4.

What are
the 3 spheres
3. The different of Quality?
perspectives on 5. Other
Quality in the Perspectives
Organisation on Quality?

2. What is
Quality 6. Let’s
Assurance? summarise?

1. What is
Quality? And
Where is it?

Where Do We
Start? -
INTRO
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
When you complete this chapter you should
be able to:
1. Recognize that different dimensions of quality.
2. Be able to discuss quality dimensions.
3. Communicate the seven different functional perspectives on
quality.
4. Understand why it is important to know that the different
perspectives exist.
5. Define a quality system using the three spheres.
6. Understand how the three spheres complement each other.
7. Discuss the other perspectives on Quality
INTRO?
INTRO

WHY DO BUSINESSES
EXIST?

5
INTRO

WHY DO BUSINESSES
EXIST?

6
INTRO

WHY DO BUSINESSES
EXIST?
INTRO

THIS IS WHY!!!!!
INTRO

WHY BUSINESSES EXIST

 INTRO
• YOU MUST make it a top priority to earn the
enthusiastic loyalty of CUSTOMERS AND EMPLOYEES.
• YOU MUST create more promoters (people, usually your
customers including staff to some extent) and fewer
detractors (People who will drive your business to the
ground because of poor quality services).
• YOU as MANAGEMENT MUST own that job as the
COMPANY’S LEADERSHIP.
• YOU as LEADERS MUST conclude that earning
customers’ and employees’ loyalty is a top strategic
priority—that getting customers to buy more, stay longer
and tell their friends is one of the primary ways the
company will deliver great financial and strategic results.
IT ALL HAPPENS BECAUSE OF QUALITY 10
 QUALITY FLOW

QUALITY

 Quality management involves

flows up and down the supply
chain.
 There are process flows,
information flows, material
flows and flows of funds.
 Each of these flows has to
operate effectively, efficiently and
with outstanding quality.
 The sums of these flows
construe the supply chain.
QUALITY IN SUPPLY CHAIN

RAW ASSEMBLER CUSTOMERS

MANUFACTURER
MATERIALS

Information such as costs, lead time, delivery schedule, usually moving downstream to the customer
Information such as product specifications, order size, requests for quotations, customer
requirements, usually moving upstream toward raw materials
 QUALITY IN SUPPLY CHAIN

QUALITY

 The supply chain causes us to expand our vision as we internalise

processes that had previously been externalised.
 These include the upstream processes relating to dealing with
suppliers-negotiating, selecting and improving supplier
performance-and downstream processes which is delivering
products and services and serving customers.
WHAT IS QUALITY?
 FACTS: If you ask 10 people to define quality, you probably will get
10 different definitions.
 Garvin (authored “What Does ‘Product Quality’ Really Mean?” in
1984) found that most definitions were:
 Transcendent → quality is something that is intuitively understood
but nearly impossible to communicate, such as beauty or love
(excellence).
 Product based → quality is found in the components and quantities
of product attributes.
 Customer and User based→ if the customer is satisfied, the
product has good quality (fitness for intended use) and meeting
expectations
 Manufacturing based→ if the product conforms to design
specifications, it has good quality (conformance to specifications)
 Value based→ if the product is perceived as providing good value
Compiled by Sambil C. Mukwakungu
for the price, it has good quality
WHAT IS QUALITY?
FACTS: If you ask 10 people to define quality, you will
probably get 10 different definitions.
To understand QUALITY further, 8 products quality
dimensions have to be expounded by D Garvin: (1)
Performance, (2) Features, (3) Reliability, (4) Conformance,
(5) Durability, (6) Serviceability, (7) Aesthetics, (8)
Perceived quality

DEFINE QUALITY IN RELATION TO THE ABOVE

CARS!
PRODUCTS QUALITY DIMENSIONS
(1) Performance
 The efficiency with which a product achieves its intended
purpose.
 This might be the return on a mutual fund investment, the
fuel efficiency of an automobile, or the acoustic range of a
pair of stereo speakers.
 Better performance is usually synonymous with better
quality.
(2) Features
 Attributes of a product that supplement the product’s basic
performance.
 They include many of the “bells and whistles” contained in
products.

Compiled by Sambil C. Mukwakungu

PRODUCTS QUALITY DIMENSIONS
(3) Reliability
 Refers to the propensity for a product to perform
consistently over its useful design life.
 A product is considered reliable if the chance that it will fail
during its designed life is very low.
 For example, if a refrigerator has a 2% chance of failure in
a useful life of 10 years, we say that it is 98% reliable
(4) Conformance
 The most traditional dimension of quality
 when a product is designed, certain numeric dimensions
for the product’s performance are established such as
capacity, size, durability etc.
 This referred to as specifications which vary a small
amount called tolerance.
PRODUCTS QUALITY DIMENSIONS
(5) Durability
 Refers to the degree to which a product tolerates stress or
trauma without failing
 A not very durable product is a lightbulb → can be
damaged easily and cannot be repaired. In contrast, a
trash can is a very durable product that can be subjected
to extensive wear and tear.
(6) Serviceability
 Refers to the ease of repair for a product.
 A product is very serviceable if it can be repaired easily
and cheaply.
 Many products require service by a technician, such as
the technician who repairs your personal computer. If this
service is rapid, courteous, easy to acquire, and
competent, the product generally is considered to have
Compiled by Sambil C. Mukwakungu
good serviceability
 PRODUCTS QUALITY DIMENSIONS
(7) Aesthetics
 Refers to subjective sensory characteristics such as taste,
feel, sound, look and smell.
 Aesthetic quality is measured as the degree to which
product attributes are matched to consumer preferences
(8) Perceived quality
 It is based on customer opinion.
 As we said in the beginning of this chapter, quality is as
the customer perceives it.
 Customers imbue products and services with their
understanding of their goodness.
Other authors, besides Gavin, have proposed lists of additional quality
measures, such as safety.
Carol King identified dimensions of service quality such as responsiveness,
competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, and
Compiled by Sambil C. Mukwakungu

understanding.
SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS
 Define service quality in a restaurant, during a flight, of a
lecture, or treatment in hospital
 For example, the user of cellphone probably will not care that
the factory worker producing the cellphone was in a foul
mood (as long as the quality of the cellphone is good).
 However, excellent food served in a restaurant generally will
not suffice if the server is in a foul mood.
 In addition, a consumer probably
will not consider a cellphone poor
quality if he or she is in a bad
mood when using the cellphone.
 However, food and service in a
restaurant could be excellent and
still be perceived poorly if the
patron is feeling bad.
SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS
Service dimensions have been adapted from Parasuraman,
Zeithamel and Berry’s publication “A Conceptual Model
of Service Quality” (1984):
(1) Tangibles include the physical appearance of the service
facility, the equipment, the personnel and communications
materials.
(2) Service Reliability differs from product reliability in that it
relates to the ability of the service provider to perform the
promised service dependably and accurately.
(3) Responsiveness refers is the willingness of the service
provider to be helpful and prompt in providing service.
(4) Assurance refers to the knowledge and courtesy of
employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence.
(5) Empathy the customer desires caring, individualized
attention from the service firm.
The different
perspectives on
Quality in the
Organisation
THE ORGANISATION
 An organisation is a system created to achieve common goals
through people-to-people and people-to-work relationships.
 They are essentially social entities that are goal-directed,
deliberately structured for coordinated activity systems, and is
linked to the external environment.
 They exist to add value!
ORGANISATION’S PERSPECTIVE ON QUALITY
Supply Chain
Quality????
Engineering

OPS

HR
Strategic
Management

Finance

Marketing
SUPPLY-CHAIN PERSPECTIVES
(1) Supply Chain Perspectives
 Supply chain management grew out of the concept of
the value chain → the process or activities by which a
company adds value to an article, including
production, marketing, and the provision of after-sales
service.
 The value chain includes inbound logistics, core
processes and outbound logistics
Upstream Core
Downstream Processes
Processes Processes

Compiled by Sambil C. Mukwakungu

SUPPLY-CHAIN PERSPECTIVES

(1) Supply Chain Perspectives

 Quality is embedded in many related value chain
activities:
 Upstream activities which include all of those activities
involving interaction with suppliers.
 Core processes include traditional process improvement
as well as value stream mapping.
 Value stream mapping also involves analysing
processes from a systems perspective such as
upstream and downstream effects of core process
changes can be evaluated.
 Downstream activities include shipping and logistics,
customer support and focusing on delivery reliability.
Supply chain management has also focused more
Compiled by Sambil C. Mukwakungu
attention on after sale service.
ENGINEERING PERSPECTIVES

(2) Engineering Perspective

 Engineers are interested in applying mathematical
problem-solving skills and models to the problems of
business and industry.
 Two of the major focus in engineering are the areas of
product design and process design.
 Product design engineering involves all those activities
associated with developing a product from concept
development to final design and implementation.
 The product design process results in a final design,
possibly generated using computer aided design (CAD).
 Product design is the key because quality is assured at
the design stage.
Compiled by Sambil C. Mukwakungu
ENGINEERING PERSPECTIVES
(2) Engineering Perspective
 Quality is embedded at every
Product design stages
OPERATIONS PERSPECTIVES
(3) Operations Perspective
 OPS was the first functional field of management to adopt
quality as its own!
 OPS, just like engineers, is concerned about product and
process design.
 While engineers focus on the technical aspects of product and
process design, OPS focuses on managing these activities
 OPS uses a system view underlining modern quality
management thinking!
OPERATIONS PERSPECTIVES
(3) Operations Perspective
 The systems view involves the understanding that product
quality is the result of the interaction of several variables
such as machines, labour, procedures, planning and
management.
 OM focuses on
the management
and continual
improvement of
conversion
processes.
 The systems view
also focuses
management on
the system as the
cause of quality
Compiled by Sambil C. Mukwakungu
problems.
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVES

(4) Strategic Management Perspective

 Strategy refers to the planning processes used by an
organisation to achieve a set of long-term goals. Firms establish
a planned course of action to attain their objectives.
 Company strategies are rooted in the building blocks of mission
and core values. An organisation’s mission states why the
organisation exists.
 The ultimate goal of strategic quality planning is to aid an
organisation to achieve sustainable competitive advantage →
company assets, attributes, or abilities that are difficult to
duplicate or exceed; and provide a superior or favorable
long-term position over competitors.
 Quality has become integral to competitiveness, strategic
planning for quality has become more important
MARKETING PERSPECTIVES

(5) Marketing Perspective

 Marketing has referred to activities involved with directing
the flows of products and services from the producer to the
consumer.
 In a trend known as customer relationship management,
marketing has directed its attention toward satisfying the
customer and delivering value to the customer.
 The marketer focuses on the perceived quality of the product
or services.
 The primary marketing tools for influencing customer
perceptions of quality is price and advertising.
 Another important contribution of the marketing perspective has
been the focus on service at the time of transaction and after
sales support.
FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVES

(6) A Financial Perspective

 One of the most commonly asked questions about quality
management is “will it pay us financial benefits?”
 The finance function is primarily interested in the relationships
between the risks of investment and the potential rewards
resulting from those investments.
 The goal of finance is to maximise return for a given level of
risk.
 Communication relating to quality might be made more
difficult for comptrollers and treasurers because
accounting is the primary language of the financial
function.
HUMAN REOURCES PERSPECTIVES

(7) Human Resource Perspective

 Human resource (HR) managers are involved in enabling the
workforce to develop and use its full potential to meet the
company’s objectives.
 The HR perspective on quality is essential because it is
impossible to implement quality without the commitment and
action of employees.
 Although leadership is an important antecedent to successful
quality efforts, the involvement and participation of employees is
just as key.
 Employee empowerment → involves moving decision making
to the lowest level in the organisation. The topic of
empowerment is closely related to organisational design.
HUMAN RESOURCES PERSPECTIVES

(7) Human Resource Perspective

 HR managers are involved in many aspects of organisational
design such as, the design of reward systems, pay systems,
organisational structure, compensation, training and employees
grievance arbitration.
 Quality management flourishes where the workers’ and the
company’s needs are closely aligned.
 Job analysis is a major function of HR.
 Job analysis involves collecting detailed information about a
particular job such as tasks, skills, abilities and knowledge
requirements that relate to certain jobs.
 Important HR functions are recruitment and hiring of employees
which part of the selection process.

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IS QUALITY ITS OWN FUNCTIONAL AREA?

Let’s see what the market (industry) says

IS QUALITY ITS OWN FUNCTIONAL AREA?
(8) Quality Function – YES or NO? (READ Paragraph 4
under Is Quality Management its Own Functional
Discipline? Pg 41)
 Historically, the quality management department performed a
policing function in the firm.
 Quality managers were responsible for quality conformance
and spent their time ferreting out causes of defects – LIMITED
APPROACH according to Armand Feigenbaum.
 TQM which implies total employee involvement was the 1980s
term to describe quality management programs –
 With total involvement, the role of the quality department
moved from a technical inspection role to a supportive training
and coaching role.
 As a manager or a quality specialist, you will be asked to either
arrange or perform quality-related training.
by Sambil
Compiled Thus the abilities to conduct effective training and to facilitate
C. Mukwakungu

teams are important tools for the quality professional.

 THE THREE SPHERES OF QUALITY
Processes that overarch and tie together
the control and assurance activities

The control
process is based on the
Activities associated scientific method, which
with guaranteeing the includes the phases of
quality of a product or analysis, relation, and
service. These activities generalization.
are often design-related.
THE THREE SPHERES OF QUALITY
QUALITY CONTROL QUALITY ASSURANCE
• Monitoring process capability and • Failure mode and effects analysis
stability • Concurrent engineering
• Measuring process performance • Experimental design
• Reducing process variability • Process improvement
• Optimizing processes to nominal • Design team formation and
measures management
• Performing acceptance sampling • Off-line experimentation
• Developing and maintaining control • Reliability/durability product
charts testing
QUALITY MANAGEMENT
• Planning for quality improvement
• Creating a quality organizational culture
• Providing leadership and support
• Providing training and retraining
• Designing an organizational system that reinforces quality ideals
• Providing employee recognition
• Facilitating organizational communication
OTHER PERSPECTIVES ON QUALITY
 Value-added perspective
 A customer-based perspective on quality used by services,
manufacturing, and public organizations.
 A subjective assessment of the efficacy of every step of the
process for the customer.
 Cultural perspectives
 Differences in tastes and preferences among different cultures
and nations.
 Contingency theory perspective
 Companies are different → mission, core competence,
customer attributes, target markets, technology deployment,
employee knowledge, management style, culture, and myriad
other environmental variables.
 There is no theory or method for operating a business that can
be applied in all instances
LET’S SUMMARISE
 There are many perspectives on quality management
 Customers and producers viewed quality differently
 Two different perspectives on quality: production and services
 Even an appropriate definition of quality raise a great deal of
disagreement.
 A contingency perspective on quality shows that different
definitions of quality are appropriate for different businesses
 The functional perspectives on quality vary greatly.
 As we understand these different functional perspectives, we
form the basis for alignment in strategies and improvement in
quality communication.
 Fundamental areas of quality control, assurance, & management
within the field of quality focus us on different aspects of quality.
 By designing plans and systems in each of these areas
simultaneously, we develop a robust system of quality
improvement
Compiled by Sambil C. Mukwakungu that will set the stage for improved
competitiveness.