Introduction: from room 222 to leadership jazz

Citation

Briggs, A. (2003), "Introduction: from room 222 to leadership jazz", Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 7 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/mbe.2003.26707cab.001

Introduction: from room 222 to leadership jazz

By Amanda Briggs, Editor, Quality focus, June 2003

This issue of Quality focus takes leadership as a central theme, but ranges from philosophy to service quality to six sigma implementation.

Our first paper, "Static and dynamic quality" comes from regular Quality focus columnist and Emerald's Director of Research and Author Relations, John Peters. Drawing heavily on the work of modern US popular philosopher Robert Pirsig (Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, Lila), Peters invites discussion on the nature of quality management as preservation and control, versus quality management as creation and customer delight.

We are pleased to feature performance management "guru" and good friend of our publications, Jim Harrington, with a story based on a recent business trip which illustrates some lessons in service quality and hospitality management. There are few if any modern contributors to thought and practice in quality, excellence and business performance whose influence exceeds Harrington's. Light-hearted the story of room 222 may be, but as ever in his work, there are simple yet profound lessons.

This brings us to our central focus this issue, on leadership. Peter Smith is one of the most innovative scholar/practitioners around today; formerly of Exxon in New Jersey, he consults today in leadership and related issues mainly in Canada and the UK with his Leadership Alliance company. Smith looks at leadership in crisis, suggesting a different developmental approach based on action learning as a solution. Sandi Mann's review of Rudi Giuliani's autobiographical text on leadership picks up a modern-day leadership icon, post 11 September. The adapted paper on "Leadership jazz" from two Austrian consultants takes a different and intriguing perspective on leadership; with their jazz metaphors striking similar chords to that discussed in Peters' opening viewpoint piece on static and dynamic quality.

We conclude this issue with a crisp review, adapted from a paper in the TQM Magazine by Jiju Antony and Ricardo Banuelas Coronado of Warwick University, on six sigma implementation. Six sigma has in recent years been one of the hottest quality management issues around (one where the aforementioned Jim Harrington has done a lot of good work), and Antony and Coronado's review is a very useful summary.

As usual, we present our usual mix of book reviews and further readings on the topics covered. We hope you enjoy this issue.

Thought: Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities, Aristotle, Poetics.