This chapter presented a discussion of the handle of the fork model for quality management that is presented in this book. The handle is management’s commitment to ¬transformation, without which there can be no transformation. Aids to promoting quality management and barriers to it are presented. Lack of management commitment is a barrier that is addressed in this chapter.
Top management’s reluctance to commit to quality management arises from managers who are unwilling to acknowledge success stories of quality management, who are not pro-quality because it is not their own creation, who are scared of failure to meet short-term goals or to manage effectively, or who are reluctant to change because they have been personally successful.
There are two sources for the energy needed by top management to transform an organization: a crisis or a vision. Two cases are presented that show how companies ¬responding to crises were stimulated to begin a process of quality management: JUKI (a Japanese manufacturer) and Florida Power and Light Company (an electric utility). If a company is not currently faced with an obvious crisis, top management can uncover and bring to the forefront any hidden crises that exist.
Alternatively, top management can begin the transformation by creating its own vision as a rallying point for the introduction of quality. This is critical for organizations that are not facing a crisis.
After top management makes the commitment to transformation, the first action may be retaining outside counsel, because an expert in the System of Profound Knowledge will not likely be in-house, and the organization frequently cannot recognize its own deficiencies. Outside counsel may help top management determine the “barriers against” and “aids for” transformation, and works with top management to develop a plan for the transformation.
Next, top management forms an executive committee (EC), which consists of all policy makers in the organization. The EC carries out the plan for transformation. Unless the members of the EC exhibit signs of transformation to relevant stakeholders, the window of opportunity for the transformation begins to close.
Questions for self-examination are presented to stimulate thought and discussion in an organization that is contemplating transformation to quality management