Top managers and TQM success: One more look after all these years

Executive Overview Few authors who attempt to explain the recent problems of total quality management (TQM) pay much attention to the ways in which the attitudes of top managers affect the quality of such programs, even though the most respected authorities on TQM have long argued that top management's leadership is key to TQM's success or failure. Our research indicates that top managers' underlying, often unspoken, orientations toward time, market, and customers affect the nature of their firms' TQM programs.