Introduction

For a business to operate smoothly and effectively, it is a must that the manager knows what
to choose and how to make use of the most efficient leadership styles with the most suitable
management practices. In terms of the Management approach, Total Quality Management is the
most widely used, which aims at business making its best performance and calls for constant
striving for enhancement. And Transformational Leadership is the best fit for all these
characteristics. When combined, Transformational Leadership would contribute to the
enhancement of Quality Management by focusing management and leadership attention on
training, followers' personal development, and improvement processes. This reflective paper will
take into account both phenomena and evaluate their relationship.

Theoretical Framework
Transformational Leadership
The concept of transformational leadership dates back to 1973 by James V. Downton and
was later extended by James Burns. However, it was not until 1985 that the American scholar
Bernard M. Bass added ways to measure and rank the success of transformational leadership and
the idea of leaders expressing authentic and focused energy to inspire the other team members to
become more like them (Ugochukwu, 2023)i. In other words, this approach encourages, inspires,
and motivates employees to innovate and make necessary changes toward the future success of
the company (White, 2022)ii, while requiring the leader to be able to flexibly mobilize his
followers and boost their morale. Transformational leaders generally include empathy, support,
and inspiration in their leadership style, and lead with confidence and selflessness. The changing
of faulty systems and grouping of employees are also being paid attention to for higher
productivity and overall job satisfaction.

Regardless of being applicable to most industries, it is becoming increasingly critical in the

fast-moving technology industry since innovation, and agility can either make or break a
business. In this case, Steve Jobs is a name to mention as one of the world's most remarkable
transformational leaders. He would constantly challenge his partners and employees to think
beyond what they had accomplished and unprecedented products and go for them at full speed.
By this way, he had reformed his organizational structure, improved job satisfaction, and
changed the whole market with his unique products. Apple is known widely known for being one
of the most innovative technology firms thanks to the way Jobs encouraged his employees to
think out of the box and made use of transformational leadership to allow every individual to
maximize his creativity at work.

It would be incomplete to study Transformational Leadership without discussing four critical

components - the "four I's": idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation,
and individual consideration. By using these four criteria together, a leader will create an open
and communicative working environment while encouraging the employees to share ideas and
empower them on an individual level. The combination also accounts for making up the
charisma of transformational leaders.
- Idealized Influence: Idealized influence also known as "Be a Positive Role Model", is
how leaders exert their influence within a group. However, it doesn't mean that the leader would
impact their followers by becoming over-influenced and forcing them to do things that do not
suit them but by providing a role model and positively impacting them by committing to trust,
transparency, and respect. This kind of influence is firmly based on two principles: trust and
respect. With this trust, each employee would become a powerful follower, imitating their role
model leaders and internalizing their ideals.
- Inspirational Motivation: Inspirational Motivation is the degree to which the leaders
articulate a vision that is appealing and inspiring for their followers. They start by conveying
their high expectations to the followers and make them happily consent to a shared team belief.
These individuals' voluntary commitment to the organizational goals intrinsically encourages
them to have a strong sense of purpose and "mission mindset", as well as invest more effort to
bring out the best performance.
- Intellectual Stimulation: Intellectual stimulation is an inevitable factor in establishing a
welcoming, and diverse atmosphere. The leaders are to help followers feel comfortable exploring
new ideas and opportunities that can inject innovation into the organization (White, 2022) iii. By
seeking paths to goals straying from the norm, transformational leaders eliminate the "fear
factor" from work by focusing on new opportunities and experiences to grow and learn rather
than emphasizing the outcomes of the efforts while openly pushing others to challenge their own
beliefs and values, as well as those of the company.
- Individual Consideration: Individual consideration: Individual consideration happens
when the managers concern for their followers' wants and needs. It also requires the coaching or
mentoring position to develop and inspire individuals to achieve both internal and external goals.
This individual attention is critical in helping the followers achieve their best performance and
make full use of their potential. In this case, transformational leaders do not micro-manage but
lead with explicit objectives and foster an environment where staff are trusted to make choices in
their assigned tasks and areas (The 4 “I’s” of Transformational Leadership, n.d)iv. This particular
effort is crucial in achieving the best results and creating future leaders.

As a leading style, transformational leadership has been associated with benefits for not only
the leaders and followers but also the organization. Regarding the position of employees, it helps
achieve greater loyalty, engagement, and trust while improving job performance and
productivity.
A key trait of transformational leadership to transmit a sense of the larger culture to the
individual, giving employees a feeling of ownership in company goals and independence in the
workplace (Nevine, 2022)v. By this way, the employees will have a stronger feeling of self-
motivated in the workplace and will be more likely to try their utmost to reach their production
goals and feel fulfilled by their work. Furthermore, followers report higher levels of pleasure,
motivation, and well-being, while corporate citizenship, learning, and creativity are boosted.
Leaders applying the transformational style will benefit from better communication with their
team members and workplace environments that prioritize open communication. They can also
effectively maintain workplace integrity by treating all employees equally, rewarding honesty,
conducting self-assessments, and, most important, encouraging open communication. Last but
not least, in terms of business, organizational effectiveness, adaptability, sustainability, as well as
a more positive social and ethical impact can be obtained through this leading style (Schawbel,
n.d)vi.

However, transformational leadership will not exert its effect if individuals are not self-aware
and willing to take personal responsibility. Hence, it carries a relatively high risk of power abuse
and exploitation since this leadership style requires the leaders to use their power to influence the
followers. A leader may unintentionally misuse his power and manipulate employees into
doubting their own judgment and becoming too dependent on what the leader thinks and feels.
Additionally, less attention is paid to short-term goals as this way of leadership prioritizes long-
term objectives. Although this allows for flexibility with how teams move toward goals, leaders
may need to balance their focus using management strategies in combination with
transformational leadership (Pros and cons of transformational leadership (with definitions) –
indeed, 2022)vii. When using this leadership style, a business may have to face the matter of a
slow decision-making process. This consequence is easy to understand as the procedure would
also call for the involvement of not only the stakeholders, the managers but also all members of a
work team. While having input from all members might bring valuable insights, it may not be
feasible for every decision. Transformational leaders must consider whether to seek group
engagement in decision-making and when to make decisions on behalf of their teams. Contextual
and cultural variables may also make an impact on the applicability and acceptability of
transformative leadership.

Total Quality Management

Regarding Quality Management or Total Quality Management (TQM) is developed based on
the idea that a company would achieve long-term success and customer satisfaction by having
individuals of all levels engage in the continuous improvement process. One example to mention
is the implementation of the Kanban system by Toyota, which Taiichi Ohno, an industrial
engineer of the firm, developed. Making use of the concept, the company executes its Just-in-
Time (JIT) system to make its assembly line more efficient, keeping just enough inventory on
hand to fill customer orders as generated (CFI Team, 2023) viii. By assigning a physical part to all
parts of the assembly line, Toyota has been able to keep its inventory lean and not overstock
disproportionate assets. TQM plays an integral part in the management of an operation since it is
advantageous to the development of not only the employee but also the organization. With
individuals focusing on quality management and continuous enhancement, the firm would create
and uphold cultural norms that secure long-term success. It also assists in pinpointing deficient
skill among employees and suggest imperative approaches to address those needs. The
establishment of cross-functional teams and knowledge sharing will increase communication and
coordination across disparate groups, deepen institutional knowledge and give companies more
flexibility in deploying personnel (Gillis & Pratt, 2023)ix.

Since requiring the involvement of every individual within a firm, TQM is a management
approach that persistently advances business performance inside and out. The application of
TQM calls for the use of eight principles to develop the process and yield customer satisfaction:
Customer Focus, Leadership, Involvement of People, Process Approach, System Approach to
Management, Continual Improvement, Factual Approach to Decision-Making, and Mutual
Beneficial Supplier Relationship. The first principle, Customer Focus, means focusing on both
current and potential customers to fulfill and exceed their satisfaction. Businesses that align their
objectives with the client's needs would be more likely to bring out better performances than
those that do not. As maintaining the solidarity among employees themselves and between
employers and their employees to achieve the common objective of the firm, Leadership is
considered a critical element of Total Quality Management. The Involvement of People of all
levels is extremely important in gaining the motivation and retention of employees for more
teamwork efficiency and customer satisfaction. While Process Approach is assured for consistent
standard quality of the goods and services, System Approach means structuring a system to
achieve the firm's objectives most effectively and efficiently. Furthermore, the inevitable
principle of TQM is Continual Improvement since it assists the company in gaining competitive
advantages. Regarding Factual Approach to Decision-Making, it makes the decision-making
process much easier based on the collected data and brings out more reliable results. Last but not
least, Mutual Beneficial Supplier Relationship, also known as reciprocity, is critical in building a
good relationship with suppliers. A business is normally made up of different departments with
particularly assigned tasks and functions, and total quality management will assist in
interconnecting these duties to achieve an interdependent goal.

It is evident that a business greatly benefits from applying Total Quality Management in its
operation. Companies that successfully implement TQM are capable of delivering better-quality
products at lower cost to customers. This is possible thanks to the emphasis on using high-quality
information to improve processes, reduce waste, and save time, leading to reduced expenses that
can be passed along to clients through lower prices (Basu, 2016) x. By only focus on initiatives
that deliver the most outstanding value while working out methods to progressively improve
across all elements of the company, from lowering time to market to actual raw material prices,
TQM has saved the business a great deal of time and money but still maintain the high quality of
the product. Therefore, greater customer loyalty and satisfaction will be achieved, while the
brand image and reputation will be enhanced via word of mouth and satisfied customers.
Additionally, when appropriately applied, TQM assists a business in being more flexible and
adaptable to the ever-changing market and regulatory environments. Beyond this, it enables easy
adjustment to regulatory changes by having all processes documented and methodology easily
changed to meet customer requirements (Troiano, n.d)xi.

Notwithstanding the benefits mentioned above, Total Quality Management still has some
notable drawbacks. One significant drawback to mention is the requirement for company-wide
commitment to quality improvement and the difficulties in acquiring this commitment, as the
program can only be successfully carried out when all levels of management are on board. Any
insufficient effort or resources may jeopardize the effectiveness of a TQM program, generating
adverse ripple effects throughout the organization. Furthermore, the implementation of TQM
requires extremely substantial financial investment for a holistic mindset shift, intensive project
management, robust documentation across all processes, and thorough training. Besides that, it
may take time for TQM to yield the highest efficiency. As starting to operationalize or
implement Total Quality Management, a carefully planned procedure for intended enhancement
and criteria to measure success are utterly needed. An organization must make certain that it
fully acknowledges of what it is actually aiming to improve and the metrics used to measure it in
both short run and long run.

Transformational Leadership and Quality Management

Transformational Leadership and Quality Management may seem like two different aspects
of operating a business in the first instance since each phenomenon focuses on a particular
purpose. However, studies have proved the shared goals of elevating the productivity and
performance of the organization as well as enhancing employees' working experience. One of the
most noticeable research that examined the link between the two factors was done in 2010 by
three scholars, Rui, Emerson, and Luis, via the field of creativity, innovation, cooperation, and
trust (Rui, Emerson, and Luis, 2010)xii. In the study, they came up with a model called
organizational culture, which visually illustrated the connection between leadership and quality
management. The paradigm depicted that both transformational leaders and the corporate culture
paid significant attention to people commitment, resulting in more involvement in TQM policies
and procedures from the employees, as well as input from leadership and corporate culture.
Greater TQM achievement would then be accomplished due to these policies and practices. The
three researchers considered Total Quality Management a product of innovation and was defined
by creativity, trust, and teamwork, and transformational leaders were critical in advancing the
growth of these four factors. Finally, they reached the conclusion that transformational
leadership is ideal in building total commitment to quality at all levels within a business.

Jung, Chow, and Wu (2003)xiii stated that transformational leaders improve performance by
actively engaging the personal value systems of workers. Sharing the firm's vision and mission
with the employees enables them to understand their position within the organization, as well as
enhances their willingness to sacrifice their own self-interests for the sake of the organization.
Since highly motivated workers seek creative methods to issue solutions, the innate drive
generated by transformational leaders leads to enhanced creativity. Jung et al. (2003) xiv also
theorized that Transformational Leaders empower workers to seek approaches to their work that
stray from the norm and bring more remarkable performance. Individuals led by transformational
leadership tend to be more self-assured and eager to attempt new ideas as they are given the
autonomy and independence at certain levels to propose new ideas and try them out. The support
of management acts as a crucial part of organizational innovation. Transformational leaders
contribute to creating an atmosphere that not only rewards achievement but also accepts attempts
to improve without repercussions, which is strongly related to the level of trust that
transformative leaders instill in their employees.

Three years before Rui, Emerson, and Luis, Hirtz had pointed out that Transformational
Leadership and Quality Management share the dependence on a strong commitment from
management and a focus on innovation (Hirtz, 2007) xv. Making use of their influence,
transformational leaders would exemplify a commitment to quality and employ inspiring
motivation to convey the business philosophy and success stories of quality improvement.
Leaders of all levels should serve as coaches or advisors to their followers to help them reach
their fullest potential and competencies. At the same time, to increase the pride in craftsmanship
and dedication, employees should have the opportunity to be involved in the changing process of
policies and procedures for the best interest of both leaders and followers.

Conclusion
On the whole, with scientific studies into the relationship of Transformational Leadership
and Quality Management, the two phenomena can be regarded as the ideal tool for anyone in the
manager position in creating an open and diverse working environment as well as an
improvement in the organizational and individual performance. While Transformational
Leadership is a flexible leadership style that aims to ideally bring out the best individual
potential at all levels of an organization, Quality Management is created to constantly improve
policies and procedures to foster customer satisfaction and, at the same time, minimize errors and
waste. A genuine transformational leader can be a driving force for any quality management
process to compete in today’s rapidly changing environment. The objective lies in building
leaders who are committed to consistently offering the highest quality to external and internal
customers.
References
i
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v
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viii
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ix
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x
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xi
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xii
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xiii
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xiv
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xv
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