US Managers Focus on Boosting Quality but Changing Corporate Culture Has Been Difficult

S. C. Llewelyn Leach, writer of The Christian Science Monitor, The Christian Science Monitor

`TOTAL quality," the management technique that brought so much success to Japanese companies and acquired momentum over the 1980s in American business, is at a new juncture.

The pioneers of the quality revolution are passing the baton to a second wave of United States companies. What's not clear, however, is how broadly the business philosophy will take hold.

Several recent studies have knocked its efficacy as a management tool, suggesting that a third of businesses fail to make it work. But the blame, proponents contend, is due in large part to the quick-fix mentality of managers who ignore the need for major, long-term organizational change.

For the …

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Publication information: Article title: US Managers Focus on Boosting Quality but Changing Corporate Culture Has Been Difficult. Contributors: S. C. Llewelyn Leach, writer of The Christian Science Monitor - Author. Newspaper title: The Christian Science Monitor. Publication date: December 1, 1992. Page number: 9. © 2009 The Christian Science Publishing Society. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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