Workers′ Objectives in Quality Improvement

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Abstract
The purpose of the article is to show, through a case study, that the reasons motivating members and non-members of a quality circle to improve quality are not limited to those formulated in the literature. We thereby concur with Fiona Wilson who, in an article published in a recent issue of Employee Relations, showed that the psychological reward is not enough. In the workshops under study, members and non-members obtained better working conditions – for example lay-offs have stopped, transfer of employees from one workshop to another or from one job station to another is a thing of the past – by improving quality through the direct impact that their action was having on the organisation's position in the market and, consequently, on the increase of production volumes.