Introduction
The XXth century was a period of great economic growth with many theories emerging explaining key economic concepts. One element that captivated many entrepreneurs and scientists was quality. In order to stay competitive, organizations and businesses had to ensure steady quality. It motivated numerous economists to explore this field and create solutions for companies and organizations to maintain and preserve quality, with minimum defects in the process.
Evaluation of Quality
Doctor W. Edwards Deming designed a system for evaluating quality produced by an organization known as 14 points. He argued for the flawed nature of the system that reduces quality output, rather than blaming employees. Shifting responsibility to the proper management allowed to better regulate companies and organizations. Deming’s most outstanding finding was the decrease of variation in output by differentiating between its causes into special and common.
Quality Management
Joseph Juran took Deming’s understanding of quality control further. His idea revolved around the supposition that majority of defects in quality can be handled and prevented by management. Subsequently, Juran conjured up three primary elements of quality management. This approach was visualized by Kaoru Ishikawa, who designed a diagram that would help pinpoint the problem that negatively impacts quality. It is known as the cause-and-effect diagram and it is used to ascertain the causes of a particular problem. The subsequent analysis facilitated by visual representation will allow the manager to come up with solutions.
Deficit Prevention
An additional viewpoint was offered by Genichi Taguchi, who proposed to equate quality with the lack of defects. He argued for putting a product on sale when it actually meets all the depicted criteria and removing it once it deviates from them. Philip Crosby studied the ways to improve quality management in order to exclude the defects from occurring. He judged the quality of output in relation to the presence of defects – all processes and products should be as devoid of defects as possible.
Conclusion
Altogether, each of the theorists had a personal impact in the field of quality. Deming proposed to focus on management and distinguished between causes of variation. Juran and Ishikawa divided the process into stages that helped analyze the problems in it. Taguchi and Crosby focused on defects and means of measuring quality in relation to the present deficiencies. Overall, these theories allowed companies to develop strategies assuring the best quality possible.