A RATIONAL approach to Quality...

Over the last two decades, many business organisations have been increasingly aware of the importance of quality in the products and services they provide, and hence have implemented many quality improvement programmes and obtained various quality certifications for their companies. My early career put in a strategic position to be involved in companywide quality management activities.

As different people have different views, perceptions and understanding of quality, there is a need to standardise the understanding so that everybody in the company speaks a common langugage of quaility. Nothing has impressed me more than the concept of quality advocated by one of the quality gurus named Philip Crosby. He put forth the concepts of quality in what he called The Four Absolutes and underlying these Four Absolutes is the principle of "Doing It Right the First Time (DIRFT)".

The Four Absolutes are:

1. The definition of quality is conformance to requirements
2. The system of quality is prevention
3. The performance standard of quality is zero defects
4. The measurement of quality is the price of nonconformance

I think they make good sense and help people understand quality in a rational way so that there is no ambiguity. Many firms have adopted his companywide programmes as well.