Quality??? What's that [in reality]???

Ever picked up a book on Quality Management?? Where the little guy exists, its seldom about "must not produce more than 3.4 defects per million 0pportunities." (isixsigma.com)

At the bottom of the hierarchical pyramid, Quality, in effect, is what is told to you it is, which usually translates to one of the two following cases:

• No defects no matter what the target [Yeah right!!]
• Hey, we got a great Replacement Policy

At the end of the day, the essence of quality rarely runs down to the "men in blue" on the production floor. Unless the guy who runs the lathe machine actually believes in the 0.5 micron finish he has to put on that chair leg, it really doesn't matter you're ISO 9833452340322 qualified [Trust me, one day that number will come].

That brings me to my bit about the various certifications about Quality that organizations strive to achieve and maintain so "diligently". Each of these certifications had been essentially designed and developed to organize the best practices about Quality in an organization's way of existence, but in 9 cases out of 10, Quality certifications have been about as effective in bringing about a commitment to quality across the organization as has Marx's Communism delivered on its "golden-era" promises. Like communism, it works...but only in places where it gets ingrained into the system. In that case, having a certificate pronouncing so doesn't really make sense, does it??

So then, the solution?? How do we get whole organizations eat, drink, sleep, breathe quality? Practically speaking [the little guy's view], there are two ways of doing it:

1. Drill it into the boys till they repeat it in their sleep
2. Visible, genuine commitment to the processes by the top management

The first method is effective to the extent that it gives a chance to the boys to consciously and ultimately subconsciously shut off the programming, the same way targets drive the salesforce performance at the end of the quarter [Get it done somehow, anyhow, BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW!!!!].

The second method however is usually easier said than done. Top management need to get out of their ivory towers and Harvard Business Review hangovers [Its a great magazine, but seldom easy to put into practice]and visit the floor. Know what you produce or offer as services. Its amazing how many IT organizations have executives who do not know what services they offer or who do not understand the business markets they are in.

Once you're familiar with "what's inside the box", start thinking "what's supposed to be in there in the first place"!!!! An analysis of Quality is not just producing the best, but analyzing whether
you're the best to produce it or are you just an "also-running"?? Is your product or service the best thing to produce with your capabilities??

Allow me to be more direct ------ Are you best qualified to produce what you produce??

Once you answer that question in the affirmative, and I do mean a BIG RESOUNDING 'HELL YEAH!!!!!!!!' , that's when you start the process of IMPROVEMENT and everything else in that book you picked up in the start.

In Sanskrit, there is a saying "Jatha raaja, thatha prajaa" which means "As is the king, so are the subjects". John C. Maxwell in his book "The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" states that there can be no leader without followers. The boys on the floor look upto the Top Management for direction. Here it becomes imperative that the Top Management demonstrate a concern for quality in the product coupled with the knowledge of the product.

Imagine for a moment, the tremendous effect that is made when a Sr. Executive in an organization walks upto a guy on the floor, picks up a finished chair leg and asks him whether in his opinion, a tapering leg would be more stable without sacrificing on aesthetics?? That feedback eventually plays a role in the improvement of the design, yielding a better
chair. Voila, Quality improvement!!!!!

Whoa..it doesn't stop there!! The Sr. Executive makes another round of the floor, congratulates this guy in front of all his colleagues and honestly tells them all, in simple but quantifiable terms [$$$], how much the changed design helped boost sales. At this moment, the guy is going "WOW!! I just got recognized for the effort and the guys at the top know it!! There is a lot that can be improved out here, I'm glad they're asking now!!!!"

At the same time, each of his floor mates go, "Man, there are a lot of ways that my output can be improved. Let me try and come up with some improvement. Now that they're listening, the big boss will be shaking my hand next!!!"

BOOM!! Quality Consciousness IN THE SYSTEM!!

Driven by the boys themselves, this consciousness becomes very infectious. Much like word-of-mouth marketing.

Easier said than done, you say?? Well, its upto you to try it!! After all, I'm just the little guy at the bottom, looking up!!!! ;-)