I__. - International Military Testing Association

Management must listen, but also lead. If data show that
organizational problems exist, open discussions should take place:
but it is up to top management to lead the organization. This
does not prevent the use of OD techniques. In fact, the greater
the problem and resistance, the greater is the need for OD. People
become be1 fevers based on the enthusiasm, examples, ideas, and
data presented by management.
Whatever TOM strategy and tactics are adopted, they must be
reviewed and updated at least once each year. This action
accommodates criticism and conveys a sense of continually striving
for improvement and acceptance of the procedures adopted.
Labeis --_--- * Labels, such as MGEEM, TQM, MBO, and Zero Defects, can
easily become scapegoats for people dissatisfied with a new
management initiative. One way around this is to avoid using
labels. The NASA Lewis Research Center, for example, calls its
quality improvement program just that, a quality improvement
program (Office of Management and Budget, 1990). Although NASA
uses Deming principles and the ideas of other TQM experts, they
intentionally avoid referring to their program as a Deming program
or a TQM program. Their program is a combination of quality
initiative3 uniquely patterned for their organization. This may
be a good policy to adopt, since it can be more difficult to argue
against a quality improvement program than a specific TQM program
with a label.
FADS
Many who read this paper will be familiar with the long list of
publications which tell how to improve organizational
productivity, quality, and morale. A particularly good summary of
fads has been published by John Byrne (1986). He tells rn a very
entertaining way how fads come and go, and what are the latest
fads. He says that too many modern managers are like compulsive
dieters: trying the latest craze for a few days, then moving 0 R
(P. 58).
The theme of this paper is that things do not have to be that
way. An initiative to increase productivity and quality can
succeed and endure if people in the organization buy .into it.
First, they have to believe they need a change; then they have %o
agree to participate in the program. Because people are different
and organizations are different, the approach must be tailored tc;
the organization.
Success requires a qualified facilitator or change agent who can
teach people how to work as teams. Additionally, all levels of
management must endorse and actively sponsor the management
change. Workers must have goals which are consistent with t, h e
overall goals of management. OD techniques can help gain 7, h t?
required trust and cooperation needed to sustain a TQM program.
All this takes time, patience, and considerable skif?.
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