Total Quality Leadership knowledge, skills, and abilities for surface warfare officers

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to determine the Total Quality Leadership (TQL) knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) that surface warfare officers will require to serve in leadership positions at sea. The study defined the TQL responsibilities that surface warfare officers will probably have during their careers in order to determine the TQL KSAs they will require. An analysis of current Navy TQL course material revealed that the KSAs being taught placed a heavy emphasis on technical skills when compared with the skills of civilian quality managers. The civilian quality managers skills and traditional leadership skills of surface warfare officers showed a fair degree of commonality in terms of the interpersonal relations, which appeared to be lacking in the Navy TQL courses. Recommendations were made to enhance the interpersonal skills in present TQL course material and to incorporate TQL into the Surface Warfare Officer School Command curricula in order to achieve a TQ critical mass in the surface warfare community.