Citation
Douglas, A. (2011), "Yoshio Kondo (1924-2011)", The TQM Journal, Vol. 23 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/tqm.2011.10623faa.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Yoshio Kondo (1924-2011)
Article Type: In memoriam From: The TQM Journal, Volume 23, Issue 6
It is with deep regret that the TQM Journal reports the death of quality guru Yoshio Kondo on 1 April 2011. The field of quality management has lost one of its leading thinkers and ambassadors. He was a great supporter of quality events around the world. He regularly attended the late Gopal Kanji’s TQM Congress and Sam Ho’s International Conference on ISO and TQM (ICIT) and it was while attending these conferences that I had the privilege of both meeting him and hearing him present keynote addresses. He was always accompanied by his wife.
In an illustrious career Yoshio Kondo won numerous awards and accolades – too many to mention here – and published more than 500 papers and articles and numerous books, the best-known of which is Human Motivation: A Key Factor for Management and Companywide Quality Control. He emphasised the interrelationship between quality and people and viewed humanity as the essence of motivation. Human work should embrace three components: creativity, physical activity, and sociality. Yoshio Kondo was also a long time member of the TQM Journal Editorial Advisory Board (EAB). At this time our thoughts and prayers are with Yoshio’s family and all of us at The TQM Journal offer them our deepest sympathies and condolences for their loss.
We are pleased to report that Yoshio’s good friend and colleague, Yoji Akao, has agreed to take his place on the EAB.
Alex DouglasEditor