Opequal Module 5-6

• Customers define quality in a number of ways and they define it using specific standards and measures.
• A customer may define quality in terms of the brand and so he/she would probably choose a known brand compared to a new one.
• For someone who is very critical of the price of the product, he/she would look instead for the value of the product.
• This means that for as long as the product functions as intended, regardless of the brand, it is fine with the person.
• Other customers may relate quality in terms of the customer service they receive or the durability of the product.
• Given the examples we had, we can already state that quality is a subjective matter and that it depends on the person assessing it.
• As the saying goes, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
• Customer's perception of quality is a major factor on how they make ultimate choices in the market.
• A product or service is said to have quality if its performance meets or exceeds the expectations of the customers.
• Edwards Deming, a quality guru, stated that quality must be defined from the perspective of the stakeholders.
• The stakeholders include the customers, employees, the management, and even the public.
• Each of them has their own view of what quality is and which should be considered by the company in their product or service offering.
• To understand the concept of quality, organizations have to understand customer needs and make sure to provide them that to keep them satisfied.
• The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the American Society for Quality (ASQ) defined quality as: “The totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy given needs.”
• As stated earlier, quality is subjective among customers.
• A customer-driven quality means meeting or exceeding the expectations of the customers.
• Customers refer to the external and internal customers of the firm, and its consumers.
• Participation and Teamwork in Total Quality Management involves developing systems and procedures that foster participation and teamwork among employees.
• Total Quality Management is grounded on building and maintaining relationships with customers.
• Employees are the ones who know how to do their jobs best, so the organization must empower them so they can better serve customers.
• In the traditional view of quality, employees take the blame for poor quality, unlike in Total Quality Management where management is blamed for it.
• Developing teamwork and partnerships, horizontally or vertically, creates trust and motivation among employees and between them and the organization.
• Supplier relationship in the traditional view is short term and cost-driven, in Total Quality Management it is long-term and oriented on quality.
• Inspection is not a means of achieving quality in Total Quality Management, it is achieved through effective control techniques.
• Total Quality Management perceives quality as everyone's responsibility and should be fully integrated across different functions and throughout the organization.
• Process Focus and Continuous Improvement in Total Quality Management involves comparing quality against high-performance benchmarks and continuously improving performance.
• Total Quality Management is based on three principles: customer and stakeholder focus, participation and teamwork and process focus and continuous improvement.
• Customer and Stakeholder Focus in Total Quality Management means understanding and meeting the needs and expectations of customers.
• When we speak of technical usage, quality means two things: the characteristics of the product or service is able to satisfy stated and implied needs of the customers and the product or service should be free of deficiencies or defects.
• Quality can also be viewed in terms of three perspectives, that of customers, producers and the government.
• A separate quality department was established to address the problem.
• The US Quality Revolution began when they noticed Japan being in the forefront of quality.
• Dr. Joseph Juran, a contemporary of Dr. Edwards Deming, introduced Statistical Quality Control to the Japanese and instilled a culture of improvement in Japan.
• Total quality perspective is a lot different than how traditional quality is viewed by people.
• The US named their own quality award, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, to motivate companies to focus on quality.
• Dr. Edwards Deming was commissioned to work in Japan as part of the National Census and was requested by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) director, Kenichi Koyanagi, to become a speaker among industrial leaders on the topic of global strategy.
• Countries all over the world now began to realize the role quality plays in order to succeed in the global market.
• Quality played an important role during World War II as it was a top priority in ensuring safe military operations.
• Inspections were always done to ensure safe military operations during World War II, requiring larger manpower and causing problems on recruitment and retaining inspection personnel.
• Total quality is a management framework that aims at continual increase in customer satisfaction.