Description
Quality professionals often struggle to get their ideas accepted and strategies adopted within the organizations they serve. Quality professionals are well versed in the tools, philosophies, and activities that they own; however, when it comes to getting management and others to approve them, they seem to lack the skills to gain the needed support. Consequently quality projects and initiatives frequently never make it off the ground, and if they do, they are frequently dropped as support is not sustained. This thesis proposes a research survey study and interview of biomedical industry professionals to explore what may be the possible conditions and factors influencing people's receptiveness, willingness, and decisions to approve and support a quality change recommendation. On the whole, attitudes, values, and opinions were generally positive both toward the work environment and toward QA; however, QA's experience of the work environment was not quite as positive. Results revealed a number of trends and demographic factors that clearly influence the variables in different ways. Multiple instances of interconnected, positive, progressive relationships among the variables were also identified. In the end, factors influencing the conditions for gaining approval and support were identified. The key influencing contributors were perceptions of QA credibility, effectiveness, and trust. Other factors such as one's familiarity with QA concepts, experience with QA, and one's general attitude toward quality also played a dominant role. Comments in response to open-ended survey questions confirmed the conclusions and revealed high expectations for QA. Both the comments and results from the survey analysis suggest that the QA professional will best gain support (1) when he/she focuses on establishing credibility through improved experience and education, (2) when he/she leads by example, and (3) when he/she communicates collaboratively and diplomatically to develop trust and better understandings of QA's role, so that there are no misperceptions of QA's effectiveness and role fulfillment. Existing social psychology and behavior literature with respect to strategies of influence and persuasion were explored. Trust emerged as the key factor influencing support decisions. A summary of quality-relevant leadership skills was presented as a guideline framework to consider for continuous self-improvement. The final study report to this research is electronically available on CD ROM. The CD ROM, an appendix to the thesis, is available for viewing at the Media Center of Love Library.
