Dictionary definitions of the word “quality” cover fairly similar ground. Merriam-Webster defines it as “degree of excellence” or “superiority in kind,” while Oxford opts for “the standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of something.” When talking about quality in terms of providing products or services, however, we have to drill a bit further down into how we define the term. In terms of providing a quality product or service, “fitness for purpose” is a useful benchmark. But perhaps a better definition still would be that quality is “customer satisfaction and loyalty” – because ultimately, the satisfaction of the customer and the loyalty that engenders is the true measure of success for any organization.
Defining the features and characteristics of quality
Quality can be understood by breaking a product or service down into a number of individual features or characteristics. There are various approaches to this, but a good starting point is David A. Garvin’s “eight dimensions of quality.” These are:
- Performance
- Features
- Reliability
- Conformance
- Durability
- Serviceability
- Aesthetics
- Perceived quality
Other examples of quality features that might be applied in manufacturing industries could include factors such as ease of use, availability of custom options, and expandability. In service industries, examples of features could include accuracy, timeliness, completeness, friendliness, anticipating customer needs, knowledge, and the appearance of personnel or facilities.
Defining the customer
If we accept that quality is defined as “customer satisfaction and loyalty,” then to further understand the core concepts of quality management we must understand what we mean when we say “customer.” In this context, the wider definition of customer may surprise you – we consider a customer to be “anyone who is affected by the service, product, or process.” The most obvious – and important – customer of any organization is the external end user of the product or service; however, in terms of quality it serves us well to think beyond this. Intermediate processors such as retailers who sell your products to the end user, for example, are customers. Other external customers might include suppliers, partners, shareholders and investors, and even the media. In terms of quality management, we must also consider internal customers, such as other divisions of your organization that your department provides with information or components for assembly, or departments or individuals that supply products or services to each other. For example, when a purchasing team receives a specification from the engineering team for a procurement, then the purchasing department would be an internal customer of the engineering division. When that procurement is provided, then the situation is reversed and engineering becomes the internal customer of purchasing. The term “stakeholders” is often used to refer collectively to the totality of all external and internal customers.
The two dimensions of customer loyalty and satisfaction
Quality – that is, customer satisfaction and loyalty – is achieved through two dimensions: features, and freedom from deficiencies. Let’s look at those in more detail.
Features
Although we’ve given some examples of features that might typically be used in quality management above, the reality is that there can be vast differences within manufacturing industries (for example, auto assembly versus pharmaceuticals) and within services (for example, banking versus restaurants). What is essential to achieve quality is for the individual organization to identify the dimensions of quality that are truly important to its customers. Features have a direct effect on sales income, and it’s also worth noting that the overall external customer base can often be segmented by the level of quality desired in relation to price – this is why, for example, both luxury hotels and budget hotel chains exist, and may operate under the same parent company. Features refer to the quality of the design, and it’s important to be aware that increasing design quality generally leads to higher costs and a higher consumer price point.
Freedom from deficiencies
Deficiencies have an inevitable effect on costs through scrap, rework, and even customer complaints. Deficiencies may be considered by different measures, such as volume or percentage of errors, defects, failures, or off-specification products. Freedom from deficiencies is ultimately tied to the quality of conformance of products and processes with defined specifications. Increasing the quality of conformance – and therefore increasing freedom from deficiencies – will typically result in lower costs, as well as delivering increased customer satisfaction. In addition to purely quality-based metrics, time and cost dimensions are also directly relevant to both features and deficiencies. By combining these dimensions effectively an organization can make progress toward achieving quality excellence.
Quality is defined by the customer
In the final analysis, quality is defined by the customer, and features and freedom from deficiencies are key determinants of customer satisfaction. While the various quality experts may offer slightly different shorthand definitions of what quality is – “fitness for use” (Juran), “conformance to specifications” (Crosby), “predictable degree of uniformity” (Deming) – these definitions are complementary rather than contrary, and each can come into significance at different phases of quality management activities. Today the concept of quality has expanded far beyond the manufacturing sector, to government agencies, healthcare, education and non-profit organizations. Quality principles are being widely applied not just to products, but also to services, processes, and data. As a final note: the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines quality as the “totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs.”
There are many definitions of quality. Some are more related to objective facts while others to more subjective feelings, but they are interdependent. If you look in a dictionary, you will find several definitions. In addition, every quality expert defines it in different way depending on their environment and criteria.
Quality could be defined as a basic tool for a natural property of any good or service that allows it to be compared with any other good or service of its kind. The word quality has many meanings, but basically, it refers to the set of inherent properties of an object that allows satisfying stated or implied needs.
Furthermore, the quality of a good or service is the perception that a customer has about it. It is a consumer’s mind-set who accepts a specific good or service and acknowledges its ability to meet his or her needs.
Product features
One definition of quality relates it to product features. For example, a luxury car designed for elegance features plentiful and sumptuous comfort: matching walnut burl veneers, exotic leather seats, luxury instrument panel, whitewall tires, top-of-the-line performance and an offer of excellent service that treats the owners of this car like royalty. In this case, product features will have a major effect on company revenues because higher quality in this case can result in the possibility to charge premium pricing.
Freedom from deficiencies
Another definition defines quality as a product or service free from deficiencies. Following the car example, imagine a compact car which hardly has any repairs, no engine problems, a paint finish that doesn’t rust and hassle-free car service. Here, freedom from deficiencies has a major impact on reducing the company costs because higher quality in this case means less rework, fewer warranty claims and no customer complaints.
So at the end product features and freedom from deficiencies together are essential to meeting customers’ needs. From this, we should define quality in the context under consideration, for example, the quality of the postal service, dental service, of a product, of life, etc.
Production perspective
Quality can be defined as conformance to specifications. The degree to which a product meets the design specifications offering a satisfaction factor that fulfils all the expectations that a customer wants. Products are manufactured and controlled following normative regulations accepted in the market, so that in case of an inspection by a regulatory body, the product proves that it meets the requirements established by the related certifying organizations.
More specifically, in manufacturing, quality can be a measure of excellence or a state of being free from defects, deficiencies and significant variations. Quality is accomplished by a strict and consistent commitment to certain standards to achieve uniformity of a product in order to satisfy specific customer requirements. If an automobile company finds a defect in one of their cars and makes a product recall, customer reliability and therefore production will decrease because trust will be lost in the car’s quality.
Value perspective
Quality means providing value to the customer; that is, offering conditions of product use or service that meet or exceed customer’s expectations, yet are still affordable. Quality also takes into account the reduction of waste that a product may cause to the environment or human society, yet still allowing the manufacturing company to maintain customer satisfaction.
Another interesting element within the concept of quality is the “wow” effect. Quality delivers to the customer not only what he wants, but also what he never imagined he wanted –and that once he has it, he realizes that this product was exactly what he always had wanted. However this is still a very subjective judgment. In today’s world, companies are still struggling to be consistent in meeting basic customer needs.
Other definitions from recognized organizations and experts in the world of quality are:
- Quality is the degree to which an object or entity (e.g., process, product, or service) satisfies a specified set of attributes or requirements.
- The quality of something can be determined by comparing a set of inherent characteristics with a set of requirements. If those inherent characteristics meet all requirements, high or excellent quality is achieved. If those characteristics do not meet all requirements, a low or poor level of quality is achieved.
- Quality is the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfils requirements.
- A subjective term for which each person or sector has its own definition. In technical usage, quality can have two meanings: 1. the characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs; 2. a product or service free of deficiencies. According to Joseph Juran, quality means “fitness for use”. According to Philip Crosby, it means “conformance to requirements”. [i]
In the end, quality is an outcome, a characteristic of a good or service provided to a customer, and the hallmark of an organization which has satisfied all of its stakeholders. Customer requirements are the core ideal behind all quality definitions.
Other factors related to quality are: exact and desired amount of product to be manufactured and offered; pace of product distribution; speed of customer service; appropriate pricing in line with supply and demand pressures; degree of accuracy with which a product is manufactured concerning its design; ease of use and safety; reliability; impact the product has on the society and the environment, etc.
The customer as the new target
Today, there is also a trend in quality placing the customer as playing an active role when rating the quality of a product. This trend aims to create a standard based on customers’ opinion. The quality of a good or service is not determined only by purely objective parameters but also includes the views of a customer using a given product or service.
As we can see, quality is a complex concept interrelated with many other disciplines from engineering, economy, environment through human relations. In the next article in this 3-part series we will see how quality is measured depending on its context and briefly introduce some of the most popular quality management systems.
Sources
[i] EU Quality Assurance : //www.eqavet.eu/qa/gns/glossary/q/quality.aspx
International Organization for Standardization ISO //www.iso.org/iso/home/standards/management-standards/iso_9000.htm
Institut fédéral de métrologie (METAS) //www.metas.ch/metasweb
European Committee for Standardization (CEN) //www.cen.eu/about/Pages/default.aspx
EU Quality Assurance //www.eqavet.eu/
American Society for Quality (ASQ) //asq.org/index.aspx
Wikipedia //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_(business)
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