WESTERN GURUS

3.1. Philip B Crosby (1926-2001) is known for the concepts of “Quality is Free”, “Do It Right First time” and “Zero Defects”.

He considers traditional quality control and acceptable quality limits to represent failure rather than assurance of success. Crosby therefore defines quality as conformance to the requirements which the company itself has established for its products based directly on its customers' needs. He believes that since most

companies have organisations and systems that allow deviation from what is really required, manufacturing companies spend around 20% of their revenues doing things wrong and doing them over again. According to Crosby this can be 35% of operating expenses for service companies.

Crosby did not believe that workers should take prime responsibility for poor quality. In his scheme of things, management sets the tone on quality and workers follow their example; while employees are involved in operational difficulties and draw them to management's attention, the initiative comes from the top. Zero defects means that the company's objective is 'doing things right first time'. This will not prevent people from making mistakes, but will encourage everyone to improve continuously.

Crosby's Quality Improvement Process is based upon the Four Absolutes of Quality Management:

1. Quality is defined as conformance to requirements, not as 'goodness' or 'elegance'.

2. The system for causing quality is prevention, not appraisal.

3. The performance standard must be Zero Defects.

4. The measurement of quality is the Price of Non-conformance, not indices.

Crosby also defined the five characteristics of an “Eternally Successful Organisation”:

1. People routinely do things right first time

2. Change is anticipated and used to advantage

3. Growth is consistent and profitable

4. New products and services appear when needed

5. Everyone is happy to work there.

3.2. Tom Peters (1942) identifies leadership as being central to the quality improvement process, discarding the word “Management” for “Leadership”. The new role is of a facilitator, and the basis is “Managing by walking about” (MBWA), enabling the leader to keep in touch with customers, innovation and people, the three main areas in the pursuit of excellence. He believes that, as the effective leader walks, at least 3 major activities are happening:

• Listening suggests caring

• Teaching values are transmitted

• Facilitating able to give on-the-spot help

In contrast to rigid and distant management, in MBWA practice managers spend a significant amount of their time making informal visits to work area and listening to the employees. The purpose of this exercise is to collect qualitative information, listen to suggestions and complaints, and keep a finger on the pulse of the organization.

Fig. 2.12. T. Peter’s MBWA principle

Having researched successful American organisations, he concluded that any intelligent approach to organising had to encompass, and treat as interdependent, seven variables, in what became known as the McKinsey 7-S Framework, designed to force explicit thought about both the hardware and software of an organisation: