Old systems must be removed and new ones put in place.

Quality committees, quality improvement teams and departmental purpose audits need to be constituted.

Readiness to change and leadership styles: Staff must change in order to move from their present situation towards total quality management. For this to happen, new attitudes stressing the importance of meeting customer needs are required . Most people do not like having change imposed upon them.

There are, however, four factors which move people towards accepting change:

• an external threat;
• internal dissatisfaction;
• an inspiring vision; and
• having the first practical steps towards quality shown to them.

Firstly, let us consider external threats: External threats are factors that force an organisation into redundancy.

If companies do not change towards total quality service provision, they are likely to be forced out of the market arena.

The second factor is internal dissatisfaction: People will change if they are dissatisfied with the existing situation. If staff are unhappy with working conditions, pay, job satisfaction or the quality of service they provide, they will, at least, be open to the idea of doing things differently.

An inspiring vision requires the chief executive officer and his or her directorate to present and uphold their vision to employees. Unless the vision inspires, it usually is not enough to create a readiness for change and so a fourth factor may be required: the presentation of the new practical steps.

Knowledge of the first few practical steps towards quality assists employees in identifying with the vision. It is unnecessary to set out the whole route from the present to the vision. In fact, this can be counterproductive. It is, however, important to note the first few steps. In summary, staff will be ready for change if some combination of the above are present.

Next week, we continue our investigation into quality systems within the property industry by discussing leadership styles.