Abstract:
This study examines the impact of TQM practices on employee role stressors in
the Sri Lankan apparel sector. We compare this relationship between two groups
namely, middle-level and operational level managers. We collect data from 81
randomly selected respondents including 22 operational-level and 59 middle-level
managers. Our sample represents 11 multinational organizations belong to the Sri
Lankan apparel industry. We measure TQM practices based on well-established
literature covering nine dimensions namely, leadership, customer focus, supplier
management, strategic planning, process planning, employee empowerment,
training, employee involvement, and teamwork. Role stresses are measured using
well known three dimensions in role theory namely, role conflict, role ambiguity, and
role overload. We adopt generalized linear models with log Gaussian and log
Gamma link functions to investigate the relationships. We identify that role conflict in
middle-level managers is influenced by TQM practices but not in operational-level
managers. For operational-level managers, role ambiguity and role overload are
influenced by TQM practices more than that of the middle-level managers. Role
conflicts are negatively related with process management, empowerment,
involvement, and supplier focus dimensions of TQM practices while training and
customer focus are positively related for middle-level managers. For operational level managers, empowerment reduces the level of role ambiguity while leadership
and training tend to increase the same. Only teamwork affects on role ambiguity for
middle-level managers. Moreover, supplier management, strategic planning,
empowerment, and training increase role overload in operational-level managers.
Leadership commitment and employee involvement reduce role overload in both
operational-level and middle-level managers.
