Changing from production to quality: Application of the situational leadership transtheoretical change models

摘要

The successful diffusion of quality throughout the organization is necessary for organizations to achieve world-class competitiveness. For this, all the members must assume full responsibility for building quality into all aspects of their work. This necessitates a change in workers' focus from the traditional preoccupation with production to a focus on quality. Attaining this shift in work focus requires: 1. A sufficient understanding of the nature of the challenges that workers will experience as they move through the change process. 2. A leadership strategy capable of helping workers successfully achieve their change goals. The Transtheoretical Model of Change (TMC) (Ref. 1) provides the change leaders with the conceptual tools needed to investigate and assess the readiness of their followers to progress through the change process. The Situational Leadership Model (SLM) (Ref. 2), when combined with an understanding of the requirements of the followers, provides leaders with an effective strategy for those leader actions that can best support their followers in their march toward quality.