FORWARD: In the spring of 1991, while involved in an historical flag presentation conducted by the Wisconsin Air National Guard, I entered into a discussion with the Commander of the 128 Fighter Wing and eventually wound up on the latest hot topic, the concept of Total Quality Management in the Wisconsin Air National Guard. At that time, I was enrolled in a Total Quality Graduate class at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and I was interested in the possibility of applying the concepts of TQM to the Guard. The commander of the 128 FW, Brigadier General Fred Sloan encouraged me to conduct a case study and promised to provide me with the information I would need. The concept was new to the Guard and I was excited about the opportunity. Over the next year or so, I began to investigate all the sources of information I could find on TQM, while still working full time for the Wisconsin Air National Guard. I was able to obtain many articles on the birth of quality in the Air National Guard at the national level. I began to develop the prospectus that would serve as the basis for this thesis which would focus my attention on the TQM implementation process at the 128 Fighter Wing. Unbelievably enough, during this process I was offered a job as the personnel officer at the state level of the Wisconsin Air National Guard. One of the duties of this new position was to act as the state Total Quality Advisor. Now my research and job could compliment each other. The original focus of my study on one unit was to examine how they went through the TQM process, but my emphasis quickly changed to a review of the TQM process at a state level and a single focus of one unit to a new challenge of four. The method of the study was also changed to add the participate-observer effect to the case study because in most cases, I was solely responsible for the overall implementation plan. I received training in TQM on the national level and was involved in every part of the TQM plan during the early stages. The experience of attending the planning meetings on quality and listening to people who believe in the concepts of TQM gave me the momentum I needed to write this thesis. As I developed the study, I constantly reviewed my direction and much of the material with many of the individuals who have incorporated the concept of quality in their own organizations. Their feedback and suggestions were invaluable as were their additional insights and stories that they shared with me.