QUALITY
- Productivity and price (cost) are good arguments for the development of processes and organizations, however, the determining factor for a stadily successful organization is the quality of the results.
- Quality is a measure of excellence or state of being free from defects, deficiencies, and significant variations. Often quality is defined as “the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. Correctly understood quality management obtains simultaneously with an improvement of quality a reduction of cost.
- In the frame of Total-Quality-Concepts, like the Total-Quality-Management (TQM) as a comprehensive variation of Quality Management, quality definitions are spread across the whole organization (e.g. company). Beside client requirements also the requirements of employees, investors (capital providers) and of the public must be taken into account. Quality is then measured against the requirements of all these groups („Total Quality“).
- Because the achievement of a high quality level depends on the knowledge (specialized knowledge) and on the awareness (processes, circumstances) this term in a nutshell can be defined as:
- Quality is knowledge and awareness