Lecture note #1 AN OVERVIEW OF QUALITY

What is Quality !!! Quality means ­ Meeting and exceeding customer expectations ­ Conformance to customers’ expectations ­ Fitness for use ­ Excellence (Transcendent approach) ­ Free of errors (Manufacturing approach) ­ Fit for its use (user-based approach) ­ Quality should be perceived in relation to price (value-based approach) ­ And other definitions

Does Quality cost more or does it cost less It really depends on the way you look at quality and the definition of quality. Two simple meanings of the word quality are of critical importance to managing quality. The first is income oriented and the second is cost oriented.

Does Quality costs more or does it costs less Income oriented definition: Quality means those features of products which meet customer satisfaction. Therefore, higher quality means greater customer satisfaction which leads to an increase in income. However, providing better quality features requires an investment that will increase the cost. Hence, higher quality costs more. How can you relate this definition to Healthcare?

Does Quality costs more or does it costs less Cost oriented definition: Quality means freedom from deficiencies. Freedom of error that requires doing work over and over again that results in customer dissatisfaction, customers claims etc. In this sense, higher quality costs less. How can you relate this definition to Healthcare?

Does Quality costs more or does it costs less Quality discussion usually ends in disagreement (and sometimes confusion) The reason is that people look at quality from different angles. At one bank the upper managers would not support a proposal to reduce waste because in had the name "Quality improvement". In their view, higher quality also meant higher cost. The subordinates were forced to relabel the proposal "productivity improvement" in order to secure approval.

Does Quality costs more or does it costs less The Cost of Poor Quality: The cost of poor quality includes all costs that would disappear if there were no deficiencies, no errors, no rework, and so on.