Companies of all sizes can benefit from a variety of local, state and federal funding assistance programs to improve their quality management systems and upgrade employee skills. This broad definition covers ISO, Six Sigma, Lean, change management, leadership and basic skills training. Some of these programs offer matching funds while others provide tax credits. A few even bestow outright grants.

 

However, gaining access to-and understanding-these funding programs can be a daunting task. That's why it pays to select a management consulting firm that knows how to navigate these often bewildering waters.

 

Read the complete article in the SGS Newsletter.

 

Contact CMC to see how we can help you gain public funding assistance.

 

 

The third dimension of quality leadership is to create an ethical and principle-centered organization of people. 

 

Dick DeVos, President of Amway, observes: "Putting principle above matter can mean short-term losses or letting an opportunity slip by."  Yet, he believes that, "...in the the long run, the principle-centered organization not only builds a good reputation, it reaps greater profits." 

 

Two major functions of leaders are generally accepted in management literature and leadership studies.  One is to achieve group goals. This requires a leader to develop a vision of the future and create innovative strategies to achieve that vision. In this regard, the leader is a visionary and a change agent.

 

The second function of a leader is to maintain and strengthen the group in order to improve its stability and ensure satisfaction of individual members. In this regard, the leader is a stabilizer and model of behavior. The paradox is that a leader is viewed both as a change agent and as a group stabilizer.  Reconciling the two is the criterion of an effective leader.

 

There is a third function of a good quality leader. This dimension of leadership is seldom found in research studies and is the dimension least frequently practiced. This third function is based on the most fundamental and most recurrent theme in leadership literature, and that is the concept of influence.  Influence and leadership are not necessarily equated, yet the capacity to produce effects on others is presumed. If one has the power to affect the values, beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and the quality of the actions of others; this power must carry with it a moral obligation.