What Is Quality?

Yonatan Reshef
School of Business
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta

Garvin, D.A. 1988. Managing Quality: The Strategic and Competitive Edge. Free Press.

Quality is a multi-dimensional perspective-based concept:

• performance

• features

• reliability

• conformance

• durability

• serviceability

• aesthetics

• perceived quality
  

Deming, W.E. 1986. Out of The Crisis. MIT Press: 168-9:

• Quality can be defined only in terms of the agent. Who is the judge of quality? Thus, quality may mean different things to different people.

Juran, J.M. 1989. Juran on Leadership for Quality. Free Press: 15-6.

• Quality is fitness for use. Therefore, quality products should meet or exceed customer requirements.

Crosby, P.B. 1985. Quality Without Tears. Signet: 17:

• Quality is conformance to requirements.  Thus requirements must be clearly stated so that they cannot be misunderstood.

 

OLD ASSUMPTIONS*	NEW ASSUMPTIONS
Quality is just one of many functional specialties	Quality is a strong corporate competitive strategy
Quality is not seen as a competitive element as long as you match your competitors	Quality is a common corporate-wide language of problem identification and problem solving
Quality is a specialized function carried out by a small number of experts reporting to their superiors	A "market-in" orientation in which every effort is made to internalize external customer preferences
An emphasis on downstream (post-manufacturing) fixes	All-employee involvement in quality improvements
Quality improvement activities are limited repetitive cycles of detect and repair	An upstream prevention focus
Quality is a stand-alone effort, with each functional specialty (e.g., design, manufacturing, marketing) acting to maximize its own goals	Anticipation of customer needs sometimes even before customers are aware of them
Quality evaluation is based on whether a product or service is built or delivered according to agreed-upon standards	Training activities are tied to continuous quality improvement
	Integration of quality into the corporate-wide control system of goals, plans, and actions
	Emphasis on cross-functional cooperation to achieve quality improvement objectives
QUALITY IS SECONDARY TO MAKING MONEY	QUALITY IS THE WAY WE DO BUSINESS

*Robert E. Cole. 1998. "Learning from the Quality Movement: What did and didn't Happen and Why?" California Management Review, 41: 43-73.