ABSTRACT
Three themes that run through virtually all quality processes are identified: leadership, participation, and measurement. Participation in the effort to continually improve an organization comes close to being a “worker’s right.” A deeply rooted commitment to quality encourages ongoing active employee participation, shares authority, and rewards small ideas. A quick litmus test of a quality process is to look to see whose behavior is being forced to change as a result of decisions being made under the quality banner. If it is usually somebody other than the decision maker, there is room to question the sincerity of the participants. Management can leave anyone whose name is highlighted out of a quality process, on one condition. One of the more straightforward ways to implement a total quality effort is to break the entire company up into teams of 8–12 people. Top management must first decide whether their quality objective is cosmetic or deeply rooted.
