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The Quality Imperative

According to Larry A. Pace, 2007-11-12, Electronic Journal Business Ethics and Organizations Studies [EJBEOS] [i]; “Total Quality Management (TQM) has been described as an ideology, a corporate culture change phenomenon, a set of “hard” techniques, a set of “soft” skills, and as a pragmatic approach to business survival’.

EJBEOS here sets forth “the “Ideology” of Quality and The Ethics behinddeclaring FACTS; in business or pay for services, which do not perform or live up to that standard.  Ideas may have merit, but until it is able to deliver or can sustain (sustainability), that ideology in the marketplace, even the idea or concept has ethical, moral, legal and regulatory responsibility.   Mr. Pace goes on to state; “Each of these descriptions has implicit ethical ramifications.  Although TQM clearly has ethical implications, the direct connection between TQM and ethics has largely been unexplored.

In this paper (The Ethical Implications of Quality); here Mr. Pace goes on to “examine TQM from four ethical perspectives and show the ethical implications of each perspective. Regardless of the ethical system considered, poor quality is unethical and quality is an ethical imperative. Corporate leaders would do well to consider the ethics of TQM in their efforts to engender managerial and employee commitment and supportive behaviors.

Regardless of the ethical system considered, poor quality is unethicaland quality is an ethical imperative. Corporate leaders would do well to consider the ethics of TQM in their efforts to engender managerial and employee commitment and supportive behaviors”.

 A More Up-To-Date Perspective On Pitfalls of Poor Quality

In a recent post John G. Self, JohnGSelf + Partners, Inc., Importance of Values Behind Execution[ii], John noted “To avoid ethical and social pitfalls, leaders must double back to be certain that their priorities, the basis for execution, are correctly aligned with the needs of their customers, their employees and, in the case of a hospital, their community…”.  (end of quote) Even in a case were; doubling back or the need to make certain service are carried out,  additional legal consequences may apply if and when due diligence has not been applied.   Due Diligence “(DD) is an investigation or audit of a potential investment.  Due diligence serves to confirm all material facts in regards to a sale.  or   2. Generally, due diligence refers to the care a reasonable person should take before entering into an agreement or a transaction with another party” (a legal application).

 The Houston Chronicle (What Are the Four Ways in Which Quality Can Affect a Company[iii]?

by Richard Morgan, Demand Media) “Quality affects a company in a variety of ways, from productivity and profitability to customer satisfaction and public perception. In addition, quality affects the overall operating costs of a company. Focusing on quality helps keep a company strong in all areas”.

Impact of poor quality on customer satisfaction

Simplilearn Solutions, (Author Pradip Dwevedi, PMP[iv])Once you have delivered your product, there may be quality issues that may come up. This will become a major problem for the customer as well as the organization. A trust issue will crop up, since the customer may not rely on you for any more projects.

Moral of the story, a project manager can never compromise on quality. Quality must be a high priority for a project manager. Customer satisfaction is required for a successful project”.

Impact of poor quality on cost

“If there is a problem with quality, then the project will be reopened which in turn means the cost for the project will now increase. The responsibility lies with the project manager to prevent additional cost due to poor quality.

No organization will approve of an increase in cost – especially due to poor quality. It is the project manager’s responsibility to prevent the poor quality. You can create a few good systems and processes and update the higher management and your project team so that they are aware of the same”. 

 Legal & Regulatory Aspects

Quality Systems ToolBox[v]; “For quality management, you have to ensure that your product or service meets both customer and legal requirements. Certainly your customers will expect that your product meets applicable standards.

Determining customer requirements should be straightforward enough and most businesses have a process in place to collect these – e.g. order forms, quote process, etc.

However, working out what legal and regulatory requirements apply to your business can be more difficult as there are several sources – federal, state and local regulations, as well as any relevant product standards.

 At the federal level, businesses must be registered and satisfy financial reporting and employment related requirements. Vehicle registrations, operating licensees, and insurance requirements are typically defined at state level. Health and safety requirements can be at either federal or state level – e.g. there is a national standard for manual tasks, but a state based Fire and Rescue Act. Local councils will have their own rules regarding waste management.

Also, depending on what you do, there may also be mandatory product safety standards and/or mandatory industry codes of practice”. 

Ethical In Perspective To Quality

Back to 2007-11-12, Electronic Journal Business Ethics and Organizations Studies,

While the study of ethics is interesting in its own right, for our current purposes we can identify four major ethical approaches. Judgments as to what is the right thing to do in business (inherent in the definition of TQM above) may be based on any (or a combination) of perspectives[vi] (adapted from Brown, 1996[vii]):

  1. What is right is determined by an absolute, widely accepted standard that is independent of the actor. These standards are assumed to be embodied in shared beliefs and assumptions, for example religious convictions or corporate values, or are assumed to be self-evident. This is commonly referred to as dermatological ethics. For the present purposes, I will call this the ethics of principle. The ethics of principle focuses on the implicit principle in a proposed course of action and seeks to determine if it can be will as a universal moral law. It also looks at whether the proposal shows respect for others.
  2. The intentions or motives of the actor determine what is right. This is teleological ethics, in which the final end or purpose of the actor is paramount. The actor’s “end” is the good for which he or she strives. Proposed actions that help to achieve that good are right, while proposals that hinder it are wrong.
  3. The effects or consequences of the actions or choices of the actor determine what is right. I will call this simply the ethics of consequence. This “modern” utilitarian view of ethics focuses on the positive and negative effects of a proposed course of action on those affected by the action.
  4. What is right is determined by the situation. This approach considers not only intentions and consequences, but also the context in which the actions occur. This “postmodern” view of ethics implies that what is right cannot be decided by comparison to an invariant standard, but can only be decided on a case-by-case, situational basis. This is the relativist view of ethics. In this view, a given action can be considered right or acceptable by comparing the actor with others in the same or similar situations. As a corollary, a given action or choice could be right for one person but wrong for another. I will call this the ethics of relativism.

Quality Metrics

It is often said that, “What gets measured gets done.” Measurements communicate values and priorities to an organization. Time and resources devoted to measurement demonstrate management commitment that the object of the measurement is important. Therefore, the selection of appropriate metrics is an essential starting point for process improvement.

So Quality as a marketing slogan has more implications than making a sale.  More importantly, as a Business strategy, Quality Metrics have moral, social, legal and regulatory implications.  In food service, quality is not just a measure of whereingredient are purchased.  Quality includes knowledge and skill performed by staff members, truth in menu, keeping food safe, as well as keeping customers trust.

About The Author

Larry D. Bowe, believes in promoting Global Food Safety as the Catalysis for organizational growth, and responsible food safety and sanitation practices as the framework that creates a culture of food safety.

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