QFD: the role of various leadership styles

Abstract

Quality function deployment (QFD) methodologies, as opposed to traditional quality approaches, are most often cited as essential for advancing the competitive advantage of an organisation. Unfortunately, little is known about the roles played by leadership in the process of QFD in the Arab world. A survey of 104 middle level managers from a wide variety of United Arab Emirates’ industries who are engaged in quality management programs was undertaken to investigate the relationship between different leadership style dimensions and a number of QFD methodologies. Results indicate that the leadership styles that involve human interaction and encourage participative decision making are supportive of open and collaborative QFD methodologies.