Issue of Quality in Business
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The issue of quality in business has received a great deal of attention in recent years. The Malcolm Baldrige Award, named for the late Secretary of Commerce, is an American award given to companies who meet stringent criteria for a commitment to quality. The Baldrige Award was begun in 1987. The Deming award is given by the Japanese for commitment to quality, and was begun in the early 1950s. In both cases, quality must be demonstrated throughout the companies in question, not just stated as an overriding company principle. Why has the business world, especially the American business community, turned its attention to quality? Why have large companies, such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Motorola developed job titles such as "Director of Quality Implementation" and "Vice-President of Quality Management?" Companies which have undertaken efforts to improve their quality also realize, as a side benefit perhaps, improvements in productivity and profitability (Carey, 58). This research focuses on what constitutes quality management, and how organizations can implement a quality strategy.For many years in American industry, quality management did not extend beyond the Quality Control, or Quality Assurance, department. Founded in 1946, the American Society for Quality Control is composed primarily of quality control specialists who troubleshoot and test various products and services. These individuals were charged with finding errors in the products they tested. Their dep
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level of quality? One of the few things that analysts agree on in this area is that the commitment through quality must extend throughout the organization. It must emanate from the highest levels of the board of directors and chief executive officer on down to the lowliest employee. Quality must be a priority for each division, department, group and individual, regardless of function. Failure to obtain full commitment from each of these components will results in failure to achieve the desired quality levels, and so failure to achieve the overriding productivity and profitability goals. (Bowles and Hammond, 19; Chatterjee and Yilmaz, 91; Carey, 58; Byrne, 57).
There are many strategies which can be employed to achieve quality; the one which is appropriate for one organization is not necessarily appropriate for another. Company culture, industry demands, and the characteristics individuals involved determine which approach work best for any one company. In most cases, companies which implement successful quality programs are those which adapt precepts learned from other companies to their own cultures (Byrne, 57).
Fundamentally, quality management stretches across all facets of a company's operation. For example, the man
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Approximate Word count = 1743
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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