TQM: the role of leadership and culture

Examines the effects of a total quality management initiative on a department in a mid‐sized utility company in the USA. A longitudinal design was used to examine the effects of total quality management on performance measures and employee satisfaction over time, and a cross‐sectional survey was used to measure the perceived effects of leadership and culture on these outcomes. Results suggested that a culture change characterized by empowerment, employee development, and teamwork occurred immediately after the intervention, and was sustained over the next two years. However, a shift back to the pre‐intervention culture was evidenced by the end of the study, a shift accompanied by a significant decline in employee job satisfaction. Possible explanations for the organization’s failure to sustain the culture change are discussed, including the role of leadership, external threats and the threat‐rigidity hypothesis, and changes in the intervention itself.