| This exploratory case study attempts to answer initial questions about information processes, decision-making, and communication flow in a team-based university environment implementing Total Quality Management (TQM). Specifically, this study focused on the nine information processes found in any living system, as identified by Miller (1978), and their relationship with employee perceptions and opinions of key organizational dimensions. The study was based on Ruscoe's analysis of information processes in U.S. Army battalions (1982, 1985) and his finding that three information processes (monitoring, relating, and deciding) are critical for organizational effectiveness.;The working hypothesis was that information processes are directly associated with employee satisfaction and that, the better the communication flow and use of information processes, the greater the employee satisfaction with decision-making, teamwork, and the overall job.;Data for the research were collected through organizational surveys (using a questionnaire developed by the researcher) of the 200 employees in an information technology division of a large midwestern, research university. The case study, incorporating an embedded design studied the 13 work teams within the division.;The study found that each of the three critical information processes identified by Ruscoe (1982, 1992) was related to higher favorable responses concerning the four key work dimensions analyzed by this case study (communication flow, decision-making, job satisfaction, and teamwork). The relating process seemed to have the most effect on all four indices; when employees in a TQM environment are involved with pulling together information to recommend change, a positive, dependent relationship is seen with communication flow, decision-making practices, job satisfaction, and teamwork. Communication flow and decision-making practices were found to have a relatively strong positive correlation. In those teams that most improved their communication flow processes, employees were more satisfied with decision-making practices, overall job satisfaction, and teamwork. Based on respondent comments between the two surveys, employees seemed less satisfied with interteam communication and more satisfied with improvements in intrateam communication. The research should guide administrators to understand the outcomes of TQM implementation, the conditions that may be needed to assure its success, and that the shift to shared decision-making requires developing good communication flow and building interteam communication channels. |
