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The Characteristics of Quality Leadership

Conference Paper · March 2010

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 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF
QUALITY LEADERSHIP
__________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

Denis Leonard PhD

President
Business Excellence Consulting
PO Box 11603
Bozeman
MT 59719-1603

Introduction

What defines and differentiates leadership in quality management? What is 'Quality Leadership'?

The fundamental foundations of Quality, the teachings of the Gurus, such as Deming, Juran and

Feigenbaum, are all based on organizational leadership with an ethical core focusing on people,

social responsibility and quality of work life.

In 2005 a national study of 1374 individuals regarding US leadership conducted by the Center

for Public Leadership at Harvard University, found that “66% of Americans agree that we have a

leadership crisis in the country today.” (National Leadership Index, 2005, p10) Business leaders

were ranked second lowest in regard to confidence level out of all categories studied. This

resulted in the fact that “nearly three quarters of Americans (72%) believe that unless the
countries leaders improve, the United States will decline as a nation.” (National Leadership

Index, 2005, p11) This aligns with a study by ASQ in 2006 in which 70% of Americans stated

that they did not trust big companies. (ASQ, 2006)

The reports revealed a nation that felt that there was a lack of integrity in leadership and that

public confidence in business leadership was low. There was also a desire for strong leadership

to fill this void and it was seen as essential for the future of America. Therefore, the topic of

leadership is timely and provides the opportunity for quality in regaining public confidence in

business and its leadership.

Quality and Leadership

The importance of leadership as an integral part of quality management is well documented.

(Saraph, Benson and Schroeder, 1989, Anderson, Rungtusanatham, and Schroeder, 1994, Black

and Porter, 1996, Ahire, Golhar and Waller, 1996) “Leadership, which includes management

commitment, is contained in virtually every definition of total quality and every prescriptive

model on how to achieve it.” (Grandzol and Gershon, 1997, p46) Indeed “any individual or

organization that wishes to take their initial steps on their journey toward quality must begin with

a near sighted examination of its organization leadership capability and culture.” (Mauro and

Mauro, 1999, p37) Feigenbaum stated that “quality today has become the foundation for constant

management innovation and leadership” (Feigenbaum, 2007, p38) Deming stated about his book

Out of the Crisis that “actually, most of this book is involved with leadership.” (Deming, 1986,
p248) Juran stated that “attaining quality leadership requires that upper managers personally take

charge of the quality initiative.” (Juran et al, 1995, p128) While quality and leadership are

closely aligned what defines quality leadership.

Defining Quality Leadership

Leadership is typically defined by the traits, qualities and behaviors of a leader. What traits

reflect quality leadership and which leadership theories are most closely aligned to it. “Both

leadership theories and TQM have had as primary objectives the enhanced performance of

organizations and increased job satisfaction for employees.” (Puffer and McCarthy, 1996, p109)

The key differences in leadership between TQM and traditional organizations are as follows:

• “Strategic leadership is more important in TQM organizations because TQM is more

likely to emphasis that internal systems be aligned with external environments

• Visionary leadership because the success of TQM depends on employees sharing a

common vision or goal

• Designing reward systems for all stakeholders to foster creativity and innovation

• Empowerment and teamwork, timely responses to customer concerns by having all

employees take a leadership role as well as share information and expertise.” (Puffer and

McCarthy, 1996, p125)

Perhaps the leadership style that most relates to quality leadership, is transformational leadership

which “searches for ways to help motivate followers by satisfying high order needs and more

fully engaging them in the process of the work.” (Horner, 1997, p275) This is directly “related to
quality because transformational leaders are able to communicate and reinforce values and

express an inspirational vision focusing on quality. They also encourage quality improvement by

building trust and reducing fear, creating awareness for change, developing a culture to support

that change and initiating new problem solving strategies.” (Luria, 2008, p31) It is interesting to

note that Deming in his book Out of the Crisis, in chapter 2, which is entitled ‘Principles for

Transformation,’ stated that “the job of management is not supervision, but leadership……The

required transformation of the western style of management requires that managers be leaders.

(Deming, 1986, p54)

Quality leadership is where quality principles become “a basis for guiding, empowering and

supporting the constant pursuit of excellence by the employees throughout the organization.”

(Feigenbaum, 2007, p38) In this regard the emphasis is on “creating the power of an

environment of trust, openness and honest communication to encourage the development of

individual quality improvement entrepreneurs.” (Feigenbaum, 2007, p39) The leader specifically

“has the responsibility to improve the system, i.e. to make it possible, on a continuing basis, for

everyone to do a better job with greater satisfaction.” (Deming, 1986, p248) This leader “instead

of being a judge, will be a colleague, counseling and leading his people on a day to day basis,

learning from them and with them.” (Deming, 1986, p117) While these are the principles upon

which quality leadership is built, how it is applied means that it is “necessary to apply the entire

array of quality know how (the quality disciplines) throughout the entire company to all

functions and all levels and to do so in a coordinated way.” (Juran et al, 1995, p128)
This focus on empowerment, throughout the organization and in creating leaders is essential.

This participatory approach means that quality “is the responsibility of everyone, not just the

quality experts……the CEO’s role is by no means diminished. Rather, he has the added

responsibility of creating the proper environment for planning at lower levels. The cascading

process is the key to sharing” (Lee and Gharajedaghi, 1998, p20) This empowerment means that

employees are motivated to improve the corporation and trained for improvement work, they feel

comfortable in decision making, and trust exists that the company is dedicated to the

development of its employees. For this to be achieved the “leaders must understand what

motivates employees…..managing teams is a key leadership function” (Lee and Gharajedaghi,

1998, p26)

“The more participative the leadership style and the more intense the level of decentralization,

the more intense the degree of team autonomy and the level of resources required to exercise that

power, so the more effective the team becomes.” (Escriba-Moreno, Canet-Giner & Moreno-

Luzon, 2008, p56)

“What we need then are leader based organizations, with leadership capacity embedded

throughout the organization.” (Winder and Draeger, 2006, p1) “The most current theory on

leadership looks at leadership as a process in which leaders are not seen as individuals in charge

of followers, but as members of a community of practice.” (Horner, 1997, p277) In regard to

team leadership “developing shared knowledge amongst team members, acting as a mentor,
instructing others, facilitating group processes, providing information, monitoring performance,

promoting open communication, providing goals and allocating resources effectively.” (Horner,

1997, p284)

Individual qualities of a quality leader, “which will be necessary to implement and sustain

progress toward a TQM culture include, drive, motivation, honesty and integrity, self confidence,

cognitive ability, knowledge of the business, charisma.” (Puffer and McCarthy, 1996, p115)

This directly reflects the 95% percent of respondents to the National Leadership Index report,

who stated that honesty and integrity were extremely important traits in leaders. (National

Leadership Index, 2005) These traits are also reflected in research conducted by Kouzes and

Posner who researched characteristics of admired leaders, in six continents, in 3 major studies,

1987, 1995 and 2002. In each of these the top 4 characteristics in each were, honesty, forward

looking, competent and inspiring. (Kouzes and Posner, 2002)

Robert K. Greenleaf coined the term Servant-Leadership in his 1970 essay ‘The Servant as

Leader’. He saw a better approach to leadership, one that puts serving others, including

employees, customers, and community first. Servant-leadership emphasizes an increased service

to others, a holistic approach, promoting a sense of community, and the sharing of power in

decision making. It is a practical philosophy concerned with the ethical use of power and

authority. “He explains that servant leaders believe that power and authority are for helping

others grow, not for exploiting, ruling or taking advantage by setting groups or individuals

against each other.” (Ndoria, 2004)

Who is the Servant Leader? “It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve

first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. The difference manifests itself in the

care taken by the servant--first to make sure that other people's highest-priority needs are being

served. The best test is: Do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become

healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And what

is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further

deprived?” (Ndoria, 2004)

At its core, servant-leadership is a long-term, transformational approach to life and work-that has

the potential for creating positive change throughout our society. Servant Leadership seems to

have a particularly strong affinity to Quality. Actually, it closely echoes the ASQ Vision. “By

making quality a global priority, an organizational imperative and personal ethic, the ASQ

becomes the community for everyone who seeks quality concepts, technology and tools to

improve themselves and their world.”

Spears (1998) identified ten characteristics to Servant Leadership.

1. Listening

2. Empathy

3. Healing

4. Awareness

5. Persuasion

6. Conceptualization

7. Foresight

8. Stewardship
 9. Commitment to the growth of people

10. Building Community

Leadership and Baldrige

One of the most successful and most widely used quality criteria is the Malcolm Baldrige

National Quality Award, Criteria for Performance Excellence. (Leonard, 2006, Baldrige National

Quality Program) One of the key categories (category 1) specifically addresses leadership and

represents 120 points out of 1000. This category focuses on how senior leaders guide and sustain

an organization, communicate and encourage high performance in addition to responsibilities to

the public, ethical behavior and good citizenship.

Not only does the criteria include leadership as a category but it underpins the entire criteria

visionary leadership as a core value and concept. These are embedded beliefs and behaviors in

high performing organizations. It defines visionary leadership in the following way.

“Organization’s senior leaders should set directions and create a customer focus, clear and

visible values, and high expectations…..leaders should ensure the creation of strategies, systems

and methods for achieving performance excellence, stimulating innovation, building knowledge

and capabilities, and ensuring organizational sustainability……..Senior leaders should inspire,

motivate, and encourage your entire workforce to contribute, to develop and learn, to be innovate

and creative….. should serve as role models through their ethical behavior and their personal

involvement in planning, communications, coaching, development of future leaders, review of

organizational performance, and employee recognition. As role models they can reinforce ethics,

values, and expectations while building leadership, commitment, and initiative throughout your

organization.” (Baldrige National Quality Program, 2007, p1)

In the glossary of key terms Baldrige defines a Leadership System as “an effective leadership

system includes mechanisms for the leaders to conduct self-examination, receive feedback and

improve.” (Baldrige National Quality Program, 2007, p68)

With the importance of leadership in quality and Baldrige, it is not surprising then that a 2003

study by Baldrige/NIST showed that the second most highest reason for the criteria being used

was that the CEO or senior leadership made the decision. (NIST/BNQP, 2003, p6) Respondents

also stated that the greatest impact on organizational success was leadership commitment and the

greatest influence on successful implementation was senior leadership commitment and

extensive CEO/senior leadership involvement. (NIST/BNQP, 2003, p14) The difference

between those organizations that achieved the desired results compared to those that did not was

overwhelmingly leadership. (NIST/BNQP, 2003, p13)

Baldrige Examiner training provides a wide range of personal and professional development

including leadership. (Leonard & McAdam, 2003) The Baldrige impact on leadership does not

end there. A survey of 600 US based organizations known for their excellence in developing

leaders using interviews and site visits the publication Leadership Excellence then ranked the top

leadership development programs in the US. In the government/military category the Baldrige

Award ranked 8th after West Point and US Army Rangers. “These programs appear to deliver the
best return on investment…..participants come in with clear expectations and come away with

concrete applications and accountability for results” (Leadership Excellence, 2006, p2) The

criteria included in the study were vision mission, involvement participation, accountability

measurement, content curriculum, presenters presentations, take home value results for

customers, outreach of the programs and products.

Quality Leadership Self Assessment

So we can take these key characteristics and create a list and model to focus on and use to

provide a self-assessment tool. Below is each of the characteristics each with two statements to

consider. Score yourself between 1-10 for each statement.

1 = this does not reflect me and 10 = I consistently do this, this accurately reflects me.

QUALITY LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS

1. Values: Integrity, Trust and Culture

Q1.1 My staff trusts me and regularly seeks my guidance

Q1.2 I lead my department based on a set of values

2. Vision: Strategic Focus

Q2.1 I have a strong strategic awareness and abilities

Q2.2 I have a vision for where we should be going as an organization

3. Inspiration: Charisma, Communications Skills, Role Model, Motivational and Mentor

Q3.1 I inspire and motivate groups with my charismatic approaches

Q3.2 I act as a role model and mentor. I coach many colleagues

4. Innovative: Change Agent

Q4.1 I like change and constantly am driving for new business models

Q4.2 I regularly come up with new ideas, methods, solutions or approaches

5. Systems View: Interactive

Q5.1 I am vigilant at breaking down silos and work closely with other departments and

organizations

Q5.2 I create integrated systems for example integrating quality, safety and environmental

management

6. Empowering: Focus on Employees

Q6.1 I have high levels of employee satisfaction with my team

Q6.2 I promote and empower teams and develop leaders

7. Customer Focus: Society

Q7.1 Social responsibility is a key area I promote and actively link to our work

Q7.2 I promote a strong focus on the customer

8. Business and Quality Knowledge

Q8.1 I have a strong understanding of a wide range of quality tools and techniques and have

successfully applied these

Q8.2 I have a wide range of knowledge and applied experience with operations, marketing,

finance, human relations and other key functions.

Calculate the total points you have scored out of a possible 160.

0-50 You have significant opportunities for improvement as a quality leader

51-99 You have balanced abilities and can improve these further

100-160 You are a well functioning quality leader

It is the combination of the above characteristics that is unique and creates impact. If a vision is

created but cannot be well communicated or if one cannot inspire others to achieve it, it will not

be fulfilled. Or one can be innovative but may not have the business or technical knowledge to

implement it, again it will not be achieved. Also doing all of this with core values as a guide

ensures the positive impact on society. Finally, it is the integrative approach to balance and

coordinate that leverages the real impact of a Quality Leader.

Conclusions

Those following the teachings of quality gurus such as Deming, Juran and Feigenbaum and

implementing quality culture, tools and techniques are following approaches that tend toward

leadership traits that include, empowerment, a focus on people a strong strategic viewpoint and

an awareness of integrating different disciplines. Other traits include strong integrity and an

awareness of social responsibilities. With research showing a frustration with leaders this

particular quality leadership style is one that is being sought after. Empirical research needs to be

carried out to further study the characteristics of quality leadership, its impact on organizations

and its differentiation from other styles of leadership. In the meantime we can focus on these

Quality Leadership traits, conduct self assessment and improve as leaders.

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