Dr J M Juran
There are many definitions of Quality. I have found Dr J M Juran’s definition of Quality absolutely profound: Fitness for Use.
At first, in 1987, this definition was simply a jingle. As my Facilitators’ Workshops on Juran on Quality Improvement started rolling out, I learned the depth of this definition by listening to my participants.
Dr Juran also believed in effective communication. His secret:
- Demystification, and
- Economy of Words.
He also believed that the above is possible if we have a rock solid understanding of the Fundamentals of Quality Management. That can happen by reflecting over and over again on basic concepts.
Quality Capsules
Thirty-three years later, I wrote my first Quality Capsule on 7 July, 2020. The soul of the Quality Capsule was “demystification”. It was given character, as an Edu-Blog, the next day. Since then, I have added a Quality Capsule every Wednesday to my Edu-Blog.
The series of Quality Capsules, to date, have focused on:
- QC 1-4 Basics of Quality Management
- QC 5-18 Structured Quality Improvement
- QC 19-30 World-Class Quality.
Last week I posted my 30th Quality Capsule….a Quality Fable…Customer First, Always. The Lessons Learned in the fable were:
- Leaders walk their talk
- Strategic goals should be simple and clearly articulated
- Customer focus is no longer a choice
- Measurement is required in order to control and improve
- Get commitment of your people first. Behaviour will change thereafter, and hopefully attitude
- A robust process can be simple, but must follow Plan-Do-Check-Act.
Borrowing from these lessons, my next series of Quality Capsules, for the Edu-Blog, will focus on Leadership for Quality.
I look forward to meeting you on Wednesday, 10 February, 2021.
