First, for most people, quality means goodness, luxury, shine, or even weight. The word is equated with the value of things. For instance; We say that something is of good quality, or we refer to the expression “quality of life”, but as we all know, the quality of life depends on who applies it. Each person has their own definition of quality of life applied to themselves.
Second, it is believed that quality cannot be measured. Such an assumption leads many managers to discuss quality as unattainable. They mistakenly think that it equals kindness, so they waste time having emotional debates; which prevents them from taking logical actions to achieve quality and improve the image of their company.
The third wrong assumption is that some business owners think their industry is different, that quality doesn’t apply to them; or they say they can’t make a product well. Such excuses give rise to “gold plating,” for example, adding a luxury component to a product that doesn’t sell, rather than trying to get it right the first time.
The fourth wrong assumption is the idea that a company’s problems are caused solely by the workers; especially those in manufacturing, call centers and sales. In general, management’s favorite meeting topic is “what are workers doing wrong or not doing.” They decide that employees are doing a lousy job, that quality on the assembly line is poor. They overlook the flaws of accounting, engineering, software, supervisors … when looking for solutions. Although workers can be held accountable for mistakes, they can contribute only a little to preventing problems, because all planning and creation is done elsewhere. It is that other place that needs attention the most.
The fifth erroneous assumption is that quality is the sole responsibility of one department of a company; consequently, when something bad happens, that department is the only one to blame. The quality management office, if it exists; We must call the problems by the names of those who cause them: accounting problems, manufacturing problems, reception problems … Quality requires that we hold each department responsible for the operation of its fields of intervention.
Quality has nothing to do with emotions, it is measurable and achievable.
