MODULE NO.

1 IN TQM

LEADERSHIP EFFECTIVENESS

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

After this chapter, you shall be able to:

➢ Know the concepts and definition of effective leadership

➢ Appreciate the role of management and the TQM council

➢ Identify and internalize core values, quality concepts, strategic planning

CONTENT OUTLINE

▪ Concepts and definitions of leadership

▪ Implementation of TQM process
▪ The role of management
▪ Quality council of TQM
▪ Core values of TQM
▪ TQM statements
▪ Strategic planning
▪ Characteristics of effective leaders

2.1 CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS OF LEADERSHIP

Leadership needs a strong understanding of the nature of human being: the basic needs, wants,
interest and abilities.

To be effective and efficient, a leader needs to know and understand the following as
stated by D. H. Besterfield:

1. People, paradoxically, need security and independence at the same time.

2. People are sensitive to external rewards and punishments and yet are also strongly self-
motivated,
3. People like to hear a kind word of praise.
4. People can process only a few facts at a time, thus, a leader needs to keep things
simple.
5. People trust their gut reaction more than statistical data.
6. People distrust a leader’s rhetoric if the words are inconsistent with leader’s action or
deeds.

A leader, in the face of complexity, will always focus on a few key values and objectives.
Focusing on a few values or objectives gives the employees the opportunity to discern on a
daily basis what is necessary and what is not.

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According to James MacGregor Burns, “A leader is one who instills purposes, not one who
controls by force and intimidation”. A leader strengthens and inspires the followers to
accomplish shared goals. Business leaders shape the organization’s values, promote the
organization’s values, protect the organization’s values, and exemplify the organization’s
values.”

Leadership is defined as:

L-Leadership is loyalty to God, country and people.

E-It is enthusiasm and effort to help and secure others.

A-It is advocacy, action and accomplishment.

D-It is dedication, discipline, dignity, decency, devotion to duty and decisiveness for the
general welfare.

E-It is excellence and exemplary work for others to follow and emulate.

R-It is reliability, responsibility, respect for the law and the rights of others, and
reconciliations for peace and unity.

S-It is sincerity, service, self-sacrifice, social justice to make life better for mankind.

H-It is humility, honesty, honor, helpfulness, and hard work for accomplishment and
fulfillment.

I-It is integrity, interest, initiative; and idealism.

P -Finally, leadership is patience, perseverance, beyond partisanship, religion or creed; it

works for peace, progress and prosperity to mankind.

Finally, Burns stated, “Leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of
motivation and morality....... leadership becomes moral in that it raises the level of human
conduct and ethical aspiration of both the leader and the led, and thus, has a transforming effect
on both....”

2.2 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TQM PROCESS

The implementation of the TQM process begins with management and, most important, the
CEO's commitment. Leadership effectiveness is essential during every stage of the
implementation process and particularly at the start. In fact, indifference and lack of involvement

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by management are frequently regarded as the main reasons for the failure of quality
improvement programs and activities.

" If management has not been properly educated in the TQM concepts, that should be done
right away. In addition to formal education, managers should visit successful 7QM business
organizations, read selected articles and books, attend seminars and conferences, and join
professional organizations for quality assurance.

Timing of the implementation process is very important. Is the business organization ready to
embrace and adopt the total quality journey? There may be some foreseeable problems, such
as a reorganization, change in management personnel, interpersonal conflicts, a current
crisis, or a time-consuming activity. These problems may postpone implementation to a
more conducive time.

Next stage is the organization of the quality council. Initiation of these duties is an important part
of the implementation of TQM. The formulation of core values, a vision statement, a
mission statement, and a quality policy statement, with input from all employees, should be
first undertaken.

The active involvement of managers and supervisors is very important to the success of the
TQM activity. They are responsible and accountable for attaining many of the

business organization’s goals and objectives, and they form enduring links in the
communication channels from management to the front-line workers. Without management’s
early and active support, the TQM programs and activities could fail. Management needs to
ensure that managers at all levels have an opportunity, as soon as possible, to develop
ownership of the TQM programs and a chance to acquire the insight and skills necessary to
become leaders. One way to attain this concept is to have a retreat. The retreat will focus on
TQM training, leadership skill, and active involvement in the development of the business
organization’s statements.

In case there is a union, there should be early discussions with the representatives on TQM.
Managers should involve union officers by sharing with them implementation plans and
programs for 7QM. As the quality effort progresses, managers and union officers may work
together on quality improvement programs and activities.

At this stage of the implementation process, it is important to communicate TQM to the entire
business organization. Communication is important not only during the implementation stage;
communication must be a continuous process. Communication is necessary to create TQM
awareness, interest, desire and action.

Surveys must be conducted among customers, employees, and suppliers to benchmark the
attitudes of these three groups. Data from these surveys provide better information for quality
improvements projects.

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Everybody needs to be educated in quality awareness and problem solving. Training and
development are conducted when the employee is placed in a project team or the work group is
ready for the training.

The quality council identifies and determines the quality improvement projects, so that teams
and work groups gain confidence; the first projects should be simple ones. In addition the
council organizes the project teams and work groups and monitors their progress. The
implementation process is completed by following the other duties of the quality council.

The business organization has to be patient and not to rush the teams for solutions that don’t
eliminate the root causes, there is often a tendency to rush the implementation process which is
not necessary to do.

2.3 THE ROLE OF MANAGEMENT

Every personnel are responsible for quality, much more for management and the Chief
Executive Officer (CEO). However, only the CEO can provide the leadership to achieve results.
Management should participate in the implementation process described earlier. They must also
participate in the quality council and perform all of its duties which are indicated in this chapter.
These two activities provide the core of the manager’s role.

Management must practice the philosophy of Management by Wandering Around (MBWA).

They should go out of the office and visit customers, departments, and plants within the
organization, and suppliers. Management must talk to the people or stakeholders. They will
be able to know what is happening with a particular supplier or project.

MBWA can substantially reduce paperwork. Encourage subordinates to write only important
messages that need to be part of the permanent record. An excellent example of MBWA is
given by Kinko's executives. Periodically the regular employees go on vacation and their
duties, for two or three days at the location, are performed by Kinko's executives which is an
excellent technique for gaining firsthand information.

Let employees think for themselves. Management’s role is no Ionger to make the final decision,
but to make sure the team’s decision is in line with the quality statements of the business
organization. Push problem solving and decision making to the lowest appropriate level of
delegating authority and responsibility.

Managers must be informed on the topic of quality improvement by reading books and articles,
attending seminars, and talking with other TQM leaders. The leader sends a strong message to
subordinates when he or she asks if they have read a particular book or article.

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The needed resources must be provided to train subordinates in the 7QM tools and techniques,
the technical requirements of the job, and safety. Resources in the form of the appropriate
equipment to do the job must also be provided.

Managers must find time to celebrate the success of their business organization’s quality efforts
by personally participating in award and recognition programs. This program is an excellent
opportunity to reinforce the importance of the effort and to promote 70M. A handshake with a
sincere “thank you and congratulation for a job well done” is a powerful form of recognition
and rewards. One of the duties of the quality council is to establish or revise the recognition
and reward system. In __ particular, management’s incentive compensation must include quality
improvement performance. Also, provisions must be made to reward teams as well as creative
individuals.

Managers must be visibly and actively engaged in the quality effort by serving on teams,
advising teams, and teaching seminars. They should lead by demonstrating, communicating,
and reinforcing the quality statements. As a rule of thumb, they should spend about one-third of
their time on quality.

A very important role of managers is listening to internal and external customers and suppliers
through visits, focus groups, and surveys. This information is translated into core values and
process improvement projects.

Another very important function of managers is communication. The objective is to create

awareness of the importance of TQM and provide TQM results in an ongoing manner. Some of
the internal communication techniques are the following:

1. Newsletters and other publications

2. Posters
3. TQM bulletin boards
4. Emergency departmental information meetings
5. Memoranda
6. General meetings

TQM must be properly “sold” to all employees, for if they don’t buy it, TQM will never be
successful. In addition to internal efforts, there must be external activities with customers and
suppliers, and media, advertising in trade magazines, and interaction with the quality
community.

By adopting the above-mentioned suggestions, managers should be able to drive fear out of the
business organization, break down barriers, remove system roadblocks, anticipate and minimize
resistance to change, and in general, change the culture. Only with the involvement of
management can TQM be successful.

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2.4 QUALITY COUNCIL OF TQM

In order to establish a culture of quality and excellence in the business organization, a TQM
council must be organized to provide overall direction. The council shall be the driver for the
TQM engine.

In a typical business organization, the council is composed of the Chief Executive Officer
(CEO), the managers of the functional areas, such as design, marketing, finance, production
and quality, and a coordinator or consultant. In case there is a union, consideration should be
given to have a representative in the council. A coordinator is necessary to assume some of the
added duties that a quality improvement activity requires. The coordinator should be a bright
young person with executive potential and shall report directly to the CEO.

The duties and responsibilities of the coordinator is to build two-way trust, propose team needs
to the council, share council expectations with the team and brief the council on team progress.
In addition, the coordinator will ensure that the teams are empowered and know their duties and
responsibilities. The coordinator’s activities is to assist the team leaders share lessons learned
among teams, and have regular leaders meeting with team leaders.

In smaller business organizations where managers may be responsible for more than one
functional area, the number of members will be smaller. Thus, a consultant would be most
welcome instead of a coordinator.

According to Dale H. Besterfield, the basic duties of the council are:

1. Develop, with input from all personnel, the core values, vision statement, mission statement,
and quality policy statements.
2. Develop the strategic long-term plan with goals and the annual quality improvement program
with objectives.
3. Create the total education and training and development plan.
4. Determine and continually monitor the cost of poor quality.
5. Determine the performance measures for the business organization, approve those for the
functional areas, and monitor them.
6. Continually determine those projects and departmental or work group teams and monitor their
progress.
7. Establish multifunctional project and departmental or work group teams and monitor their
progress.
8. Establish or revise the recognition and reward system to account for the new way of doing
business.

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In large business organizations TQM councils are organized at lower levels of the firm. Their
duties are similar but related to their particular level in the organization. Initially these activities
will require additional work by council members; however, in the long run their jobs will become
easier. These councils are the instruments for accepting the idea of continuous quality
improvement.

Once the TOM program is well organized, a typical meeting agenda may be followed:

1. Progress report on team

2. Customer satisfaction report
3. Progress on meeting goals
4. New project teams
5. Recognition dinner
6. Benchmarking report

Henceforth, within three to five years the TOM council activities will become so integrated in the
culture of the business organization that they will become a regular part of the executive
meetings. When this stage is attained, a separate TQM council is no longer needed. Quality and
excellence become the first item on the executive meeting agenda or the executive meeting
becomes part of the TOM council.

2.5 CORE VALUES OF TQM

Core values and concepts promote TQM behavior and define the organizational culture. Every
organization shall need to develop its own values. Given here are the core values for the
Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award. They can be used as a general framework for any
business organization as it develops its own core values, such as:

1. Customer-Driven Quality

Quality is determined by customer. Value, satisfaction, and preferences may be influenced by

many factors throughout the customer’s overall purchase, ownership, and service experiences.
These factors include the organization’s relationship with customers that helps build trust,
confidence and loyalty. This concept of quality includes not only the product and service
characteristics that meet basic customer requirements, but it also includes those characteristics
that enhance them and differentiate them from competing offerings. Such enhancement and
differentiation may be based upon new offerings, combinations of product and service offerings,
rapid response, or special relationships.

Customer-driven quality is thus a strategic concept. It is directed toward customer retention and
market-share gain, it demands constant sensitivity to emerging customer and market
requirements and measurement of the factors that drive customer satisfaction and retention. It

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also demands awareness of developments in technology and of competitors’ offerings and rapid
and flexible response to customer and market requirements.

2. Leadership

Leaders in the business organization should create Customer awareness, set a clear and visible
quality values, and high expectations, Reinforcement of values and setting of expectations
requires adequate personal commitment and involvement. The leaders’ core values and
commitment need to include areas of public responsibility and corporate citizenship. The
leaders must participate in the creation of strategies, systems, and methods for attaining
excellence.

The systems and methods need to guide all activities and decisions of the business
organization. The leaders must commit to the growth and development of the entire personnel
and should encourage participation and creativity by all. Through their regular personal
involvement in visible activities, such as planning, communications, review of organization
performance, and recognizing personnel for quality achievement, the leaders serve as role
models reinforcing the core values and encouraging leadership in all levels of management.

3. Continuous Improvement

Attaining the highest levels of quality and competitiveness requires a well-defined and well-
executed approach to continuous improvement. The term continuous improvement refers to
both incremental and “breakthrough” improvement. The approach to improvement needs
to be included in the way the organization functions. Being included means: (1) improvement
is part of the daily work of all work units; (2) improvement processes seek to eliminate problems
at their source; and (3) improvement is driven by opportunities to do better as well as by
problems that must be corrected.

Opportunities for improvement have four major sources:

1) employees ideas;
2) research and development;
3) customer input; and
4) benchmarking of their comparative information on processes and performance.

Types of improvements:

1. Enhancing value to customers through new and improved products and services.
2. Reducing errors, defects, and waste.
3. Improving responsiveness and cycle time performance.
4. Improving productivity and effectiveness in the use of all resources.

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5. Improving the organization’s performance and leadership position in fulfilling its public
responsibilities and serving as a role model in corporate citizenship.

Improvement is driven not only by the objective of providing better product and service quality,
but also by the need to be responsive and efficient-both conferring additional marketplace
advantages. To meet all these objectives, the process of continuous improvement must contain
regular cycles of planning, execution and evaluation. This activity requires a quantitative
basis for assessing progress and for deriving information for future cycles of improvement. Such
information should provide direct links between desired performance and internal operations.

4. Employee Participation and Development

Continuous improvement of organizational performance depends upon the abilities, skills and
motivation of the employees. Employee success largely depends upon having meaningful
opportunities to learn and to practice new skills. Organizations need to invest in the
development of the employees through education, training, and creating opportunities for
continuing growth. Such opportunities might include on-line or classroom and on-the-job
training, job rotation, and pay for demonstrated skills. Training, development and work
organizations need to be tailored to more diverse personnel and to more flexible, high
performance work environments.

There are primary challenges in the area of personnel development, such as: (1) integration of
human resource management-selection, performance, recognition, training, and career
advancement; and (2) aligning of human resource management with business plans and
strategic change processes. To address these challenges, we need to require and acquire the
following data: skills, satisfaction, motivation, safety, and well-being of employees. Such data
need to be related to indicators of organization or unit performance, such as: customer
satisfaction, customer retention, and productivity. This human _ resource management
approach can be better integrated and aligned with business directions, using continuous
improvement process to refine integration and alignment.

5. Fast Response

Faster and more flexible response to customers is now a more critical requirement in business
organization. Major improvement in response-time often requires simplification of work
organizations and work processes. To accomplish such improvement, the time performance of
work processes should be measured. There are other important benefits derived from this
focus. Response-time improvements often drive simultaneous improvements in organization,
quality, and productivity. Therefore, it is beneficial to consider response time, quality, and
productivity objectives together.

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6. Design Quality and Prevention

In general, costs of preventing problems at the design stage are much lower than costs of
correcting problems that occur “downstream.” Design quality includes the creation of fault-
tolerant (robust) or error-resistant processes and products. A main issue in the competitive
environment is the design-to-introduction (product generation) cycle time. Meeting the demands
of over-more rapidly changing markets requires that organizations carry out stage-to-stage
coordination and integration of functions and activities from basic research to
commercialization. From the point of view of public responsibility, the design stage involves
decisions regarding resource use and manufacturing process. The growing demand by
consumers and others for a cleaner environment means that business organizations will need to
develop design strategies that place greater weight on environmental factors. Consistent with
the theme of design quality and prevention, continuous improvement and corrective action need
to emphasize interventions “upstream” at early stages in processes. This approach yields the
maximum overall benefits of improvements and corrections. Such upstream intervention also
needs to consider the organization’s suppliers.

7. Long-Range Outlook

Attaining quality and market leadership requires a business organization to have a strong future
orientation and a willingness to make long-term commitments to all stakeholders: customers;
employees; suppliers; stockholders; the general public; and the government. Planning needs to
determine or anticipate many types of changes, including those that may affect customers’
expectations of products and services, technological developments, changing customer
segments, evolving

regulatory requirements and community/societal expectations, or thrusts by competitors. Plans,

strategies and resource allocations need to reflect these commitments and changes. A major
part of the long-term commitment is development of personnel and suppliers, fulfilling public
responsibilities, and serving as a corporate citizenship role model.

8. Management by Fact

There are many types of facts and data needed for quality improvement and quality
assessment: customer, product and service performance operations, market competitive
comparisons, supplier, employee-related, and cost and financial. Analysis refers to the process
of obtaining a larger meaning from data to support evaluation and decision making at various
levels within the organization. Such analysis may entail using data to reveal information, such
as: trends; projections; and cause and effect-that might not be evident without analysis. Facts,
data and analysis support variety of organization purposes, such as: planning; reviewing;
organization performance; improving operations; and comparing organization quality
performance with competitors’ or with “best practices” benchmarks.

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A primary consideration relating to the use of data: and analysis to improve performance
involves the creation and use of performance measures or indicators. Performance measures or
indicators are measurable characteristics of products, services, processes, and operations
the Organization uses to track and improve performance. The measures or indicators should be
selected to best represent the factor that lead to improved customer satisfaction and
Operational performance. A system of measures or indicators tied to customer and/or
organization performance requirements represent a clear and objective basis for aligning all
activities with the organization's strategy and goals. Through the analysis of data from the
tracking processes, the measures or indicators themselves may be evaluated and changed, For
example: measures or indicators selected to track product and service quality may be judged by
how well improvements relative to the quality measures or indicators correlate with improvement
in customer satisfaction.

9. Partnership Development

Business organizations should establish internal and external partnerships to better accomplish
their overall goals, Internal partnerships might include those that promote labor-management
cooperation, such as agreements with unions, Agreements might entail employee development,
cross-training or new work organizations, such as high-performance work teams. Internal
partnerships might also involve creating network relationships among organization units to
improve flexibility and responsiveness,

External partnerships include those with customers, suppliers, and education organizations. An
increasingly important kind of external partnership is the strategic partnership or alliance, Such
partnership might offer an organization entry into new markets or a basis for new products or
services, A partnership might also permit the blending of an organization’s core competencies
or leadership capabilities with complementary strengths and capabilities of partners, thereby
enhancing overall capability, including speed and flexibility. Partnerships should seek to develop
long-term objectives, thereby creating a basis for mutual investments. Partners should address
the key requirements for success of the partnership, means of regular communication, and
approaches to evaluating progress, and means for adapting to changing conditions.

10. Corporate Responsibility and Citizenship

Corporate responsibility refers to exercise of the organization’s business ethics and efforts
made for the protection of public health, public safety, and the environment. Health,
safety and environmental considerations need to consider the organization’s operations as well
as the life cycles of products and services. Business organizations need to address factors such
as resources conservation and waste management at their source. Planning related to public
health, safety, and environment should anticipate adverse impacts that may arise in facilities
management, production, distribution, transportation and use and disposal of products.
Plans should seek to present problems to provide a forthright business organization response if
problems occur, and to ~ make available information needed to maintain public awareness,
safety, trust, and confidence. Inclusion of public responsibility areas within a quality system

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means meeting all local, regional and national laws and regulatory requirements. It also means
treating these and related requirements as areas for continuous improvement beyond mere
compliance.”

Corporate citizenship refers to leadership and support of publicly important purposes within
reasonable limits of an organization’s resources, including the already mentioned areas of
corporate responsibility. Such purposes might include education, environmental
excellence, resources conservation, community services, improving industry and
business practices, and sharing of non-proprietary quality related information. Leadership
as a corporate citizen
entails influence on other organizations private organizations, private and public, as well as to
partner for these purposes.

Core values represents answers to the following questions:

1. What is the most important?

2. How do we treat other people?
3. How do we work together?

In most organizations, core values are understood or assumed or seldom discussed. Exploring
and discussing values enhances harmony and teamwork. Values that remain unclear or
unexplored can create tension or conflict and make people feel misunderstood, confused or
frustrated. Hence, clarifying values both personal and professional can be a tremendous help in
aligning and unifying the business organization.

Core values provide an anchor when a business organization or individual is buffeted by a

storm of change. They are the moral compasses that give direction when things get rough.
They are guides to help you reach your destination, your vision and mission.

Thomas J, Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr. stated that core values will have tremendous
impact on business organization. They will help the business organization to:

1. Create an atmosphere of common purpose and trust

2. Clarity goals and ways those goals will be achieved
3. Set priorities and sort out information overload
4. Provide a clearer focus for performance and feedback
5. Indicate which behaviors are acceptable and appropriate and which are not within the
business organization
6. Specify how the organization wants to deal with and be perceived by people outside the
organization
7. Provide guidelines for selecting and orienting new employees who will not have to spend
much time identifying and understanding organizational core values

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Leaders of business organization thus free themselves to focus on priority tasks and achieve
more by allowing employees to make their own day-to-day operating decisions within assigned
areas of responsibility. Business organizations with effective leadership teams are generally
tight on values but loose on rules.

2.6 TQM STATEMENTS

The quality statements include the vision statements, mission statement, and quality
policy statement. Once established, they are only occasionally reviewed and updated. They
are part of the strategic planning process, which includes goals and objectives.

The use of the four statements varies considerably from one organization to another
organization. As a matter of fact, small organizations may use only the quality policy statement.
In addition, there may be considerable overlap or duplication among statements.

The quality statements or a portion thereof may be included on employee badges. They should
be developed with input from all personnel.

VISION STATEMENT

The vision statement is a declaration of what an organization should look like five to ten years
in the future, it is a realistic picture of what it wants to become and what is possible. The
statement is short and consists of a few sentences.

Sometimes the vision becomes deeply shared within the organization, such as: JBM’s Service;
Apple’s Computing for the masses; and Polaroid’s instant photography. These shared visions
usually take time to emerge, according to Arthur R. Tenner and Irving J. Detoco.

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission statement answers the following questions: who we are; who are the customers;
what we do; and how we do it. This statement is usually one paragraph or less in length, is easy
to understand, and describes the function of the organization. It provides a crystal-clear
statement of purpose for employees, customers, and suppliers.

Example of a Mission Statement:

Ford Motor Company is a workmanship in automatic and automotive-related products and

services as well as the newer industries such as aerospace. Our mission is to improve
continuously our products and services to meet our customer’s needs, allowing us to prosper as
a business and to provide a reasonable return to our shareholders, the owners of our business.
Ford Motor Company

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QUALITY POLICY STATEMENT

The quality policy is a guide for everybody in the organization as to how they should provide
products and services to the customers. It should be written by the CEO with feedback from the
employees and be approved by the quality council.

Characteristics of Quality Policy Statement

1. Quality is first among equals.

2. Meet the needs of the internal and external customers.
3. Equal or exceed the competition.
4. Continually improve the quality.
5. Include business and production practices.
6. Utilize the entire personnel.

Example of a quality policy:

Unilab is a quality company. Quality is the basic business principle for Unilab. Quality means
providing our external and internal customers with innovative products and services that fully
satisfy their requirements. Quality is the job of every personnel.

Unilab

The quality statements consist of the core values given in the earlier section, the vision
statement, the mission statement, and the quality policy statement. The core values
Should be condensed considerably for simplicity and publication for proper dissemination.

Example of a statement that includes vision, mission, quality policy, and core values:

The Geon Company has a clear corporation vision. . . . .To be the benchmark company in the
polymers industry through superior performance, demonstrated by:

▪ Living up to its established principles of excellence in environmental protection, health,

and safety.
▪ Fully satisfying the expectations of its customers.
▪ Developing and commercializing innovative polymer technology.
▪ Utilizing all resources productively.
▪ Continually improving processes and products.
▪ Generating sustained value for customers, employees, suppliers and investors.
▪ Creating an environment of Trust, Respect, Openness and Integrity.

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2.7 STRATEGIC PLANNING

Many business organizations are finding that strategic quality plans and business plans are
inseparable. The period of time for strategic planning is three to ten years and short-term
planning is one year (annual) or less. Both types of planning require goals and objectives.

Goals and Objectives

According to John Pessico Jr, and Gory N. Mclean, goals and objectives have basically the
same meaning. The similarities between the two are differentiated by using goals for long-term
and objectives for short-term planning are the following:

1. Goals have certain characteristics that make them effective. The most important one is that
they be measurable. Only measurable goals can be evaluated.

2. Goals must be based on statistical knowledge of the system, goals do not merely reflect the
assumption that slogans, exhortations, and hard work will miraculously change the system,

3. Goals must be definitive, specific, and understandable, using results rather than behaviors or
attitudes. In addition, a specific time frame or deadline should be given.

4. Goals must have a plan or method of utilizing resources for their achievement. If there is no
cause-and-effect relationship between the goal and the method, then the goal is not a valid one.

5. Goals must be challenging, yet achievable. Those individuals, work group, departments, and
functional areas that are affected by the goals should be involved in their development. Stretch
goals are satisfactory, provided they are based on benchmark data.

6. The characteristics of objectives are identical to those given here for goals. They are
operational approaches to attain the goals.

Seven Steps to Strategic Planning

There are seven basic steps to strategic quality planning, according to John R. Dew. The
process starts with the principal that quality and customer satisfaction are the center of an
organization’s future. It brings together all the key stakeholders.

1. Customer Needs. The first step is to discover the future needs of the customers. Who will
they be? Will your customer base change? What will they want? How will the organization meet
and exceed expectations?

2. Customer Positioning. The planners determine where the organization wants to be in

relation to the customers. Do they want to retain, reduce, or expand the customer base?

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Products or service with poor quality performance should be targeted for breakthrough or should
be eliminated. The organization needs to concentrate its efforts on areas of excellence.

3. Predict the Future. The planners must look into their crystal balls to predict future conditions
that will affect their product or service. Demographics, economic forecasts, and technical
assessments or projections are tools that help predict the future. More than one organization’s
product or service has become obsolete because it failed to foresee the changing technology.
Note that rate of change is continually increasing.

4. Gap Analysis. This step requires the planners to identify the gaps between the current state
and the future state of the organization. An analysis of the core values, given earlier in the
chapter, is an excellent technique for pinpointing gaps.

5. Closing the Gap. The plan can now be developed to close the gap by establishing goals
and responsibilities. All stakeholders should be included in the development of the plan.

6. Alignment. As the plan is developed, it must be aligned with the mission, vision, and core
values of the organization. Without this alignment, the plan will have jittle chance of success.

7. Implementation. This last step is frequently the most difficult. Resources must be allocated
to collecting data, designing changes, and overcoming resistance to change. Also part of this
step is the monitoring activity to ensure that progress is being made. The planning group should
meet at least once per year to assess progress and take any corrective action.

Strategic planning can be performed by any organization. It can be highly effective, allowing
organizations to do the right thing at the right time, every time, as stated by John R. Dew.

2.8 CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE LEADERS

There are 12 behaviors or characteristics that effective leaders demonstrate, as stated by

Warren H. Schmidt and Jerome P. Finnigan, such as:

1. They give priority attention to external and internal customers and their needs. Leaders
place themselves in the customer’s shoes and service their needs from that perspective.
They continually evaluate the customers’ changing requirements.

2. They empower, rather than control, subordinates. Leaders have trust and confidence in
the performance of their subordinates. They provide the resources, training, and work
environment to help subordinates do their jobs. However, the decision to accept
responsibility lies with the individual.

3. They emphasize improvement rather than maintenance. Leaders use the phrase, “If it
isn’t perfect, improve it rather than, if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. There is always room for
improvement, even if the improvement is

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4. small.” “Major breakthroughs sometimes happen, but it’s the little ones that keep the
continuous process improvement on a positive track.

5. They emphasize prevention. An “ounce of prevention ig worth a pound of cure” is

certainly true. It is also true that perfection can be the enemy of creativity. There must be
a balance between preventing problems and developing better processes.

6. They encourage collaboration rather than competition. When functional areas,

departments, or work groups are in competition, they may find subtle ways of working
against each other or withholding information. Instead, there must be collaboration
among and within units.

7. They train and coach, rather than direct and supervise. Leaders know that the
development of the human resource is a necessity. As coaches they help their
subordinates learn to do a better job.

8. They learn from problems. When a problem exists, it is treated as an opportunity rather
than something to be minimized or covered up. What caused it? And how can we
prevent it in the future?are the questions asked by leaders.

9. They continually try to improve communications. Leaders continually disseminate

information about the TQM effort.

10. They continually demonstrate their commitment to quality. Leaders walk their talk -their
actions, rather than their words, communicate their level of commitment. They let the
quality statements be their decision-making guide.

11. They choose suppliers on the basis of quality not price. Suppliers are encouraged to
participate on project teams and become involved. Leaders know that quality begins with
quality materials and the true measure is the lifecycle cost.

12. They establish organizational systems to support the quality effort. At the senior
management level, a quality council is provided, and at the first-line supervisor level,
work groups and project teams are organized to improve the process.

13. They encourage and recognize team effort. They encourage, provide recognition, and
reward individuals and teams. Leaders know that people like to know that their
contributions are important. This action is one of the leader’s most powerful tools.

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Effective leaders build a climate of trust where people can freely express their ideas and
concerns. Such an atmosphere requires sensitive leaders who are secure in their own
knowledge, skills and relationships rather than feel threatened by differences or resistance. If
used creatively without resentment or suppression, resistance and difference of viewpoint can
become a source of new ideas by forcing re-examination of objectives, goals, plans and
implementation.

Effective leaders are not only skilled in the dynamics of planned change and goal-achievement;
they also empower others. Without shared vision, there would be no common direction. Without
empowerment of others there would be no excellence in performance. Leadership is_ the
simultaneous provision of direction and empowerment.

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