A theory of leadership for quality: Lessons from TQM for leadership theory1

Abstract

Despite their implications for the management of quality in organizations, leadership theories have not explicitly focused on quality and on the role of leaders as managers of quality. Building on recent attempts in the leadership and total quality management literatures, this article develops a theory of leadership for quality, focusing on leader traits, values, and behaviours based on underlying TQM principles. Contributions of the TQM literature to the leadership literature are identified and discussed. A set of leader traits, values, and behaviours are extracted from the TQM philosophy and integrated into an articulation of a theory of leadership based on these constructs. The core principles of TQM are addressed and a number of propositions are developed, identifying both generic and specific leader behaviours in the domains of customer focus, teamwork and participation, and continuous improvement. The theory developed here makes incremental contributions by examining these hitherto unexamined behaviours in the leadership literature. The framework adds value to the literature by embedding key leadership constructs in organizational processes. Contributions to the TQM and leadership literature, limitations of the approach, and implications for research and practice are discussed.