If a review of the recent literature on Business Management is carried out, the extraordinary number of books, articles, courses and news that deal with Quality is observed. However, despite so much information, certain misconceptions and great confusion on the subject still prevail.
There are many companies that consider that it is a passing fad that does not concern them, or that are only looking for a Quality Certification to show off in their catalogs. Others fail to implement poorly focused and superficial Improvement Processes, based on incorrect ideas, which end up being abandoned with the consequent frustration and the conviction that the whole movement about quality is useless.
However, no one disputes that the best way to operate in a company is to do correctly, the first time, and with the least consumption of resources, the activities necessary to increasingly satisfy customers, internal and external. This is precisely a process of Comprehensive or Total Quality Management. It is about continually improving each of the tasks that are carried out in a company and, in this way, making it increasingly competitive.
Below we will briefly comment on some essential requirements that must be met for a company to successfully apply improvement processes, and also some of the wrong opinions and beliefs that lead to failure, or even prevent the implementation of such processes.
It is true that for the process to take hold and to produce a profound change in the culture of the company, several years must pass, but this does not mean that during all that time the advantages of it will not be revealed. Shortly after starting the improvement path, progress should already be observed, otherwise it would be a symptom that the approach adopted is not the most correct.
On the other hand, there is no point in the rush in the search for excellence since it is an endless road. As long as the company exists, as long as it has customers and suppliers, creates new products, there will always be things to improve. Total quality management requires a long-term commitment as it is a new way of doing things that brings with it the emergence of a completely new corporate culture.
A quality improvement process must be undertaken conscientiously, with a complete approach in which no field of business management is left out, with a deep knowledge of the enormous changes that it will imply in everyone's activity and Each one of the members of the organization, with a firm commitment and an indefinite period of time to continuously seek the best way to carry out their daily work, and with the assurance that all the efforts and resources consumed will be more than compensated if the process is implemented seriously.
A Quality Certification consists of a competent, accredited Body ensuring in writing that a product, process or service, duly identified, meets the requirements previously specified for it. It is a «certification of trust», which guarantees the buyer an adequate level of quality in the goods or services that they acquire.
On the other hand, obtaining a quality certification is often perceived as an annoying process that must be endured to satisfy the whims of customers. This leads us to think of quality as synonymous with something annoying, expensive and bureaucratic, which requires a lot of documentation and a consumption of time that is not available. Thus understood, quality is an essential minimum that does not seek continuous improvement of production processes and all activities, but only to correct those aspects that present errors in the face of certification.
Organizations with such a limited approach will not make much progress on the path to excellence as they focus on obtaining certification without introducing substantial changes in the culture of the company. There is quality beyond certification.
When an organization decides to approach comprehensive quality management, it often makes the mistake of considering only some partial aspect of it instead of using a global approach.
A partial application of a quality improvement process can only lead to partial success or complete failure. To achieve complete success, a global vision is required, which affects each and every one of the activities carried out within the company and which introduces a profound change in the way of doing things and in the culture of the organization.. That is our best contribution. The confluence between the need of the company / client and the global vision of the consultancy. Our focus on a global vision of the company is the best guarantee of success in the application of the solutions provided.
At Improven Consultores we have a vision that quality allows us to always conceive the best of successes regardless of the company and the sector in which it operates. We sincerely believe and practice that there is quality beyond certification.
