Int. J. Management Practice, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2005 131 Human resource performance index in TQM environment Sandeep Grover* Department of Mechanical Engineering YMCA Institute of Engineering Faridabad, India – 121006 E-mail: grover2212@sancharnet.in *Corresponding author V.P. Agrawal Department of Mechanical Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Delhi New Delhi, India – 110016 E-mail: vagrawal@mech.iitd.ernet.in I.A. Khan Department of Mechanical Engineering Faculty of Engineering and Technology Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India – 110025 E-mail: irshad_jmi@yahoo.co.in Abstract: The unarguable benefits of Total Quality Management (TQM) are realised through the synergistic, systematic and successful implementation of all the factors affecting it. Extensive literature suggest an infinite number of factors responsible for TQM. The role of people working in and for an organisation has a long-term effect on continuous improvement. The present study is focused on the identification, enumeration and measurement of human resources’ contribution to TQM. An attempt has been made to develop a mathematical model for measuring the performance of human resources using a graph theoretic approach. The method is quite flexible as it considers all the factors and the interactions among them. It represents the total contribution of human resources in an organisation in terms of a single numerical index, which can be used to improve, compare and rank organisations in terms of TQM culture. This methodology would equally be useful for HRD departments for carrying out SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis of human resources. Keywords: human resources; Total Quality Management (TQM); performance index; graph theoretic approach. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Grover, S., Agrawal, V.P. and Khan, I.A. (2005) ‘Human resource performance index in TQM environment’, Int. J. Management Practice, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp.131–151. Copyright © 2005 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.