Abstract

Many quality initiatives fail because organizations do not embrace quality culture. Instead, they are tribal, characterized by hoarding of information and resources and informal rule enforcement. The most noted quality professionals of the 1980s simultaneously identified the need to address cultural issues. Each organization’s culture is unique, and a force field analysis can identify the existing cultural balance. Quality managers should remember that they themselves exist within the organizational culture and account for their own effects on that culture. They also should be prepared for resistance as they attempt to change the cultural status quo.