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Purpose Total quality management (TQM) has long been viewed as a strategy to attain business excellence. However, it is relatively a new concept in the context of emerging economies. Particularly, this is far beyond the reality in the context of African countries, in general. The purpose of this paper is to study the current state of TQM implementation in the manufacturing industry of Ethiopia (MIE). The study also focuses on several comparisons, between large and medium companies, and ISO and non-ISO companies with regard to the adoption of TQM practices. Design/methodology/approach The study draws on top- and middle-level managers from sample companies. Data were collected using a structured survey questionnaire. After testing scale reliability and validity, descriptive and factor analysis were used for the data analysis. Findings The findings, in general, indicated that Ethiopian manufacturers have implemented TQM at a moderate level (grand mean value of 2.86 on 0–5 scale). It is revealed that ISO companies are significantly adopted TQM practices than non-ISO companies, whereas no difference was found between large and medium companies. Originality/value Given the importance of understanding TQM and paucity of research on the topic in Ethiopia, the study provides practical insights and groundwork that can guide practitioners to understand the drivers of TQM in the region. Particularly, the study is useful to plan corrective actions on practices that are likely to obstruct TQM implementation in the MIE. Moreover, the study adds to the empirical literature that may yield important insights on TQM for under-researched emerging economies, particularly for the eastern part of Africa, where nations share similar cross-cultural norms, economic, social and ethnic settings.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the contextual work factors in Ethiopia and to evaluate the relative influence of each of these factors on job satisfaction (JS) of employees. Design/methodology/approach The study draws on a sample of shop floor workers from the leather products manufacturing industry in Ethiopia. Data were collected using a structured survey questionnaire and focus group discussions. After testing scale reliability and validity, multiple linear regression was used for the analysis. Findings The study results suggest that the JS is mainly explained by extrinsic factors. Pay is found to influence overall job satisfaction (OJS) at least four times of other work factors. Training opportunity and ethnic diversity showed unexpected negative relationship with OJS. Originality/value Given the importance of understanding JS in labor-intensive industries, and paucity of research on the topic in Ethiopia, the study provides practical insights and groundwork that can guide practitioners to understand the drivers of JS in the region. Moreover, the study adds to the empirical literature that may yield important insights on organizational behavior for under-researched emerging economies, particularly for the eastern part of Africa, where nations share similar cross-cultural norms, economic and ethnic settings.

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Humans issues involved in quality management are an important determinant of operational performance as it is crucial for quality improvement. Accordingly, the relationships between quality management (QM) and job satisfaction (JS) have recently received an attention in the QM literature. However, the available researches tried to study such relationships by merely relating their respective factors, obtaining critically dispersed findings and contributing in fragmented knowhow about the issue. The main objective of the present study is to examine the mechanics of relationships between QM & JS and create understandings on how one is constituted within the corpus of the other. A case study was carried out in the manufacturing organizations of Ethiopia. Data triangulation was used in the form of questionnaire survey and focus group interviews of shop floor workers. The study identified the underlying dimensions that are believed to realize JS. All of the dimensions were crosschecked with the fundamental ideas in the QM theory and shown to be constituted in it. It augments the existing understanding of the connection between QM and JS. Through the increased knowledge from this study, managers can maximize organizational gains via human resource perspectives.