Quality (business)

Quality (Latin: qualitas = texture characteristic, property, state) has two meanings:

Quality is the name of a perceptual state of the form of systems and their characteristics, which is defined in a given period based on certain characteristics of the system in this state. Quality could describe both a product like wine and its chemical elements and the resulting subjectively assessable taste, as well as the processes of maturation of the grape, the production and distribution of wine, or the process of management of the winery. In the meaning b ) one speaks of quality wine or wine with attributes, or of Excellentem management.

ISO and IEC standardization

Quality is according to the standard EN ISO 9000:2005 ( the current Quality Management System Standard ), as " degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements " defined. The quality brags the extent to which a product ( good or service) meets the existing requirements. The designation of quality can be used with adjectives such as poor, good or excellent. Inherent means as opposed to " assigned " a device inherent, especially as a permanent characteristic. This refers objectively measurable characteristics such as length, width, weight and material specifications.

Not inherently are subjectively assigned to descriptions such as " beautiful" or even the price, because they just are not objectively measurable. The price or a personal judgment are therefore not part of the quality. By defining a target group and opinion polls the subjective perception of this target group can be determined, defined an inherent characteristic and thus " measurable" and be part of the quality.

This definition sparked the formulation of the DIN EN ISO 8402:1995-08, the former standards for quality management, from. After this quality is " the totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs. " Units are products, services, concepts, designs, software, work processes, procedures and processes; Quality is a function of claim class.

According to IEC 2371 quality is the correspondence between the observed properties and the previously defined requirements of an observation unit.

While quality was once traditionally understood as a property of products or services, so the requirements of the customers were in the foreground, extends the concept of quality in the context of total quality concepts, such as total quality management as a comprehensive variant of quality management, on entire company. In addition to the customer requests occur with the requirements of employees, investors and the public ( legal requirements), to the fulfillment of the overall quality of a company ( " Total Quality " ) measures.

Quality approaches by Garvin

In the practical application of the concept of quality can be distinguished between five different points of view, in the opinion of David A. Garvin:

• The transcendent understanding of quality: Corresponds roughly to the colloquial view of quality. Thus, quality is a subjective experience of a person with regard to specific, unique characteristics of a product or a service. Quality can not be measured or concrete, just as the term beauty can be broadly defined. In scientific practice, this approach is hardly relevant.
• The product-related quality of understanding: If the product- based perspective as the basis for quality assessment, the quality of a product resulting from the fulfillment of general requirements specified. A classic example is the realization of smaller gaps in the automotive industry when compared to competitor vehicles. Another example is the aging of a wine, when simplified is: " The longer the wine rests, the higher the quality." However, product-specific requirements are not fully meaningful. Thus, for example, the reduction of the gap size in an SUV with high demands on the body tends to involve higher costs for repairs.
• Customer-related quality of understanding: This view defines quality as the perfect realization of all customer requirements for a product and corresponds to the definition of quality of ISO 9000:2005. The lack of features (lack of implementation of a trade receivable ) thus has a negative impact on the quality of the product. An addition of other features which are not required by the customer, the quality can not positively influence because they are useless for the customer. Therefore, no compensation of missing features can be done by adding other features. A problem with this approach lies in the complete identification of customer requirements. While explicit requirements are aware of the customer, implicit ( unconscious) requirements must be " extracted from a person " by appropriate methods. Thus, for example, a customer requirement unconscious represent the prestige of a motor vehicle, which is acquired through the purchase. The identification of requirements and their implementation in products made ​​by the research field of marketing or market research. Since the requirements may vary between individuals, no product can exist with absolute quality. Rather, the quality of a product can be evaluated by one person and another as a positive as negative. For example, have supercar through the mediation of the social status of the owner for some people feature a high quality. Environmentally conscious consumers will evaluate the quality characteristics because of the unfavorable CO2 balance differently.
• The value-based understanding of quality: According to this view, a quality product is obtained if and only if a product can be purchased at a reasonable price in terms of features realized (cost-benefit ratio). This view is placed eg in product tests of magazines based and carried out in categories such as " price / value for money ", etc. However, in this analysis the relevance of the features of a product for the customer must be considered (see client-related quality of understanding ). A higher price can not be justified for the customer by useless product features.
• The production-related understanding of quality: compliance with drawing specifications, agreements and standards; "A priori" quality.

The four cornerstones of quality according to Philip Bayard Crosby

Philip B. Crosby defined the four cornerstones of quality as follows:

• Quality as the degree of compliance with requirements defined ( " Quality is conformance to requirements" )
• The basic principle of quality planning is prevention
• Zero - error principle has become the standard
• Quality costs are the costs for non-compliance ...

Entrepreneurial understanding of quality

The entrepreneurial understanding of quality goes beyond the understanding of quality EN ISO 9000:2005 out. The latter regards quality as degree of overlap between explicit and implicit demands of the customers, " target " and the supplied Properties " If". A sole focus of the company to customer needs is not necessarily entrepreneurial. When entrepreneurial understanding of quality is only the degree of overlap of the three target sizes "Customer satisfaction " ( If ), "Business Orientation" ( want ), and " corporate capacity " ( ability) entrepreneurial quality dar. customer receivables include Demands for specific functions or properties, for example, a product ( from the customer's perspective ) should fulfill. In the corporate orientation, the goals and strategic direction of the company reflect. The company orientation defines how a company wants to serve the market and thus the customers. In this case, the company focuses on the social and self-imposed values. Under the company's ability competencies are understood to be owned by the company to achieve its objectives and implement the customer requirements.

Quality in language use

Although the term " quality " in itself no rating includes the term is used in everyday life often judgmental. So quality is understood as a counterpart to quantity (quantity does not equal quality). "Quantity " means, in truth, only the amount of qualitative properties and therefore is expressed in quantities or measurements. However, the phrase refers to the fact that in everyday speech quality is often a synonym for quality, is often is of " good " or " poor " quality of the speech. If a customer buys a product or service and fulfill this their purpose for the customer, so they generally have parlance a "good quality ". This subjective, customer-focused understanding of quality can be very difficult to detect in particular through market research, as it may differ individually strong.

Product, service and process quality

In fact, the term " quality " in everyday business established as a general measure of value, the purpose is to bring the appropriateness of a product ( product quality), service (Quality of Service ) or a process ( process quality ) for expression. This understanding is reflected for example in the expression " quality of work". They often take place in a cross-sectoral, the quality of individual results Captive, system instead. The planning, management and control of all activities required for this purpose is referred to as quality management. As a result, there arises a " quality product".

The difference between product and process quality can occur in practice when dealing with the liability to bear. For example, took into account the Oberlandesgericht Zweibrücken in 2014 in his rejection of liability claims, which had been raised in connection with faulty breast implants manufacturer PIP against the TÜV Rheinland that TÜV Rheinland had indeed to consider the quality assurance system of PIP, but not the nature and quality of manufactured products themselves

Where product quality can be measured with quantitative variables, it is often referred to as technical quality. This applies, for example, properties such as fracture strength, toughness, durability, color fastness, etc. As one of the simplest definitions of quality applies the rule here: quality is the correspondence of actual and target, ie the fulfillment of specifications or requirements ( fulfillment of a specification ) as opposed to the fulfillment of expectations and goals as the overarching quality (fitness for purpose ). In production here today ratios are determined for quality on computer-based systems. These systems for quality assurance are called CAQ systems (CAQ of Engl. Computer Aided Quality assurance).

Professions in the field of quality

• Quality Management Representative ( QMR )
• High quality professional
• Quality Engineer
• Quality Manager
• Auditor

The German Society for Quality offers educational events in this environment.