Scribd
Upload
186 views5 pages

Unit 1: Quality Perspectives: Module 2: Total Quality Management

The document discusses four perspectives on quality: the customer perspective sees quality as either transcendent or based on whether a product meets their needs; the marketing perspective is user-based in determining what customers need; designers and manufacturers view quality as value-based by balancing performance and cost or manufacturing-based by conforming to specifications; and integrating these perspectives is important for producing products that truly satisfy customers.

Uploaded by

Chessie Salvador
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
186 views5 pages

Unit 1: Quality Perspectives: Module 2: Total Quality Management

The document discusses four perspectives on quality: the customer perspective sees quality as either transcendent or based on whether a product meets their needs; the marketing perspective is user-based in determining what customers need; designers and manufacturers view quality as value-based by balancing performance and cost or manufacturing-based by conforming to specifications; and integrating these perspectives is important for producing products that truly satisfy customers.

Uploaded by

Chessie Salvador
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

POM ​Module 2: Total Quality

Management ​Unit 1: Quality


Perspectives

Overview​:
Have you heard the story about the six blind men and the
elephant?

The story goes this


way:

In a certain village in India, there lived six blind men. One day, they heard their
neighbor shouting: “A huge elephant was caught, and it’s now tied at the center of the
village!”

Now, none of the blind men has ever “seen” an elephant (he he ​☺​), so they excitedly said
to one another: “Come, dost, let’s take a “look” at that elephant!” And so, they hurriedly
went together to the village center.

Upon arrival, the first blind man approached the elephant, was able to touch one of its tusks
and announced: “Now, I know, the elephant is like a spear!” The second blind man, hugged one
of the elephant’s legs and declared: “Now, I know, the elephant is like a tree!”

The third blind man groped the side of the elephant’s body and said: “Now, I know, the elephant
is like a wall!” The fourth blind man grabbed the elephant’s tail and exclaimed: “Now, I know,
the elephant is like a rope!”

The fifth blind man stroked one of the elephant’s ears and proclaimed: “Now, I know, the
elephant is like a big fan!” The last blind man grasped the elephant’s trunk and gasped: “Now,
I know, the elephant is like a huge snake!”

Ans so, they went home, arguing along the way who was right among them, not realizing
that they were all right, but they were also all wrong.

Lesson: ​Knowing a portion of the truth is nice, but knowing the whole truth, by looking at it
from various perspectives, is wisdom.

How do you define Quality? Did you know that there are at least four points-of-view or
perspectives with regards to Quality?
In this Unit, let’s look at them.

Module
Objective​:
After successful completion of this Unit, you should be able
to:

• ​Describe, in an integrated manner, the various ways of looking at quality.


Course Materials​:
• Handout: ​Integrating Perspectives on Quality

Read:

INTEGRATING PERSPECTIVES ON QUALITY

Although product quality should be important to all individuals throughout a


production-distribution system, how quality is viewed may depend on one’s position in
the system, that is, whether one is the designer, manufacturer, distributor, or customer.
To understand these views more clearly, let us consider the production-distribution
cycle.

The ​customer i​ s the driving force behind the production of goods and
services, and customers generally view quality from either the
transcendent or the product-based ​perspective. Transcendent means
that quality is beyond definition. It's like “I can’t define it, but I know when I
see it”. The examples of this point of view are: “I love this product”, “I feel
beautiful when I use it”. It's mainly feelings about something.
Product-based quality means that the
goods and service attributes meet customers’ requirements, though
sometimes without the organization really trying to.

It is the role of ​marketing ​to determine customer needs. A product that


meets customer needs can rightly be described as a quality product.
Hence, the ​user-based ​definition of quality is meaningful to people who
work in marketing.

The manufacturer must translate customer requirements into


detailed product and process specifications. Making the translation
is the role of research and development, product design, and
engineering. Product specifications might address such attributes
as size, form, finish, taste, dimensions, tolerances, materials,
operational characteristics, and safety features. Process
specifications indicate the types of equipment, tools, and facilities to
be used in production. ​Product designers m ​ ust balance
performance and cost to meet marketing objectives; thus, the
value-based ​definition of quality is useful at this stage.

A great deal of variation can occur during manufacturing


operations. Machine settings can fall out of adjustment; operators
and assemblers can make mistakes; materials can be defective.
Even in the most closely controlled process, specific variations in
product output are inevitable and unpredictable. The manufacturing
function is responsible for guaranteeing that design specifications
are adhered to during production and that the final product
performs as intended. Thus, for ​production personnel​, quality is
described by the ​manufacturing-based ​definition. Conformance to
specifications is their goal.

The production-distribution cycle is completed when the product has been moved
from the manufacturing plant, perhaps through wholesale and retail outlets, to the
customer. Distribution does not end the customer’s relationship with the manufacturer,
however. The customer may need various services such as installation, user
information, and special training. Such services are part of the product and cannot be
ignored in quality management.

The need for different views of what constitute quality at different points inside
and outside the organization is now clear. All of these perspectives are necessary and
must be embodied in an overall company philosophy in order to result in a product of
true quality that will satisfy customers’ needs.
But when the various groups in the production distribution system do not
communicate and coordinate with each other, and do their part only from their own
perspective and interest, here is what happens:

Review
:
Quality Perspective From Whose Perspective Description ​Transcendent quality
Customers Quality is synonymous with
innate excellence, absolute and universally recognizable: ‘You will know it when you see it’.
Product-based quality Customers The goods and service attributes
meet customers’
requirements. User-based quality Marketing The goods and services
produced should meet customers’ needs, based on Marketing’s understanding of them.
Value-based quality Design Product and process design
specifications must result in a balance between product performance and the cost of
manufacturing it. Manufacturing-based quality Production Operations The product must
conform to
design specifications.

Activities/Assessments
:

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy