Marcus Tullius Cicero coined qualitas as a term to translate the Ancient Greek word ποιότης (poiótēs, “quality”), coined by Plato from ποῖος (poîos, “of what nature, of what kind”).
Between 1984-1988 David.A Garvin gave a rationale as to why quality should have different meanings in different contexts. He suggested five co-existing definitions of quality:
- transcendent (excellence)
- product-based (amount of desirable attribute)
- user-based (fitness for use)
- manufacturing -based (conformance to specification)
- value-based (satisfaction relative to price)
The approach may change from user-based to product-based as the product moves from product market fit to design and then from product-based to manufacturing-based as they go from design to manufacture.
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. - Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
Excellence is not a gift, but a skill that takes practice.
We do not act "rightly" because we are "excellent",
in fact we achieve "excellence" by acting "rightly". - Plato
In the simplest terms, quality is the capacity of a product or service to satisfy human wants. As human wants are complex and may not be satisfied in a specific way, each user of the product or service makes their own assessment of what quality means to them.
In 1993, Garvin, Harvey, and Green proposed five discrete and interrelated definitions of quality. They are:
- exceptional- there are three variations to this concept: traditional, excellence, and standards. Traditional can be expressed as distinctiveness, something high class. It is a status symbol on owners and implies exclusivity. Excellence has two schools of thought: first, it relates to high standards and second, it describes 'zero defects'. In a way 'excellence' is similar to 'traditional' definition and identifies the component of excellence which is also unattainable. Standard is one that has passed a set of quality checks, where the checks are based on certain criteria (defined by regulation or industry standard) to eliminate defective items. Failure is the price we pay for standards. Because mediocrity has consequences both real and harsh, standards are necessary.
- perfection- another way to phrase this is to have process consistency. This definition focuses on the importance of well defined specifications and transforms the 'traditional' idea of quality into something than can be achieved by all. Quality is one which confirms exactly to specification and whose output is free of defects at all times.
- fitness for purpose- this definition focuses on the relationship between the purpose of the product or service and its quality. This definition is a functional one and is different from the 'exceptional' definition. It may sound a simple idea, however, it raises some questions such as whose purpose and how is the fitness assessed?
- value for money- this definition is described as the price you can afford to pay for your requirements at a reasonable cost, which means quality is compared with the level of specification and is directly related to cost.
- transformative- the transformative view of quality is rooted in the notion of 'qualitative change', a fundamental change of form. Ice is transformed into water and eventually steam if it experiences increase of temperature. While the increase in temperature can be measured the transformation involves a qualitative change. Ice has different qualities to that of steam and water. Transformation is not restricted to apparent or physical transformation but also includes cognitive transcendence.
Between 1970-1990, quality has been defined by different people including Ishikawa (1976), Juran and Gryna (1980), Deming (1982), Kano (1984), Taguchi (1986), Scherkenback (1988), and Kanji (1990).
Quality is a philosophy with various dimensions and can be summed up as 'doing things properly' for competitiveness and profitability. It is a holistic concept that has two ideas, i.e. quality is 'consistency' and quality is 'fitness for purpose'. These two ideas are brought together to create quality as perfection with the context of quality culture.
