RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN QUALITY SYSTEM AWARDS AND ISO 9000 PROCESS
Quality systems awards and prizes are compared with the ISO 9000 process in this discussion. Quality systems awards and prizes, for the purposes of this comparison with the ISO 9000 process, are considered to be the Baldrige National Quality Award System and the approaches to quality management based on the concepts of the late-Edwards Deming.
Edwards Deming developed an approach to production quality management in the United States in the 1940s that was shunned by most American automobile manufacturers until it was almost too late. Japanese manufacturers, however, sought Deming's advice, and put his principles into practice.
Edwards Deming emphasized quality in production management, along with a different approach to the management of human resources. Deming insisted that true quality control in production management began with a real commitment from top management. The reason that many quality improvement programs fail is that CEOs (chief executive officers) all too often fail to provide "unwavering leadership" in the area of quality improvement (Hammonds & DeGeorge, 1991, p. 34). Conflicting goals and priorities often mean that quality takes a back seat once the big announcement is made of an organization's renewed emphasis on quality.
Among other things, Deming sought a mathematical means of controlling the level of quality by seeking "ever finer manufacturing tolerances" (Halberstram, 1986, p. 312). The statistical and mathematical element of Deming's original procedures were based on the work of another American quality control expert, Walter Shewhart. While the Deming system of quality control demanded a commitment from the highest management levels, it depended upon the participation of personnel from all levels of the organization involved in the production process. Participation means more than input from production workers. It also means th...