Corporate Leadership in Operational Diversity

World Conference on Quality and Improvement vol. 53 - May 1999

Abstract:Ten principles have guided RPG Enterprises as it pursues its vision of exceeding customer expectations, inspiring and exciting its people, and establishing strategic international alliances. The principles support total quality management (TQM) and cover the following concepts: knowledge, which, more than information, is the basis of all quality related activities; organizational cultures, the diversity of which must be understood; individual companies, which in a group like RPG must have the freedom and respect to deal with quality and management; facilitation, which increases the effectiveness of TQM; bureaucracy and documentation, which should not overwhelm the initiatives of individual units; reviews, which help ensure that vision, mission, and activities are aligned; recognition of team efforts; management through quantification; building on success, through disseminating stories about what has worked well; and making sure that every quality initiative adds value to each RPG company. These principles help sustain an atmosphere of quality leadership at RPG, where the number of its successful TQM projects has increased from 52 in 1996 to 1,816 in 1998.

Keywords: Case study - Total Quality Management (TQM) - Leadership - Diversity