DEFINITION OF QUALITY

In general, quality is defined as an output that fulfils or exceeds customer requirements.

Thus, consumer wishes and desires will be reliably fulfilled today and tomorrow. A number of
different people and organizations have described quality in a variety of ways. For instance, United
States Department of Defence defined quality as doing the right thing right the first time, always
striving for improvement, and always satisfying the customer. Quality is determined not by the
company or society as a whole, yet, it is determined by the product users, customers, or clients. The
pricey or great quality does not match. If the product users determine them as such, low-pricing
products may be considered to have high quality. Thus, quality is the complex state of products,
services, people, and environments, according to Goetsch and Davis (2006), which satisfies, or
exceeds the consumer expectations.

DEFINITION OF QUALITY ASSURANCE

Quality assurance can be described as quality management systems that aims to ensure
quality standards are met. Quality assurance provides dual trust, both internally and externally, for
clients, government agencies, regulators, certification officers and third parties. An alternative
definition is all the expected and systematic actions carried out in the quality system, which can
show trust that a product or service satisfies quality requirements. Evans and Lindsay (2008) states
that any planned, organized operation designed to deliver goods and services of the right quality to
customers as well as to ensure that products meet the needs of consumers. Quality assurance also is
a systematic inspection and assessment of different aspects of a project, service, or facility in order
to increase the likelihood of minimum quality requirements being met through the manufacturing
process. Other than that, there are two principles included in quality assurance. The first principle is
fit for purpose which the product should be suitable for the intended reason. And the second
principle is right first time which any mistakes should be eliminated. Hence, quality assurance is to
maintain the desired quality levels in a service or product, in particular with regard to any point in
the distribution or manufacturing process.

DEFINITION OF QUALITY CONTROL

Quality control can be described as a part of quality management aimed at meeting quality
requirements. As quality assurance is concerned with how a process is carried out or how a product
is produced, the quality control aspect of quality management is more important. The organizational
procedures and practices used to meet quality standards are an alternative term. According to
Goetsch and Davis (2006) quality control consists of three procedures or measures for the quality
assurance of products. The first step is to measure or evaluate true output in quality. The second
step is the comparison of real results with performance objectives. Finally, urgent steps must be
taken to address inconsistencies between expected results and actual output. Hence, quality control
is a method of standards maintenance by evaluating a production sample against a particular
specification in manufactured products.

DEFINITION OF TOTAL QUALITY

According to Goetsch and Davis (2010), total quality is a business strategy that aims to make
a company more successful by constantly improving the quality of its products, facilities, employees,
processes, and environments. Other than that, total quality is the effort of everyone in an
organization to consider, meet, and overcome consumer needs is unstoppable and constantly
improving. For instance, United States Department of Defence defined total quality consists of
quality improvement programs involving all members such as administrators and employees in a
fully integrated attempt to maximize efficiency at all levels. The total quality is an example of the
overall concern for quality in the broadest sense of the term "Big Q." In fact, Big Q refers to product
quality, services, people, processes, and environments. "Little Q" therefore refers to the narrower
emphasis that focuses, within the individual element satisfaction, on the consistency of each of
these elements or individual qualitative parameters.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN QUALITY ASSURANCE AND QUALITY CONTROL

Quality assurance and quality control are two types of quality management. While some
practices contribute to quality assurance and quality control, these are described differently. In
general, quality assurance tasks and roles cover almost the entire quality structure in one way or
another and quality control is a component of quality assurance operations. Quality framework
components may not be directly protected by quality assurance or quality control operations, but
may include quality assurance and quality control. The difference between quality assurance and
quality control is in order to prevent, or at least reduce, problems which have led in the first place to
defects, quality assurance tries to enhance and stabilize output and related processes. Meanwhile,
quality control highlights products checking to detect defects and reports to managers who decide
whether or not to release the products.

ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE OF QUALITY

Indeed, the standard and improvement of work is usually not new in Islam. Islam tells us to
do the job in Ihsan and Itqan which is fair and good quality. A character creation is important to
inculcate the right habit, since character is the soul’s condition that initiates all physical acts. A
strong character creates virtuous act and a poor character causes vice. Therefore, the program,
which clearly has direct connection to principles, employee attitudes and others are necessary to
improve the labour ethics and corporate culture. The most significant is the right evolution of the
soul, which is directly concerned with emotions, passion, attitude, like and dislike, commitment, love
have, and patience of rage. Quality begins with goodness. Character building is based on a double
duty in Islamic approach. Firstly, for each Muslim who has five pillars of Islam, the duties are
mandatory. Islam has provided every Muslim with the basics to be noble. Next there are super
erogenous actions which are not compulsory but enable the soul to be clean from all deficiencies
and to embellish it with virtues and devotion which can be done in line with the Holy Prophet's
practices (PBUH). The Islamic teachings include many practices that can be used to increase
efficiency and productivity in particular. Some of them are every action (good deed) should begin
with a clear intention. (objective/ niyat) and a Muslim is enjoined to frequently (daily at least)
evaluate his good and bad deeds (muhasabah).

KEY ELEMENTS OF TOTAL QUALITY

The first key element of total quality is customer focus. The client is the carrier in a high-
quality environment. This extends both to domestic and foreign clients. The standard of the product
or service offered shall be described by external clients. Internal consumers help to determine the
quality of the goods and services related to individuals, processes, and environments. For example,
in UiTM, they often warn UiTM staff and lecturers to their interests and needs. It is subject to
reporting or criticism and disappointment from students. In the meantime, teachers also asked
students to provide their input on how they provide services through the platform called Student
Feedback Online or SUFO.

The second key element of total quality is teamwork. This refers to the unification of the
entire current department. It is a vital factor for management to operate in teams rather than
individually to promote the efficiency of the organization as a whole. Teamwork is advantageous
when talking about how brainstorming can quickly produce an idea of overcoming a problem. Other
than that, the decision-making process is secure, so that every department can give its opinion to
achieve consensus agreement, thus reducing conflicts in the organization and preventing any
member of the organization from becoming dissatisfied. In UiTM for instance, faculty on campus will
join forces for an UiTM event. Teaming faculty will encourage the efficiency of the event, for
example, by increasing the participation where most students could participate, irrespective of their
faculty.
 The third key element of total quality is strategically based. A detailed strategy plan is
provided for the overall quality organizations which includes at least the following elements which
are vision, purpose, broad objectives, and activities that must be achieved to achieve the broad
objectives. The strategic plan of an organization of complete quality is structured to provide the
organization with a sustained competitive market lead. The competitive advantages of an
organization of complete quality are aimed at attaining and increasing international quality,
constantly and forever. They set their vision, task, and purpose for example in UiTM. This has shown
that UiTM has good plans for what they want in the years ahead. The vision of UiTM is founded as
the leading academic excellence university capable of giving Bumiputras leadership. In the
meantime, the mission of UiTM is to improve Bumiputras' awareness in all fields and skills. Thus, it is
clear from its long-term and short-term objectives that UiTM's strategic plan is to develop its
Bumiputras product, a product that is more sustainable, capable of serving as many people in real
life as possible.

The last key element of total quality is scientific approach. The opponents of total quality
often regard complete quality as nothing more than another name for soft management and people
management by terms such as employee empowerment. Although the expertise, participation and
empowerment of people are vital in a complete setting of quality, they only constitute part of the
equation. Another critical element is the use of the scientific method in the structuring of work and
in the decision-making and resolution of work issues. This means that hard data is used to set
targets, to track and enhance results. For example, in UiTM, the student performance data is
collected and compared with or equal to other universities in Malaysia. Data are not comparable
with other universities such as Harvard, Oxford University and etc., which makes it difficult to assess
UiTM's objective quality figure.

TOTAL QUALITY VIEWS VS TRADITIONAL VIEWS OF QUALITY

The first comparison is through the productivity and quality. Productivity and quality often
disagree with conventional viewpoints. Could not even have both organisations. Either they have
more output with low quality quantities or with low quantity production. Meanwhile, overall views
of total quality suggest that only changes in quality will achieve sustainable productivity gains. If
organizations can increase product quality, they can sell more because customers purchase their
product continuously.

The second comparison is through the how the quality is measured. Quality is measured for
traditional views only by determining an appropriate degree of incompatibility and measuring
against this criterion. Meanwhile, quality is assessed by empirical approach for total quality views,
setting high performance standards, measuring performance, and constantly enhancing customer
satisfaction performance.

The third comparison is through the how the quality is achieved. The product is inspected
with traditional quality views. Quality is sufficient when the desired quality has been achieved.
Customer expectations, for instance, are not at the forefront. In the meantime, the overall quality
view is based on inspections made using acceptable and efficient monitoring methods, determining
quality by product and process design. For instance, high satisfaction customer feedback is less
faulty.

The last comparison is through attitude towards defect. Traditional quality views suggest
that defects are an expected part of a product. A norm acceptable for measuring defects per
hundred is acceptable. It means that defects continue to be appropriate and at least one in one
hundred products is predicted. In the meantime, total quality views that defects can be avoided
using efficient control systems and calculated per million in defects (six sigma). Defects should be
avoided and undesirable. In a million goods, the number of defects anticipated is small and the most
permitted is one. (DPMO or defect per one million opportunities)