Optimització de la tècnica per analitzar les mutacions L858R i T790M dels

Many different definitions of leadership exist, but quite simply, Peter Drucker (1996) proposes that a leader is someone who has followers. Yukl (1989) notes that leaders should have a degree of influence to attract their followers, and that they need integrity in their performance to achieve this (Yukl, 1989). Capowski (1994) agrees that integrity is important,

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and suggests also that vision, trust, selflessness, commitment, creative ability, toughness, communication ability, risk-taking and visibility are other primary attributes.

What is imperative for excellent service quality is commitment from the leadership of the organisation concerned. Indeed, quality gurus, international quality awards, and different empirical studies all emphasise the vitality of leadership commitment to any QM quality management initiative in any organisation.

Deming (1982a) identifies the importance of leadership in his 14 points (see Appendix 1), by creating a structure in top management that will steer and motivate actions on a daily basis to achieve continuous quality improvement. He argues that drastic changes are required in the organisation, and that the management has the crucial role in leading this change.

Juran (1991) also considers that quality is the main responsibility of top management, believing that creating quality value and building a quality culture in the organisation is one of the primary tasks of leaders. Juran (1991) indicates that remarkable performance cannot be achieved without the active and personal effort of senior management.

Crosby (1984) also included management commitment as the first of his 14 points (See Appendix 3), believing that management is 100% responsible for quality problems.

Likewise, Garvin (1986) stressed that strong top management commitment is an essential condition to achieve high product quality.

Quality Management Award models have paid great attention to leadership commitment as a vital factor to achieve excellence in product or service quality. For example, the Malcolm Baldrige Award model (2009-2010) focuses on visionary leadership as the first point of its criteria and core values. Similarly, the first criterion of the European Foundation Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model is ‗leadership‘. In addition, it is one of its fundamental concepts which demonstrate that excellent organisations have leaders who shape the future and make it happen, developing the vision and mission, creating the goals, and driving the improvement of the organisation‘s management system and performance (EFQM, 2010).

In this context, it is very necessary to understand the concept of leadership from a business excellence viewpoint. For the EFQM, leadership relates to the behaviour of the executive team and all other levels of management in as much as how leaders develop mission and

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vision and values, are personally involved, support continuous improvement, are involved with stakeholders, motivate and recognise employees‘ loyalty and efforts, and identify and set direction for change (Wongrassamee et al., 2003).

A research project conducted in 1996 by Jim Collins and his research team shows that companies that had transferred from good performance to great performance and sustained it, followed a particular model of leadership and management hierarchy, known as Level 5. The hierarchy refers to the different forms, roles and responsibilities of managers in an organisation, and those at Level 5 Executive are charged with building enduring greatness through a paradoxical combination of personal humanity plus professional will (Collins, 2001).

Bohoris and Vorria (2009) mention that the Leadership criterion in the EFQM Model refers mainly to Level 5 Hierarchy: Executives. However, Wongrassamee et al. (2003) believe that management at all levels plays an important role in respect of the Enablers within the EFQM Model, as mentioned above.

Some other authors have tried to summarise the main differences between leadership and management tasks. Kotler (2001) clarified his view as follows:

 Setting a direction - developing a vision: Management is about coping with complexity. Leadership, in contrast, is about coping with change. Companies manage complexity first by planning and setting budget targets, establishing detailed steps for achieving those targets, and then allocating resources to accomplish those plans. In contrast, leading an organisation to constructive change begins by setting a direction - developing a vision of the future (often the distant future) along with strategies for producing the changes needed to achieve that vision.

 Aligning people: The idea of getting people moving in the same direction appears to be an organisational problem but what executives need to align people, not organise them.

 Motivate and Inspire the Organisation: Motivation and inspiration energise people, not by pushing them in the right direction as control mechanism do, but by satisfying basic human needs.

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Many such empirical studies have highlighted the significant role of leadership in supporting quality initiatives in organisations. Leonard and Sasser (1982) refer to top management‘s strategic support, proposing that top management commitment is a strategic necessity to achieve the best performance, and that top management should consider quality at every corporate review process. Quality must be covered centrally in the strategic planning, in the trade-offs made among demands for resources, in the risks leaders are willing to take, in the evaluation and rewards systems for subordinates, and in the kinds of corporate performance.

Kanji (2001), in his Business Excellence Model (KBEM), proposes the responsibilities of leadership in creating a Total Quality Culture (TQC) as the following:

 To define a mission, vision and goals which promote a Quality Culture  To establish a set of shared values

 To define a Quality strategy

 To better co-ordinate the use of resources in order to improve financial performance  To establish goals and systems to enhance customer satisfaction

 To establish effective information systems and to use objective data in the decision process

 To promote the development of human resources, investing in training and education, and to recognise quality achievements

 To communicate, define and motivate continuous improvement.

It is extremely important for organisations to develop a clear sense of their vision, mission, and values at all levels, to provide clarity about direction, priorities and behaviour (Ancrum, 2007). Leaders, who are responsible for this procedure, should align their own values and personal ethics with the organisation‘s culture, in order to sustain all the advantages which have accrued (Vorria and Bohoris, 2009).

The idea that senior management should build a clear vision and mission and quality values has received strong support by researchers such as Fortuna (1992), Kehoe (1996), Dean and Evans (1994), Huge and Vasily (1992), and Tummala and Tang (1996).

 Mission is the organisation‘s reason for being (Evans and Lindsay, 2002). In order to develop an effective mission statement, however, the following conditions are required:

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 Top management must support the whole initiative since only when leaders are committed, and understand and communicate the initiative effectively, can the desired results be achieved.

 Leaders must be aware of all organisational stakeholders and understand their needs.  Top management should not forget that stakeholders‘ needs and demands are and

should be, its top priority (Ireland and Hitt, 1992).

Visionary leadership is the primary requirement for building the long term vision of an organisation‘s development. Top management thus has the essential task of identifying a clear organisational vision, formulating action plans, and then driving effectively towards achieving the objective (Sureshchandar et al., 2001).

In developing that vision, note must be taken of the organisational culture. Culture consists of a combination of practices, values and beliefs, thereby indicating what is appropriate behaviour. Another definition of culture states that it refers to: ―… a system of shared values defining what is important, and norms, defining appropriate attitudes and behaviours‖ (Detert et al., 2000:852).

Kanji (2001), in his business Excellence Model (KBEM), refers to culture of excellence, which includes all the norms, values and beliefs needed for a successful journey to excellence. However, adopting a new culture norm is not easy, as employees feel insecure and resist change. Only when leaders act as role models, are open and inspire trust, can the transformation of an existing organisational culture become a reality (Strebel, 1996).

Shingeo (1986) believed that values are best transmitted when management overtly believe in them themselves and act accordingly, rather than when they merely speak about them. This view is also supported by Gufreda et al. (1992), Nakamura (1992), Dean and Evans (1994), and Martin (1993) who all agree that management should be by example. Moreover, Zhang et al. (2000) argue that if top managers are committed to quality, they should not only actively be involved in the QM and improvement process, but should also strongly encourage employee involvement in that process. They themselves should learn about quality-related concepts, develop the appropriate skills, and arrange adequate resources for employee education and training. Likewise, quality-related issues should be frequently discussed in top management meetings, where quality and the long-term business success should be the focus rather than yields.

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Solomon (1992, cited in Gonzalez and Guillen, 2002:52) strongly stressed the ethical dimension of leadership as one of the main requirements for TQM implementation, stating that the ethical dimension of leadership refers to ―right decisions and actions combined with good intentions, and accomplished by moral correctness of behaviours. This dimension emphasises the intellectual and practical rightness of the leader‘s actions in his/her relationship with followers‖. Gonzalez and Guillen (2002) added that the ethical dimension is necessary to sustain the leader‘s influence. Additionally, moral behaviour (trustworthiness, fairness, and honesty) is crucial in this matter.

Nakamura (1992) stated that unless senior management is fully committed to the idea of a real improvement in quality, exercises leadership and devotes time, energy and resources to this objective, it is impossible to motivate the rest of the organisation.

Yusof‘s (2000) empirical findings reveal that top management in his study believed in customer satisfaction through a continuous improvement culture. This perception had been translated into good QM practices such as management's participation in improvement activities, improving communication, solving problems in the systems, caring for the welfare and well-being of employees, team working at management level, having a clear mission regarding the business, and management as the key driver in continuous improvement.

Similar findings have merged in a banking research in Turkey conducted by Mellahi and Eyuboglu (2001). In all the participating banks, management commitment was a driving force for TQM implementation, and resulted in more resources being directed to quality issues such as training top management, line management, and employees throughout the bank to deal with quality issues, and the inclusion of quality issues in most management meetings. For instance, in one of the participating banks, according to the current management, TQM was delayed for several years because the top manager was not fully committed to TQM, and only after his departure did the bank start the implementation of quality initiatives. The findings also suggest the importance of a high level of education amongst top and line management responsible for introducing quality initiatives, since all managers of the participating banks were highly educated managers holding degrees from western universities or prestigious Turkish universities.

This notion has been supported by Crosby (1984) who noted that only educated senior management are able to change company culture.

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Kehoe (1996), Dean and Evans (2000), and Hand (1992) all recognised the importance of communication in organisations. Believing that management style must support good communication. However, Prigent (1992) stressed that communication should not be limited to the organisation but should be extended to suppliers and customers. This approach can be seen as justifying Baines‘ (1992) observation that senior management is very remote from customers.

Lack of CEO commitment is a common factor in the failure of QM. The main reason for the absence of commitment is management mobility (Deming‘s [1986] fourth deadly disease) since when new leaders are appointed, efforts towards continuous improvement often vanish, as a new management philosophy is introduced (see Deming, 1986; Schwinn, 2002; Soltani, 2005; Soltani et al., 2005). In this respect, Soltani et al. (2005) observed that CEO commitment is often absent because of a lack of knowledge of the TQM philosophy and a wish to avoid risk-taking, and radical change.