What is Quality? Sometimes this question is respect to a Lean Six Sigma topic to improve quality and in other cases it might be about how to define quality with respect to metrics and dashboards.
One perspective is whether this “What is Quality? question is from an internal or external view of quality.
Internal Quality
When we see a Quality Department in an organization their goal is usually to monitor and manage the quality of the organization. There could be a Quality Assurance (QA) group that is focused on ensuring that the delivered service or product meets the internally set requirements. There is often a Quality Control (QC) organization that focuses on the execution of processes to the internally set procedures and requirements. What is common in this view is what I will call “Compliance Quality.” The quality programs focus on compliance to requirements and procedures that are created internally with a belief that when executed, the outcome will meet the customer need. High Quality is perfect execution of the procedures and meeting all outcome requirements.
Quality in the internal view is deterministic.
Consumer Quality
When we talk of quality in the view of the customer, the definitions become softer. Different customers may deem the same product or service quite differently. The difference is generally due to the customer expectations being different. The expectation of delivery-excellence changes with the cost of the product or service too. High performance exceeds the customer expectation. I call this consumer excellence expectation “Performance Quality”
Quality in the consumer view is qualitative.
Different Quality View Examples
Restaurant example
The business view of excellence would focus on the kitchen and the staff. Are they following recipes, are the meals produced the same every time, the food look is good, the food is delivered hot, and the kitchen is kept clean and food-safe. These are the things that the management can control. When all of those and other similar issues are performed properly, you have high quality.
For the customer, excellence is judged on the food compared to their expectation. The customer view of restaurant quality includes the look and the taste of the food and the look of the dining area as a function of the price. The customer has no knowledge of how the kitchen is run or if the recipes are being followed. In fact they customer has no insight into all of the factors that the management considers in their quality view except for the look and taste of the food. We assume that the food safety issues are managed well, of course, but do we really know? Nope.
A great restaurant is great if it falls in the 1,1 quadrant, but there are many quality restaurants in the 1,0 quadrant, but we did not know it.
Watch Example
There are more choices for a superior watch in the market than ever before. The watch market is a good example for this post because quality is quite detached from the price. I look at myself, a person who likes watches. I have all excellent watches, in my view. I would not have bought them otherwise.
I have $30 Timex expedition watch on right now. It is waterproof and will last about 2 years per battery. They typically make it to the third battery and then just quit working. It does look like a Timex, which is OK. Oh yes it keeps great time and shows me the date. Timex mass produces millions of these watches in some factory in the Far East. Who knows the quality of their manufacturing? I had wanted this watch for over 15 years, but had never been able to justify the cost. Last year I was able to buy it and I love it. It is a high quality watch, worth the price when I have the money.
I have $700 Citizen Skyhawk titanium watch case and a sapphire lens. It does not need a battery. Looks like a nice watch, sets time based on the government reference clock in Colorado every night after I select the time zone. Has alarms, timers, stopwatch, and is self recharging. These watches are a limited production item known to have good manufacturing and to last many years. It is a high quality watch, worth the price to me.
I have an original Kickstarter Pebble Bluetooth watch. It cost me $100 and it uses my phone to show the time, the weather, caller ID, text messages, sports scores, Run keeper outputs during exercising, and a few other functions. I can look up movie schedules and use it to change songs on my phone or take a picture. I use it often in noisy places because it vibrates on a call or text and I don’t miss calls. I will use it exercising when I can bring my phone and it will track and report speed and miles when jogging, walking, and bike riding. It may only last 2 or so years because it was produced in some plant in China that they contracted to make them. I consider it a high quality watch and well worth the price. If it breaks I will replace it right away.
I have considered the Apple Watch. I am a long term Apple product user. I used the first Apple 1 in high school and waited in line for the first iPhone. I have had an apple PC since I moved out of home in the 70’s. The apple watch is of high manufacturing quality, very good looking, great materials, great functionality, and well integrated into the iPhone. The cost is equally high. A stainless steel business watch, which I would compare to my Citizen Skyhawk, would cost over $1ooo. This Apple watch has high quality materials. The manufacturing is tightly controlled by Apple to be equal to their cell phone quality. I expect it will last as long as an iPhone, which for me has been over 4 years. I would not buy one, because I would not judge it to be high enough in my customer quality scale, it is not high enough quality for me to pay that much.
Medical Treatment Example
I won’t spend as much time on this example as I did for watches because it is less about me. What is the internal view of medical quality? It is compliance with the laws, with the insurance company rules, payments are within agreed schedule, proper credentials for the MD and their staff. If you decide to dig a bit deeper, you consider a malpractice rate if you could figure out how to find it. It is all about requirements and the skill to execute their medical processes.
But as a customer, quality is determined quite differently. Excellence is generally judged by two things; are they allowed by my insurance carrier and did they properly diagnose and treat my illness. Now what does Properly mean in this context? It means that I felt better and was returned to good health. We never know if the MD is guessing a diagnosis or if they are performing the right tests needed for the symptoms. We do not know if they are even using best practices for sterilization, handling blood, or record keeping. It is all about meeting an expectation to get better.
Wrap up of these Two Quality Perspectives
Excellence inside an organization is not the same as quality judged by the customer. With this understanding you may realize why a number of High-Quality (in your view) companies fail and some Low-Quality (in your view) are successful.
Once you can understand the view of the organization and the customer, you can go look at your organizational metrics for the performance metrics as a customer views your company. How well do your product and services meet the customer expectations? This is not easy. Most organizations measure their ability to meet the customer expectations by the profit level or revenue level. This is an indirect measure of the level that you meet the customer quality expectation. The danger is that you can be profitable and have good revenue for reasons other than a good customer quality view, it may come from being the only provider or other market influences which can change quickly due to a market or competitor change.
Another view of quality blog: How excellence differs between big and small organizations.
The Big Picture
Often excellence inside and outside an organization is not structurally integrated in the company’s overall business management system software. Organizations benefit when they do not have this organizational silo viewpoint of quality.
Organizations benefit when they structurally integrate Quality in a Business Process Management (BPM) and Management Information System (MIS) framework with software. This can be accomplished through the implementation of an Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) business management system and its Enterprise Performance Reporting System (EPRS) software.
Contact Us through an e-mail or telephone call to set up a time for a discussion on how your organization might gain much from an Integrated Enterprise Excellence Business Process Management system. Or, a Zoom meeting can be schedule directly:
E-mail ([email protected]) or call us (+1.512.918.0280), if you encounter difficulties setting up a Zoom session directly or want to schedule another time that is not available in the Zoom-meeting calendar.