Leadership challenges for smaller organisations: Self-perceptions of Total Quality Management implementation

This paper addresses a gap in the TQM (Total Quality Management) literature by providing empirical data on differences in implementation practice associated with organisational size. It also goes further than is usual down the well-trodden path of TQM success and failure, by examining senior executives' associated attitudes to and perceptions of TQM. The results from 113 TQM organisations suggest that small organisations display significantly poorer levels of understanding of the purpose of TQM and its true nature as a strategic approach to customers and the market environment. They also appear less knowledgeable about their customers' satisfaction levels and are more likely to believe that TQM has had a marginal impact on their business. The importance of such research into TQM in small firms is underlined, especially in the context of peripheral regions and also on the basis of the TQM tenet of supplier–customer partnerships. Based on the work of Argyris, it is hypothesised that these attitudes and perceptions should in theory be mirrored by specific leadership behaviours, but in practice certain inconsistencies should emerge which betray a less optimistic picture of leadership in small organisations. The paper lays the foundation for these assertions to be explored more fully in a follow-up paper.