Eureka! Institutional Repository

Total Quality Management (TQM) consists a situation that affects every job sector, while its implementation could lead to improved satisfaction levels among employees as well as customers or users. Healthcare sector, especially Public one, is a place where - at least in Greece - TQM practices are either not usually implemented at all or in case they are, they are not completely correct. However, TQM in Healthcare sector, could lead in an extreme hospitalization cost reduction, patient stay in a healthcare unit, diagnostics examination speed and employees’ satisfaction, as a sector which professions are deeply stressful, talking about those of nurses and doctors. The present study examines the TQM implementation in “Theageneio AHT”, one of the most important hospital units in Northern Greece. The sample examined included 102 participants (nurses and doctors) and the JSS Questionnaire was used as the main tool to gather data for the research. At the end of the day, as the questionnaire methodology defines, scores were calculated in order to extract the final results. Those showed that, in general, “Theageneio AHT” does not implement TQM practices, or at least, it does not implement them successfully, since as the sub-categories of the tool showed, the vast majority of the participants expressed a dissatisfaction which rated between 70% or even more than 80%. The majority of dissatisfaction wave, seems to mainly concern wages, working conditions, promotion opportunities and employee benefits. Some of them could definitely be explained thanks to the public nature of the organization. However, across the total length of the tool, a general dissatisfaction was reflected, since the rest of the percentages did not overcome the range between 50% and 60%. Finally, there were a few correlations, worth mentioning. Level of education, gender and employment condition (being either a permanent staff or a contract holder) consist elements that affect satisfaction in various manners, while the same thing noted about the participants’ additional skills.