Leadership Role in Developing a Quality Culture

The textbook author asserts that creating a culture for quality and performance excellence is not rocket science.

JLB Services, a 200-person organization that services and repairs residential and commercial heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in the greater Phoenix area, has been losing customers because of recurring complaints about shoddy equipment, poor workmanship, and slow service. This is an extremely competitive industry with many challenges. First, the city is growing rapidly so HVAC firms are all trying to capture market share. Second, that rapid growth is causing HVAC firms to compete for trained employees, sometimes having to accept under-qualified people. Third, employees often move from firm to firm seeking higher wages. Fourth, the previous CEO at JBL had cut back on vehicle maintenance and equipment replacement in order to report increasing profitability so now there is a backlog of needed purchases. In short, things are not going well for JLB Services.

Imagine that you have very recently become the CEO of JLB Services and have been tasked to “fix the business”. You have been given two years to do so.

Describe your approach to creating a culture of quality and performance excellence as a part of “fixing the business”. Consider the time available. Consider what you would want to learn and how you may go about doing so. Consider who are the customers and how they may define quality. Consider what the customer requirements may be and how they may influence the key processes. Think about the key processes that you hope exist and how you would manage them. Think about the various approaches to quality (TQM, ISO, Baldrige, Six Sigma, Lean, etc.) and which one(s) you would consider.