A Brief History
Understanding the origins of a philosophy are important, but this historical account will be brief. Most quality improvement philosophies and models are outgrowths of W. Edwards Deming's Plan-Do-Study-Act approach to quality improvement (QI). The path to QI was a long path, with underpinnings stemming from Deming's earlier career as a statistician in the 1930s. Adapting and applying these theories to quality improvement in post-WWII Japan the 1950s, the QI models and methods that are the framework of today's QI programs today took shape.Selecting the Right Approach
Defining a quality improvement program for an organization begins with understanding the business environment and the organization's culture. Despite the adaptations that have taken place to apply various models in service industries, there are some models that are simply not an appropriate fit and remain best suited to manufacturing businesses. So, what do you need to consider in regard to the business environment and culture?
- What is the nature of the business (service, manufacturing, government, non-profit, etc.)?
- What is the method of operation of the business (production driven or process driven)?
- What is the business structure (multinational, distributed sites, single site, etc.)?
- How is authority structured (Executives run the business, divisions operate independently, etc.)?
- How empowered and involved in the business are non-managerial employees?
- How well defined are the organization's vision, mission, and values?
Implementing QI
After careful selection of the right QI method, model, and tools it is important to define a QI plan for the organization. QI should be supported across the organization and consistently applied throughout. When this is not the case, QI efforts fail. For this reason, it is best to work with professionals to plan, implement and maintain QI. What is the risk if you assign a small team within the company to do this instead? The risk is ending up with a QI project with a short lifespan that never really gains the momentum that will allow the business to realize the benefits of a well planned, supported, and executed QI program.
To sum it up; take an intentional and well thought out approach to QI that includes a plan for sustaining the program over time.
