Confucianism as an Ethical Foundation for Total Quality Management

Abstract

effective implementation of total quality management (hereinafter, TQM). Quality management practices provide a suitable form of materialization for the basic principles of Confucian ethics: the acquisition of knowledge, indi vidual moral preparation, use of rituals and procedures (//), reciprocity and moral leadership by not doing. Several articles published recently highlight the importance of ethics in TQM and the need for more research and scholarship on the ethical aspects of it. For example, Perles (2002) suggests that leadership has a major impact on the effective implementation of total quality management and that TQM has an important ethical dimension. Guillen and Gonzales (2001) define leadership as multifaceted, including an ethical aspect, and suggest that a distinction be made between managerial commitment and leadership while introducing TQM. Raiborn and Payne (1996) argue that the basic principles of TQM are closely related to good business ethics and offer a brief discussion of the applicability of Kantian and Rawlsian philosophies to TQM.