ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to prove that exactly the opposite is true: namely, that accomplishing total quality is an eminently political, much more than technical, operation. The process of change will have to confront two forms of resistance on the part of the middle bureaucrats concerned: one active, perhaps also represented in some political form at company level, and one passive, in all its possible forms. Only in systems based on full political recognition that enterprises are arenas of democratic conflict between owners and management, on one side, and employee representatives on the other. Total quality is something more than a new management philosophy. For top management the dilemma is so intricate that a wide range of solutions is emerging in the international arena. Conventionally, it may be useful as a logical device, to isolate the dilemma management is confronted with; but if pushed too far, this view is actually very misleading.
