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To cite this article: Mattias Elg , Ida Gremyr , Andreas Hellstrm & Lars Witell (2011) The role
of quality managers in contemporary organisations, Total Quality Management & Business
Excellence, 22:8, 795-806, DOI: 10.1080/14783363.2011.593899
A key question for firms nowadays is how to organise work with quality management.
This naturally includes the role of the quality managers and it appears as if the
profession of quality managers is at a crossroads. Alternatives are that the role of a
quality manager broadens to include quality at a strategic level in the firm and that
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Six Sigma specialists and Lean Production managers drive the development of
quality management in the future. In this paper, we present the results from a survey
of 212 quality managers in Swedish organisations. The purpose is to contribute to an
understanding of how the management of quality is designed and practised in
contemporary organisations. This study shows that a quality managers operational
responsibility is quite narrowly defined. The agenda of the quality manager is
mainly related to quality standards, such as ISO 9000 and environmental
management systems. These programmes frame the work of the quality manager,
which in many cases leaves other programmes, such as Six Sigma and Lean
Production, to other departments or parallel improvement structures.
Keywords: quality managers; quality management; ISO; Six Sigma; Lean Production
1. Introduction
It is generally agreed that present-day organisations compete in an economy in which there
are both great business opportunities and great turmoil. In these conditions, quality has
become an important aspect of competitiveness. The key question for firms is not
whether they should adopt and work with quality issues but how quality management
should be implemented and continuously organised (Sousa & Voss, 2002; Waddell &
Mallen, 2001). Since the seminal work of Edward Deming, Joseph Juran, Philip Crosby
and Kauro Ishikawa generally considered to be the founders of quality management, the
field has developed from its initial hype and enthusiasm to a mature and accepted field
of study (Sousa & Voss, 2001). Following more than two decades of research in the
field of quality management, there is now general agreement about what quality manage-
ment is and what can be classified under the umbrella of quality management (Dahlgaard,
Kristensen, & Kanji, 1998; Dean & Bowen, 1994). One conceptual definition that high-
lights the essence of quality management states that quality management is a philosophy
or an approach to management that can be characterized by its principles, practices and
techniques (Dean & Bowen, 1994, p. 394).
In contrast to the degree of agreement about how quality management can be viewed,
there have been far fewer empirical studies about how the management of quality should,
or can, be put into practice within organisations. While the quality management literature
Corresponding author. Email: mattias.elg@liu.se
frequently argues that quality should be the responsibility of management (Hackman &
Wageman, 1995), the question remains as to how this responsibility should be organised
and executed and what the role of a quality manager is. What is on the agenda of a quality
manager in a contemporary organisation?
A central assumption in this paper is that attention should shift to the actual practice of
quality management. The emerging field of studying management as a practice is an
example of this practice turn in management research. This turn has been highlighted
in, for example, a special issue of the British Journal of Management (2001, 12,
Special issue) and in the Academy of Management Journal (2004, 44(2)); in which, it
has been argued that if academic research is to play a significant role and have real influ-
ence, it must address issues that are relevant to practitioners. Starkey and Madan (2001)
dealt with this neglect in their discussion of the the relevance gap between management
research and management practice.
The present study aims to contribute to an understanding of how the management of
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quality should be designed and practised with respect to business operations. Various
quality programmes, such as quality circles, ISO 9000, TQM, Benchmarking and Six
Sigma, have been practised over time in order to enhance organisational performance.
These practices have also been the focus for explaining the failures of quality manage-
ment. As Sandholm (2005) noted, quality professionals tend to advocate various
methods rather than focusing on the business outcomes and central quality problems
at hand. The current study was designed to explore the landscape of the quality
manager. What types of roles are performed? What types of programmes and activities
are practised and what are the characteristics of a quality manager? A survey was
designed and 212 responses were received from quality managers at Swedish organis-
ations (response rate 32%). The results indicate that companies adopt a wide range of
quality initiatives and that a quality manager can have a number of roles in a contem-
porary organisation but that the operational responsibility of a quality manager is quite
narrowly defined.
2. Previous research
The practice of quality management has undergone several important changes over the
years. Shewhart (1931, 1939) shifted the perspective from checking the quality of an
already produced product to quality control of the production process. Quality issues even-
tually became included much earlier in the process and became an important dimension of
product development (Lengnick-Hall, 1996). This development has also been favourable
to a view of quality management as an integrated part of many companies operations, and
it is now an important management matter that has strategic relevance (Sousa & Voss,
2002). The development of the service sector and the evident expansion of quality
issues in the public sector have also contributed to the field of quality management
being widened.
The literature on quality as a profession and the corresponding role of the quality
manager is somewhat contradictory. Chen, Paetsch, and Paulraj (1997, p. 400) stated
that The quality manager, one of the most important people in the management of
quality, is required to have a wide range of knowledge not only in his own field, but
also in related fields like manufacturing or design and still other less related fields such
as marketing, purchasing and logistics. On the other hand, studies of the tasks and respon-
sibilities of other managers within an organisation have highlighted the inclusion of
quality issues as an important element. However, it remains an issue that is integrated
Total Quality Management 797
in other roles rather than being assigned to a dedicated quality manager (Ritter, Sohal, &
DNetto, 1998).
Tension also exists between broadening the quality field to include related fields and
narrowing the main focus for quality professionals (Chen et al., 1997). Examples of a
broadened view of the responsibilities of quality managers are a greater focus on training
or coaching roles in general and involvement in change programmes (Larson, 1998;
Silverman & Propst, 1996). In contrast, the Six Sigma movement and the role structure
of improvement specialists, referred to as champions, master black belts, etc., with exten-
sive training in statistical tools (Lindeman, Shroeder, Zaheer, & Choo, 2003) have brought
about one example of a trend towards specialising the quality profession.
Watkins (2006) argued that the quality management profession has been overly
engaged in defensive quality practices, a view that is linked to the reduction of waste
and variability in processes by using quality management systems. Instead, the quality
profession should morph into the overall business management system. Its role should
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two ways are fundamentally different and provide the firm with totally different roles for
the quality manager. Second, different quality programmes generate very different roles
for the quality manager. For instance, involvement in ISO 9000 work differs a lot from
engagement in Lean Production activities. Third, the scope of responsibility can generate
a profession that involves quality in a narrow sense or becomes integrated into overall
business management. Fourth, and related to the previously mentioned aspects, is
whether a quality manager should specialise in technological aspects or have general
knowledge about a firms various quality initiatives. Lastly, the formal and informal
networks within and outside the organisation should be considered.
3. Method
In order to learn more about the role of quality managers, a survey was conducted of a
sample of Swedish organisations. The research methodology, the sample and the develop-
ment of the questionnaire are described below.
priate adjustments were then made in order to achieve relevant questions with an adequate
vocabulary. The final questionnaire consisted of 28 questions that covered both the quality
manager as an individual and the organisational context. Issues related to quality managers
covered titles, areas of responsibility, experience and educational background and the
role of the manager. Issues related to the organisational context regarded the way in
which quality work was organised and which quality programmes were included in the
responsibilities of the quality department.
The analysis is based on descriptive statistics of the questions in the empirical inves-
tigation of quality managers.
4. Results
4.1 The quality manager
A wide range of titles capture the work of the respondents in the survey, including quality
manager, quality coordinator, business development manager and manager of the quality
management system. For the sake of simplicity, all respondents will be referred to in this
paper as quality managers.
A typical quality manager (as derived from the mean values in the survey) is 47 years
old and has worked in his or her organisation for approximately 14 years. Of the 211
respondents, 155 were men (73.5%) and 56 were women (26.5%). A majority of the
quality managers received their education in the quality area from self-study and internal
education in their current organisations. Approximately one-third of the respondents had
taken quality-related courses at the university level. In terms of their career paths, many of
the quality managers are specialists, as their earlier positions have also been related to
quality management. The second most common area of previous work experience is in
the production area, while a few respondents reported having a background in the
product development area.
function in 50% of the firms. In these cases, responsibilities for environmental issues and
quality management are usually organised together.
The quality manager is included in the senior management team in more than 77%
of the companies. In 20% of the companies, the quality managers are part of the man-
agement team that is one hierarchical level below the senior management team, and in
the rest of the organisations, the quality manager has a lower degree of responsibility.
In those cases, the quality manager often has a title such as a quality administrator or
quality secretary.
expressed that a quality manager is an expert who supports others in quality matters.
Around one-third viewed themselves as internal consultants. Furthermore, just over
one-fifth said that they act as an analyst, educator/trainer and developer of methods. A
less common view is that of being a strategist.
Similarly, the role of the quality department or its equivalent is viewed as leading and
supporting improvement work and being available as experts on specific tools. However, it
also includes more operative functions such as improving product quality and representing
the voice of the customer in the organisation.
5. Analysis
The present study is in agreement with Sousa and Voss (2002) that while quality manage-
ment is an area of research and practice that is here to stay, the expression of it in practice
varies both over time and between different organisations. Although the image of the
quality manager discussed herein reflects a Swedish context, it is also the basis for a
general discussion about the role of quality managers in light of previous research and a
forecast of the future of the profession.
execution of this work are found by looking at the applied concepts (Table 1). In addition
to this work, however, the quality department is an environment in which knowledge about
new tools and techniques enters the organisation and is spread to other departments with
the assistance of experts from the quality department. The latter is reflected in the quality
managers views of themselves as expert support and internal consultants (Figure 1).
As revealed in our literature review, previous research is of the opinion that the profession
of quality managers is unclear or, in some cases, not even a profession at all (Sandholm, 2005).
Moreover, Wadell and Mallen (2001) summarised the future of quality profession as either a
profession with no future role in functional management or, in contrast, a profession with a
central role in contributing to organisations competitiveness. As a proponent of the latter
view, Stratton (1996) predicted that the future role of quality managers would be as change
agents focusing on leadership, team-building and interpersonal skills.
The Swedish quality managers in this study do not provide a picture that is solely in
accordance with this broader view. Instead, it seems as though the most definite domain
for quality managers is to manage quality management systems that are sometimes
complemented by an environmental management system. However, the strong emphasis
on ISO 9000 revealed in this study might not be particularly surprising, given that ISO
9000 is a general standard for various kinds of businesses. If the organisation has a
quality manager, the responsibility for the quality management system could hardly fall
on someone else in the organisation; it is probably the undisputed domain of the quality
manager. The same may not be true for the other concepts listed in Table 1, which is prob-
ably one of the reasons for ISO 9000 and other quality standards being significantly more
often used than the other concepts.
It appears to some extent as though the role of the quality manager is limited in the organ-
isations being studied. However, a broader view is revealed when moving from the actual
work assignment, such as a quality management system, to the quality managers views
about themselves. The quality managers viewed their role as expert support and internal con-
sultants, which is somewhat in line with Stratton (1996), such as that a quality professional will
be a . . . process consultant to the internal organization. As Dean and Bowen (1994) put it,
quality managers have a narrow domain in terms of practices and techniques, but a broader
view might be required in order to fully exploit the principles of quality management.
investigation shows that these improvement programmes score relatively low in terms of
their importance for quality departments than ISO 9000 and environmental management
systems. It would appear, therefore, as though Lean Production and Six Sigma are not
of major importance for quality managers.
The question is whether Lean Production and Six Sigma are more often run by other
departments. The production manager might be responsible for Lean Production or, in the
case of Six Sigma, a parallel improvement structure might be running the improvement
programme. If so, this strategy may be a way of achieving rapid results of improvement
work by a dedicated specialist or, in the case of Lean Production, a way of ensuring
that improvements are closely linked to daily operations in the production area. One
risk, however, is that it could lead to multiple functions and improvement programmes
competing for scarce resources (see e.g. Sterman, Repenning, & Kofman, 1997). Further-
more, it indicates that the evolution of the quality profession in contemporary organis-
ations takes different directions either Six Sigma, which is run through specialists in
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tools and techniques (Lindeman et al., 2003), or Lean Production, which is run by a
manager not exclusively working on quality.
6. Discussion
This study has shown that a quality managers operational responsibility is quite narrowly
defined. The agenda is generally related to quality standards, presumably ISO 9000 and
environmental management systems. These programmes often frame the work of the
quality manager, which in many cases leaves other programmes, such as Six Sigma and
Lean Production, to other departments or parallel improvement structures.
In line with the focus on ISO 9000 and the environmental management system, in most
organisations, the quality manager has a role in the senior management team, not as a
strategist but to ensure quality by maintaining a certificate. The stereotypical quality
804 M. Elg et al.
manager in the study is a long-term company man who often has been recruited internally.
A majority of the quality managers have received their education in the quality area mainly
from self-studies and internal education.
In general, organisations emphasise the clear roles and specific educational back-
ground of professionals such as finance and human resource managers but are less strict
on quality managers (Sandholm, 2005). One reason might be the lack of university-
based education in the area of quality management or perhaps the difficulty in enrolling
quality professionals in the current educational programmes on quality management.
Only one-third of the quality managers in the current sample have participated in univer-
sity-level quality-related courses.
Sandholm (2005) argued in favour of a stricter view on quality management as a pro-
fession. However, a professional view, in itself, might not render a strictly homogeneous
definition of the domain of a quality manager. Because quality management is adapted to
the operations in which it is applied, rather than being seen as a set of practices of universal
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applicability (Sousa & Voss, 2002), it is natural that the role of the manager leading this
work would also depend on the context. If, for example, the focus of quality management
in a certain organisation is on production, the role of a quality manager might overlap that
of a production manager. Alternatively, quality management may even become an impor-
tant task of the production managers themselves (Ritter et al., 1998).
If this ambiguity generates frustration, it might be tempting to compare quality man-
agers with other managers, such as those in the areas of human resources or finance, whose
roles and profession appear more clearly defined. However, one might question whether
these more clearly defined roles are only possible in areas that have a looser coupling
to the operating core of the business. If the field of quality management is stronger,
when coupled with the operating core, the core of the quality manager then becomes
more context dependent and ambiguous.
Based on the present study, two of the four scenarios for quality management and
managers predicted by Wadell and Mallen (2001) appear more likely. These two scen-
arios seem to develop in parallel, with quality management in Swedish organisations
appearing to be able to take one or both of the routes. First, the predicted continued
focus on quality principles, tools, documentation and certification is apparent in the
studied organisations. It is important to be aware, however, that the focus is strong on
documentation and certification, which might lead to losing focus on the underlying prin-
ciples such as customer focus. Maybe we have identified lost opportunities in how
quality managers act in contemporary Swedish organisations. In this study, the quality
managers reported that customer focus and everybodys participation in improvement
work are the main focus areas for the quality department. Should not such a focus
lead to a more proactive and maybe innovative way of managing quality than the
strong emphasis on documentation and certification? There is a risk that the role of
the quality manager becomes limited to handling the documentation and standardisation
related to the quality management system. Such findings raise questions as to the
relevance of quality management in industrial firms.
Our findings concur with those of Poksinska and Dahlgaard (2003), which show that
ISO 9000 often is viewed as a tool for improving company image rather than for support-
ing improvement processes in the firm. So, if quality management is just ISO 9000 and
ISO 9000 is just improving company image, where does that lead us: quality managers
as librarians? This is not precisely what Juran had hoped for. He claimed that the emerging
job of the quality manager will be business oriented rather than being oriented towards
technological or departmental goals (Juran, 1989).
Total Quality Management 805
But did we find some alternative ways? Yes. For some of the quality managers, stra-
tegic issues and integration of quality management into the organisations overall business
appear to be evolving.
We agree with Sousa and Voss (2002), who claimed that quality management has been
established as an important area, but the way in which it is organised today means that the
profession of quality managers is at crossroads. Will the role of a quality manager broaden
to include quality for a strategic position in the company or will Six Sigma specialists and
Lean Production managers drive quality management in future organisations? Perhaps the
situation will match the prediction of Silverman and Propst (1996, p. 34) that Successful
organizations of the future will provide value by maintaining quality as a paradigm, not a
department. There will be more jobs for quality professionals [. . .] but they will not be in
quality departments.
In conclusion, we believe that research on quality management has missed an impor-
tant opportunity for understanding, evaluating and proposing how quality should be
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