Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the potential of a qualitative middle-range research approach to contribute to the advancement of operations management (OM) field. Design/methodology/approach –To better signify such contribution, it takes insight from Merton's (1968)...

Purpose – A remarkable amount of theory‐based research is beginning to suggest that, even in organisations that pride themselves on having a quality orientation, the approach driving current policies and practices for human resource (HR) performance appraisal might be in fundamental conflict...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to extend the Pelz Effect to explain the effects of incongruence between senior managers' orientations and underlying assumptions of total quality management (TQM) on middle managers' own orientations and on TQM itself. Design/methodology/approach –...

Purpose – This paper seeks to shift the focus to the implications of various quality management systems, as a pervasive feature of modern organisational life, for business excellence. Design/methodology/approach – A mail‐based survey is conducted among a total of 150 UK‐based European...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the current state of employee training practices in a sample of Iranian‐based organisations. Design/methodology/approach – The research approach adopted for the study conforms to qualitative research in the form of multiple case study...

Reports findings from a research designed to investigate the main issues of the current human resource (HR) performance evaluation systems in over 150 UK‐based quality‐focused organisations. The study identified the main characteristics of HR performance evaluation systems currently...