For a minute let's ask ourselves why Quality Mangers have failed?
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Well - and I'm sure you agree, Simon - I would certainly never claim that all Quality Managers - or any other class of Q professional - have failed. There is variation in all things.
A pertinent quote, IMO, comes from Ed Deming. He said
"Put a good person in a bad system and the bad system wins, no contest"I think that's the case with the 'quality meta-system'. Lots of good people in a bad - a horrible - system.
The bad system includes the acceptance of facts or habits such as:
- a pass/fail 'standard' for quality makes sense
- not so!- being a good third-party auditor is a helpful qualification for being a management advisor on 'quality'
- not so!- it's OK (even slightly amusing) to continually debate the meaning of the word 'quality'
- not so!- it's OK to let a whole BoK rot on the shelves while the profession debates the interpretation of some ISO 9001 clauselet
- not so!- if management don't get it, it's their fault
- not so!- focusing on the financial bottom-line is necesarily a bad thing
- not so!- pushing models and standards is preferable to pushing principles and educating managers
- not so!... and so on.
We need to change the system. If the BAMs can't - or won't - get together to do it (and that seems unlikely) some other drive is needed.
So I am suppportive of Allan's propsals to that degree. But I think a new-broom approach is needed (with a zero-based approach to what 'quality' is really all about anyway). As opposed to just setting up a cyber home for the same old system, attitudes and behaviours.
Let's use the tools. Start by asking why-why-why to
everything so we know we have a really sound base on which to build. And bring in the customers (management) from the beginning.
rgds Jim