In - depth thinking about "Quality is the lifeblood of an enterprise"
I'm free today. I'll put the newly written journal here. In this way, I can at least make my presence felt in this little world. Maybe it seems a bit arrogant to do so, but this is truly what's on my mind.
Insights Triggered by the Slogans on the Subway
Today, while taking the subway, I was happily playing games with my son. The little guy got tired from playing and shouted that he wanted to drink water. I quickly poured him a glass of water. Just as I was handing him the water, I caught a glimpse of a slogan out of the corner of my eye. I didn't see the slogan clearly and didn't pay much attention to it. However, I've heard the phrase "Quality is the lifeblood of an enterprise" so many times in daily life that my brain first came up with the content of the slogan and then I checked the specific words.
Recalling my own series of reactions, I couldn't help but let out a silent laugh. Hitler once said that a lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth. Whether this statement is right or wrong, it does make some sense in terms of communication effects. In fact, this is a form of brainwashing. When we subconsciously associate with such slogans and then check the words, we have already been brainwashed without realizing it, and that's exactly what happened to me at that time.
The Drawing and Thinking of Thinking Maps
After realizing this, I handed my son to my wife. Then I took out a piece of paper and wrote down the two key words, "quality" and "the life of an enterprise". Then I cleared my mind and started to draw a mind map.
For the mind map of "quality", I listed primary items such as definition, development history, scope, purpose, function, components, and tools. Then, I further refined them into more secondary items, with a total of two levels. When drawing the mind - map of "enterprise life", at first, I ignored the main body of "enterprise" and wrote down content such as instinct, nutrition, growth, strength, decline and death. But I always felt something was wrong, so I adjusted it to instinct, course, nutrition, environment, evolution, and reproduction, and added secondary sub - items to each item. However, I couldn't write the words "quality" in it anyway. That is to say, I failed to establish a direct connection between "life" and "quality".
I can't easily deny the statement "Quality is the lifeblood of an enterprise." After all, common sense tells us that quality is crucial for an enterprise. But is quality a sufficient condition, a necessary condition, or a necessary and sufficient condition for an enterprise's life? Obviously, it's not a sufficient condition. Motorola is a good example. Even though it once had high - quality products, it couldn't guarantee the enterprise's continuous prosperity. So, the only option left is that it's a necessary condition.
So, is quality really a necessary condition for a company's survival? In the market, shoddy counterfeit and inferior products are not uncommon. These companies either quit while they are ahead, or switch to legitimate business, or have multiple backup plans. However, from the perspective of the long - term development of a single company, it is difficult for a company to survive in the long run without quality. Therefore, when we say that quality is a necessary condition for a company's survival, there is a premise, that is, it must be a company that wants to achieve long - term success, rather than one that only wants to make quick money, and it should be considered from the perspective of long - term development. It can be said that this is a view that can only hold true with many restrictive modifiers. For speculative companies that aim to make quick money and then leave, talking about quality is indeed unrealistic. Only companies with long - term plans will regard quality as a necessary condition. Quality mainly plays the role of a veto power and a bottom - line. When the bottom - line is not touched, it is only a reference factor for decision - making and serves the company's strategy.
The experience in the mall and subsequent reflections
After arriving at the destination, I accompanied my son to stroll around in Shinsegae Daimaru Department Store. This shopping mall is of a rather high class, but my son isn't interested in those international famous brands at all. His attention was completely attracted by the performances, the mobile dome and the fountains in the mall, and he had a great time playing there for over two hours. At that time, not all the merchants had settled in the mall yet. We had a meal there and then went home.
On my way home, I took out the paper with the mind map again. However, my train of thought was no longer coherent, and it was difficult for me to immerse myself in the previous mind map. So I changed the method and drew a table. The vertical axis represented the stages of the enterprise life cycle, while the horizontal axis included the enterprise's strategy, quality strategy, and enterprise lifeline. Through analysis, it was found that in the infant stage, the quality strategy was to cooperate with sales, the core was the shipping quality, and the lifeline was the shipping pass rate; in the toddler stage, the quality strategy was expansion, training, and fire - fighting, and the lifeline was the quality cost and the result of customer complaint handling; in the adolescence stage, the quality strategy was regularization and systematization. At this time, quality might lead the enterprise into a trap, and avoiding rigidity was the lifeline; in the maturity stage, the quality strategy was improvement, relying on a data - supported system, and the lifeline of quality was the staff's quality, skills, and thinking; in the prime stage, defining the correct quality and resource guidance were the quality strategies, and the lifeline was the matching of the quality model and the strategic model. I temporarily ignored the following three stages without in - depth analysis.
In this series of thoughts, "defining the correct quality" piqued my great interest, which made me think of the standard definition of quality and the different views of several masters. When the train arrived at the station, I put away my thoughts and returned home.
In - depth exploration in journal writing
After finishing my meal, I started writing today's journal. When I got to this point, I suddenly thought that in different environments, the definition of quality should match the type of civilization. So I added the factors of industrial civilization and commercial civilization.
The standard definition of quality is the degree to which inherent characteristics fulfill requirements. Essentially, this is a measurement of conformity. I once pondered which level among needs, wants, and requirements the "requirements" here actually refer to. Is it "want", "need", "requirement", or "demand"? However, after some thought, I decided that it didn't really matter much and it should be "requirement". After all, this is the definition from ISO, which is mainly for the certification system.
The definitions of quality range from conformance and fitness for use to the dynamism of continuous satisfaction and the incentive of zero defects. There is no absolute measure of which is more advanced; the key lies in the perspective. Quality is a measurement indicator attached to other characteristics. From the perspective of the basic principles of business civilization, fair exchange comes first, so the definition of conformance is the most reasonable. Management guru Peter Drucker believes that it is commendable to provide products at the lowest level acceptable to customers. This view applies to the business department, whose responsibility is to make the exchange more beneficial to itself. Failure to achieve this is a dereliction of duty.
Any enterprise has industrial physical objects (including intelligent products) and commercial exchanges. Therefore, different functional departments within an enterprise can and should have different understandings of quality. Externally, the compliance principle should be followed, while internally, the pursuit of excellence should be emphasized. When a conflict arises between the two, we need to be clear whether it is a decision on business quality or industrial quality. If the difference is not clearly understood, it will give people an excuse to avoid self - challenge or dampen their enthusiasm for work. This is an important matter that the quality director needs to make everyone understand.
Over the years, we have mostly only focused on quality management based on the certification system (under the same circumstances), resulting in more than 90% of quality personnel being brainwashed by one-sided quality concepts. For example, the statement "Quality is the life of an enterprise" is a form of brainwashing because logically, quality is not equivalent to the life of an enterprise.