The Role of Leadership Competencies for Implementing ISO 9000 Kem Ramdass Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, 2092, South Africa, kramdass@uj.ac.za Abstract - The current economic distress faced by many manufacturing companies in South Africa both large and small has forced the leadership to review business performance and implement measures to reduce costs across all levels. However, in a well-designed study exploring the attitudes and perceptions of senior executives to ISO 9000, Taylor [18] stated that the transition from concept to implementation of ISO 9000 is often where senior executives fail to provide the ISO 9000 initiative with adequate legitimacy, and fail to address the resource requirements, the potential benefits, the methods of measuring results and steps in the detailed planning process. The paper aims to determine what leadership competencies are required for ensuring commitment to implementing quality management systems and how the level of leadership competencies affects the extent of implementation of quality management principles through a questionnaire using a 5 point Likert scale. Keywords – Leadership, quality, competency I. BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION The aims of the study are to provide insight into what leadership competencies are required to ensure the successful implementation and maintenance of quality management systems, to explain how leadership competencies of a company influence the degree to which the quality management principles namely: (customer focus, leadership, process approach, system approach to management, continual improvement, factual approach to decision making and mutually beneficial supplier relationships) were adopted and implemented and thus indicate the successful implementation of the QMS. II. LITERATURE REVIEW The current state of leadership in South Africa The corporate landscape in South Africa has undergone substantial transformation since we entered our new democracy in 1994. Over sixteen years later, the scars remain of three decades of political and economic isolation during which South African organisations could not participate in the global market and local markets were dominated by a small group of diversified companies. It is vital to understand what sets the South African business landscape apart from other developed and developing countries [11]. Most certainly, the multicultural demographics and diversity of the South African population differentiates it from other countries. Diversity in the workplace has only just started to occur with management diversity making considerable progress although, [17] state that there is active debate about whether the pace and scope of transformation in leadership has been adequate to achieve aspirations within the real constraints imposed by the operating and social environment. Jansen [9] found that South Africans have a predominately individual i.e. self-centred and masculine culture. Considering the context of corporate governance, the implications of the King III report have extended within the broader context of business such as communication with stakeholders, both internal and external has been placed at board level for the first time [2][10]. II. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Non-experimental hypothesis testing research was selected for the study as there will be no planned intervention and no random assignment of research participants to groups consisting of different levels of the independent variable [21]. A survey design will be used to examine the relationships that occur between the variables without any planned intervention. The study will attempt to survey ISO 9000 certified manufacturers across various industry sectors in South Africa. The database of the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) will be used to select 300 ISO 9000 certified manufacturers across the country by systematic random sampling. The leadership competencies in context to the South African manufacturing industry will be identified for the study through review of literature and expert opinion. The leadership competencies identified will be listed in a structured questionnaire to measure leadership competencies of top management. Respondents will indicate the degree to which top management exhibit leadership competencies on a 978-1-4673-2945-3/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE 386