Enhancing organizational quality efforts through incorporating of motivational aspects

The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of motivational factors on the perceived state of quality management systems (QMS) within four small and medium sized companies from different industries in Germany. Although extensive research on motivational factors has been carried out in the last decade, none acknowledges the interrelation between the perceived status of a QMS and the existence of inherent motivational factors in everyday work routine. Therefore, the approach presented in this paper focuses on the emergence of relevant factors to investigate potential interdependencies. It was found that supervisor support is the most successful driven factor to contribute to a positive attitude towards organizational quality efforts (OQE). Moreover, exposure to stress is another important factor to cause positive or negative feelings towards OQE. The overall empirical results indicate a positively rated QMS if motivational factors are inherent in everyday work routine.