous improvement and business excellence (BE) as a means of not only improving performance internally, but also to secure external recognition of their management practices, including people management, and therefore increase their competitiveness in their market. This text explores the potential overlaps between the two fields by considering how to address the development and implementation of a strategy to integrate CI/BE and human resource management. Practical and applied, this text provides: A brief overview of the concepts of CI and BE An analysis of the strategic factors impacting on an organization’s decision-making around adopting a CI/BE approach, and the impact this may have on people management and development practices A review of some major external CI/BE accreditations and awards, and their value and how they might be used An analysis of the possible problems and outcomes which could be achieved by adopting such a CI/BE strategy and integrating it with people management and development activities This book is ideal for any professional HR or performance improvement practitioner who wants to understand how a CI/BE approach could benefit their organization, as well as postgraduate students of HR or quality management.

Table of Contents:
1. The Concepts of Continuous Improvement and Business Excellence 2. A Strategy for Continuous Improvement – The People Management Implications 3. Investors in People 4.The European Foundation Quality Model (EFQM) 5. Some Related International Quality Standards 6. A Great Place to Work 7. ISO Standards 8. Putting To-gether the Case for an Integrated Approach to Business Excellence 9. Some Final Thoughts

About the Author :
Angela Mulvie is an Executive Coach and HR consultant at Corporate Elevation Coaching, based near Glasgow, UK. She specializes in executive coaching and leadership development, as well as performance management. Until recently she worked extensively in the Investors in People arena internationally, and has undertaken HR-related projects in a number of different industries and sectors across the globe.

Review :
This book is essentially about helping individuals and organizations understand different external quality management standards and models, and their relevance in terms of the management and development of people as the key resource in organizations, to facilitate achievement of continuous improvement. It is an insightful and practical guide, an indispensable resource for those concerned with strategy formulation in organizations, in terms of establishing and maintaining a framework of standards, processes and initiatives intended to help develop a high performance organization of empowered employees engaged in continuous improvement to achieve and maintain profitability and competitive advantage. Dr Ron Bradfield, Director, Strathclyde International Executive MBA Angela Mulvie provides an interesting view on the relationship between the approach on professional people management and quality management in her book. It is a refreshing look at business practices, and food for thought on how to cope with applicable challenges. Harm van Brussel, Director of Business Excellence, GEODIS Freight Forwarding Angela Mulvie here examines the factors organisations should consider when embarking on a business excellence agenda with a strong focus on managing and developing people, helpfully emphasising the relationship between these two vital elements. Her illuminating case studies embody her themes in real life examples, making her points in a way that will be of interest to professionals and students alike. Paul Little, Principal, City of Glasgow College Working with External Quality Standards and Awards is a documentation of life experience by a reflective practitioner. More than ‘just another’ book to be added to your library, it is a must-read for all knowledge workers who care about quality, excellence and people. Alaa Garad, PhD Co-Author, the Learning Driven Organisation Model & Senior Lecturer, Portsmouth Business School