The new quality philosophy and management's role

This talk is about leadership. Leaders are people at every level in an organization who believe in change and are energized by it. They understand the difficult realities of competitive existence. They motivate and challenge. They provide positive reinforcement -- but are never satisfied with their achievements because opportunities for further improvement are never exhausted. Today, leadership is more important than ever because operating environments are changing at an unprecedented rate. The causes are geopolitical, economic, technological, etc. In fact, everything we know about nature tells us that change is inevitable. History shows quite clearly that human progress is not possible without change. Yet, humans crave stability and permanence. As a consequence, success often leads to complacency. But, demise is inevitable for those who protect the status quo. There exists a growing national awareness that global competitive pressures are forcing on American industry the need for ever higher levels of performance. And, similar forces are necessitating improved performance in DOE's nuclear weapons complex. Today, quality takes on a much larger meaning than it has traditionally. It is attention to cost, schedule and product performance that characterize the modern Quality ethic. This paper discusses the manager's role and the new Quality philosophy. 11 figs.