Total Quality Management and the Influence of Transformational Leaders

Leadership in quality management systems
All over the world, the relationship between leadership and quality management systems has been studied by researchers. As quality management systems focus on refining company policies in order to meet customer needs, the role of leadership in that system is one that many have analyzed. Leaders play a tremendous role in a company’s success; therefore, it stands to reason that they should share a similar role in quality management systems. Wagimin, Elisa, Juhary and Vembri (2019) show, for instance, that both transformational and transactional leadership styles can have positive effects on quality management systems as well as on employee performance. What they also point out, however, is that quality management systems and in particular total quality management (TQM) can assist transformational and transactional leaders in improving employee performance. Their study is helpful because it highlights the nature of the relationship between quality management systems and two styles of leadership: that relationship is symbiotic. Their study is also helpful because it is set in Indonesia and gives an indication of how there is a universality to this relationship between leadership and quality management systems when compared to studies from other parts of the world, like those of Alnuaimi and Yaakub (2020) in the United Arab Emirates, or the study by Praditya (2020) in Tangerang, or the study by Githaiga, Namusonge and Sakwa (2018) in Kenya. The studies all indicate that leadership and quality management systems share a special positive relationship that can be exploited in a company no matter where it is located.
Chen, Lee and Wang (2020) arrive at the same conclusion as Wagimin et al. (2019). The relationship is especially symbiotic between transformational leadership and quality management systems as each has a positive effect on the other. Transformational leaders benefit from quality management systems, as the latter provides the former with a foundational framework for efficiency and the former provides the latter with proactive implementation of policies and processes. What makes the study by Chen et al. (2020) helpful is that it provides a sense of just how having a vision and the ability to communicate that vision makes a major difference in the extent to which quality management systems are effective. In other words, Chen et al. (2020) suggest that without a transformational leader, the quality management system is unlikely to have as positive an effect as it might otherwise have. Alnuaimi and Yaakub (2020) used a survey methodology of 230 participants to show as much.
Praditya (2020) also found that leadership had a strong impact on the implementation of quality management systems. That study was conducted in an automotive plant in Tangerang with 63 participants from the plant randomly selected to participate in the study. Other factors were also assessed, including commitment and motivation, but it was found that only leadership matters when it comes to implementing the quality management system. The reason for this is that leadership provides the guidance and oversight, as well as the vision that motivates and encourage people to be committed to the organization. The leader provides that motivation and encouragement: that is why the leader matters most.
Cho (2017) conducted empirical analysis in the construction industry and found the same thing as Praditya (2020) found in the automotive industry: leadership is what has the biggest impact on quality management systems. Leaders enable the company to come together as one because they unite with their communication of a vision. The vision has to be at the front and center of the quality management system, and the leader must be the one to provide it.
The other interesting factor in the success of quality management systems is culture, as Purwanto, Asbari and Santoso (2019) show. Culture and leadership are essential to the successful implementation of quality management systems, but commitment, motivation and competence are not deciding factors, according to Purwanto et al. (2019). That finding aligns perfectly with the findings of Cho (2017) and Praditya (2020). Again, the reason is found to be the same: leaders are what make the difference. However, what makes the study by Purwanto et al. (2019) so helpful and compelling is that it also identifies the crucial role that culture plays in the relationship between leadership and quality management systems. Organizational culture and workplace culture are things that leaders can have an impact on, but other factors will determine the culture as well. Thus, this may be an area where more research is required, as it is unclear to what extent the leader is responsible for managing the workplace culture as well.
The study by Clay-Williams et al. (2020) is the one that stands out from the others because it found that there is no correlative evidence between the impact of leadership and the impact of quality management systems. The study was conducted among Australian hospitals, so this may be one reason for a difference in outcomes with respect to the relationship between leadership and quality management systems. In the Western world, it may be that systems theory is stronger and more practical than leadership theory. Systems have been constructed using the scientific method that essentially run themselves and do not require any input from leaders. The other studies, such as those by Praditya (2020), Cho (2017) and the rest are done in basically non-Western regions and thus it could be a cultural issue that is not being addressed here. It could be that leadership influence is much stronger and obvious in non-Western countries because of the cultural values that are in place, whereas in the Western world the culture has become largely mechanized. In such a culture it is unclear to what extent leadership can actually have an applicable role. The study by Clay-Williams et al. (2020) shows that the role of leadership in quality management systems, at least in a hospital setting in Australia, is negligible.
The study by Githaiga et al. (2018) also showed that there was a positive linear relationship between strategic leadership and the successful implementation of quality management systems. The study was conducted in Kenya and thus it fits in with the overall theme of leadership having more influence in non-Western cultures when it comes to implementing quality management systems than in Western cultures. This is an interesting point that should be considered more, especially since the study by Purwanto et al. (2019) showed that culture is equally important to implementing quality management systems and that leadership is only part of the equation.
Understanding culture is therefore an important point when discussing the matter of leadership in quality management systems. What kind of culture and expectations exist in the nation? What kind of systems are already in place? If the systems used in certain industries, like the hospital industry in Australia, are able to run themselves, it makes sense that the issue of leadership would be negligible. However, in a country like Kenya or Indonesia, leadership is required because the systems in place are not self-running or self-sufficient.
In short, the issue of leadership in quality systems management is going to be most heavily felt in countries and workplace environments where leadership is needed. In a highly controlled and systematized environment like a hospital, where practices are already so standardized that quality management systems can be implemented without any trouble at all, it is another story altogether. The leader is there to facilitate the process in environments where the people are not used to quality management systems or where this is a new idea. In an industry like health care, quality management systems are going to have a more natural fit. This is not necessarily going to be the case for a construction industry or an auto factory. Thus, there is also the consideration to be made regarding the nature of the industry.
In conclusion, the literature indicates that leadership tends to have a major role in quality management systems but that this role is mostly felt in environments, industries or nations wherein the culture is not already aligned with the essence of quality management systems. When there is no foundational framework already in place, the leader is necessary because the leader provides the focus, the vision, the communication, and the motivation. That is why motivation and commitment were not found to be important factors in the implementation of quality management systems: the leader was expected to motivate and foster commitment. Thus, the leader is always going to be seen as having an important role in the process of overseeing and maintaining quality management systems where there is no culture in place to support them. The leader has to guide that process, which is not going to be the case in an environment where leaders can be more disengaged and removed.
References
Alnuaimi, A.S.A. and Yaakub, K.B., 2020. The Impact of Leadership Practices on Total Quality Management and Organizational Performance in the UAE Interior Ministry. European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 5(2), pp.9-14.
Chen, R., Lee, Y.D. and Wang, C.H., 2020. Total quality management and sustainable competitive advantage: serial mediation of transformational leadership and executive ability. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 31(5-6), pp.451-468.
Cho, J.H., 2017. An empirical study on top management's leadership in construction quality management activities and construction quality management performance. Journal of the korean society for quality management, 45(3), pp.403-426.
Clay-Williams, R., Taylor, N., Ting, H.P., Arnolda, G., Winata, T. and Braithwaite, J.,2020. Do quality management systems influence clinical safety culture and leadership? A study in 32 Australian hospitals. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 32(Supplement_1), pp.60-66.
Githaiga, I.M., Namusonge, G.S. and Sakwa, M.M., 2018. Effect of Strategic Leadership Practice on Implementation of Quality Management Systems in State Corporations in Kenya. International Journal of Research and Discovery, 1(1), pp.1-9.
Praditya, R.A., 2020. Leadership, Work Motivation, Competency, Commitment andCulture: Which influences The Performance of Quality Management System in Automotive Industry?. Journal of Industrial Engineering & Management Research, 1(1), pp.53-62.
Purwanto, A., Asbari, M. and Santoso, P.B., 2019. Does Culture, Motivation, Competence, Leadership, Commitment Influence Quality Performance?. Inovbiz: Jurnal Inovasi Bisnis, 7(2), pp.201-205.
Wagimin, M., Elisa, K., Juhary, A. and Vembri, N.H., 2019. The Effect of Leadership on Employee Performance with Total Quality Management (TQM) as a Mediating Variable in Indonesian Petroleum Companies: A Case Study. International Journal of Integrated Engineering, 11(5), pp.180-188.