A CONVERSATION WITH DULL,CHARLES

Charles Dull, vice president of Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL), t alks about how self-directed teams and total quality management put hi s organization in the vanguard of the financial services industry. As the nation's largest fraternal benefits society, AAL, has always held a prominent position, based on total assets and independent ratings. T hen, during the 1980s, the need to reduce staff and provide better ali gnment with field personnel led to the implementation of self-directed teams, a concept borrowed from the manufacturing sector. As one of th e first financial service organizations to use this innovation, AAL fo und itself enjoying national attention. Everyone assumed that AAL's te ams were part of a total quality management system. Not necessarily so , Dull explains. AAL is now going to a second major transition, using criteria for the Malcolm Baldrige Award as the basis for quality impro vement.