2011-09-28T23:38:00.000-07:00

Quality as a concept has emerged during the period of industrial revolution.In the late 19th century pioneers such as Frederick Winslow Taylor and Henry Ford recognized the limitations of the methods being used in mass production at the time and the subsequent varying quality of output. Birland established Quality Departments to oversee the quality of production and rectifying of errors, and Ford emphasized standardization of design and component standards to ensure a standard product was produced. Management of quality was the responsibility of the Quality department and was implemented by Inspection of product output to 'catch' defects.

Quality is a much more complicated term than it appears. Dictionary definitions are usually inadequate in helping a quality professional understand the concept. It seems that every quality expert defines quality is a somewhat different way. There are a variety of perspectives that can be taken in defining quality (e.g. customer's perspective, specification-based perspective).

The meaning of quality differs depending upon circumstances and perceptions. For example, quality is a different concept when focusing on tangible products versus the perception of a quality service. The meaning of quality is also time-based or situational.

The term 'quality' is often used in a vague, blurred way. If someone talks about 'working on quality', they may simply mean activities designed to improve the organisation and its services.

Quality is essentially about learning what you are doing well and doing it better. It also means finding out what you may need to change to make sure you meet the needs of your service users. Quality is about:

knowing what you want to do and how you want to do it
learning from what you do
using what you learn to develop your organization and its services
seeking to achieve continuous improvement
satisfying your stakeholders - those different people and groups with an interest in your organization.

Although Quality is perceived differently by different people. Yet, everyone understands what is meant by “quality.”

Evolution of Quality

The history of quality is as old as civilization. However, the use of tolerance systems for the specification of quality and statistical principles to monitor quality are of recent origin. The quality movement may be traced back to medieval Europe. Craftsmen began organizing into unions called guilds in the late thirteenth century. Manufacturing in the industrialized world followed the craftsmanship model throughout the eighteenth century.

During the middle ages, quality was to a large extent controlled by the long periods of training required by the guilds. The training instilled pride in workers for quality of a product. Before industrial revolution manufacture was essentially conducted by the Cottage industry approach and relied heavily on craftsmen. The craftsmen trained apprentices to ensure the quality and standard of work. The concept of specialization of labour was introduced during the industrial revolution. As a result, a worker no longer made the entire product, only a portion. This change brought about the decline in the workmanship. The craftsmen became the inspectors and standards emerged. Because most products manufactured during that period were not complicated, quality was not greatly affected. In fact, because productivity improved there was a decrease in cost, which resulted in lower customer expectations. As products become more complicated and jobs more specialized it became necessary to inspects products after manufacture.

In 1924, W.A. Shewhart of Bell Telephone Laboratories developed a statistical chart for the control of product variables. This chart is considered to be the beginning of statistical quality control. H. F. Dodge and H.G Romig both of Bell Telephone Laboratories developed the area of acceptance sampling as a substitute for 100% inspection. Recognition of the value of statistical quality control became apparent by 1942. In 1946, the American Society for Quality Control was formed. In 1950, W Edwards Deming, who learned statistical quality control from Shewhart gave a series of lectures on statistical methods to Japanese engineers and on quality responsibility to the CEOs of the largest organizations in Japan.

Joseph M Juran made his first trip to Japan in 1954 and further emphasized management’s responsibility to achieve the quality. Using these concepts the Japanese set the quality standards for the rest of world to follow. In 1960, the first quality circles were formed for the purpose of quality improvement. Simple statistical techniques were learned and applied by Japanese workers. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, many US companies losing the shares on the market to the Global competitors. US Managers were making frequent trips to Japan to learn about the Japanese miracle.

A quality renaissance began to occur in US products and services and by the middle of the 1980, the concept of TQM was being publicized. In the late 1980s the automotive Industry began to emphasize statistical process control (SPC).

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award was established and became the means to measure TQM. Genechi Taguchi introduced his concepts of parameters and tolerance design and brought about a resurgence of design of experiments (DOE) as a valuable quality improvement tool.

ISO 9000 became the world wide model for a quality system.

ISO 14000 was approved as the world wide model for the environmental management systems. Many organizations are embracing sophisticated, statistically based tools as part of popular “Six sigma Initiative”. Six sigma is the realization of many fundamental concepts of total quality management, notably the integration of human and process elements of improvement.

Why does quality matter

Third sector organizations want to provide the best services possible for their service users and for other stakeholders - that is, those who have an interest in what they do. As third sector organizations work more and more with public and private sector organizations, there is also external pressure to show that they provide quality services and manage their organizations efficiently and effectively.

These are some of the demands on third sector organizations. They need to show that:

they meet the often conflicting needs and demands of their service users, and that users are satisfied with the quality of services offered
they provide users with efficient, consistent services
the organization is making a real difference
they can work effectively with limited resources or short-term project funding.

Introducing a quality system will take commitment, planning and some investment of resources, but it should help you to face these demands. Additionally, some third sector organizations are experiencing increasing competition from other organizations offering similar services. This may be competition for grants, contracts or for clients. Attention to quality is an important way that an organization can prepare to meet these challenges.

Quality Traits

Attitude: Quality becomes a way of life.
Innovation: Everyone is involved in quality work
Integrity: Quality indicators are discussed. I
Information: Everyone is trained in quality methods.
Support: Accomplishment is recognized.
Goals and Plans: All managers contribute to planning
Relationship: Quality improvement teams are created
Dialogue: Continuous dialogue between and among department is promoted.
Long term: Upfront investments for long term quality improvements, embracing change and everyone is involved.

Drivers of Quality.

1-Customers.

In a customer-driven organization, quality is established with a focus on satisfying or exceeding the requirements, expectations, needs, and preferences of customers. Customer-driven quality is a common culture within many organizations.

2-Products / Services:

A culture of product / service-driven quality was popular in the early stages of quality improvement. Conformance to requirements and zero defect concepts have roots in producing a product / service that meets stated or documented requirements.

In some cases, product / service requirements originate from customer requirements, thereby creating a common link to customer-driven quality, but the focus of the culture is on the quality of the product/ service.

If the customer requirements is accurately stated and designed into the production / service delivery process, then as long as the product / service meet the requirements, the customer should be satisfied. This approach is common in supporting the ISO 9001-based quality management system.

3- Employee Satisfaction:

This concept is that an organization takes care of employee’s needs so that they can be free to worry only about the customer. Employee satisfaction is a primary measure of success for this type of organization.

4- Organizational focus:

Some organizations tend to focus on total organizational quality while others are quite successful at using a segmented approach to implementing quality.

The Principles of Quality and its fundamentals

Quality is everybody's business, but cannot be left to just anyone. To get the best out of quality approaches and tools, organizations must make an investment to develop or employ the expertise of a quality professional.

Customer focus

Delivering customer value while anticipating future needs and potential markets

Leadership and business results

Providing vision and direction, gaining commitment and achieving collective results

People and organizational culture

Delivering maximum value through development and involvement of individuals working in a productive organizational culture

Systems thinking

Managing interrelated processes with an integrated approach

Business process management

Delivering results through business processes to increase efficiency

Fact-based decision making

Ensuring good decision making by using accurate data and facts

Continual improvement

Making performance improvement a perpetual objective

Suppliers and partners

Maintaining mutually beneficial relationships to enable value creation

Methods Of Quality Implementation

1- Quality of design versus quality of conformance

The organization’s values, goals, mission, policies, and practices reinforce designing into the product or service rather than inspecting it in. emphasis is placed on doing the right things right the first time. The organization’s aim is to not only meet, to the letter, customers' requirements, but to exceed them wherever possible. Conformance is the norm. The organization’s overriding purpose is to excite the customers with extraordinary products and service.

2- Quality planning, control, and improvement

The focus of this dimension is for organizations to continually improve their products, services, processes, and practices with an emphasis on reducing variation and reducing cycle time. This dimension implies extensive use of the quality management tools, including cost of quality, process management approaches, and measurement techniques.

3- Little q and Big Q

Organizations focusing on quality control and inspection activities (little q) will fail to be fully effective they must transform their thinking to quality across organization (Big Q)

4- Quality is strategic

Quality, or the absence of it, has a strategic impact on the organization. Consumers buy certain products and request services based on their knowledge and perception of the organization and what it provides. Few buyers knowingly buy poor quality. Accumulated experiences and perceptions of customers ultimately make or break an organization.

The Baldrige Criteria doesn’t mention the word quality because every activity and decision contained in the structure of the criteria must be a quality activity or decision. Under this assumption, quality is built in to the very fiber of the organization. This is the preferred way to conduct the business of the organization.

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