Leadership styles in organizations committed to continuous quality improvement and those not committed to continuous improvement

The problem. Competition in the global market is requiring organizations to improve quality, customer satisfaction, and productivity. Total and continuous quality improvement (TCQI) is a process for doing this. Leadership is responsible for its success. Organizational structure is important to its facilitation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the leadership styles of leaders, and the organizational structure of those organizations committed to TCQI as compared to those organizations not committed to TCQI.; Method. A comparative field study was conducted in which 58 organizations participated. The LBDQ-XII questionnaire was administered to leaders and their employees to assess leadership styles. A researcher-devised questionnaire was used to determine whether the organizations were committed to TCQI, and to determine organizational structures. The structures were defined as either mechanistic and formal or organic and flexible. Demographic questions were asked of all subjects. Six job satisfaction questions were asked of the leaders.; Results. The first hypothesis predicted that leaders of TCQI organizations would score higher than leaders of non-TCQI organizations on the Consideration and Tolerance of Freedom scale, and score lower on the Initiation of Structure scale. These predictions were not supported. The second hypothesis predicted that the employees of the leaders in an organization committed to TCQI would be in close agreement with the leaders' self-assessments of their styles of leadership. This was not supported. The third hypothesis predicted that organizations committed to TCQI would be more organic in their organizational structures than those organizations not committed to TCQI. This hypothesis was supported.; Three basic findings emerged as results of this study. They were: (1) leadership style is not a major factor in the commitment to TCQI; (2) leadership satisfaction is greater in those organizations committed to TCQI; and (3) organizations committed to TCQI have more organic organizational structures than organizations not committed to TCQI.