Quality Culture Ch

Quality Culture

Course Instructor:

Dr. Syed M. Ahmed, Ph.D.
College of Engineering & Computing
Florida International University, Miami, Florida

Major Topics
Understanding What a Quality Culture Is
Quality Culture vs. Traditional Cultures
Activating Cultural Change
Changing Leaders to activate Cultural Change
Laying the Groundwork for a Quality Culture
Learning What a Quality Culture looks like
Countering Resistance to Culture Change
Establishing a Quality Culture
Maintaining a Quality Culture

Understanding What a Quality Culture Is
To understand a Quality Culture, one must first understand a Organizational Culture.
An organizational culture has the following elements:
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Business Improvement
Organizational Values
Cultural Role Models
Organizational Rites, Rituals and Customs
Cultural Transmitters

A quality culture is:
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An organizational value system that results in an environment that is conducive to the establishment and continual improvement of Quality.

Quality Culture vs. Traditional Cultures
Organizations that develop and maintain a quality culture will differ significantly from those with a traditional culture in the following areas:
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Operating Philosophy
Objectives
Management Approach
Attitude towards Customers
Problem-Solving Approach
Supplier Relationship
Performance-Improvement Approach

Activating Cultural Change
To attempt the implementation of total quality without creating a quality culture is to invite failure.
Several primary reasons cultural change must either precede or at least parallel the implementation of total quality are:
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Change can not occur in a hostile environment
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Moving to Total Quality takes time
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Total Quality approach might be radically different from what the management is accustomed to.
In a conversion to Total Quality, positive results are rarely achieved in the short run.

It can be difficult to overcome the past
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Employees might remember earlier fads and gimmicks and characterize total quality as being just the latest one.

Changing Leaders to
Activate Cultural Change
Cultural change is one of the most difficult challenges an organization will ever face.
Leadership from the top is essential.
Sometimes, an organization’s culture simply cannot be changed without a change in leadership.
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Senior Executives who fail to comprehend the need to change, who fail to create a sense of urgency when needed and who fail to follow through the changes they initiated are poor candidates to lead an organization through a major culture change.

Culture change requires support, ideas, and leadership from employees at all levels.

Laying the Groundwork for a Quality
Culture
Establishing a Quality Culture is lot like constructing a building.
According to Peter Scholtes,
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Management should begin by developing an understanding of “laws” of organizational change.
They are:
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Understand the History behind the Current Culture
Don’t Tamper with Systems – Improve Them
Be prepared to Listen and Observe
Involve Everyone Affected by Change in Making It

Learning What a Quality Culture looks like Part of laying the groundwork for a quality culture is understanding what one looks like.
Any Executive team that hope to change the culture of its organization should:
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Know the laws of organizational change
Understand the characteristics of organizations that have strong quality cultures. Countering Resistance to
Culture Change - 1
Change is Resisted in any Organization.
Continuous Improvement means Continuous Change.
Why Change is Difficult?
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Juran describes organizational change as
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“Clash between Cultures”

Fig 1. Two separate organizational Cultures relating to change

Countering Resistance to
Culture Change - 2
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There are different perceptions to the same proposed change in an organization.

Fig 2. Different Perceptions of Same change

Countering Resistance to
Culture Change - 3
How to Facilitate Change?
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The responsibility to facilitate change necessarily falls to its advocates.
Begin with a new advocacy Paradigm
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Understand Concerns of Potential Resisters
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The first step is to adopt a facilitating paradigm. Understand the concerns of resisters like fear, loss of control, uncertainty and more work.

Implement Change Promoting Strategies
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Involve Potential Resisters, Avoid Surprises,
Move slowly at first, Start Small and be flexible, create a positive environment, Incorporate the change, Respond Quickly and Positively, Work with Established leaders, Treat people with dignity & Respect, Be Constructive.

Fig 3. Steps in
Facilitating Change

Establishing a Quality Culture - 1
Establishing a quality culture involves specific planning and activities for business or department.
Phases of Emotional Transition:

Fig 4.
Emotional Transition

Establishing a Quality Culture - 2
Steps in Conversion to Quality:
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Identify the Changes needed
Put the Planned Changes in Writing
Develop a Plan for Making the
Changes
Understand the Emotional Transition
Process
Identify Key People and Make Them
Advocates
Take a Hearts and Minds Approach
Apply Courtship Strategies

Maintaining a Quality Culture
Establishing Quality Culture is a challenging undertaking for any organization. It is even more challenging to maintain it over time.
In order to maintain Quality Culture, organizations must foster the following behaviors:
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Maintain an awareness of Quality as a key cultural issue.
Make sure that there is plenty of evidence of Management’s leadership. Empower Employees and encourage self-development and selfinitiative.
Recognize and reward the behaviors that tend to nurture and maintain Quality Culture.

Questions/Queries