Actuating the Leaders' Role Through Innovations in Quality Training

Workshop Led by:

Jose C. Gatchalian, PhD and Miflora M. Gatchalian, PhD
QUALITY PARTNERS COMPANY, Ltd., Philippines

Brief Description

Total quality management (TQM) is one of the best strategies in the quest for
excellence in the organization. However, statistics show that less than 30% of those
who initiate the process succeed in achieving the TQM situation. In most cases,
failures are traceable to poor leadership. In a broad sense, the four major roles of a
corporate quality leader include: (a) active implementation of TQM’s ACCEPT
principles; (b) role modeling to promote quality as a way of life; (c) installing a
program of workplace cooperation to help sustain the TQM effort and; (d) utilizing
innovative training approaches for people development and participation in the quest
for quality.

Actual experiences with several manufacturing and service companies in developing

countries helped in formulating a systematic approach to TQM applicable to
countries in transition, with emphasis on the human dimension and the involvement
of all the people. There are six phases in the implementation: Phase I- Survey of the
climate for TQM and introducing the concept of Workplace Cooperation (WPC); II-
Developing a common language of quality; III- TQM and documentation; IV –
Installing the mechanism and activating the process of Workplace Cooperation for
quality; V- Sustaining the TQM campaign through the joint efforts of the leadership
and the company workforce, particularly in problem-solving; and VI- Continual
review and capability-building. Each of the phases require innovative training
programs for the workforce - not only fully supported, but also participated in by
the management leaders.

For purposes of the workshop, the discovery learning technique will be utilized,
composed of short lecture-discussions, group dynamics and exercises allowing
optimum interaction and active participation of the audience with the facilitators.

Keywords: TQM principles, discovery- learning technique, workplace cooperation,

Phases of TQM, capability-building

Introduction

To date, it is common knowledge that successes in quality management is largely traceable to the
active leadership of senior managers. The internationally accepted Malcolm Baldrige National
Quality Award (MBNQA) criteria, upon which many international awards have been patterned,
assigned for “leadership” 120 out of the overall 1000 points. Winners of the MBNQA are
generally acclaimed to have leaders actively providing the directions for the whole organization.
The practice of modeling by leaders especially relative to their show of personal quality
characteristics could have significant effects on the followers in the organization. For this
consideration, the quest for total quality management must, therefore, start with the commitment
from leaders in the company. The MBNQA and its global variations use 7 categories as a
measure of the level of TQM practice. It is, therefore, imperative for the managers to initiate
quality development company-wide. To date, various approaches have been utilized with varying
levels of success. However, their common denominator is the extensive application of innovative
training approaches at the various phases of their development. Actuating the leaders’ role,
through their active participation on innovations in quality-related training programs at each of
the six phases, hastens the progress in TQM promotion.

Leaders’ Role in the Quest for TQM

Followers, by the very nature of their position, look up to the leaders for directions, if not
assistance. On the other hand, the leaders will have no one to lead if people cannot look up to
them as role models. Particularly in the field of quality, initiatives must start from the top so that
those below will have a clear picture of what to follow. For this reason, it is very important for
leaders to review their major leadership responsibilities to their staff. Since “quality” is a state of
mind and TQM is a philosophy, it is often observed that “quality mind-setting” is generally taken
for granted relative to human resource development. With this in consideration, the leaders’
major role should involve the following: (a) active implementation of TQM’s ACCEPT
principles; (b) role modeling to promote quality as a way of life; (c) installing a program of
workplace cooperation to help sustain the TQM effort; and; (d) utilizing innovative training
approaches for people development and participation in the quest for quality.

Implementing TQM’s ACCEPT principles

Through the years, gurus like Crosby, 1992 Feigenbaum (1986), Harrington (1987), Juran , et. al
(1979), and several others have promoted various approaches to quality development which
should eventually lead to TQM. Various approaches have been employed to achieve this
goal but it is seldom successful and/or repeatable. Integrating the different principles which
should characterize a TQM situation, the acronym ACCEPT (Figure 1) was developed by

Figure 1. The ACCEPT principles of TQM (Gatchalian, 1997)

the author. Through actual experiences and observed practices, these principles are found to be
commonly accepted in companies approaching successes in TQM. Furthermore, the
MBNQA’s 7 - Categories (Figure 2) measure the degree with which TQM practice have been put
in place in the organization. Thus, MBNQA winners are known to employ the ACCEPT
principles in their own ways and its level of implementation is seen in the final measure
of business excellence in terms of the total score obtained by the company.

Figure 2. MBNQA’s 7-Categories for performance excellence assessment

The Philippines Quality Award (PQA) is patterned after MBNQA with modifications to
suit the Philippine situation and culture. For instance, instead of only one award level, the
PQA has four and these are: Level I= Commitment; Level II = Proficiency ; Level III =
Mastery and Level IV = Excellence (Calingo, 2008). It is understood that all applicants are
in search of excellence, but they may have different levels of accomplishments in this
direction. The additional levels were deemed necessary to encourage the applicants to
continue in their efforts to achieve TQM. Once committed to quality (Level I), the desire
to pursue higher levels is heightened and approaches to continual improvement are
seriously pursued. The expectations that two years or more later, most if not all the areas
for improvement have been achieved and a jump to Level IV would be possible. Some
companies rather approach this by stages ( move to Level II first, and so on) until they
obtain full capability to become an “excellent Company” (Level IV).

Role modeling quality as a way of life

Quality is a person’s “state of mind” which implies that change can only start from the
individual concerned. Unfortunately, this is not always seen as such by leaders in the
organization. Many leaders tend to believe that “quality” can be dictated and subordinates
must follow. This is probably one of the major explanations why the quest for
excellence is known to have a low level of success. The need to prepare everyone to
become a “quality person” is not necessarily given priority in the organization. Yet, a
review of one’s own practices to obtain customer satisfaction can generate followers once
the leaders will show their sincerity and commitment to pursue this direction. Making
quality as a way of life must, therefore, start with the leadership (Figure 3) so that there can be
 Figure 3. Making quality a way of life must start with managers

ease in cascading the practice to the lowest-ranking individual in the workplace. Once
achieved company-wide, the Phases towards TQM development can be more easily implemented
and indicators of change actually measured as shown by an example (Gatchalian, J.C. 2008) in
(Figure 4) below.

Figure 4. A measured indicator of quality change at the workplace

Innovations in Quality Training in the Six Phases of TQM Development

The proposed approach to TQM development follows six Phases where each Phase describes
some characteristics of a company starting with information about the climate for TQM. The
speed of development depends on how the managers view the results of the survey. Their
acceptance that change is necessary provides a big step forward towards movements from Phases
I to VI. In all these Phases, intervention programs approved and supported by Management is the
key to sustained progress. Through experiences with various companies assisted, it was at the
time when both the Leader (Owner or CEO) and the Human Resource Manager took active part
in the training that the rest of the company population showed willingness to give all out
cooperation. At this point, the workforce individually expressed their personal desire to change.
The kind of training programs and/or approaches utilized vary from phase to phase. This is
where innovations in training are so important to sustain the Leaders’ interest and active
participation.

The Six Phases of TQM Development

Each of the Phases mentioned below requires proper planning and organization for
implementation particularly of the training programs that need to be provided the
management and employees.

Phase I - survey of organizational climate for TQM

Phase II – development of common language of quality

Phase III - documentation in TQM

Phase IV – activating workplace cooperation

Phase V – sustaining TQM through workplace partnership mechanisms

Phase VI – continual review and capacity-building for improvement

Communicating Quality in an organization is a function of leadership. Training is a way of

actuating and implementing this important function (Heron, 2002). Training interventions are
integrated within the six Phases of the TQM campaign. The results of the climate survey in
Phase I help pinpoint the training needs in the company, which ought to be systematically
addressed in order to plan out the appropriate capacity-building effort. Results provide the basic
foundation for quality development.

Specific training programs are undertaken starting from Phase II – designed to improve the
knowledge, attitude and skills of the workforce and the leadership. Training strategies are
invariably team-oriented, participative and based on the principles of adult education and
discovery learning. Illustrative examples may be presented in the workshop – with the active
involvement of the participants in the short exercises, group dynamics and other demonstrations
of this particular learning experience.

Phase II interventions are primarily aimed at developing a shared understanding, meaning and
direction of Quality and especially of the common use of its terms and terminologies. Phase III
requires focused training of specialized groups in documentation skills, so essential to the
determination and measurement of change in the quality improvement effort. Phase IV
introduces the innovative strategy of workplace cooperation, aimed at harmonizing work relations
among the partners in production, engaging both in a long range mutual undertaking for
achieving Total Quality Management within the workplace.
One of the recent innovations integrating communication and training for quality is the adoption
of the workplace cooperation strategy. This approach has been especially effective in creating
new channels of communication and new techniques for training in quality. Thaler, (2002) have
documented many cases culled from a wide international experience which justifies this effective
communication and training strategy for workplace cooperation and continuous improvement
within companies. They have published a valuable guidebook, which have been very much
utilized and adapted by the authors for promoting workplace cooperation geared towards
industrial harmony, quality and profitability (Phase V).

Phase VI is a continuous effort, a never ending work without let up, oriented towards continual
improvement through periodic assessment and review and capacity-building. In the globalized,
highly-competitive world of today, sustainability is the key towards long term survival and
progress.

Summary and Recommendation

Leadership in quality is generally supported by two vital functions: communication and training.
Communication lies at the very heart of the leader-follower nexus and therefore plays a crucial
role in relationships at work. The quantity and quality of communication between management
and employees at the enterprise level is a significant factor in establishing and maintaining
harmonious and productive industrial relations. Information that can be shared may include
present day-to-day quality issues that affect the company. Communication channels should
ideally provide a channel for management to obtain feedback regarding programs or policies and
their implementation.

Training, on the other hand, is a crucial component of workplace communication and

empowerment. Empowerment involves decentralizing power within the organization to individual
decision makers, and further down to the bottom rung of the workforce. It adds dynamism to the
employer-employee relationship by affording workers not just a voice in decision making on
matters that affect their interests and welfare, but also provides the opportunity for them to
contribute creative and innovative ideas towards achieving company goals of enhanced product or
service quality and productivity.

Learning is a never-ending quest for improvement – for both individuals and organizations.
There is no alternative to learning and development - ignorance can only lead to stagnation and
decay. Quality leadership must demonstrate the difference, and lead the way to a quality worklife.

###
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