Replying to LO31121 --
In a message dated 7/11/04 9:56:35 PM, ACampnona@aol.com writes:
>Have i read you as meaning something different. I do not see
>"Quality" as an "Essentiality"...andrew
Andrew: Thank you for raising this excellent discussion point. Ever
since the beginning of the modern age of business management, Quality
has been considered by some of the finest business minds as an
'essential.' Case in point = Andrew Carnegie who wrote: "I have never
known a company to make a decided success that did not do good, honest
work, and even in the days of the fiercest competition, when
everything would seem to be a matter of price, there lies still at the
root of great business success the very more important factor of
quality. The effect of attention to quality upon every man and woman,
from the president of the company down to the humblest laborer, cannot
be overestimated."
To those of us who make their living in the 'Quality field,' America's
quality crisis is symptomatic of the fundamentally outdated management
system that focuses on short-term results at the expense of knowledge
and processes, the customer, and ultimately, long-term knowledge
management and survival.
What worked in the past won't work in the era of intense competition.
We need a more systematic approach to pursuing customers and product
strategies having at its foundation knowledge management to control
and reduce variation and improve critical thinking abilities
throughout the workforce. What I am referring to is a
process-obsessed management culture that is capable of harnessing the
know-how and natural initiative of the workforce and fine-tuning the
organization to higher and higher standards of excellence and
innovation.
Frank Voehl (FVoehl@aol.com)
CEO, Strategy Associates, Inc.
www.strategyassociates.cc
(954) 755-6629
COO, Harrington Group International
www.hginet.com
1-800-ISO-9000 x 2235
"The interesting observation was, in fact, the result of very long
investigations and search for self-criticisms, and had a philosophical and removed
attitude which I felt was necessary to get it accepted" - Mandelbrot
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