The democratic dimension of quality, innovation and long‐term success

Contrasts traditional western organizations with more democratically run high performance cultures. Opposing interpersonal attitudes and skills at the root of this contrast are identified. Illustrates academic evasion of the democratic dimension, allowing managers to marginalize vital attitudes and skills, and misapply strategies to reinforce the traditional command‐and‐control culture. Prevailing hierarchical attitudes are exemplified to be the cause of the high failure rate of TQM, employee involvement, customer care programmes, etc. Consultants and academics are urged to highlight the need to tackle core attitudes at the head of organizations as the key prerequisite of radical culture change, high learning and innovation, and long‐term competitiveness.