Leading Tqm in Panama

"Leading TQM in Panama"

Senthuran Yogarajah

University of Guelph-Humber,Toronto ON

Tompkins Case Book Volume 2

Total Quality Management (TQM) cannot be implemented in Panama if there is no employee participation. This problem exists due to an autocratic leadership style deeply imbedded in the organization. An autocratic leader believes that employees are dependent, hostile, unwilling to work, and need detailed plans at all times. Due to the above characteristics of this leadership style, TQM cannot be properly applied to Tropical Export Company.

The first of the three most feasible solutions is to continuing to run Tropical Export Company with an autocratic leadership style, however to encourage participation and offer employees incentives. The second solution is to run the company with a Laissez Fair leadership style. This will allow the employees within the organization to settle problems themselves. The third solution is to change the culture from an autocratic style to a democratic style. This will allow the employees to give their honest input without fear of consequences.

If they were to Continuing to run the organization with an autocratic leadership style with incentives given to those particular employees who efficiently practice TQM, a con will be distributive justice. This is when an incentive is not the amount of the reward which the employees feel is fair. A second con will be that incentives may cause conflict within the organization among employees and co-workers. The most important con is that earnings will vary from year to year; the problem is that this creates an unsteady cash flow therefore making it difficult for the employee to budget their money. A pro is that incentives are a motivation for employees to work harder. It would be a good idea to create a customizable incentive program which allows the employees to choose their benefits. The last pro is that it makes a clear link between organizational goals and individual rewards.

Laissez faire cons are employees without management intervention are claimed to aggregate into unions (separate groups). Secondly, employees without oversight tend toward collusion and lastly employees without oversight tend toward fraud and corruption

Three pros are that the employees are more efficient because it requires fewer resources, such as management time, to meet the goals. A second pro is that the employees develop a sense of community and belonging, as they are required to work as teams in order to succeed. The third pro is that the employees feel more empowered as they are making decisions that affect the company’s future themselves.

Democratic con is a lack of time for line workers to take time for TQM meetings. Employees must be informed to make decisions and they need to be there for the meetings. Secondly, these meetings cost the company money as it is very expensive to pay that employee for their time. The last con is that democratic look at the majority winning. This however means that the minority is the loser which can lead to resistance to the decision. A pro is that it is a fair decision making process, everyone gets an input. Another pro is that it satisfies the majority of the organization. The last, and most important pro is that it empowers and encourages employees to participate in decision making, fully knowing that their input will have a direct result in regards to the outcome.

Our preferred solution is to change from an autocratic leadership style to a democratic leadership style for the reasons listed above. The reason for this is that from the three most feasible solutions this is the solution which provides the organization with the strongest pros and the cons with the least severe consequences. The greatest positive outcome will be that the Tropical Export Company will empower its employees therefore being able to successfully implement TQM. The greatest negative outcome will be if TQM is still not implemented and it will cost the company money for the structural change and having meetings with employees.

One theory to support our decision is the expectancy theory, which states that the strength of a tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual. In relations