The Journal for Quality and Participation...

People | Pride | Performance

January 2017 | www.asq.org/pub/jqpVol. 39, No. 4

The Journal for

Quality andParticipation

New business directions shape the future

Spirit-based discussions drive appropriate action

A lean culture provides the foundation

The Changing World of Quality and Quality Professionals

UPCOMINGCERTIFICATIONEXAMS• Biomedical Auditor

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• Master Black Belt

• Quality Inspector

• Quality Technician

• Reliability Engineer

• Six Sigma Black Belt

• Six Sigma Yellow Belt

• Supplier Quality Professional

Looking for a way to stand out in 2017? ASQ certification can help with just that. Choose from 19 certifications that are sure to not only differentiate you from your competition, but can help result in a higher salary and help land a promotion. It’s time to become a recognized expert in your field.

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table of contents ONLY @ www.asq.org/pub/jqp

4 The Changing Role of Quality in the Future: Required Competencies for Quality Professions to Succeed

Elizabeth A. Cudney and Elizabeth M. Keim

15 Courage in the Face of Nonsense: Leading in the Workplace

Stephen Hacker

19 The Value of a Lean Culture

Dodd Starbird

28 Transitional Auditing—Navigating Through the Chaos

Ardith Beitel

33 Digging Deeper Into ISO 9001:2015: Linking Opportunities and Joy at Work

Govind Ramu

37 In My View … Program Champions’ Influence on the Application of Quality Approaches

Christopher Bertoni

• Behind the Scenes Delve more deeply into this

issue’s featured online options.

• Supplemental Articles: “Expert Perspectives on the Future of the Quality Profession and Its Practitioners,” “Global State of Quality Detailed Results,” and “Following Up on the 2016 Global State of Quality Research Study” by Elizabeth A. Cudney and Elizabeth M. Keim

• Supplemental Article: “Engaged Team Performance Is the Foundation of a Lean Culture” by Dodd Starbird

• Supplemental Article: “Stretch Your Green Belt Coaching Muscles” by Steve Pollock

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departmentsEditor’s Notebook 3Facing and Dealing With the Unknown Future

Quality Thoughts 12What Does Quality Actually Mean?Gregory H. Watson

Educator’s World 24Dealing With College Students’ Stress, Anxiety, and DepressionRy Anne Millett-Thompson

Final Thoughts 39Thinking About Change Imperatives for the FutureGrace L. Duffy

Seiche Sanders Publisher

ssanders@asq

Deborah Hopen Editor

[email protected]

Marianne Di Pierro Associate Editor

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Janet Jacobsen Associate Editor

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Advisory Council

James J. RooneyJohn C. TimmermanGregory H. Watson

Editorial Review

Team Members

Ken CoganDonald DewarDaniel DuhanWendy FraserFernando PadróSteven PollockElizabeth Rice-MunroJames RooneyMike SchraederWilliam ScottJohn TimmermanRalph Waltman

The Journal for

Quality andParticipationPeople | Pride | Performance

January 2017 | www.asq.org/pub/jqpVol. 39, No. 4

The Journal for QualiTy & ParTiciPaTion January 20172

The Journal for Quality and Participation is peer-reviewed and published by ASQ. It focuses on the people side of quality, particularly employee involvement, facilitation, and teams; human resource management; leadership theories and practices; and change management, as well as articles related to the education market and social responsibility.

Publication of any article or advertisement should not be deemed as an endorsement by ASQ or The Journal for Quality and Participation.

The Journal for Quality and Participation—ISSN 1040-9602 is published four times per year (January, April, July, and October) by ASQ, 600 N. Plankinton Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53203 USA. Copyright ©2017 American Society for Quality. Periodicals postage paid at Milwaukee, WI, and additional mailing sites.

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Letters to the editor are welcome. Email them to [email protected]. Please include your address, daytime telephone number, and email address. ASQ reserves the right to edit letters for space and clarity.

• Lessons From Academia A Symbiotic Relationship Richard Schonberger

• Book Briefs New publications related to the people side of quality

ONLY @ www.asq.org/pub/jqp

mailto:[email protected]









As the articles in this issue so clearly demonstrate, the future of the qual-ity field and the professionals who are dedicated to helping their organizations achieve quality—and the world as a whole—are changing. This fact is recog-nized by many people, but not everyone agrees that the time for change to meet new requirements is now!

When discussing the need for change in order to prepare for a brave new future, I often am reminded of Nicolo Machiavelli’s famous quote. “It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out nor more doubtful of success nor more dangerous to handle than to initiate a new order of things.”1

Reports of the reality that the pace of change is accelerating abound. For instance, The Economist reported in the article, “The Creed of Speed,” “Like dorks in awe of the cool kids, the rest of America’s business establishment chastises itself for being too slow. If you ask the boss of any big American company what is changing his business, odds are he’ll say speed. Firms are born and die faster, it is widely claimed. Ideas move around the world more quickly. Supply chains bristle to the instant commands of big-data feeds. Customers’ grumbles on Facebook are met with real-time tweaks to products. Some firms are so fast that they can travel into the future: Amazon plans to do ‘anticipatory’ shipping before orders are placed.”2

Need more proof to get onboard this train before it leaves the station? Take a look at the chart in Figure 1. Not only

is the rate of innovation and change increasing, but we also have become so accustomed to that reality, that we accept new approaches with less skepti-cism and more willingness to use them.

Leaders from both ASQ and the International Academy for Quality have participated in two surveys and focus groups to explore what changes may be on the horizon for the quality profession and what new/enhanced knowledge and skills will be necessary for quality pro-fessionals to succeed. The lead article in this issue summarizes their initial views, but there clearly is a need for continu-ing research related to these topics. For now, however, we hope that the articles in this publication will provide a step in the direction needed to prepare for the future—whatever it may hold. The path forward isn’t completely clear, so we will be entering the dangerous world Machiavelli described when we accept the responsibility to watch for and be willing to adopt to the new demands of the future.

References1. Nicolo Machiavelli, The Prince and the

Discourses, The Modern Library, Random House, Inc., 1950, p. 21.

2. The Economist, “Time and the Company: The Creed of Speed,” December 5, 2015, http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21679448-pace-business-really-getting-quicker-creed-speed.

3. The Economist, “Happy Birthday World Wide Web,” The Economist Newspaper Limited, March 12, 2014, http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2014/03/daily-chart-7.

Deborah Hopen, Editor [email protected]

Editor’s Notebook: Facing and Dealing With the Unknown Future

Debo

rah

Hop

en2017 ASQ Board of Directors

Chair Eric Hayler BMW Manufacturing

Chair-Elect Elmer Corbin IBM

Past Chair Patricia La Londe (retired—CareFusion)

Treasurer Francisco “Paco” Lopez Metalsa

SAC Sylvester (Bud) Newton, Jr. Alcoa

TCC Heather Crawford Apollo Endosurgery

Secretary William Troy ASQ

Directors Donald Brecken Ferris State University

Jim Creiman Northrop Grumman Corp.

Ha C. Dao Emerson Climate Technologies

David Levy Boyce Technologies

Austin S. Lin Google

Raul Molteni Molteni Consulting

Luis G. Morales Daimler Trucks North America

Mark Moyer CAMLS

Daniella A. Picciotti Veridiam

Barrie Simpson Genentech Access Solutions

Joann Sternke Pewaukee School District

Sunil Thawani Quality Indeed Consulting

John Vandenbemden Q-Met-Tech

Allen Wong Abbott


50

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10

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Electricity (46)1873

Telephone (35)1876 Radio (31)

1897Television (26)1926

Mobilephone (13)1983

The web (7)1991

PC (16)1975

1870 80 90 1900 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 2000 10First commercially available year

Figure 1: Rate of Technology Adoption3

Years until used by one-quarter of American population





The world is changing at an increasingly fast pace, and, of course, the quality field

must adapt to fit its shifting landscape. Unfortunately, the path forward is at times

murky, and it isn’t easy to predict exactly how to prepare for what will come; however,

we cannot sit back and wait for the new situation to emerge fully before we begin to

update our organizations’ quality systems and our own professional capabilities. That’s

why ASQ partnered with APQC and the International Academy for Quality (IAQ) in

2016 to conduct several research studies to explore the perspectives of global organi-

zations and leading quality professionals. This article recaps those investigations and

suggests some actions that practitioners may want to pursue in order to be ready for

upcoming developments.

The Changing Role of Quality in the FutureRequired Competencies for Quality Professionals to Succeed

This article shares the results of several research studies conducted

in 2016 that set out to characterize the role of the quality profession

in the future and how those changes will impact practitioners’ careers.


Expert Panel AssessmentsInitially, two focus groups gave

participants from ASQ and IAQ the opportunity to share their views in an open forum. A broad set of topics and questions related to the future of the quality profession and quality profes-sionals was addressed. Approximately 50 people participated in one or both of the focus groups. A list of topics was used to start the discussions; then two more specific questions served as the basis for further exchange. The research design assumed that quality practices and the professionals who lead their application would need to respond to changes in the business environment to have a differentiating impact on organi-zational success. At the same time, the knowledge and skills necessary to be a competent quality professional who could lead improvement and ensure high organizational performance also would be likely to change. The focus groups captured summary remarks from the discussions, which were assigned to high-level categories, and affinity dia-grams and Pareto charts were created.

A follow-up survey was conducted next. The expert panel was expanded and included members of IAQ, ASQ world partners, ASQ past chairs, and the ASQ Executive Roundtable, as well as emerging leaders in the quality field. The survey requested some high-level demographic information and invited respondents to answer the same two open-ended questions. It was distrib-uted to 222 individuals, and 48 percent of them were from outside the United States. The participation rate was 12.5 percent. Once again, the feedback was categorized, and affinity diagrams and Pareto charts were prepared.

The more in-depth comments col-lected in the survey aligned well with the summaries from the original focus group discussions. The findings of these two research studies are summarized in the next two sections of this article. The actual Pareto charts appear in the online supplemental article, “Expert Perspectives on the Future of the Quality Profession and Its Practitioners.”

Factors Impacting the Future of the Quality Profession

The first research question was “What are the key changes you see in business in the next 10 years?” The notes from the focus groups were sorted into the following categories, and some of the reported discussion points are listed to provide insight on the expert panel members’ perspectives:

• Quality concepts and tools—Focus on lean methods and incorporate reliability more into quality man-agement. Retain the old tools, but develop new tools as well—par-ticularly ones that fit the specific industry or function. Different considerations will affect quality systems in the future, such as mar-ket demands, changing customer requirements, the need for increased flexibility, pace of change, etc. Quality needs to be an organization- wide strategy managed at the board level, not a department.

• Definition of quality—The defini-tion of quality needs to be updated; value may be the best description for quality and culture needs to be encompassed in the definition of quality. Quality goes beyond prod-ucts and services, applying to all aspects of life.



• Global considerations—Nations will need to establish brand identities. ASQ and other qual-ity organizations’ policies and practices will need to be fine-tuned to fit global needs better.

• Education/Training related to quality—Informa-tion on quality/value needs to be instantly accessible to increase learning.

• Impact of technology on quality—Technology will have an increasingly important impact on quality and quality systems.

Using a similar process to organize the survey responses related to this area resulted in the fol-lowing categories with a representative comment.

• Acquisition, analysis, and use of data—“Managing change, analyzing data (as technology allows us to collect so much, many are swimming in a sea of data and don’t know how to make sense of it to help their organizations).”

• Approaches for sustainable business—“Disruptors will continue to restate businesses as we know them and introduce new ways of delivering value (e.g., Uber, Airbnb).”

• Changing demographics and people manage-ment—“Baby boomers are almost dinosaurs now; businesses need to rethink how they develop people, the talent they’ll need, etc. Leaders will emerge faster with less experience and more criti-cal thinking and other skills to enable collaboration.”

• Factors affecting globalization—“Local products will gradually be valued more (because of the much lower overall environmental impact).”

• Impact of IT/internet/technology—“Artificial intelligence will play a greater role in products, processes, and people’s lives.”

• Impacts on quality management systems—“Quality management will struggle for resources and will have a problem being a topic for top management.”

In both the focus groups and the survey responses, there was repetitive feedback that quality needed to be raised to an executive-level management system, rather than subjugated to a specialized depart-ment or operations. In order to make this change a reality, however, the panelists

indicated that the language of quality would need to shift from statistics to finances.

Expert Panel Recommendations: Changing Requirements for Quality Professionals

Of course, as changes occur in organizations and to their approaches for managing quality, quality professionals need to update their knowl-edge and skills in order to be fully competent. Information provided by the focus group partici-pants and survey respondents made it abundantly clear that complacency was not an option for practitioners who wanted to ensure a solid career path in the future. The second research area delved into this by asking, “What are the skill gaps in the current quality professional? What skills do they need to meet business requirements in the next 10-15 years?”

Three major aspects of professional develop-ment were proposed—management/leadership, technical, and people, as described in more detail in Table 1. Five topics were mentioned specifically in the survey—business acumen and leadership, critical thinking and analysis, em-

Table 1: Knowledge and Skills Quality Professionals Will Need in the Future

Major aspects required for professional development Specific components

Management/Leadership

• Vision and strategic plan development and deployment

• Communication skills• General business skills, including

accounting/finance and marketing

Technical • Integration of quality systems and technology/IT

• Knowledge management—retaining and applying quality—and process-related learnings

• Critical thinking and analysis—particularly handling big data

• Statistically based process improvement, including failure analysis, root cause, and preventive action

People • Culture development and adaptation• Change management and employee

development and coaching/mentoring skills


ployee performance and cultural change, process management/improvement/tools, and value of quality (from a strategic perspective as it affects organiza-tional sustainability).

Here are a few of the com-ments that were submitted in regard to this area.

• “Quality professionals need to be more innovative, creative, business savvy. They need exceptional skills in leading people in collaborative and innovative busi-ness processes.”

• “Statistics is being watered down. Individuals are not being taught to analyze and interpret data. Quality professionals need more training in advanced statistics.”

• “Concentration on failure analysis, root cause, and preventive action (not just ‘Let’s make everyone happy so the meeting will get over sooner and I can go back to Pokémon.’).”

• “Applying quality thinking to other business functions such as planning, marketing, sup-port, product retirement. Quality training must go beyond the ‘problem solving’ mode to ‘value creation’.”

Organizational Perspective: Global State of Quality

ASQ and APQC initiated groundbreak-ing research to identify quality successes and opportunities from around the world. More than 2,000 survey responses from organiza-tions in more than 22 countries provided the foundation for the first report, The ASQ Global State of Quality: Discoveries 2013. Regional qual-ity trends throughout the world were identified, offering a baseline of benchmark data to help organizations compare their performance to the current state of quality and pinpoint new growth opportunities.1

These foundational results were taken a step further in 2016 when a second study was con-ducted, involving 1,665 survey respondents with 59 percent representing manufacturing and 41 percent service organizations. This was a notable shift from the previous research where

the split was approximately 50/50. Figure 1 shows a more detailed breakdown of the participants’ organizations, which indicates that a reasonable cross-section was obtained.2

The five themes described in the sidebar, Research Discoveries 2016, reflect the over- arching summary of the survey results. More detailed information on those findings is available in the supplemental online article, “Global State of Quality Detailed Results.”

Research Discoveries 2016

Theme 1: Quality: Strategic Asset, Competitive Differentiator

• Shift toward centralized governance• Increased frequency of quality metric reporting

Theme 2: Business Performance Impact• Quality has a direct impact on business performance• Measurement and visibility of financial impact

is limited

Theme 3: Accelerating “Qustomer”• Concept of customer as the only one who can

define quality is shifting• However, customers are still the primary influence

on quality programs and business objectives

Theme 4: Setbacks—Controlled or Not• Managing setbacks continues to be an issue for

quality departments• Many organizations lack measurement and visibil-

ity of setback’s financial costs

Theme 5: Knowledge, Learning, and Culture• Knowledge retention and training vary widely

globally, as does perceived impact• Types of training provided to employees is similar

across industries

Figure 1: Number of Respondents by Industry



Expert Panel Perspective: Global State of Quality

These themes served as the basis for ques-tions used in the most recent exploratory study. Members of IAQ and recipients of ASQ’s Feigenbaum Medal, which recognizes young individuals who have displayed outstanding char-acteristics of leadership, professionalism, and potential in the field of quality and also whose

work has been or will become distinctly beneficial to mankind, were invited to participate in this study. Table 2 provides the percent of responses obtained for each of the 18 scalar questions in this survey, and Table 3 lists the categories that were generated when the responses to the six open-ended questions were sorted. A third online article, “Following Up on the 2016 Global State of Quality Research Study,” presents the graphical

Table 2: Survey Results for Scalar Questions

Theme Survey item

Percent of responsesStrongly

agree AgreeNeither agree nor disagree Disagree

Strongly disagree

Quality: strategic asset, competitive differentiator

Quality is shifting from a continuous improvement focus to a competitive differentiator.

27.3 48.5 15.2 9.1 0.0

Leadership is looking at quality measures more frequently.

20.6 44.1 17.6 17.6 0.0

Leaders are interested in different quality measures now than the ones on which they used to focus.

14.7 47.1 23.5 8.8 5.9

There is a shift toward centralized governance of quality processes.

8.8 41.2 20.6 29.4 0.0

Business performance impact

The impact of quality now is measured in terms of business performance.

20.6 35.3 26.5 17.6 0.0

Organizations have difficulty quantifying the financial impact of quality.

41.2 35.3 14.7 5.9 2.9

The financial impact of quality should be measured in the future.

50.0 32.4 8.8 5.9 2.9

Accelerating “qustomer”

Customers currently define quality. 26.5 44.1 23.5 2.9 2.9Customers should be the key drivers of quality programs and objectives.

41.2 41.2 2.9 11.8 2.9

Organizations should leverage the impact of customer experience and brand reputation.

52.9 44.1 0.0 2.9 0.0

Organizations should share product quality information with customers.

55.9 29.4 11.8 2.9 0.0

Organizations should train quality resources in customer experience skills.

61.8 32.4 5.9 0.0 0.0

Setbacks—controlled or not

Total investments in quality are increasing. 9.1 30.3 27.3 33.3 0.0Most organizations know how much they are spending on remediating quality-related setbacks.

2.9 8.8 23.5 52.9 11.8

The highest frequency of setbacks is product defects (versus supplier-related, service delays, etc.).

9.1 39.4 24.2 24.2 3.0

Knowledge, learning, and culture

There is a large variation in the impact of lost knowledge.

29.4 52.9 8.8 5.9 2.9

The loss of knowledge affects quality programs.

52.9 32.4 8.8 2.9 2.9

The focus in most organizations is on training of improvement disciplines versus compliance activities.

5.9 29.4 41.2 23.5 0.0


summaries for the scalar questions and categorized comments.

Although there are prevailing perspectives among the expert panelists, there certainly is not a consensus. There was a definite sub-set of the respondents whose opinions directly opposed the mainstream perspectives—in gen-eral they think the world of quality always has been this way (and they don’t see the changing world as having an impact on those histori-cal situations). Furthermore, the survey participants had a tendency to disagree or be more divergent in their perspectives related to the fourth theme regarding setbacks. Overall, however, the respon-dents were more likely to agree or strongly agree than to disagree or strongly disagree.

Here are just a few of the com-ments provided for the open-ended questions.

• “There is considerable varia-tion in measurement systems. Organizations in a highly com-petitive environment and those leading a quality revolution focus on customer-oriented quality measures. Among these organiza-tions there is a movement toward controlling variation rather than percent or parts per million non-compliance. Such organizations may constitute less than 10 per-cent of all organizations. Most organizations are still focused on percent defective through inspec-tion. Often they look at averages/mean rather than variation.”

• “Management answers to the governance of the organization (e.g., the representative function of ownership). The board and set of external advisors and busi-ness analysts judge results based on financial performance, which

Table 3: Categories for Open-Ended Survey Questions

ThemeOpen-Ended Question Categories

Quality: strategic asset, competitive differentiator

What quality measures do you think are being used most commonly by leadership? Why?

• Customer satisfaction• Cost savings/cost of quality• Defect rates• Benchmarking and key

performance indicators• Variation/Six Sigma• Productivity and efficiency• Compliance and management

systems • Culture

Business performance impact

Why do organizations have trouble measuring quality in terms of business performance?

• Vague/Not clear how to measure positive aspects

• Contradictory• Lack of strong integration/

causal relationship• Distortion when converting to

financial indicators• Management and culture• Organizational structure

(silo approach)• No problems measuring financially

Accelerating “qustomer”

Who will be involved in defining quality in the future?

• Customers• Stakeholders• Management/Organization• Those impacted (society

and environment)• Innovators and strategic

planning team• Employees/All levels of the

organization

Setbacks—controlled or not

How are setbacks affecting the definition of quality and the role of the quality professional?

• Changing role of quality professionals in industry

• Lack of understanding of quality, TQM, and quality-systems thinking

• Lack of leadership commitment/organizational focus

• Lack of understanding relationship between quality and cost

• Poor communication• Difficulty and speed of resolving

setbacks• Changing definition of quality

to include safety, reliability, and service

• Lack of skilled and professional quality teams

• Rapid manner of spreading setbacks (Internet)

• Lost market opportunity• Not clear

(continued on next page)



is the language of management; however, internally the language is of the daily management system with indicators of quality, cost, time, and safety. Management’s language requires a conversion of operational measures into financial indicators, and this is done using artificial constructs of standard cost accounting with allocation of unassignable costs. This so distorts the reporting sys-tem that performance data tends to become ‘bad data’ and, as physicist Stephen Hawking says so appropriately: ‘The cost of bad data is the illusion of knowledge.’”

• “In addition to the customer, impact on society and the envi-ronment will become key drivers. Definition of customer is also changing to include all those impacted by the product and/or service. They will play an impor-tant role in defining quality.”

• “Most organizations have no idea of the real impact of quality on their total cost of doing busi-ness (e.g., based on the economic analysis of supplier business, internal economics, and market or customer economic impact). In a recent analysis of a major producer of durable goods, its estimate of the internal cost impact of field failure was found to be off by a factor of five (e.g., estimates of warranty costs were in the range of 1.5 per-cent of sales, where the reality was closer to 7 to 8 percent of sales). Today’s quality leaders are not trained in the disciplines required for unpacking the true cost of the organization’s qual-ity performance, and the current accounting practices of organiza-tions distort conclusions as they dissipate costs and assign them to

ThemeOpen-Ended Question Categories

Knowledge, learning, and culture

How is quality knowledge currently retained?

• Standards/Quality management systems/Compliance

• Training and conferences• Tribal knowledge/each individual• No actions to retain/retention of

information is not of interest• Manual or procedures• Repositories/Summary data• Societies and councils

How should quality knowledge be retained in the future?

• Training throughout organizations• Flexible retirement options to

retain key employees• Electronic media, such as videos• Trained facilitators connecting

elements• Emphasizing innovation• Sustainable processes

General What other trends do you see occurring in the next 10-15 years in quality?

• Understanding societal and sustainability impact

• Integration of quality, innovation, and/or management systems

• Quality will be integrated throughout product life cycle

• Quality becomes part of everyone’s responsibility, not centralized

• Ability to manage big data• Balancing between processes

and people• Lean, Six Sigma, and quality

profession will fade• STEM will emphasize soft skills,

soft skills in quality profession• No change• Expanding the quality definition• Global markets and teams• Quality as a service• Greater emphasis on fact-based

quality management• Successor concepts will have less

technical rigor• Short lead time influencing quality

professionals’ speed• Economic impact will be

understood• Job advancement• Lean initiatives• Quality as an academic discipline• Ethics

Table 3: Categories for Open-Ended Survey Questions (continued)


illusionary cost categories through the process of cost allocation, which burdens good- performing processes and products with the costs of the bad ones by spreading unassign-able costs across all products and processes uniformly. Accounting practices have the effect of creating management hyperopia in vision at a time when managers are seeking managerial myopia so they can cast personal aspersions on managers for guilt of non-performance in customer experience through root-blame analysis.”

• “Quality knowledge is an essential skill for all the roles instead of for just the quality roles. Now quality is everyone’s accountability. Hence I am seeing that designers, developers, and program managers are trained on quality rather than just the quality group.”

SummaryNo one has definitive answers on what will

happen in the future, but research studies, such as the ones described in this article can paint a picture of what seems to be on the horizon. Instead of waiting for the changes to occur, now is the time to begin to prepare—much like modern quality management practices that focus on pre-vention rather than detection.

More Online The three supplemental articles that provide the detailed

research findings in tabular and graphical format can be found at www.asq.org/pub/jqp/.

References

1. ASQ and APQC, ASQ Global State of Quality: Discoveries 2013, http://asq.org/2013/04/global- quality/the-asq-global-state-of-quality- discoveries-2013.html.

2. ASQ and APQC, ASQ Global State of Quality 2 Research: Discoveries 2016, http://asq.org/global-state-of-quality/index.aspx.

Elizabeth A. CudneyElizabeth A. Cudney is an associate professor in the Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Department at Missouri University of Science and Technology. In 2014, Cudney was elected as an ASEM Fellow. In 2013, Cudney was elected as an ASQ Fellow. She was inducted into the International Academy for Quality in 2010. She received the 2008 ASQ Feigenbaum Medal and the 2006 SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineering Award. Cudney has published six books and more than 55 journal papers. She holds eight ASQ certifications, which include ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE), Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence (CMQ/OE), and Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB), among others. Contact her at [email protected].

Elizabeth M. KeimElizabeth M. Keim is managing partner of Integrated Quality Resources, LLC. Keim has global consulting experience in Lean Six Sigma at executive, champion, Black Belt, and Green Belt levels in industries including: insurance, banking, sales and marketing, government, mining, utilities, healthcare, chemical, automotive, distribution, hospitality, testing, and telecommunications. She also has consulted in the use of and assessment against the Malcolm Baldrige Performance Criteria. Keim is past chair of ASQ and academician and vice president of conferences for IAQ. She has earned three ASQ certifications, including Six Sigma Master Black Belt (CSSMBB), Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence (CMQ/OE), and Quality Auditor (CQA). For more information, she can be reached at [email protected].


http://www.asq.org/pub/jqp/

http://asq.org/2013/04/global-quality/the-asq-global-state-of-quality-discoveries-2013.html



http://asq.org/global-state-of-quality/index.aspx




Expert Perspectives on the Future of the Quality Profession and Its PractitionersElizabeth A. Cudney and Elizabeth M. Keim

The focus groups and survey that were con-ducted by ASQ and IAQ invited participants to share their perspectives regarding quality practices and the professionals who lead their application. Two areas were investigated, as shown below, that were based on the assumption the quality field and its practitioners would need to respond to changes in the business environment to have a differentiat-ing impact on organizational success. Furthermore, changes in the environment are almost certain to require different knowledge and skills for quality professionals in the future.

• Research area one: What are the key changes you see in business in the next 10 years?

• Research area two: What are the skill gaps in the current quality professional? What skills do they need to meet business requirements in the next 10-15 years?

Pareto charts summarizing the comments by assigned category and their corresponding affinity diagrams that include all of the comments associ-ated with each category are included in this article.

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Figure 1: Pareto Chart of Focus Group Comments

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Impact oftechnologyon quality

Other

Number of comments 16 12 9 9 5 4 4 3Percent 25.8 19.4 14.5 14.5 8.1 6.5 6.5 4.8Cumulative percent 25.8 45.2 59.7 74.2 82.3 88.7 95.2 100.0

Focus group comments



Quality concepts and tools

Focus on lean methods as the foundation of quality in other functions

Incorporate reliability into the practice of quality

Although the effective tools still will be used, new tools need to be developed, too

Shape quality tools to fit the industries/departments to which they are applied

Develop tools to handle large data sets

Quality information needs to be reported differently in the future

The focus on low-cost manufacturing and products needs to be reduced

We need to determine how to deal with future considerations, such as market demands, changing customer requirements, the need for increased flexibility, pace of change, etc.

Small to midsized organizations need a different approach to quality

Quality needs to be an organization- wide strategy managed at the board level, not a department

Quality needs to be practiced in all areas of the organization, including headquarters

Top management should oversee quality, maintaining a board-level focus

Quality needs to be a management philosophy that focuses on values and leadership

Corporate brand and quality should be linked more directly

Quality leadership should be directed by a chief quality officer

Organizations need to consider the ramifications of increasing customer expectations/poor quality/negative reviews

We need to not only consider how quality should be managed but also the performance quality of management

Leaders/Decision makers need to understand and be able to apply the concepts/tools of quality

To optimize quality, it must connect control and innovation at the strategic level

German executives have quality roles in addition to their other areas of accountability

Responsibility for quality needs to be included in other leadership roles and addressed at the strategic/board level

Quality at the corporate/board level

The definition of quality needs to be expanded to describe an over-arching culture

Quality needs to be defined in terms of customer loyalty

Quality needs to focus on leadership, education, and values

Quality needs to be redefined in terms of value

Quality is about sharing out values and cultures to improve the world

Quality involves improve-ment, customer satisfaction, and high performance

The word quality may need to be replaced with the word excellence

Mature organizations no lon-ger refer to quality

We need to focus on the quality of life, including healthcare

Definition of quality

Quality practitioners should be recognized as a specific profession

Quality professionals need to have a more comprehensive skill set and higher rank in the orga-nization

Quality leadership should be directed by a chief quality officer

The quality profession needs to contribute to society at large, and ASQ needs to demonstrate how it aids young professionals

Quality professionals need specific career paths

We needs to better engage qual-ity professionals and increase their knowledge and adaptability

Many quality professionals don’t have management skills and can’t speak the language of management

Quality professionals generally have many roles

The contributions of the quality profession/professionals need to be recognized and valued more

The core skill sets of quality professionals need to be redefined

Quality professionals are poorly prepared to address people-management related issues

Quality professionals need better skills in people-related topics and teamwork

Quality professionals need development and experience in other functions and the ability to interact at the senior level of the organization

Quality professionals need to be prepared to address and adapt to the changing role

Quality professionals need to be able to provide appropriate support for organizations using different business models, such as rapid start-up companies

Current people-management processes are not addressing issues sufficiently

Quality profession

Figure 2: Affinity Diagram of Focus Group Comments (continued on next page)


ASQ certification must be recognized globally

Nations need to establish brand identities

ASQ/Other quality organizations’ policies and practices need to be fine-tuned to fit global needs

We need to establish a global think tank that fosters collabo-ration and is connected to the world conference system

The increase in globalization is affecting the cultural aspects of quality

Global considerations

Education/Training regarding quality should be provided by colleges/universities

Quality principles need to be incorporated into the content and provision of education

Information on quality/value needs to be instantly accessible to increase learning

Determine when quality education should start

Education/Training related to quality

The quality field needs to focus more on technology

Software and technology are replacing traditional markets/industries

The quality profession is not keeping abreast of changes in the digitalization of produc-tion, service, and products

Technical systems are increas-ing complexity of processes and products/services

Impact of technology on quality

IAQ needs to work with other professional organizations outside the field of quality

Governments need to establish standards to improve the quality of human life

Identify opportunities for pro-moting research and discussion about quality

Other

Figure 2: Affinity Diagram of Focus Group Comments (continued)



Figure 3: Pareto Chart of Survey Comments Regarding Business Changes

100

80

60

40

20

0

Num

ber

of c

omm

ents

Perc

ent

80706050403020100

Approachesfor

sustainablebusiness

Impact ofIT/internettechnology

Changingdemographicsand people

management

Factorsaffectingglobal-ization

Impacts onquality

managementsystems

Market andcustomerconsider-

ations

Increasingfocus onsocial

responsibility

Increasingpace ofchange

Acquistion,analysis,and useof data

Number of comments 12 11 9 9 9 9 6 4 3Percent 16.7 15.3 12.5 12.5 12.5 12.5 8.3 5.6 4.2Cumulative percent 16.7 31.9 44.4 56.9 69.4 81.9 90.3 95.8 100.0

Business changes


Figure 4: Affinity Diagram of Survey Comments Regarding Business Changes (continued on next page)

Acquisition, analysis, and use of date

Data analytics increases in importance

Managing change, analyzing data (as technology allows us to collect so much, many are swimming in a sea of data and don’t know how to make sense of it to help their organizations)

The ways that data are acquired, integrated, analyzed and used will impact business decisions and processes.

Virtualization, big data storage and management

A deregulation and consolida-tion of healthcare insurance agencies similar to the airlines

Achieving sustainable business models and sustainable develop-ment

Central designs with flexible customization and decentralized manufacturing

Cost pressure

Cost will continue to be a driver and good out-of-the-box quality and effective support a condi-tion of entry into any market

Disrupters will continue to restate businesses as we know them and introduce new ways of delivering value (e.g., Uber, Airbnb)

Focus on profitability by reduc-ing waste and focus on customer

Increased access to funds transfer mechanism outside the traditional banking industry will accelerate internet trade and reduce supply chain costs

More intellectual content spe-cialization and service orienta-tion

Security/Safety problems in an increasingly uncertain world

Quality services

Service quality

Approaches for sustainable business

Baby boomers are dinosaurs now—business needs to rethink how they develop people, the talent they’ll need, etc. Leaders will emerge faster with less experience and more critical thinking and skills to enable collaboration.

Changing role of the quality professional

Education and training are lagging behind the needs for knowledge and skills in the future

Major turnover in senior leadership as baby boomers retire. We are going to lose all of the people who learned the lessons directly from Deming, Juran, and Crosby.

Managing diversity

Multiple and flexible types of employment in place of the current rigid ones

Online training

People—how to retain and reward our people

Retirement of the old guard that actually cares about “old school” things like data and statistics, replaced by a bunch of snot-nosed kids that only care about how fast they can leave the office to do something “wicked” with Pokeman, whatever the hell that is

Changing demographics and people management

Continued globalization, expanded focus on security (e.g., from computer hacking)

Cyber DFARS (defense)—increased gov requirements

Global business change

Global financial issues

Globalization (defense)—offset contracts requiring a larger portion of work content to remain in country

I also expect more insourcing both on a company and nation basis. Local products will gradually be valued more (because of the much lower overall environmental impact)

Internationalization

Manufacturing will again be a major factor in the economy as politics dictate

Shift in manufacturing from China to areas with less expensive labor like Vietnam and Africa

Factors affecting globalization

What are the key changes you see in business in the next 10 years?



Figure 4: Affinity Diagram of Survey Comments Regarding Business Changes (continued)

A lot of changes, because the world is changing super fast. I think in Chile we need to find the correct strategy to keep producing copper, wine, and salmon, but also to be more innovative

Increased rate of change

Increasing speeds of change

A shift from owning to using (partly related to more people living in cities). This will mean that products have to be of high intrinsic quality and that services offering the use of products will grow.

Brand management

Cost will continue to be a driver and good out-of-the-box quality and effective support a condition of entry into any market

Customer marketing

Customer relations through the web more the norm

Focus on profitability by reducing waste and focus on customer

Focus on protecting reputation by avoiding failure for the full range of stakeholders

Quality services

Service quality

A growth in micromanufac-turing facilities once the economics of 3-D printing improves

Arrival of Industry 4.0: How can quality cope with IoT

Artificial intelligence will play a greater role in prod-ucts, processes, and people’s lives

Customer relations through the web more the norm

Growing role of IT in dis-rupting conventional busi-ness

Handling the increased digi-tization: internet of things, 3-D printing, robotization, social media, etc.

How manufacturing site will be changed by IoT, and how quality management should be evolved under such cir-cumstances

Technology integration into nearly all manufactured goods and processes

Automation in manufactur-ing will be the primary drive in business

Use of apps

Cyber DFARS (defense)—increased government requirements

Impact of IT/internet/ technology

Arrival of Industry 4.0: How can quality cope with IoT

Continued increase in compliance/regulation

How manufacturing site will be changed by IoT, and how quality management should be evolved under such circumstances

Quality 4.0

Quality excellences

Quality management will struggle for resources and will have problem to be a topic for the top management

Quality services

Service quality

Cyber DFARS (defense)—increased government requirements

Impacts on quality management systems

Companies may be expected more universally to be responsible

Environmental strains (climate change will likely have a big impact on all organizations)

More businesses may become social businesses, with social aims predominating over profits

Much more attention for social responsibility and a shift in society that will no longer accept that costs created by businesses are external-ized to society

Planet Earth issues may take a more central position

Stronger requirements on environmental protection

Increasing focus on social responsibility

Increasing pace of change

Market and customer considerations

What are the key changes you see in business in the next 10 years?


Figure 5: Pareto Chart of Survey Comments Regarding Quality Professionals’ Skills

100

80

60

40

20

0

Num

ber

of c

omm

ents

Perc

ent

50

40

30

20

10

0Business

acumen andleadership

Criticalthinking and

analysis

Processmanagement/improvement

tools

Employeeperformanceand cultural

change

Other Value ofquality

Qualityprofession

Number of comments 17 7 6 5 5 4 2Percent 37.0 15.2 13.0 10.9 10.9 8.7 4.3Cumulative percent 37.0 52.2 65.2 76.1 87.0 95.7 100.0

Quality professionals skills



Figure 6: Affinity Diagram of Survey Comments Regarding Quality Professionals’ Skills (continued on next page)

Business acumen and leadership

The skill of aligning the entire organization to visionary and strategic objectives; the skill of engaging top management.

Basic communication skills are very much needed

General management skills

Impact of IT on quality outcomes

In general, quality professionals need to become more part of upper management—i.e., they need to develop their managerial skills in general to be seen as leaders

In the future, IT skills will become even more important

Leadership

Leadership and business skills—the tools are there but not the understanding of business drivers, not the ability to influence, and not the ability to shift left in the value chain to prevent failure

Lessons learned. How do we improve our sharing of success and failures across a workforce that is enter-ing into higher level positions without actually expe-rience in the event themselves

More in-depth business knowledge is a current gap

Need to learn: New business language, business planning

Not always tied to IT, IT not fully integrated to quality concepts

Quality professionals will have to increase their business acumen in the future. An MBA with a quality focus will be required for leaders in our industry.

Sense of management and basic knowledge of new technology application

The most important skill gaps appear to be in marketing, particularly the utilization of social media

Preparedness to take the role as a chief cultural officer, support the organization to enhance its dynamic capability (handling the exploitation–exploration dilemma)

Quality professionals need to be more innovative, cre-ative, business savvy. They need exceptional skills in leading people in collaborative and innovative busi-ness processes. They need a new level of understand-ing of how to make big data and AI work for them to serve the needs of customers. Critical thinking and analytical skills will play a greater role in their success. They will need to let go of their past ability to rely on knowledge and application of standards as their expertise and take on a builder’s role—be a part of building something great for the customer and society with new approaches—their expertise will become how to integrate quality into every strategy, process, and purpose.

Quality professionals lack diagnostic skills—auditing skills are not enough

Big data analytics

Data analysis

Data analysis, statistics, deep technical knowledge (vs. process knowledge)

Statistics is being watered down. Individuals are not being taught to ana-lyze and interpret data. Quality profes-sionals need more training in advanced statistics.

Quality professionals need to be more innovative, creative, business savvy. They need exceptional skills in leading people in collaborative and innovative business processes. They need a new level of understanding of how to make big data and AI work for them to serve the needs of customers. Critical thinking and analytical skills will play a greater role in their success. They will need to let go of their past ability to rely on knowledge and application of standards as their expertise and take on a builder’s role—be a part of building something great for the customer and society with new approaches—their expertise will become how to integrate quality into every strategy, process, and purpose.

Critical thinking and analysis

Change management and working with a diverse set of people

Need to learn: Building organizations

Remove barriers to employee intrinsic motivation

Understanding of the final product needs vs. just doing the job

Preparedness to take the role as a chief cultural officer, support the organization to enhance its dynamic capability (handling the exploitation–exploration dilemma)

Employee performance and cultural change

What are the skill gaps in the current quality professional? What skills do they need to meet business needs in the next 10–15 years?


Figure 6: Affinity Diagram of Survey Comments Regarding Quality Professionals’ Skills (continued)

Concentration on failure analysis, root cause, and preventive action (not just “let’s make everyone happy so the meeting will get over sooner and I can go back to Pokeman”).

Good knowledge of processes

Process knowledge

Quality-added value competences, quality 4.0 competences

When I spoke at WCQI in Nashville, I asked a large audience of participants how many had ever experienced or seen the bead box experiment. Only a few hands went up. Many of the new quality professionals have learned tools, but do not understand the more important things that Deming, Crosby, and Juran taught.

The future will focus on a more robust set of tools in a simple framework: A-I-M. Assess, Improve, and Manage. Currently quality professionals are knowl-edgeable about improvement tools but are very weak on tech-niques to assess processes (e.g., Baldrige, maturity models, etc.) and process management methods and management routines needed to establish a continual culture of improvement. We need to move from project to process in our thinking and learn to integrate the tool set versus staking our turf on a single island of method-ology (lean, Six Sigma, etc.) This is an old concept that still needs to be culturally accepted within the quality practitioner base.

I don’t see there being a distinct quality profession or quality except in areas where traditional quality control is paramount, e.g., pharmamanufacturing, nuclear power, airlines, etc. Mostly quality comes under general development management.

There is also a shortage of new blood, and attracting young people into quality management means the profession needs to compete with project, engineering, purchasing, etc., to ensure it provides an aspirational and attractive career option for the long or short term.

Process management/improvement/tools

Quality profession

There are not many left in the profession who grasp the role of quality from a strategic or broader perspective

Applying quality thinking to other business functions such as planning, marketing, support, product retirement. Quality training must go beyond the “problem solving” mode to “value creation.”

Compared with the past, experts of quality management can hardly be seen. As a result, most people became ignorant of company-wide promotion of quality management and quality assurance. We have to re-establish the system to educate and train them.

They need more skills in relation to the concept of sustainability and how quality management underpins financial sustainability

Value of quality

Knowledge of true social responsibility. A view on large-scale societal trends and the ability to be a driver-leader for this sustainability movement

Lack of interfaces with other disciplines

Need to learn skills in WHSEQR

We need certification in all sectors

Quality professionals need to be more innovative, creative, business savvy. They need exceptional skills in leading people in collaborative and innovative business processes. They need a new level of understanding of how to make big data and AI work for them to serve the needs of custom-ers. Critical thinking and ana-lytical skills will play a greater role in their success. They will need to let go of their past ability to rely on knowledge and application of standards as their expertise and take on a builder’s role—be a part of building something great for the customer and society with new approaches—their expertise will become how to integrate quality into every strategy, process, and purpose.

Other

What are the skill gaps in the current quality professional? What skills do they need to meet business needs in the next 10–15 years?


Global State of Quality Detailed Results


The 2016 Global State of Quality research1 report identified the five themes that were used as a basis for the most recent survey-based study of IAQ members and Feigenbaum Medalists. Additional graphical displays that were generated during the project are included in this online supplemental article. Each figure is accompanied with a brief description of the findings it portrays.

Reference1. ASQ and APQC, ASQ Global State of Quality 2 Research: Discoveries 2016, http://asq.org/global-state-of-quality/index.aspx.

ONLINE-ONLY CONTENT


Figure 1: Top Five Quality Challenges

One of the survey questions investigated the challenges of implementing quality practices globally by asking “What are the challenges faced by your organization in adapting quality programs (training, metrics, reporting, supervision) across geographies?” Respondents were permitted to select all the categories they felt applied. As can be seen below, the five categories included in the survey received fairly similar response rates; however, recognition that quality competes for resources and is challenged in the use of technology had the highest rates.





Figure 2: Theme 1—Quality: Strategic Asset, Competitive Differentiator

There was a substantial increase from 2013 to 2016 regarding the value of quality as a strategic asset and competitive differentiator, as shown below. All three supporting aspects of this change had responses that were more favorable in 2016.

Figure 3: Theme 2—Business Performance Impact

The results for this area continue to be discouraging—26 percent of the responding manufacturing orga-nizations and 33 percent of the service organizations reported that they don’t measure the financial impact of quality. Amazingly, almost the same percentage of respondents from each industry weren’t even aware of whether or not their organizations measured this factor! Under these circumstances, it’s unlikely that the true value of quality management systems and the contributions of quality professionals will be valued.

These findings were determined in conjunction with a survey question that asked respondents to indi-cate the annual financial impact that their organizations reaped by using quality to drive profitability.

The financial impact was defined as being the sum of top-line revenue growth and decreased expenses. Annual levels ranging from “less than $100,000 U.S.” to “more than $10,000,000 U.S.” were provided as choices along with “I don’t know” and “we don’t measure the financial impact.” Both manufacturing- and service-industry respondents used those final two options more than half of the time.


Figure 5: Theme 4—Setbacks—Controlled or Not

Poor quality increases the risk of setbacks, which quality management systems are intended to prevent or substantially reduce their consequences. Respondents indicated that more than 40 percent of the setbacks experienced by their organizations related to product defects and a poor understanding of quality. A variety of potential ramifications associated with quality failures (see the 11 categories below) were provided to the survey participants, and they were permitted to select all that applied at their organizations. The results indicated that three outcomes occurred most frequently—financial (averaging 42 percent), delay of a product launch (averaging 29 percent), and loss of a competitive advantage (averaging 28 percent). The relative rates of occurrence for these three consequences are shown below for the manufacturing and service industries:

Categories of Outcomes Associated With Quality Failures

Tarnished brand reputation

Delayed launch of a new product(s)

Drop in stock price

Lost important customers

Financial losses

Fines/Penalties

Lost a competitive advantage

Subjected to stricter government regulations

Change in organizational structure

Change in leadership

Other

Figure 4: Theme 3—Accelerating “Qustomer”

According to the research report, “Sharing information transparently with customers is one way to enhance the customer-supplier relationship. Greater than 60 percent of organizations leverage ‘quality impact on customer experience’ and ‘brand reputation to drive profitability.’ In an effort to engage with cus-tomers, two-thirds of organizations share product quality information with customers—but there has been a slight decrease in this sharing process, from 68 percent to 62 percent since 2013.”

Survey participants indicated that many organizations are making a proactive effort to provide customer experience training for their employees. This approach is viewed as offering a way to strengthen the organiza-tion’s culture of quality as it relates to customer integration. The response rates below show the frequency of application for this approach across six industries:



Figure 6: Theme 5—Knowledge, Learning, and Culture

The first graph below shows the quality and continuous improvement training topics that were reported as having the highest investment levels by global region. Note that five of the seven regions are focusing their efforts on quality fundamentals—Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), Europe, Middle East, North America, and South America. This training investment analysis also was stratified by industry, as shown in the second graph.

Healthcare�Basic quality fundamentals (69%)�Quality tools (56%)�Quality management (50%)

Food & Beverage�Basic quality fundamentals (86%)�Auditing (57%)�ISO (55%)�Quality management (55%)�Quality tools (55%)

Automotive�Basic quality fundamentals (81%)�Quality tools (68%)�ISO (66%)�Auditing (64%)�Quality management (62%)�Lean (53%)

Energy�ISO (71%)�Basic quality fundamentals (63%)�Auditing (59%)�Quality management (59%)�Quality tools (53%)

Top training spend – per some key industriesTop training spend – per region

Following Up on the 2016 Global State of Quality Research StudyElizabeth A. Cudney and Elizabeth M. Keim

The five themes identified in the 2016 Global State of Quality research set the stage for the most recent analysis. Members of IAQ and recipients of ASQ’s Feigenbaum Medal were invited to participate in the new survey that was conducted in October 2016. Findings for the 18 scalar questions were reported in the print article, “The Changing Role of Quality in the Future: Required Competencies for Quality Professionals to Succeed.”

Open-ended questions also were included for each theme and over-arching feedback. As previ-ously described, the responses submitted for the open-ended questions were assigned to categories,

which have been displayed as Pareto charts in this online supplemental article. Each of the Pareto charts is accompanied by a simple analysis that determines the vital few categories that emerged when the experts’ perspectives regarding the five themes were summarized and projections on how the quality profession will be affected in the future.

As mentioned in the print article, the experts’ views were quite divergent. On the other hand, working to address the circumstances and issues identified in this feedback can provide beneficial input to the process of monitoring changes that are currently underway and preparing for the future.

ONLINE-ONLY CONTENT


Figure 1: Theme—Quality: Strategic Asset, Competitive Differentiator

Survey Questions: What quality measures do you think are being used most commonly by leadership? Why?

Analysis Finding

Number of categories that include approximately 80% of the responses

Four out of eight

Actual percent of responses associated with those categories 80.8%

Compelling priorities have been identified for focus (a few categories contain the majority of the responses)

One category had the greatest number of responses and was notably higher than the next categorical grouping, which can be considered to be compelling.• Customer satisfaction

100

80

60

40

20

0

Num

ber

of c

omm

ents

Perc

ent

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0Quality

professionQuality at

the corporate/board level

De�nitionof quality

Qualityconceptsand tools

Globalconsiderations

Education/Trainingrelated

to quality

Impact oftechnologyon quality

Other

Number of comments 16 12 9 9 5 4 4 3Percent 25.8 19.4 14.5 14.5 8.1 6.5 6.5 4.8Cumulative percent 25.8 45.2 59.7 74.2 82.3 88.7 95.2 100.0

Focus group comments



Figure 2: Theme—Business Performance ImpactSurvey Question: Why do organizations have trouble measuring quality in terms of business performance?

Analysis Finding


Three out of seven



Two categories had the greatest number of responses and were notably higher than the next categorical groupings, which can be considered to be compelling.• Lack of strong integration/causal relationship• Management and culture

100

80

60

40

20

0

Num

ber

of c

omm

ents

Perc

ent

20

15

10

5

0Lack of strongintegration/

causalrelationship

Managementand

culture

Vague/Notclear how to measure

positive aspects

Organizationalstructure

(siloapproach)

Contradictory Distortionwhen converting

to �nancialindicators

No problemsmeasuring�nancially


Response categories


Figure 3: Theme—Accelerating “Qustomer”Survey Question: Who will be involved in defining quality in the future?

Analysis Finding


Three out of six



One category had the greatest number of responses and was notably higher than the next categorical grouping, which can be considered to be compelling.• Customers

100

80

60

40

20

0

Num

ber

of c

omm

ents

Perc

ent

40

30

20

10

0Customers Management/

OrganizationStakeholders Innovators

and strategicplanning team

Those impacted(society andenvironment)

Employees/All levels of

the organization

Number of comments 16 7 7 4 4 2Percent 40.0 17.5 17.5 10.0 10.0 5.0Cumulative percent 40.0 57.5 75.0 85.0 95.0 100.0

Response categories



Figure 4: Theme—Setbacks—Controlled or NotSurvey Question: How are setbacks affecting the definition of quality and the role of the quality professional?

Analysis Finding


Six out of 11



Four categories had the greatest number of responses and were higher than the next categorical groupings but were not compelling.• Changing role of quality professionals in industry• Lack of understanding of quality, TQM, and quality-

systems thinking• Lack of leadership commitment/organizational focus• Lack of understanding relationship between quality

and cost

100

80

60

40

20

0

Num

ber

of c

omm

ents

Perc

ent

30

25

20

15

10

5

0Changingrole ofqualityprofess-ionals

Lack ofleadershipcommit-ment/

organiz-ationalfocus

Lack ofunder-

standingof quality,TQM, etc.

Lack ofunder-

standingrelation-

shipbetweenquality

and cost

Changingde�nitionof quality(safety,

reliability,service)

Dif�cultyand

speed ofresolvingsetbacks

Poorcom-

munica-tion

Lack ofskilled

and prof-essionalqualityteams

Rapidmanner

of spreadingsetbacks(internet)

Lostmarketoppor-tunity

Not clear

Number of comments 5 5 4 4 2 2 2 1 1 1 1Percent 17.9 17.9 14.3 14.3 7.1 7.1 7.1 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6Cumulative percent 17.9 35.7 50.0 64.3 71.4 78.6 85.7 89.3 92.9 96.4 100.0

Business changes


Figure 5a: Theme—Knowledge, Learning, and CultureSurvey Question: How is quality knowledge currently retained?

Analysis Finding


Four out of seven



One category had the greatest number of responses and was notably higher than the next categorical grouping, which can be considered to be compelling.• Standards/quality management systems/compliance

100

80

60

40

20

0

Num

ber

of c

omm

ents

Perc

ent

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0Standards/

Qualitymanagement

systems/Compliance

Trainingand

conferences

Retentionof information

is not ofinterest

Tribalknowledge/

Eachindividual

Manual orprocedures

Respositories/Summary

data

Societiesand councils


Response categories



Figure 5b: Theme—Knowledge, Learning, and Culture (continued)Survey Question: How should quality knowledge be retained in the future?

Analysis Finding


Four out of six

Actual percent of responses associated with those categories

75.0%


One category had the greatest number of responses and was notably higher than the next categorical grouping, which can be considered to be compelling.• Training throughout organizations

100

80

60

40

20

0

Num

ber

of c

omm

ents

Perc

ent

9876543210

Trainingthroughout

organizations

Electronicmedia suchas videos

Emphasizinginnovation

Flexible retirementoptions toretain keyemployees

Sustainableprocesses

Trained facilitatorsconnectingelements

Number of comments 3 1 1 1 1 1Percent 37.5 12.5 12.5 12.5 12.5 12.5Cumulative percent 37.5 50.0 62.5 75.0 87.5 100.0

Response categories


Figure 6: Theme—GeneralSurvey Question: What other trends do you see occurring in the next 10-15 years in quality?

Analysis Finding


12 out of 20

Actual percent of responses associated with those categories 80%


Responses are quite diverse.

Two categories had the greatest number of responses and were higher than the next categorical groupings but were not compelling.• Understanding societal and sustainability impact• Integration of quality, innovation, and/or management system

100

80

60

40

20

0Num

ber

of c

omm

ents

Perc

ent

40

30

20

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0

Unde

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Response categories



The idea of quality is as old as civilization, and it has been one of the most consistent themes in the maturing of humanity’s thinking processes. Fundamentally, quality is a term used to compare two conditions or situations—the actual current state and the desired state or a vision of what it ought to be. This certainly serves as the foundation for much of the work carried out through quality management systems and tools that are applied for the betterment of products and services.

As shown in the sidebar, however, quality has many definitions. It can be used as a noun to represent a particu-lar attribute or as an adjective to describe another noun. Some of its uses are fairly absolute, but others are much more obscure and challenging to describe. Although comparisons are asso-ciated with all of these uses of the word quality, what is compared is not always obvious, and it may not be perceived uniformly among different observers mak-ing the comparisons.

A Metaphysical Perspective of Quality

For instance, people can say that they “believe in quality.” In this case, quality can be viewed as an abstract or meta-physical entity where goodness represents a sense of what they believe ought to be present. Of course, what people mean when they make this claim is likely to vary substantially from person to person and be challenging to summarize into concrete characterizations. It seems reasonable to wonder if using the word quality in this way helps or hinders the

applicant of quality principles and practices, so let’s explore this issue more deeply.

The value of metaphysical constructs often has been discounted. For instance, William K. Clifford, the noted mathematician and philosopher, con-tended that “it is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.”2 He opposed the concept of blind faith, the belief in things in spite of the lack of evidence for them. This assumption supports empiricism, the requirement that knowledge be obtained from

observable events and the principles of science, which require verification of tentative research hypotheses through objective observation.

William James countered this position when he argued for acceptance of beliefs with-out prior evidence. He claimed that the evidence of truth may be forthcoming through subse-quent inquiry; in other words, reasonable premises can be accepted and validated later. Stating that “Wherever the option between losing truth and gaining it is not momen-tous, we can throw the chance of gaining truth away, and at any rate save ourselves from any chance of believing false-hood, by not making up our minds at all till objective evi-dence has come.”3

It is, therefore, the obli-gation of an investigator to avoid falsehood. The knowl-edge of truth occurs only after an inquiry into the nature of the matter; that investiga-tion must be conducted in a way that avoids prejudice or

Gregory H. Watson

What Does Quality Actually Mean?

Investigating the thinking behind contemporary perspectives associated with quality

Definitions of Quality

Noun

1. “An essential or distinctive charac-teristic, property, or attribute: the chemical qualities of alcohol.

2. “Character or nature, as belonging to or distinguishing a thing: the quality of a sound.

3. “Character with respect to fineness or grade of excellence: food of poor quality; silks of fine quality.

4. “High grade; superiority; excel-lence: wood grain of quality.

5. “A personality or character trait: kindness is one of her many good qualities.

6. “Native excellence or superiority.

7. “An accomplishment or attainment.

Adjective

8. “Of or having superior quality: quality paper.

9. “Producing or providing products or services of high quality or merit: a quality publisher.

10. “Of or occupying high social status: a quality family.

11. “Marked by a concentrated expen-diture of involvement, concern, or commitment: Counselors are urging that working parents try to spend more quality time with their children.”1


preconditions. This approach allows the explora-tion of science to begin in wonder, stemming from a metaphysical perspective to proven discovery only following investigation; however, the belief that an inquiry is worthy of pursuit is sufficient to provide a working concept while validation is underway. This “will to believe” is the starting point for all scientific hypotheses.

Justifying BeliefsAll people have personal moral codes or sets

of beliefs that guide their thinking and behaviors. This “gestalt” or “world view” combines the many unique perspectives that are a product of their personal life journeys: tribal cultures, religious experiences, educations, and personal development. This complexity of mental and emotional stimu-lants establishes a framework that they use to make judgments about the truthfulness of propositions that are the subject of inquiry or consideration.

The essays of Clifford and James form bound-ary conditions that have been used to identify a spectrum of arguments which are described as “justified true belief.” This approach expresses three levels or alternative ways in which people validate their beliefs.

• Belief. This level reflects the primitive thinking processes of humanity, which often is referred to as blind faith. Individuals hold beliefs without any rational or objective justification that can represent any type of hypothesis, ranging from a strictly personal view to a research hypothesis that serves as the basis for scientifically based inquiry. When beliefs at this level affect system performance, they should be subjected to vali-dation before being operationalized in the real world. These beliefs frequently are justified by storytelling and the use of anecdotes; however, one must remember that the plural of anecdote is not data; anecdotes are insufficient for making any claims to establish universal truth. I refer to this level as “Theory O,” the theory opinion.

• Justified belief. This level of belief was proposed originally by Aristotle in his essays on logic. His argument provided the intellectual foundation for all subsequent scientific belief and defined a system for conducting human inquiry, which for many centuries was considered as a complete and comprehensive definition of logic4 until Francis Bacon challenged those assumptions after observing changes in scientific discovery.

“Although Aristotle provided specific axioms for every scientific discipline, what Bacon found lacking in the Greek philosopher’s work was a master principle or general theory of science, which could be applied to all branches of natu-ral history and philosophy.”5 Justified belief is based on rationally defined premises or logical arguments. They are not required to align with any external reality as long as their logic meets tests of consistency and completeness. All argu-ments proposed for validity by justified belief, however, are subject to physical confirmation through the observation of what Alfred North Whitehead called “actual entities” in the physi-cal world.5

• Justified true belief. When logical premises or hypotheses have been investigated in the phys-ical world through empirical observations, this level is attained, becoming the founda-tion for scientific knowledge. Confirmation subsequently establishes the level of prob-ability to which theory is validated by practice and real-world experiments. Up to this point, beliefs are propositional but not scientific. When the preponderance of the evidence points to the factual nature of a belief at a sufficiently high probability level that demon-strates the investigation findings did not occur by random chance, then the hypothesis can be accepted as scientific knowledge. Settled science is achieved when these findings can be independently verified by replications of the experimental observations by multiple investi-gators who arrive at the same conclusion.

Applications of These ThoughtsHow then does this discussion on the difference

between metaphysical definitions and scientific knowledge lead to the journey to achieve qual-ity? I believe that it generates three very specific approaches to consider, as follows:

• For those who are swayed by the passionate expression of idealistic descriptions of quality, which are quite effective in generating a com-pelling rationale for adoption and change, it reminds people that inspiration is not sufficient for supporting process changes that involve risk to customers, the organization, community, or other stakeholders. Their inspiration, however, should be used to drive subsequent inquiry and formal investigation.



• On the other hand, for those who are shackled to the need for absolute proof before change can occur, it suggests that a more adaptive approach may be worthwhile. By leveraging the beliefs of people, much can be accomplished on the road to validation. People become more engaged in the organization’s success when they see that their beliefs are accepted as reason-able and that an impartial effort is being made to evaluate and potentially substantiate their premises. This can provide a valuable founda-tion for managing change.

• Finally, it provides a process for encouraging new thinking and moving toward operational improve-ments. There is much discussion these days about innovation and creativity. Although clearly impor-tant, they only can be employed effectively and without excess risk when they are transformed from premises to scientific knowledge.

References1. Dictionary.com, “Quality,” http://www.dictionary.com/ browse/quality?s=t.

2. William K. Clifford, “The Ethics of Belief,” Contemporary Review, 1877, pp. 289-309.

3. William James, “The Will to Believe,” The New World, June 1896, pp. 327-347.

4. Aristotle, Organon, summarized in Sparknotes, “Organon (Aristotle’s Logical Treatises): The Syllogism,” http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/aristotle/ section1.rhtml.

5. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Francis Bacon,” 2012, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/francis-bacon/.

Gregory H. WatsonGregory H. Watson is a Fellow and past chair of ASQ, as well as an Honorary member and past president of the International Academy for Quality. Watson has received more than 45 quality awards and was the first non-Japanese person to receive the W. Edwards Deming Medal from the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers. His recognition includes the ASQ Distinguished Service Medal, the EOQ Georges Borel Medal, the APQO Armand V. Feigenbaum Lifetime Achievement Medal, and he has been named Honorary member by 14 national quality professional organizations. To share your comments regarding this column, he can be contacted at [email protected].

1. Title of Publication: The Journal for Quality and Participation

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Statement of Ownership

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/quality?s=t

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/quality?s=t

http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/aristotle/section1.rhtml

http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/aristotle/section1.rhtml

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/francis-bacon/


Leaders must draw the line between using rules in an

attempt to drive compliant behavior and engaging

employees in spirit-based discussions on ways to

ensure that the right actions are taken.

Courage in the Face of Nonsense

Leading in the Workplace

Stephen Hacker

Who would have thought that prod-uct labeling could provide such

humor? We have all seen warning labels cautioning against using lawn mowers to trim hedges, hot coffee cups informing the customer that the coffee is indeed hot, plastic fruit labeled as inedible, or other examples (see Figure 1) of this silliness that has become the stuff of daily comics and snickering web postings. What hap-pens, however, when this nonsense moves into the workplace? Instead of an enliv-ened, productive workplace, frustration rules. Reduced to simply following ridged rules and protocols, workers become annoyed, discouraged, and unfulfilled. It’s time for leaders to lead and not just manage misdirected bureaucracies.

Why So Much Nonsense?In his book, The Death of Common

Sense, Philip Howard speaks to public sector over-regulation that has resulted in slowing, if not prohibiting, sensible projects and escalating costs at little or no public value.1 Filled with so many exam-ples of dysfunctional behavior, Howard acknowledges the increased regulations were meant to reduce risk and protect

society, but more and more a legalistic mindset takes precedence over common sense. He advocates for taking personal responsibility for bringing common sense back into our lives. Public leaders must cut through the nonsense that inhibits real progress. Clearing “decades of legal underbrush” while holding on to the timeless principles of good governance are among the actions he recommends.

When the forces of accelerated change and increased complexity are added to

Figure 1: Examples of Nonsensical Information

Dog medicine with warning: May cause drowsiness. Use care when operating a car or dangerous machinery.




Howard’s current-state examination, misguided, out-of-date, and often myopic rules and processes negatively impact progress at an exponential rate. With so many regulations, the important aspects of good social advancement often are lost. The public begins to ignore and discard the countless warnings and product instructions. Good people are dis-suaded from stepping forward with big ideas and bold projects.

Instead of concentrating on the height of toi-let seats, build more public restrooms. Instead of continuing defense programs unwanted by mili-tary leaders, fund worthwhile defense projects. As opposed to the waste found in societal safety-net programs, such as coastal insurance, food support, disability provisions, and worker income, stream-line and allow for sensible tailoring. Certainly there are inspiring examples where courageous leaders are making a difference in challenging non-sense in the public sector. Bravo! More leadership is needed, however.

Workplace ImpactSociety has in many ways become over-cautious,

over-regulated, and subsequently creators of non-sense. The cost of over-regulation of products and processes has stifled progress and even hindered creative solutions to the very problems people are attempting to address. Unfortunately, this phenom-enon has crept into the workplace.

Management and human resources professionals are quick to put forth their share of questionable rules—dress codes, food consumption, office- supply usage, absenteeism, work patterns, performance modifications, etc. Rules flourish. These rules were not made in a vacuum. Problems erupted, but too often the tendency is to create a rules-based culture, and as with over-regulation in the public sector, an unintentional result is an exasperated, disheart-ened human element. The human spirit becomes inhibited. Instead of engaged, enlivened people, the dumb beat of compliance has people shuffling around like deadened spirits—like zombies.

Indeed, there is money to be made commen-tating on the absurdities found in the workplace. Scott Adams created the comic Dilbert in 1989. The many negative aspects of the corporate environ-ment have provided plentiful fodder throughout the years for an expanding public following. His commentary concerning dysfunctional workplace antics has spread to more than 65 countries and 2,000 newspapers.2 Forbes magazine routinely runs

articles such as “Five Stupid Rules That Drive Great Employees Away”3 and online magazines such as Career News post “10 Crazy Workplace Rules You Won’t Believe.”4 Sitcoms such as The Office, Parks and Recreation, and The Simpsons have nailed office absurdity. Often ridiculed are dress-code rules, personal-behavior mandates, excessive red tape, expense report requirements, travel policies, security requirements, exhaustive approval steps, petty permission requirements, unread report gen-eration, lunchroom and eating policies, work romance rules, away-from-work expectations, and even rules for celebrations.

Furthermore, the language emanating from many human resources departments is strange in itself, ripe for mockery. Burdened with legalistic wording, programed idiomatic expressions, and confusing watchwords, much of this communication does not help people accomplish their core work.

Knowing that we are not alone in seeing work-place nonsense can have therapeutic effects, even supply a laugh or two. Without the courage to confront this situation, however, cynicism can take root. The choice is to be a bystander and move to victimhood or to help navigate the workplace back into sensible territory. If we are to hold leadership accountable for this change, it might be best to examine how the situation got off course.

Generally, the cause for this nonsense is two-fold. Reduction of risk is the foremost cause. Legal actions prompt rule generation in order to limit future exposure. The rules or procedures usually are aimed at preventing rare occurrences, irresponsible actions. Blasting the organization with such rules, alerts, or procedures sends an inadvertent message that this behavior is widespread, and the work-force as a whole is unable to use common sense. Although legal actions can be expensive and derail an enterprise, they need to be addressed. The solu-tions must consider the whole system, the cultural impact, and the messaging to the commonsense people (the vast majority of workforce).

Additionally, the nonsense emanates from over-reaction to real issues, such as sexual harassment, discrimination, lack of civility, performance outages, and corruption. Emerging social issues arise and must be addressed—sexual identity, pet partners, sensitivity to perfumes, religious practices, handicap designations, workplace stress, etc. The list grows, and society evolves. These issues call for attention. Real problems do erupt; workplaces do need to


change. Chasing them solely with rules, however, only dampens an already desensitized workforce.

In both cases, it is appropriate to look at lead-ers for solutions, but by taking a narrow approach creating new Band-Aid rules on gaping behavioral wounds, unintended consequences infect the sys-tem at large. Turning to a rules-based culture to solve big issues is contradictory to systems-thinking methodology. Limiting risk and problem solving by way of mandating behavior with out-of-date rules, blind personnel practices, and rigid policies reduces leaders to bureaucratic compliance officers. The result is a march away from taking responsibility—a march away from leadership.

Moving ForwardCertainly there are perils in removing nonsense

from the workplace. Substituting “Use your good judgment” for over-scripted policies can be a shock. To a degree, people are now accustomed to being treated as slow-thinking children. Moving a culture to embody great responsibility, more creativity, and amplification of common sense will be challeng-ing. The real and pressing problems and risks will still be present, a few individuals’ behaviors will be unacceptable, and a litigious background will not disappear. If, however, the workplace requires an engaged, enlivened, and creative workforce to be effective, then attending to spirit is essential. Give people the responsibility to act within agreed-upon principles that are designed to shape the desired culture. Give up on controlling the workforce using do’s and don’ts; the results of that approach are ineffective anyway.

Determining what is reasonable behavior is different than determining if someone followed the rules. Flirtation, co-worker romance, jokes, language, personal appearance, personality con-flicts, work habits, and attitude are among the difficult subjects to corner with enough rules and regulations. Certainly in the extreme, dysfunctional behavior can have a no-tolerance response, but in the shades of gray, the opportunity is to shape a desired culture with discussion, exploration, and learnings. What are the cultural principles behind the sought-after behaviors? Establish these prin-ciples and then help individuals become aware of their associated mindsets. Sit down and have a spirit-to-spirit dialog, as opposed to a parent-to-child one-way conversation. It takes conscious, awake, and self-directed people for organizational effectiveness to grow.

Adherence to filling out silly, purposeless forms and nonvalue-added paperwork is discouraging. Rigid work rules can fly in the face of exclaimed diversity pronouncements. Layers of approval and permis-sion requests can send a low-value message. Again, the opportunity is to examine the rules and proce-dures with the objectives of giving decision making, responsibility, and accountability to the organization. Replace bureaucracy with responsibility.

In a workplace filled with nonsense, it takes cour-age to be human, an enlivened spirit, and a leader of culture. Here are five focus areas that can reduce nonsense and build an engaging environment.

• Let leaders lead. Having leadership responsi-bilities in a job description doesn’t guarantee leadership. Often, bureaucratic compliance mas-querades as leadership. By nature, leaders get out in front and make anew, create or re-create, rethink, and then move others to join in action. Work to create an environment where leaders dive into the holistic meaning of good conduct, leadership principles, and contributing to the collective purpose of the organization. Give room for decision making and expect great-ness along with mistakes. When mistakes occur, invest in leaders by fostering reflection and discovery. Have leaders shoulder responsibility for connecting with people and supporting their spirits of creation and purposeful engagement. Remember that although power can corrupt, lack of power and reliance on bureaucracy has its own history of corruption.

• Have the audacity to call nonsense for what it is. It’s not about blame or ridicule. It is asking others to re-examine past decisions and their system-wide impacts. Where rules and proce-dures have gotten in the way of people doing what is productive and right, draw attention to the costs versus the benefits. Then move to look for alternatives—the “and” versus the “or.” How might the objective of the rules or procedures be met without the unwanted consequences? How can we put choice back into the equation and emphasize reliance upon the judgment of people to do the right thing?

• Have fewer rules and restrictive policies but more principles. From archaic attendance and sick-leave policies to forced rankings and the yearly performance appraisals, human resources policies need a new look—away from the parent-child relationship toward a model of



purposeful people joined together to create value in the world. Human resources can be a force for building spirit, not just controlling unwanted behaviors and seeking risk reduction. Formative conversations around desired princi-ples will have to replace the one-way generation of rules. Take an inventory of the rules and restrictive policies that currently exist. Eliminate the unnecessary and de-spiriting rules. Curb the constant outpouring of proclamations, rules, slogans, and restrictive policies.

• See through the lens of spirit. Take a good look at the messages sent. Do they have a parent-child tone, or do they convey a message of respect for the human spirit? When looking through the lens of spirit, work appears as a human endeavor performed by whole individuals acting with a col-lective purpose. If the needed human resources materials are crafted to call people to act respon-sibly according to what is right and good for the collective effort, then they will activate the spirit, not dampen it. There will be outliers among the group, but address them individually without scolding and demeaning others. On the whole, people do live up to expectations—regardless of whether those expectations are high or low.

• Smile at the collective and individual baboonery. One could choose to become cynical or instead to chuckle. Smile at the nonsense and then address it. Workplaces are communities in the making, evolving and changing. Leadership takes the responsibility for creating the existing culture (good, bad, or ugly) and then moving to guide the community to improvement. When a leader has a good heart and sense of humor, the culture is enriched. Laughter is an elixir for the soul!

Dilbert will continue to thrive; fodder for sitcoms and editorials will be plentiful. Some management will continue to travel the road of encouraging rule-based, parent-to-child workplace environ-ments with the belief that people are not capable in mass to think on their own. Remember what John Stuart Mill so wisely wrote in his essay, On Liberty, when advocating for democracy, “A state which dwarfs its people, so that they may be more

docile instruments in its hand, even for the most beneficial reasons, will find that with small men no great things can be accomplished.”5

Removing personal responsibility in the work-place produces nonsense and trains people to be small. By slowing down just a bit, asking questions about personal responsibility, and holding people accountable for living into timeless principles of good conduct, the abundance of nonsensical rules and policies could be reduced. Given the abundance of nonsense in the workplace, leadership has a great opportunity. Take courage and lead toward creating a more enlivened and engaging community.

References1. Philp K. Howard, The Death of Common Sense: How Law is Suffocating America, Random House, New York, 2011.

2. Wikipedia, Dilbert, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilbert.

3. Liz Ryan, “Five Stupid Rules That Drive Great Employees Away,” Forbes.com, July 22, 2015, http://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2015/07/22/five-stupid-rules-that-drive-great-employees-away/2/#646be2aa6be0.

4. Christina Majaski, “CareerNews: 10 Crazy Workplace Rules You Won’t Believe,” PayScale, http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2013/05/10-crazy-workplace-rules-you-wont-believe.

5. John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1869.

Stephen HackerStephen Hacker is CEO and a founding partner of Transformation Systems International, LLC. As a consul-tant, author, and leader, he engages with organizations throughout the world in achieving breakthrough performance. After completing his corporate career as a senior leader with Procter & Gamble, he served as the executive director of The Performance Center, a multi-university organization conducting action research. He is a past ASQ chair and an ASQ Fellow. Contact him at [email protected].

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilbert

http://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2015/07/22/five-stupid-rules-that-drive-great-employees-away/2/#646be2aa6be0



http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2013/05/10-crazy-workplace-rules-you-wont-believe




This excerpt from the new book, The Joy of Lean:

Transforming, Leading, and Sustaining a Culture of

Engaged Team Performance, explains why having a lean

program isn’t enough to create sustainable improvement.

The Value of a Lean Culture

Dodd Starbird

It started on the back of a napkin. In our earlier book, Building Engaged

Team Performance, we introduced the idea of combining world-class process- improvement approaches such as lean and Six Sigma with the performance improve-ment concepts of high- performing teams in a more purposeful way. We illus-trated the approach through a 2006 case study that started as a good Lean Six Sigma project and ended in a fantasti-cally successful lean culture of engaged team performance. The back-of-the- napkin math showed an unbelievably high opportunity for the Group Proposal Services (GPS) department at Principal Financial, which the team then actual-ized through a purposeful combination of process and culture.

That was the point when we realized we were onto something, but over time we learned that we needed greater emphasis on one simple ingredient—the criticality of leadership in creating an intentional culture of excellence. For 10 years we have replicated that effort and led similar ini-tiatives in other places, and we have seen a variety of outcomes; almost all were good, but only some were sustainably excellent. Somewhat predictably, the key differentiator was visionary leadership—a leader who decided to create a culture of excellence rather than trying to simply

achieve fleeting process excellence. While many companies have deployed lean in some form, most have failed to attain the cultural benefits that Toyota achieved when James Womack and Daniel Jones described them in their groundbreaking book, Lean Thinking. Many deployments have been project-based and process-focused without leading to a sustainable breakthrough in culture.

In 2007, Industry Week conducted a market survey of lean and claimed that only two percent of responding compa-nies believed that their lean programs were achieving the intended results. The article, entitled “Everybody’s Jumping on the Lean Bandwagon, but Many Are Being Taken for a Ride,” exposed a lack of progress that seemed to be mostly cultural. The lean process hadn’t failed, but the companies had never achieved a lean culture. The author, Rick Pay, said, “Through my experience consulting with a variety of companies implementing lean, I’ve learned there are four major reasons that companies fail to achieve benefits.

1. “Senior management is not commit-ted to and/or doesn’t understand the real impact of lean.

2. “Senior management is unwilling to accept that cultural change is often required for lean to be a success.




3. “The company lacks the right people in the right positions.

4. “The company has chosen lean as their pro-cess improvement methodology when a different process improvement program—or none at all—would have been the better choice.”1

Quite obviously, all of the above failure modes are leadership responsibilities.

Confirming the Industry Week research in “Why Lean Programs Fail,” Jeffrey Liker and Mike Rother cited research from the Shingo Prize committee, a leading source for evaluating the success of lean programs, which recently surveyed past winners of the elite award and found that many had failed to sustain the processes which had enabled them to win. The survey resulted in some substantial changes to the award criteria to focus on longer-term results.2

Of course, most purveyors of lean recognize the cultural components and have attempted to integrate activities that help the culture grow. Often those look like training—simulation-based events for executives, yellow belt training in Lean Six Sigma for project participants, green belt certification requirements for leaders, and web-based modules to orient all employees in the process improvement tools. While these training components are key communication and development tools that cre-ate knowledge and capability in the team, culture transformation is much more than communication. Sheep-dip training doesn’t change culture!

As we’ll see as we proceed, culture change comes from purposefully changing everything together—processes, customer focus, collaborative norms, measures, organization, goals, technology, skills, capabilities, and most of all, leadership. Training is a part of that effort, but it’s only an enabler of a greater strategy. That greater strategy is illustrated in Figure 1.

A lean culture of engaged team performance aligns pro-cesses, measures, goals, norms, standards, and organization with customer needs. To attain and sustain that alignment, you have to be willing to purpose-fully change all of those things in concert. This new book, The

Joy of Lean, highlights the differences between good lean process and great lean culture, illustrating how lean done right can lead to a powerful competitive advantage. As Peter Drucker is believed to have said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

A Short History of Process and Performance Improvement

Lean has already proven a world-changing busi-ness philosophy. Developed by Toyota more than the greater part of a century ago, popularized by consultants such as Womack and Jones in the past three decades, and then integrated with Six Sigma in the last 15 years, the approach is credited with savings in the billions of dollars at many individual companies. The total savings across the globe could approach the size of the economies of some indus-trialized nations.

It’s not necessary to go into a full lesson here on the principles and history of lean. Suffice it to say that almost everyone has seen evidence of the gains achieved with the lean approach—either in media examples or within their own organizations.

We’ll cover many of the lean concepts as we go through the steps to transform an organization toward a lean culture, but we ask you to do some-thing now. Go run a quick Internet search on lean. You’ll find many websites and articles about “elimi-nation of waste” (starting with a really good one from the Lean Enterprise Institute that Jim Womack founded), as well as other information about the ways that lean tools and principles have evolved from their roots in operational tactics to focus more on non-manufacturing transactional and service

Figure 1: A Lean Culture of Engaged Team Performance

Visible workand data

Teamgoals

Streamlinedprocess

Proactiveleadership

Supportinginfrastructure,organization

and informationsystems

Customer needsknown, aligned

to goals and met

Collaborative normsand individual

standards

Engagedteam

Performance


processes today. Not one of them, however, starts with a truly holistic description of a lean culture of engaged team performance.

Wikipedia, while not necessarily the most repu-table source for academic research, is probably the most-used quick-reference tool today, and the Wikipedia page on lean somewhat unwittingly sum-marizes the problem for us quite clearly, “For many, lean is the set of ‘tools’ that assist in the identifica-tion and steady elimination of waste.”3

Elimination of waste is the core theme of lean and the root source of its name, of course, and the eight wastes we’re seeking to remove are a fairly well-known and comprehensive list of opportuni-ties that came from manufacturing but now have been applied to every kind of organization.

• Transportation. Moving people, products, or information from one location to another

• Inventory. Storing products or documentation; backlog of work in process

• Motion. Movement within a work cell; move-ment of a mouse inside a computer

• Waiting. Waiting for parts, information, instruc-tions, tools, tasks, or work to arrive

• Over-production. Making more than is required by the customer

• Over-processing. Doing more work or effort than the customer requires

• Defects. Errors, rework, scrap, or incorrect documentation

• Skills. Underutilized human capabilities

Nevertheless, while it’s true that lean tools help organizations eliminate waste, those tools don’t on their own share a vision, create a culture of teamwork and collaboration, or even sustain their own gains. Of course, the consulting companies promoting the focus on process improvement know about Toyota’s strong employee engagement and the other benefits of their corporate culture of excel-lence, but the approach to lean that’s been spread across the world has simply emphasized process improvement instead of striking the right balance between streamlining processes and team perfor-mance improvement. We would like to nominate a ninth waste—failure to sustain elimination of the other eight wastes by ingraining lean into a culture of engaged team performance!

Although it’s not always discussed in the same breath as lean, a culture of employee engagement has become the holy grail of human resources

programs throughout the world, and we have all heard of companies such as Southwest Airlines and Zappos.com that leverage their cultures to dominate their industry niches. Likewise, some of those may be missing the process and waste elimination tools that lean would provide.

Most organizations today have strategic goals with some kind of objective for engaging their employees, but when we look deeper at companies that are trying to further those goals, we sometimes don’t see a Southwest or a Zappos.com in the mak-ing. Instead of an organization designed around its culture, we often see an employee-engagement program or initiative. Engagement should be a way of life, not a program. You have to design your orga-nization purposefully to foster engagement, and we will demonstrate that lean can become a vehicle for engaging employees in transforming their processes and their culture.

Purposeful Culture DesignMenlo Innovations, a software company, is a

great example of a culture completely designed for its organization. Described by CEO Rich Sheridan in his 2013 book, Joy, Inc., Menlo embodies the vision of an engaged team, which Sheridan describes as “joyful” in terms of the products they deliver for customers. “Joy is designing and building some-thing that actually sees the light of day and is enjoyably used and widely adopted by the people for whom it was intended … Our mission, which we take very seriously, is to ‘end human suffering in the world as it relates to technology.’”4

Menlo is completely lean and has an amaz-ing culture intentionally built from the ground up. I’ve worked with Sheridan on presenting our approaches together at conferences, and I’ve been to the Menlo Innovations facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The place is amazing. As far as I’ve seen, Menlo is unique, but as we proceed in later chapters, we’ll compare Menlo’s approach and culture to an evolved form that incorporates agile development and lean engaged team performance, combined and tailored perfectly for a software development environment.

The key enabler of the culture at Menlo was the fact that the founders designed their processes, measures, collaborative norms, and culture into the company from the very beginning. Many organiza-tions today have to change a culture that already exists. As Sheridan says, “Getting to simple is almost never easy.”4



Engagement DefinedWhile Sheridan extolls the business value of

joy, the opposite effect could be called the cost of poor culture. Although the full impact of poor culture may not be easy to measure precisely, you can probably tell which way it’s moving, and you can likely identify engagement (or lack thereof) when you see it.

Christopher Mulligan, CEO of TalentKeepers, Inc., defines an engaged employee as “one who freely gives discretionary effort” and finds that engaged employees are easier to retain. Based on data found in its annual survey, Mulligan says, “People do care about money, but we find that it takes 20 percent more pay to get an engaged employee to leave, rather than 5 percent for everyone else.”5

In a conversation I had with Rachelle Gagnon of Assumption Life, the second-largest mutual insur-ance company in Canada, she adds, “Engagement is a combination of three things—what employees say, whether employees stay, and how employees strive.” She defines striving as the employees’ will-ingness to apply discretionary effort for the benefit of the organization.

Employee engagement and employee appease-ment are not the same thing. We’ve all seen the human resources engagement programs that listen to employee ideas without really enabling employ-ees to change their own processes, then give away gift cards or award parking spaces to the employee

of the month. While those efforts are certainly well-intentioned and can deliver some incremental value, they don’t drive sustainable engagement. They simply recognize or reward the subset of employees who are engaged already.

A friend, who’ll stay unnamed for her own protection, experienced that at her company, too. “We went through a phase where empowerment was the new thing. We had been a very top-down culture where only a few people at the top made decisions. Now managers were telling people they were empowered, but they weren’t given parameters for making decisions. Very quickly, empowerment became a joke. I see lean as real empowerment. When I work with leaders to set up a lean event, I tell them we should set clear param-eters for the group to make decisions, so the leader should be able to go away and come back for the report out(s) and be okay with the outcomes. Then the group is empowered to remove waste and cre-ate a process that works without having to run every suggestion up the chain of command. They feel they own the outcomes, and they are proud of their accomplishments. Once their ideas have been implemented, they can point to tangible outcomes and say, ‘We did that!’”

David Marquet expands upon my friend’s profound assertion in his wonderful book on lead-ership, Turn the Ship Around! “The problem with empowerment programs is that they contain an

The Joy of Lean: Transforming, Leading, and Sustaining a Culture of Engaged Team PerformanceAuthor: Dodd Starbird

Abstract: Has your organiza-tion tried lean already? Lean is attracting more and more attention as a successful busi-

ness philosophy that can improve results in any type of organization, but it is sometimes still misunderstood as a method for simply cutting expenses. The useful ideas of eliminating waste and driving greater efficiency can pick up a nega-tive spin—perceptions of job cuts, employees doing more with less, and managers squeezing greater productivity from each person. None of that sounds very joyful, but it doesn’t have to be that way. This book shows leaders how to

cultivate a positive lean culture of excellence that creates value for customers, profitable growth for business, sustainable cost reductions, and fulfill-ing jobs for employees. The book demonstrates how leadership plays a critical role in establish-ing and sustaining the lean culture it describes in detail. Ultimately, when you implement lean to create a purposeful culture of engagement, you set a foundation for a sustainable source of exceptional results.

Publisher: ASQ Quality Press

ISBN: 978-0-87389-942-0

Format/Length: Hardcover/127 pages

Price: $21 (ASQ members); $35 (Nonmembers)


inherent contradiction between the message and the method. While the message is ‘empowerment,’ the method—it takes me to empower you—fun-damentally disempowers employees.” The cultural problem is just as challenging for leaders as it is for employees, he explains. “A recent survey noted that 44 percent of business leaders reported their disappointment in the performance results of their employees. This vexation within both parties in the workplace has one root cause—our present leader-ship model, which is a painfully outdated one.” Marquet demonstrates how leaders must intention-ally create an empowered culture by turning their followers into leaders, and he shows how that is possible only by returning both authority and accountability to them.6

Engagement certainly doesn’t come from rewards, and while recognition is an important driver in employee satisfaction, it, too, is only part of the puzzle; in order to be recognized, the employee first has to do something good. A leadership model where “it takes me to recognize you” could be dis-empowering as well, so modern behavioral safety programs, for example, allow anyone to recognize anyone else. Marquet clarifies: “Recognizing helpful behavior is a necessary function of leadership, and it’s a slightly different take than recognizing people. Recognizing behavior is useful and doesn’t contain the inherent contradiction that the typical ‘empow-erment’ speech contains. People feel valued when they have the ability to contribute something posi-tive that someone else notices.”6

Engagement happens when everyone on the team wants to do something good and feels truly empowered to do those good things all of the time. By letting people participate in positive change, lean can become a vehicle for transferring the own-ership for engagement from leaders to employees, and that will drive the discretionary effort that Mulligan and Gagnon were talking about, and as we’ll continue to demonstrate, great engagement thrives with great leadership.

More Online To learn more about the powerful contribution of teams and a

lean culture, review the online article at www.asq.org/pub/jqp/.

References1. Rick Pay, “Everybody’s Jumping on the Lean Bandwagon but Many Are Being Taken for a Ride,” https://www.rpaycompany.com/industry/pdf/LeanBandwagon.pdf.

2. Jeffrey Liker and Mike Rother, “Why Lean Programs Fail,” http://www.lean.org/Search/Documents/352.pdf.

3. Wikipedia, “Lean Manufacturing,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_manufacturing.

4. Rich Sheridan, “Our Story,” Menlo Innovations, http://menloinnovations.com/our-story/.

5. TalentKeepers, “Workplace America,” https://www.talentkeepers.com/workplace-america-survey-2016/workplace-america-research/.

6. L. David Marquet, Turn the Ship Around!: How to Create Leadership at Every Level, Greenleaf Book Group Press, 2012, pp. 4-5.

Dodd StarbirdDodd Starbird is the managing partner for Implementation Partners LLC, where he leads change efforts that consistently achieve exceptional results by integrating best-in-class process and change management skills with strategic business management and leadership experience. He has more than 25 years of global business leadership experience in consulting, finance, manufacturing, systems, quality, operations, sales, training, human resources, and distribution management. Starbird is the author of two business books, The Joy of Lean and Building Engaged Team Performance. He can be contacted at [email protected].


www.asq.org/pub/jqp/

https://www.rpaycompany.com/industry/pdf/LeanBandwagon.pdf

https://www.rpaycompany.com/industry/pdf/LeanBandwagon.pdf

http://www.lean.org/Search/Documents/352.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_manufacturing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_manufacturing

http://menloinnovations.com/our-story/

https://www.talentkeepers.com/workplace-america-survey-2016/workplace-america-research/




Engaged Team Performance Is the Foundation of a Lean CultureDodd Starbird

We find that engagement most often coincides with membership in a great team. People will do things for their teams that they wouldn’t do for themselves. On a great team, everyone cares about each other. Everyone understands the organization’s purpose and buys into the vision.

There are certainly many great team moments in sports history, and the competition and national-ism surrounding the Olympics can set the stage for greatness. While everyone probably has a favorite “miracle moment” from hockey or basketball, one of the best examples of teamwork comes from a sport where the team might not be such an obvious component—gymnastics.

In the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, the U.S. women’s gymnastics team was leading late in the competition with two gymnasts left to compete on the vault. Vaulting is a strenuous and difficult indi-vidual exercise; the competitor has to run toward the apparatus, hit a handspring into a springboard, flip to push off with her hands on the vault, and then complete a combination of flips, turns, and spins to land on her feet on a pad on the other side. Each gymnast gets two vault attempts.

The U.S. gymnasts were among the best in the world, and they were expected to seal the victory. Kerri Strug, the last U.S. competitor, was left to clean up the round after her teammate fell twice. Strug’s first vault was a disaster. Not only did she fall, but also he landed awkwardly and stood up to find out that she had damaged her ankle. She knew she was badly hurt, and she asked her coach, the legendary Bela Karolyi, “Do we need this?” He told her that they needed her to go one more time. She limped back to the starting line, encouraged by her coach and team.

She would later learn that her ankle was severely sprained with tendon damage. After seeing her limp back to the line, nobody is sure to this day how she was able to attempt the next vault, working up to a full run, and nobody knows how she landed that next vault on one foot. I’m confident it’s not something she had ever practiced, and I’d bet you’ll never see it again in an Olympic competition. Take a

look at the video clip at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZRYiOa5lM8 to see the vault.

The U.S. team won the gold medal and ironically didn’t even need Strug’s vault to win after another country’s gymnast later made some errors on a floor exercise. Strug and her team, however, thought she needed that attempt at the time, and she landed a miracle vault on one leg when she probably should have withdrawn from the competition. Strug then collapsed to the floor and had to be carried to the medal ceremony. She withdrew from the individual events later in the week, giving her spot to another team member, and she returned home with her only medal from that Olympics—a team gold. She had won a team bronze medal four years before in Barcelona, and to this day she’s one of the best U.S. gymnasts to have never won an individual medal in international competition.

The lesson here is clear. People will do things for their teams that they wouldn’t think of attempting to do for themselves. Organizations work best when individuals identify with their teams and have a team goal of winning. Team members feel confident that the team will support them, and, in return, they give their best efforts, putting the team’s goals ahead of their own. In a world that increasingly celebrates individual success, the power of a great team can get lost in translation. Whether the team involves a herd of antelope, gymnasts, or insurance-quote producers, a good team can nurture and protect the individuals within it.

The Grand Paradox of an Efficient CultureEfficiency gains are becoming more and more

expected today. As technology and process improve-ment techniques proliferate across the globe, efficient work is counterbalancing the benefits of cheaper labor. Believe it or not, offshoring labor to other countries isn’t quite as productive as it used to be. All organizations are becoming better at doing more with less.

Think about how it might feel to implement efficiency improvements, particularly the kinds that impact organizational design and jobs. While these kinds of projects can produce astounding results

ONLINE-ONLY CONTENT


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZRYiOa5lM8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZRYiOa5lM8



on the business side, we also know there’s often an underlying fear that those efficiency improvements might hurt people by putting them out of work, but that’s not really how it has to happen.

First, efficiency improvement shouldn’t neces-sarily mean reduction in staffing. Quite often the organization can find a way to use the additional capacity to drive growth. In the past when we found opportunities to cut costs by reducing staff, almost every one of those situations was handled through attrition. The vast majority of those companies con-solidated open positions or moved people to other roles without a layoff; the few exceptions to this approach addressed known performance issues of specific individuals. Leaders saw the value of accom-plishing those changes in a positive way so that they didn’t prevent the next round of changes in the future. They didn’t want to create fear of change. So, while we can’t promise that all future staff reduc-tions will be handled perfectly, our history has shown that positive changes are more sustainable than negative ones.

More importantly though, there are many positive implications for employees when orga-nizations become more efficient. A number of positive benefits of lean engaged team performance boost team morale, including greater ownership and line-of-sight from their work to the customer. Most of all, we know that greater efficiency vastly improves job security.

The grand paradox of an efficient culture is that improving processes and performance can result in humanely accomplished attrition and slower hiring in the short term, while efficiency will drive greater job security for everyone in the long term. That’s all good, and even though employees some-times feel a little bit of fear and loathing at the start of a lean transformation, we find that they have much higher job satisfaction, morale, and job security in the end.

In a recent article, “How Going Lean Saved These Companies” Bob Tetford, the general manager and co-owner of Restwell Mattress, credited lean with saving the Canadian company. This organization has completed two waves of lean transformation, redesigning their work together with their employ-ees. Tetford explained, “Did we make a pile of money after that? No, but it has allowed us to survive. There has been a tremendous amount of change. Wages have at least doubled since we started this transformation. If we had stayed the way we were, we wouldn’t be here now, not even close.”1

Lean Culture by the StepsThis will sound like a circular argument, but

the best way to integrate lean process tools with a lean culture is to simply engage all of the people in the organization in the transformation! The steps to achieve a transformation to a lean culture of engaged team performance are the same ones we outlined in Building Engaged Team Performance almost a decade ago.

1. Commit to change. Find your inspirational pur-pose and build a platform for change.

2. Measure and analyze the process. Investigate the current process and customer requirements and measure outcomes and work standards.

3. Streamline the work. Improve the flow of the pro-cess to deliver value efficiently.

4. Make the work and data visible. Make the new work processes, collaborative norms, and con-trol measures visually obvious in the workplace.

5. Organize the team. Reorganize and right-size the team for the work.

6. Set team goals. Assess team performance and establish team goals.

7. Lead the transition. Visionary leadership must invest in the culture, developing the skills, tools, systems, and knowledge to move the team to the envisioned future state.

8. Sustain engaged team performance. Demonstrate performance over time.

A leader of a small team can use this trans-formational approach, or a CEO can deploy it across the entire organization. The key is to get the entire team to participate in the transformation. Regardless of the scale of the change, it’s critically important to communicate the approach trans-parently and to engage the entire organization in following the steps together. The entire team needs to understand where it is heading and why the journey is so important.

Lean LeadershipIn her book, Mindset, Carol Dweck differentiates

the two types of mental outlook that lead to vastly different results in business, education, and rela-tionships. She explains that fixed-mindset people see their own and others’ potential as mostly a function of innate talent that they don’t control while growth-mindset people believe that any skill can be learned or improved.2 Although that concept sounds obvious, ask yourself if you’re a great leader,


artist, salesperson, and mathematician. Most people who are not named Leonardo da Vinci will invari-ably say that they’re not good at one of those, but Dweck presents evidence that all of those skills can be learned. If you believe her thesis, it won’t surprise you to hear that da Vinci’s greatest talent was prob-ably not one of the above skills, but the passion for learning new things.

Why do we bring up that concept now? First, if you haven’t read Mindset you probably should. That book changed the way I talk to my children even before I had finished reading it. I recommend that you accept the premise that you can improve your ability to transform, lead, and sustain a culture of excellence. If you’re willing to believe that, here are a few questions to help you start the journey.

• Has your organization tried lean yet? If so, com-pare your approach and your results. Are you just removing waste from the process or trying to

revolutionize your culture? Are you optimizing or sub-optimizing your deployment?

• Do you see joy at work? What would be the busi-ness value of joy for your organization?

• Do you need to change your culture? If so, do you really want to change?

This remainder of this book highlights the steps in transforming your organization to a lean culture of engaged team performance, and it illustrates those steps both with personal stories and busi-ness examples. You’ll see that a lean culture isn’t so impossible to achieve, as long as you set out to do it purposefully.

References1. Bob Tetford, “How Going Lean Saved These Companies,” The Business Post, http://www.thebusinesspost.ca/stories/2015/5/22/how-going-lean-saved-these-companies.

2. Carol Dweck, Mindset, Random House, 2006.


http://www.thebusinesspost.ca/stories/2015/5/22/how-going-lean-saved-these-companies

http://www.thebusinesspost.ca/stories/2015/5/22/how-going-lean-saved-these-companies

Many college students state that they are expe-riencing stress, anxiety, and depression, according to research published in scholarly journals, the popular press, and discussions I have had with other students. Under these circumstances, it would seem appropriate for colleges to assist students with developing strategies and applying tools to help mitigate these negative effects. Fortunately, several studies have demonstrated approaches that can be used for this purpose and that serve as a basis for my proposal to develop a formal orientation class for students entering college.

The Presence of Stress, Anxiety, and Depression Among College Students

Psychologist David G. Myers defines the term stress as a two-sequence process that involves a stimulus and a response.1 When a person is faced with an event that is perceived as challenging or threatening, called the stressor, he or she experi-ences a stress reaction that often involves fear and/or anxiety. For instance, college students often mention tests as a source of stress (the stressor or stimulus) and describe the trepidation they felt while preparing for and taking the exams.

Repeated or prolonged exposure to stress can have significant effects on a college student’s men-tal health and emotional well-being. The National Institute for Mental Health describes the initially beneficial survival-focused physical changes that occur when a stressor is noticed; these include faster pulse and breathing rates, tense muscles, and greater oxygen consumption. Throughout an extended period of time, however, stress can result in more damaging effects, such as compromised immune, digestive, and reproductive systems.2

College students who are dealing with chronic stress may also suffer from depression. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America differenti-ates between anxiety and depression but points out that their symptoms often overlap. Nervousness, irritability, sleep issues, and an inability to concen-trate are most common.3 It is clear that these factors could undermine a college student’s success.

It is not surprising that college life generates a variety of stressors, but the frequency of their occurrence is more substantial than some might expect. Many studies have examined the prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depression among college students, and the rates they have indicated are high enough to make this a noteworthy issue for college administrators, instructors, students, parents, and other individuals who are concerned with college students’ success and well-being.

For instance, Billie Lindsey, Patricia Fabiano, and Chris Stark state that “One in four students experienced depression in the past year.”4 Similarly, in 2008 The American College Health Association National College Health Assessment reported that 33.9 percent of students claimed to have experienced stress and 16.1 percent anxiety and/or depression.5

Furthermore, Beiter et al. from the Franciscan University Counseling Center observed that the annual number of clients and visits had increased between 2009 and 2013 by 173 percent and 231 per-cent, respectively. Similar results also were reported by other colleges mentioned in this study.

When exploring the incidence rates of stress, anx-iety, and depression, specific demographic groups appear more likely to suffer these issues in conjunc-tion with college life. For instance, Lindsey et al. reported that there was a difference between the levels of depression among gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or unsure (GLBTU) students when compared to heterosexual students; thus, other lifestyle factors may exacerbate the occurrence of anxiety and depression even more.

Two potential strategies were identified for mit-igating the stress and resultant anxiety and/or depression that many college students experience. Reducing or eliminating the stressors would seem to be a logical approach, but given the college environment of test taking and other performance challenges, this is not possible. Another option would involve helping students develop the means to minimize their reactions to stress.

Attempting to substantively decrease or remove the underlying factors associated with stress is

Ry Anne Millett-Thompson

Dealing With College Students’ Stress, Anxiety, and Depression

Thoughts and experiences of educators related to quality and change



impractical because the world is a stressful place to one degree or another. First, the potential variety of stressors is large and differs greatly among college students. Finding a reasonable number of changes that could be implemented in the college setting to provide a low-stress student environment seems unlikely. In addition, solutions intended to reduce a particular type of stress might generate a differ-ent stressor in response to the change. For instance, reducing work hours that take students away from their studies might seem like an obvious solution, but it also could create financial concerns which might result in negative consequences.

Perhaps the best way to help college students contend with stress reactions, such as anxiety and depression, involves enhancing their ability to deal with the underlying issues successfully and realis-tically by establishing a positive work-school-life balance. An analysis of the factors that contribute to stress leads to higher-ordered thinking about ways to ameliorate the negative effects of stress, however.

Factors Identified by College Students Experiencing Stress, Anxiety, and Depression

The study conducted by Lindsey et al. also identi-fied three key factors that occurred more frequently: work and volunteer commitments; overburdened financial resources; and the use of cigarettes, mari-juana, and cocaine as coping mechanisms. Students who worked or participated in volunteer activities more than 10 hours per week indicated more fre-quently that they were dealing with depression.4

The effect of work and volunteer hours was inves-tigated in more depth by Alyssa Lederer, Dana Autry, Carol Day, and Sara Oswalt. Four health issues were evaluated: feeling overwhelmed, feeling depressed, feeling sleep deprived, and experiencing little physical activity. Similar to the previous study, this research indicated that when the amount of hours worked or volunteered increased, students felt psychological pressure. This study had a larger, more representative data pool—70,068 students across 129 colleges; however, it supports the fact that increased work hours, no matter the source, contributed to stressor situations that increased the likelihood of anxiety and depression.6

On the other hand, this study found that “The impact of work and volunteer hours was inconsis-tent among the health outcomes. Increased work hours tended to negatively affect sleep and increase feelings of being overwhelmed. Students who vol-unteered were more likely to meet physical activity

guidelines, and those who volunteered one to nine hours per week reported less depression.”6

Students who carried a credit-card balance were also affected by this disorder. It is interesting to note that although some substances were shown to increase the likelihood of depression, the use of alcohol did not. A desire to lose weight, gender, and internet usage also were not deemed as key con-tributors. This research was based on self-reported information from students at one campus, where only 618 of the 2,500 surveys distributed were returned; therefore, the efficacy of this research is limited, but it does offer some insight into factors that warrant further consideration.4

This evaluation does not determine whether volunteering acts as an anodyne to counteract depression. It may be that students involved in vol-unteer activities already have a better and healthier mental state, and so the exact cause-and-effect relationship remains unclear. The study performed by Beiter et al. included 374 students between the ages of 18 and 24 from one college. In this research, the top-four sources of concern expressed were academic performance, pressure to succeed, post-graduation plans, and financial pressure. The researchers determined that students who lived off-campus reported higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression than those living on-campus. This tendency also was noted when comparing transfer students to nontransfers. Finally, upperclassmen reported that they were more stressed than fresh-men and sophomores.7

The findings from these studies are not surprising when considering that transfer students may find it stressful to understand and adapt to the procedures at their new schools. Upperclassmen may be pres-sured by the amount of work they need to finish before graduation as well as what might happen in their lives after finishing college. Furthermore, there also may be some overlap between these situations; the upperclassman may be a transfer student who also lives off-campus.

Methods Studied as Potential CountermeasuresAnother research study was conducted to under-

stand which approaches offer the greatest reductions in stressors for college students. Colleen Conley, Joseph Durlak, and Alexandra Kirsch learned that preventive mental health programs generally adopt one of two strategies—psychoeducational train-ing or skills training. Psychoeducational training focuses on providing students with information



about college life and the stressors they may encoun-ter. The intention is to prepare students to act mindfully when dealing with these stressful situ-ations. On the other hand, skills training teaches students how to apply specific procedures that help them deal with the stressors, such as cogni-tive restructuring, relaxation, mindfulness, conflict resolution, coping strategies, and effective commu-nication. These were reported earlier by S. B. Moss, L. D. Pool, and P. Qualter, and influenced the work of Conley, Durlak, and Kirsch. This study reviewed 103 intervention programs involving more than 10,000 students, so its findings were instrumental in developing my proposal.8

Proposed Approach for Addressing This IssueColleges should have a mandatory orientation

class that teaches students how to recognize, prepare for, and mitigate the stressors that cause anxiety and depression, combining both the psychoeducational training and skills training approaches. This recom-mendation requires the addition of a course to all academic programs, which might be challenging to accommodate; however, such a curricular addi-tion may be necessary to provide a foundation for increased student retention and success. Creative approaches for incorporating this curriculum might include online courses, courses offered during pre-registration for inbound freshmen, and short evening or weekend seminars.

Funding could be an issue because this pro-posal assumes that there would be enough classes to accommodate all freshmen and transfer stu-dents during their first quarters. For example, the University of Washington’s Tacoma campus has enrolled slightly more than 6,000 freshmen each year for the last two years. If individual instructor- led classes were used for this course, staffing might need to increase. Online courses and/or prerecorded webinars could serve as viable options to offset this issue. The initial develop-ment cost could be spread across many students throughout multiple years, reducing the invest-ment cost per student. If concerns about students’ understanding and ability to apply the contents emerged, a single follow-up session with an edu-cational counselor or mentor could be combined with the course work.

At first, students might reject the idea of the requirement to take an additional class of this nature. In particular, new college students might not grasp the stressors they could face and the

potential unhealthy consequences of anxiety and depression. Most students focus on courses asso-ciated with their majors and want to minimize other requirements. This issue could be overcome by having upperclassmen introduce the course and share their positive and negative experiences related to college-life stress.

Furthermore, students also might feel that their lives were atypical and that this class would not apply specifically to them. Incorporating student exchanges, such as online discussion boards or blogs, could offer the means for students to share personal stress triggers and encourage discussion of successful approaches that worked for them.

Key discussion points incorporated into this course should include specific techniques for helping college students learn how to achieve a better work-school-life balance, a factor that can minimize stressors. It is extremely important to cultivate the ability to balance work, school, and personal life. Time management and prioritization tools could be taught to aid decision making on how to deal with tasks that compete for students’ attention. Organizational skills would not only help students deal with the stressors of college life but also could be applied to regular classwork. Methods for living within a constrained budget while maintaining a healthy lifestyle also would be beneficial.

Exercises based on real-life scenarios could pro-vide benefit. One example might be practicing the process for creating a functional budget or learning to develop a “homework calendar” that tracks all class assignments in one place.

Furthermore, describing some of the options for abating stress when it does occur would be presented in the proposed course. Baths or hot tubs, stress balls, yoga stretches, regular breaks in study time, and exercise are just a few suggestions to offer.

ConclusionAn orientation course that includes the infor-

mation and exercises described in this article could have a profoundly positive effect on help-ing college students succeed by enabling them to recognize and effectively deal with stress, anxiety, and depression. College students would learn the primary sources of stress associated with col-legiate life, as well as coping methods, financial budgeting, organizational and time-management skills, and many other approaches to help them


create a healthy work-life-school balance. Research indicates that engaging students in an orientation course of this nature could lower the incidence rate of anxiety and/or depression among college students, increasing the opportunities for retention and graduation.

In the Next IssueThis article shared the literature search and per-

spectives of an undergraduate student. The April issue of The Journal for Quality and Participation will contain a second article on this topic, written by the director of a graduate students program.

References1. David Myers and Nathan Dewall, Psychology, Worth Publishers, 2015, p. 489.

2. The National Institute for Mental Health, “Fact Sheet on Stress—Q&A on Stress for Adults: How It Affects Your Health and What You Can Do About It,” https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/stress/index.shtml.

3. Anxiety and Depression Association of America, “Understand the Facts: Depression,” https://www.adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/depression.

4. Billie J. Lindsey, Patricia Fabiano, and Chris Stark, “The Prevalence and Correlates of Depression Among College Students,” College Student Journal, 2009, Vol. 43, No. 4, pp. 999-1,014.

5. American College Health Association, “American College Health Association—National College Health Assessment Spring 2008 Reference Group Data Report

(Abridged),” Journal of American College Health, March-April 2009, pp. 477-488.

6. Alyssa M. Lederer, Dana M. Autry, Carol R. Day, and Sara B. Oswalt, “The Impact of Work and Volunteer Hours on the Health of Undergraduate Students,” Journal of American College Health, 2015, Vol. 63, No. 6, pp. 403-408.

7. R. Beiter, R. Nash, M. McCrady, D. Rhoades, M. Linscomb, M. Clarahan, S. Sammut, “The Prevalence and Correlates of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in a Sample of College Students,” Journal of Affective Disorders, March 2015, pp. 90-96.

8. Collen S. Conley, Joseph A. Durlak, and Alexandra C. Kirsch, “A Meta-Analysis of Universal Mental Health Prevention Programs for Higher Education Students,” Prevention Science, May 2015, pp. 487-507.

Ry Anne Millett-Thompson

Ry Anne Millett-Thompson wrote this article while she was an undergraduate student at the University of Washington. She has more than 15 years of experience as a full-charge bookkeeper and since graduating in 2016 now provides accounting services to small businesses. To learn more about her experiences, contact her at [email protected].


https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/stress/index.shtml

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/stress/index.shtml

https://www.adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/depression

https://www.adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/depression

An appropriately designed internal

auditing process can make an even

greater positive contribution to

businesses during times of change.

Transitional Auditing—Navigating

Through the ChaosArdith Beitel

Whether you work in a small busi-ness or a global Fortune 100

company, internal audits or some form of self-governance is required as a part of risk management and mitigation. Today’s business models are more complex, col-laborative, transparent, innovative, and lean than in the past. It is becoming more apparent that internal audit programs must be nimble, dynamic, and value-added for today’s business infrastructures and methods.

How then do you audit during busi-ness transitions when the quality internal audit paradigm remains deeply rooted in replicating external auditing practices? Should the external audit guidelines and expectations drive change within a com-pany or should a company rely on an internal audit program for risk and self-governance to support business change? ISO 9000-based standards have been driving quality management systems (QMS) slowly toward the latter strategy.

Several constants are associated with every version of an internal audit pro-cess. What are the key items to keep in mind when revitalizing or setting up the program when the management

structure is transitioning to meet new needs? Where’s the impact and best use of the diminishingly available resources as businesses continue to do more with less? This article provides some thoughts for internal auditors and their managers on how to become more effective and engaged in a transitional landscape of business change.

The Business EnvironmentAlignment of internal audit direction

and resources begins with determin-ing the expectations and deliverables throughout the management structure. There is a learning curve for both the audit team and the business during the level-setting phase. Audit program infra-structure builds on the business-operating environment to define the audit program foundation and its pathway to success.

First, assess the quality maturity of management. Find out if the people managing the business understand the QMS and the purpose of internal audit-ing. Business leaders sustain the direction of a company, and management needs to support changes along the way. Knowing the prevailing thoughts helps define a



starting point for the audit program. Begin auditing based on the tolerance level of management.

Managers who are more concerned with checking off the internal audit box for external requirements lay a compliance-audit cornerstone. Minimal support from management and low impact to the status quo of doing business are the drivers. Compliance data is reported with minimal suggestions for improvements.

Internal audit activities that are part of risk management and process management efforts lay a problem-solving and facilitation foundation. The internal audit group members should serve as team players in the business and have a higher impact as change agents. Internal audits identify opportunities and risks as well as provide compli-ance data.

Assessing the management position is a resourc-ing and planning requirement for any audit program. Identify the key positions that support internal audits to offer value-added data to leader-ship and people who can provide transparency of operations to the internal audit team. This is the foundation for communication and reporting. Be aware of factors that drive daily operations; sched-uling and resource availability are two examples to consider when developing audit sampling plans.

Finally, take a look at the quality and busi-ness management system maturity levels. Do they align with each other, or are these ships navigating in two different oceans? Do the two systems have ever-changing organizational param-eters, legacy elements from multiple systems lumped together, modified or engineered systems for unique customer requirements, incomplete process definitions, and/or incomplete commu-nication channels? Any combination of these issues makes scoping audits difficult because the process management system is not well-integrated or defined. The audit team needs to apply differing audit methods to address the interactions, gaps, and complexity of a developing business environ-ment. Do more than a checklist or a desktop audit by interviewing the technical person who wrote the process or witnessing an activity systemati-cally and comparing your observations against the documented process.

Foundational PrinciplesBuild a foundation that can drive the team

forward during the most trying and chaotic times. Define operating principles that allow the auditors

to serve as change agents for the company, regard-less of the constraints on the audit process as determined by the business environment. Internal auditors often say “I am here to help you,” but most people don’t understand what that means.

For instance, auditors are not supposed to inspect compliance into a process, nor is their role to help solve the crisis of the day. Auditors need to maintain their functional boundaries as determined by management while emphasizing that their goal is to help the auditee assess risks to the QMS and the business. Having a shared understanding of the auditor’s role goes a long way toward promoting opportunities for change and addressing risks iden-tified in audit findings.

Here are four principles to include in opera-tional activities.

• Remember that an internal audit is a contact sport.Building relationships through human contactestablishes the communication networks forthe team. Talking to subject matter experts(SMEs) during document reviews, includingmanagers as witnesses to the audit, and remain-ing open to multiple auditees for a singleinterview time slot are examples that change thedynamics and acceptance of the audit process.A few hours spent with a group being auditedprovides potential avenues for knowing whenoperational changes occur and established con-tacts change.

• Create a treasure map of the organization. Long-term employees have these maps in their heads,and they should be shared with the whole team.Treasure maps help define the established pro-cesses that are under audit, the informationflow through defined groups, and the key play-ers. Real operations occur around and throughthe solid and dashed lines of organizationalcharts. Knowing who’s who in the zoo—thepower players, key communicators, and thesocial networks—offers a distinct advantage toan auditor. Understanding the treasure map ofoperations helps auditors navigate the samplingpool for interviews, SMEs, proper communica-tion channels, and logistical scheduling. Theserelationships provide visibility as the businesschanges directions.

• Leverage the adage “you should know what I know.”Each auditor brings personal techniques, diverseindustry background, and quality function tech-nical and procedural knowledge that can be



leveraged effectively to scope and plan. Assess and embrace the diversity of the audit team. If you have the opportunity to select your team, capture the complexity and culture of the business.

• Be a good neighbor. Being predictable to the business provides a stable anchor to the audit process. Auditors and the organization both benefit from a repeatable process and report-ing formats with a defined communication network. Once the audit process is familiar and comfortable, small incremental changes can occur as the business complexity and audit process mature.

Infrastructure ChallengesSetting expectations between the audit team

and the rest of the business unit will have several challenges as both mature over time. Independence of the business unit does provide a certain objectivity level, yet audits done in iso-lation bring very little to the table in regard to driving business change. Leaders should utilize audit data as part of the risk management and continuous improvement cycle, and having these expectations documented aids in the alignment between risk and improvement.

Develop working arrangements in locations where multiple internal audit functions operate. Auditors from different business units can have very different views of how to conduct an audit and about what is included in their statement of work. Professional working relationships between audit teams allow for joint auditing activities and thereby reduce touchpoints for people performing their daily jobs. Document the relationships in a memorandum of understanding for internal busi-ness partners and communicate it with business leaders to ensure support.

Select an internal audit software solution that provides flexibility and consistency in format over long periods of time. Consistency in recordkeep-ing supports two key data elements for continual improvement and risk management. Meta-analysis of multiple QMS audits over time is possible when the raw data is captured consistently and can be rolled up for management review. Furthermore, it shortens the learning curve for managers to compre-hend report details and findings.

Establish corrective action/preventive action (CAPA) timing requirements for the business unit. Undefined CAPA expectations create vortexes

for findings and cause some opportunities for improvement to be lost. Review response require-ments when customers approve action plans to ensure that a basic understanding exists. Set the timing a bit longer, establish an agreement with management for acceptable closure criteria, and provide problem-solving techniques for more effective action plans. For example, all findings that will take longer than six months to close might require executive approval before the initial corrective action plan is submitted to the internal audit team.

Program ImplementationThere have been many books, articles, and

even a few standards written about the minimum requirements for an audit function. Implementing the program successfully requires aligning key characteristics found in the audit team members. Consistent management of the audit program should include self-correcting behaviors to main-tain the audit team alignment. Create an internal voice of reason within the team for a wider vision in the face of change.

Here are four items to include in the design for audit team alignment.

• Staff based on experience. Combining diversity of industries, company experience, and audit-ing background, as well as personal attributes, maintains objectivity and versatility in the types of audits that can be performed. A complex busi-ness environment requires diversity to function, and so should the audit program. This is a key to providing low-cost skill training and knowledge transfer for the team.

• Perform business model training. Auditors need to grasp the essential business functions and how they integrate with support functions to deliver a product or service. Basic understand-ing of project management used in engineering or design, business metrics, and the entire scope of the company’s quality function are examples. Auditors will not be experts in everything, but business intelligence provides common ground between audit personnel and the other employees.

• Create a toolkit to manage the audit process. ISO 19011 gives a basic audit process, but a tai-lored internal audit process that aligns with the business environment is needed. For example, it is not required to vet internal auditors as


is necessary for third-party auditors. Report templates help ensure consistency. Expand the toolkit to include the management of the audit process and things such as customer surveys, lessons learned, process measures, and/or an audit process checklist.

• Engage the team as a team. Leverage diversity in the team by setting appropriate strategies and allowing team members to perform col-laboratively. Use the audit schedule as an opportunity for the individual auditors to support one another through shadowing, men-toring, and working together. Peer reviews of audit outputs, CAPA support, and customer communications are other areas to consider. Cooperation between the audit team members builds auditor confidence in their techniques and knowledge, fostering self-direction.

Sustaining MeasuresProcess management requires feedback loops,

and so does the internal audit process. At its bare minimum, the audit process is linear—plan, exe-cute, report, follow up, plan, execute, report, etc. The management of that process should not be linear, however. The internal audit process requires sustainability throughout the life of the QMS.

Here are some examples of sustaining drivers for a program.

• Capture lessons learned through incremental evalu-ations as the audit team and process matures. After each iteration of the audit process, conduct a brief discussion on how the audit process and its components performed. Capture the audit tools and communication performance, management’s participation, effectiveness of the sampling, and any issues or improvement opportunities. These provide a useful foundation for procedural changes to the business-tailored internal audit process.

• Conduct an annual process review for improvement. The lessons learned combined with customer surveys, email kudos, and complaints provide a status of the “helpfulness” factor for the business. Perform this task as a team activity and adjust the tailored audit process, as appropriate, to have new targets and goals. The maturity of the audit program relies on this review for redirecting new audit techniques, requirements, business matu-rity, or initiatives while providing a point where ineffective or inefficient methods can be shed.

• Measure performance beyond merely tallying the frequency of findings and cycle time. Tallying only reflects the execution of audits and finding clo-sure but not the audit process itself. Performance against the audit plan and first-pass quality met-rics provide some examples of process measures. Add thresholds or goals to capture process vari-ance. Report more than one data point to add the opportunity to look for trends in the process execution. The internal audit must own its pro-cess, applying just as much scrutiny as is used for the rest of the business.

• Use standard work such as forms, templates, agen-das, etc. This allows the entire team participating in the audit process to focus on the content and minimizes the distractions caused by needing to become familiar with new ways of understand-ing information.

ConclusionsDetermining the audit function constants when

operating in complexity and chaos is the most important cornerstone of a successful program. The basic infrastructure and unified operations of the internal audit function provide a sense of stability and professionalism that help to overcome tran-sitional obstacles. The audit team has a sense of practices within which to operate, and the business can leverage the objectivity of the auditors’ work to move the business forward.

The following five points summarize the mantra for success:

• Keep the audit process and cycle constant. This is the road map for your business. Once leaders and the management teams understand your process, they can align and support your statement of work as it matures.

• Leverage auditor knowledge as a resource—auditor- to-auditor, audit function-to-management, and auditor-to-auditees. The auditor must learn, teach, tutor, and coach without ego.

• Abandon the business process assumption that what was true yesterday is still true today. Never expect that an audit plan will go perfectly; be flexible and take new knowledge from those performing the process back to the audit team.

• Build accommodating relationships with the people you are auditing. Communicate, communicate, communicate—go and meet face-to-face, pick up the phone, facilitate the problem-solving process, and don’t be afraid to hand off the



acceptance and closure approvals of your find-ings to another auditor, so that you can help people solve the findings you create.

• Maintain the team’s commitments. The integrity of the audit program will always be under scrutiny as an unavoidable process that uses precious overhead budget funds. Make your contact brief and efficient, conforming to your planned timing and commitment dates. Your word is gold if your actions are seen to support your intent.

Internal audit teams have the opportunity to bring a system-thinking viewpoint, diverse portfolio of methodologies, and a sustainable skill set to sup-port business change. The internal audit function has a higher impact when it is positioned within the changing landscape. A dynamic business environ-ment continues to demand effective and efficient teams to assess management system health. The internal audit group should be one of those teams.

The benefits of a robust audit function during business transitions provide stability, predictabil-ity, and effectiveness to the audit process. The key elements of a transitional audit function are to know the business-operating environment,

establish foundational principles for the audit team, address the challenges due to business re-structuring, have a self-perpetuating audit process, and provide sustainable audit measures. Diversity of the audit team members provides successfully blended business and quality acumen to an audit report. Under these conditions, auditors have a lower impact on time and resources but a higher effect on change while the organization is transi-tioning to new business models.

Ardith BeitelArdith Beitel is an internal auditor for Boeing test and evaluation. She is a Senior member of ASQ and is an ASQ Certified Quality Auditor (CQA) and Quality Technician (CQT). Beitel has served as chair and member of numerous ASQ committees at the section, division, and Society level. For more information, she can be reached at [email protected].

This recounting of a discussion between the senior director of global

quality management systems and the organization’s chief operations

officer provides some interesting insights on how to use the new

ISO 9001 standard as the foundation for engaging employees.

Digging Deeper Into ISO 9001:2015Linking Opportunities

and Joy at Work

Govind Ramu, based on a discussion with Marty Neese, SunPower Corporation’s chief operations officer

One of the many steps required for a successful transition to the revi-

sions associated with the ISO 9001:2015 standard is providing leadership with an overview of the new requirements. In my role as senior director of global qual-ity management systems at SunPower Corporation, I prepared a brief presenta-tion and met with the chief operations officer (COO); I was ready to take notes and hoped for a two-way discussion.

SunPower’s COO, Marty Neese, is highly engaged in the organization’s operational excellence approach and its integrated quality management system, so my main goal was to present the revisions in the context of the busi-ness. The discussion began with a look at how SunPower’s strategic planning process aligns with the requirements of the ISO 9001:2015 clause on “context of the organization (internal, external issues, interested parties, and require-ments).”1 We swiftly moved on to the standard’s treatment of “organizational

knowledge,” and there was a firm nod from the COO. We then talked about the process approach to ISO 9001 and the need to see various functions as parts of a process rather than as opera-tional silos. Because the COO is also a lean-enterprise evangelist for the orga-nization, making an analogy between the process approach and value streams made the job easy. SunPower’s day-to-day operations practice a plan-do-check-act (PDCA) approach to problem solving, so we saved time on that subject.

Finally, in the last stretch to wrap up the meeting, we moved on to risk-based thinking, which is a new concept added to the revised ISO 9001:2015 stan-dard. Similar to any mature organization, SunPower engages in comprehensive enterprise risk management, maintains a risk register and a heat map, and con-ducts management reporting and other activities that far surpass expectations set by the ISO 9001 standard. This is where the COO stopped the presentation to ask,




“Why is ISO calling this risk-based thinking? Isn’t that negative?”

I answered that the new definition recognizes that the “effects of risk can be either negative or pos-itive,” as explained in an ISO paper on risk-based thinking: “In ISO 9001:2015 risks and opportuni-ties are often cited together. Opportunity is not the positive side of risk. An opportunity is a set of circumstances which makes it possible to do some-thing. Taking or not taking an opportunity then presents different levels of risk.”2

As an example of how opportunities may arise while addressing risks, I brought up excess manu-facturing capacity. Operating under capacity can result in not being able to meet current customer expectations, and this has negative consequences. On the other hand, excess capacity has positive con-sequences—opportunities, including the chance to explore new markets, customers, and products. By not pursuing this avenue, an organization might suffer negative financial consequences.

This prompted a follow-up question from the COO, “Why isn’t this called ‘opportunity-based thinking?’” After all, organizations seek to delight their customers and also address risks in the process. He opened a book on the topic of upcycling and showed me an illustration depicting the crux of this idea (see Figure 1). Authors William McDonough

and Michael Braungart explain that “Doing less bad is not the same as doing more good,” and “Committing to continuous improvement is the beginning of a great journey.”3

Conducting risk-based thinking (or opportunity- based thinking, according to Nesse) for a process can mean thinking about how the negative con-sequences of the risks are addressed to minimize the impact and at the same time how the positive consequences to interested parties can be maxi-mized. Essentially, this approach achieves a hybrid of upcycling and ISO 9001 risk-based thinking. He challenged further that failure mode and effects analysis involves assigning risk priority numbers, so why isn’t there a similar measure for opportuni-ties? Why not use an opportunity priority number? Actually, the concept of an opportunity priority number has been proposed previously within a strategic management context in conjunction with a case study of a consumer product manufacturer in China.4

Once a cross-functional team assesses opportuni-ties and exercises a disciplined approach to scoring based on set criteria and guidelines, resource plan-ning can address those opportunities that score above a threshold and positively impact interested parties—especially customers for whom there is a high probability of positive effect within a short

timeframe. Adding cost of implementa-tion to this scoring approach helps refine priorities based on cost-benefit ratio-nale, where appropriate. Tables 1 and 2 illustrate opportunity assessment; oppor-tunities with higher opportunity priority numbers are pursued.

The central point the COO was express-ing was that the crucial role of optimistic leadership and management is delight-ing customers! To make this possible, employees have to come to work with joy. Highly engaged employees keep custom-ers delighted.4

Every situation and moment within a business or other setting presents choices and decisions. People can choose to be positive or negative, depending on the decision makers’ perspective—both con-ditions are equally available. A simple hypothesis is that choosing positively is more rewarding, engaging, inspirational, and enjoyable. Leaders can build systems

Figure 1: Optimizing Positive Impacts and Minimizing Negative Impacts

Pending permission of North Point Press.3

More good

Less bad

100%good

0% 0%

100%bad


and processes that seek to reduce and mitigate neg-atives while enhancing positives, and they should be challenged to do so. Optimism and a can-do attitude start with intentions of designing a busi-ness to be an affirmative and positive one with a culture of optimism and joy embedded deeply into the way daily work is conducted. Standards should be conceived similarly and be equally optimistic and enriching.

If the ISO 9001 standard is customer-focused, shouldn’t it set expectations for employee engage-ment? The COO and I explored ISO 9001 to verify whether it sets expectations for joy in the workplace. Upon reading it closely, we noticed that it does not

mention joy explicitly; however, it does contain language about the social (e.g., nondiscriminatory, calm, nonconfrontational) and psychological (e.g., stress-reducing, burnout prevention, emotionally protective) environment in which a process oper-ates. We felt that this represents a minimalistic approach to employee engagement.

To understand why standards writers did not raise the bar to take organizations to a higher level, it helps to understand the challenges in standards development. When the requirements within a draft standard are too ambitious, obtaining the two-thirds majority vote needed to accept the standard becomes difficult. A standard may start

The Certified Six Sigma Yellow Belt HandbookAuthor: Govind Ramu

Abstract: This reference man-ual is designed to help those interested in passing the exam for ASQ’s Certified Six Sigma Yellow Belt (CSSYB) as well as those who want a handy reference to the appropriate

materials needed for successful Six Sigma projects. It is intended as a reference for both Six Sigma beginners and those who are already knowledge-able about process improvement and variation reduction. The primary layout of the hand-book follows the ASQ certification exam Body

of Knowledge. The author used feedback from Six Sigma practitioners and knowledge gained through helping others prepare for exams to cre-ate this handbook. In addition to the primary text, this book contains numerous appendixes, a comprehensive list of abbreviations, and a CD-ROM with practice-exam questions, recorded webinars, and several useful publications. Each chapter includes essay-type questions that can be used to test comprehension.

Publisher: Quality Press

ISBN: 978-0-87389-934-5


Price: $69 (ASQ members); $105 (Nonmembers)

Table 1: Opportunity Priority Number

Positive impact to customers and other interested parties Benefit Time to realize benefits Time Resources utilization Cost

High 10 Within three months 10 Low investment 10

Medium 5 Three to six months 5 Medium investment 5

Low 1 More than six months 1 High investment 1

Table 2: Opportunity Assessment Example

Positive risk Opportunity Benefit Time CostOpportunity

priority number

Excess capacity New customers in current market 10 10 5 500

Exploring new markets 10 5 5 250

New product development 10 1 1 10



with lofty ambitions, but by the time it reaches a final draft, it must adapt in response to voices from participating countries, arriving at a com-mon denominator that a majority can agree to accept. This does not prevent individual organiza-tions from taking the intent of the standard and building best practices that will make it great, how-ever. SunPower does not implement requirements superficially and will continue to aim to surpass requirements. A competitive market needs more than compliance. It needs differentiation.

What could easily have been a one-way infor-mation dump became instead a productive mutual exchange of ideas and future planning. I was relieved that the organization has a business leader who not only understands an integrated management system, but who also has ideas for strengthening that system.

References1. International Organization for Standardization (ISO), ISO 9001:2015—Quality Management Systems—Requirements.

2. ISO Technical Committee 176, “Risk-Based Thinking in ISO 9001:2015,” ISO TC/176/SC2, http://isotc.iso.org/livelink/livelink/fetch/2000/2122/-8835176/ -8835848/8835872/8835883/ISO9001andRisk.docx.

3. William McDonough and Michael Braungart, The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability—Designing for Abundance, North Point Press, 2013, p. 34.

4. Hannah Koo, Ka‐Yin Chau, Leung‐Chi Koo, Songbai Liu, and Shu‐Chuen Tsui, “A Structured SWOT Approach to Develop Strategies for the Government of Macau,

SAR,” Journal of Strategy and Management, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2011, pp. 62-81.

5. Rob Markey, “The Four Secrets to Employee Engagement,” Harvard Business Review, January 27, 2014, https://hbr.org/2014/01/the-four-secrets-to-employee-engagement.

Govind RamuGovind Ramu is senior director, global quality management systems, at SunPower Corporation. He is the chair of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group to International Organization for Standardization Technical Committee 176, subcommittee 1, on ISO 9000:2015 standards. Ramu is a licensed Professional Engineer (mechanical) and an ASQ Fellow. He is author of The Certified Six Sigma Yellow Belt Handbook, co-author of The Certified Six Sigma Green Belt Handbook, Second Edition, and a contributing author to The Lean Handbook. Contact him at [email protected].

Marty Neese, chief operating officer of SunPower Corporation, is responsible for leading global strategic operations and worldwide materials sourcing, as well as cell and module research and development. He has more than 25 years of experience driving cost-effective, scalable manufacturing processes and policies. He also served in the U.S. Army for five years, reaching the rank of Captain.

http://isotc.iso.org/livelink/livelink/fetch/2000/2122/-8835176/-8835848/8835872/8835883/ISO9001andRisk.docx



https://hbr.org/2014/01/the-four-secrets-to-employee-engagement

https://hbr.org/2014/01/the-four-secrets-to-employee-engagement

Stretch Your Green Belt Coaching Muscles

Steve Pollock

Complacency is not an option for coaches who want to improve their capabilities and contribute more effectively to team members’ success.

As organizations implement Lean Six Sigma programs, they frequently train a team of coaches to work with Green and Black Belt students and practitioners. This article shares four approaches for improving coaching performance by implement-ing a supportive development program. Many of the practices that build coaches’ capabilities are equally applicable to the Green and Black Belts, too, because they reflect proven techniques used to promote adult learning.

Identifying Learning Styles

The term learning style describes “an indi-vidual’s mode of gaining knowledge, especially a preferred or best method.” It involves the person’s “unique approach to learning, based on strengths, weaknesses, and preferences.”1 Generally, coaches and students will display sev-eral learning styles; however, it is common for people to have a dominant style, but that style may shift depending on the circumstances associ-ated with the learning experience.

Many systems have been developed for charac-terizing learning styles, and quite a few of them include the following seven categories, which may be combined in some of the systems:

• Visual learners are those who use pictures, images, etc., to increase their understanding.

• Verbal learners prefer using words, both in speech and writing.

• People who are kinesthetic learners involve their bodies and sense of touch in the process.

• Auditory learners rely on sound and music.

• Logical learners look for reasoning and systems to aid their comprehension.

• Those who are social learners prefer to work in groups or with other people.

• Individuals who are solitary learners prefer to work alone and use self-study.2

Learning styles also are reflected in the way that people educate, train, and coach others. As might be expected, coaches will have the tendency to work with others in a way that aligns with their individual preferences. When coaches know their own learning styles, they can be far more diligent about reaching out to others in all the possible ways, rather than just the styles that come naturally to them. For example, the coach might be a visual learner and the Green Belt a verbal learner; the coaching approach could be customized to reflect both learning styles. In this case, the coach might draw an illustration describ-ing his/her thoughts on the topic and then involve the Green Belt in a discussion.

It makes sense for coaches to evaluate their learning styles using one of the many available online instruments for this purpose. Once the coach knows his/her learning style, he can be more intentional about working with the student/ practitioner to determine and address differences to promote greater understanding. Obviously, much more could be written about the meth-ods that work most effectively for each learning style, but the focus here is to point out that the first step is recognizing that learning styles differ and to be cognizant of his/her personal learning style. Successful coaching programs take the time to delve into this area deeply and make sure that coaches are prepared to align their approaches with the students’/practitioners’ needs.

Making a Personal Development PlanOnce coaches know their learning styles, they

can set specific goals for improving their coaching processes. Personal development plans describe the coach’s aspirations, current competencies, and areas

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most important to address. These action plans pro-vide detailed information on how personal goals will be attained.

Here are some questions to consider when creat-ing personal development plans for coaches:

• What is the coach’s learning style?

• What needs improvement? What is the coach’s goal for each specific opportunity for improvement?

• How will the coach know if sufficient improve-ment has occurred? What metrics and targets will be used to measure progress?

• What specific steps will be taken to achieve the goal?

• How will the coach practice what he/she learns?

• What is the deadline for meeting the goal?

Although personal development plans should be specific, it’s also important that they are flexible, living documents. These plans can be developed at a high level to foster general improvement, but they also can be transacted in association with specific projects. In that case, the students/practitioners can work collaboratively with the coach to consider each goal and determine the best approaches. In fact, it is possible that the personal development plan may need to be catered to the project’s phases; what works in the define phase may not be as ben-eficial for the analyze phase.

Working With a Proven CoachCoaches can learn a great deal from other

coaches who have successfully provided support in the past. An experienced Master Black Belt or Black Belt often fulfills this role; however, organizations that are starting Lean Six Sigma programs may need to identify these resources elsewhere. Best practice indicates the importance of having experienced coaches available,1 so it may be necessary to hire experienced staff members or consultants dur-ing the early stages of program implementation. Obtaining references from people who have been coached in the past by candidates for this role is always a good idea.

In addition to having successfully demonstrated coaching abilities in the past, “coaches of coaches” also will be most helpful when they possess the characteristics described below; however, this list

is also applicable to the coaches who work directly with students/practitioners:

• Has respect of peers. Credibility as a coach is based on a combination of technical knowledge and interpersonal skills. All coaches need to have impeccable reputations and be acknowledged as people who others trust.

• Focuses on fundamentals, using straightforward communication. The successful coach is not interested in proving how much he/she knows or demonstrating expertise. Instead, discus-sions should be student-/practitioner-centered, providing the most understandable and appli-cable information that relates to the specific issue addressed.

• Balances technical and people skills. This is often the most challenging aspect of becoming a successful coach. If the coach isn’t versed thor-oughly in the concept or tool—in a wide variety of situations, he/she probably will not be able to help others master it. At the same time, how-ever, subject-matter expertise is not sufficient for facilitating learning; exceptional interpersonal skills differentiate the most successful coaches from their colleagues.

• Expects high performance. Coaches do much more than provide teaching and answers to questions. To mentor students/practitioners, encourage them to invest the effort necessary to attain impressive results. This requires a mix of great patience and a vision for each student/ practitioner’s potential accomplishments.

Applying Coaching SkillsFinally, keep in mind that coaching oppor-

tunities abound throughout the Lean Six Sigma methodology, including before, during, and after projects. Research shows that Green Belts want to receive frequent interaction with their coaches,3 and this benefits coaches by strengthening their collabo-ration and personal-influencing skills.

The pace of work speeds up as efficiency ini-tiatives continue; however, coaching will be ineffective without proper preparation. Coaches should schedule time to reflect before they coach. Self-reflective preparation aligns well with collabo-ration principles for a team and generates positive


outcomes for the team, including creating an atmosphere where team members are encouraged to learn and work toward achieving shared goals. Team members are urged to share their ideas and opinions, as well as suggested approaches and are reassured that they can share their perspectives without fearing negative feedback. Self-reflective questions can act as icebreakers and thought pro-vokers, stimulating dialogue. Figure 1 illustrates typical self-reflective questions.

SummaryGood coaching is no different than becoming

proficient at some other personal or professional

activity. It takes preparation, time, and follow through. The four suggestions covered in this article can help coaches reap the benefits asso-ciated with having more satisfied and engaged project-team members.

References1. Dictionary.com, “Learning Style,” http://www.dictionary.com/browse/learning-style.

2. “Overview of Learning Styles,” http://www.learning-styles-online.com/overview/.

3. Steve Pollock and Daro Mott, Coaching Green Belts for Sustainable Success, ASQ Press, 2015.

Beforeproject launch

• What kind of pushback can be expectedfrom the Green Belts, project sponsor,and other stakeholders?

During projectmeetings

• What went well today?• What could have gone better?• What can I do to help you learn more?

During projectclosure

• What story do we need to share with theproject sponsor and other stakeholdersabout the project’s results?

Figure 1: Typical Self-Reflective Questions

Steve PollockSteve Pollock is executive director for performance improvement at Baptist Health Medical Group and an adjunct faculty member at Indiana Wesleyan University. He is an ASQ Fellow, ASQ Certified Quality Auditor (CQA), Quality Engineer (CQE), Manager of Quality/Organizational Effectiveness (CMQ/OE), and Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB). Pollock co-authored Coaching Green Belts for Sustainable Success. His email address is [email protected].


http://www.dictionary.com/browse/learning-style

http://www.learning-styles-online.com/overview/

http://www.learning-styles-online.com/overview/


This department presents a summarized version of an article that previously was published in the Quality Management Journal (QMJ), an ASQ quar-terly, peer-reviewed publication. It links the efforts of academic researchers and quality management practitioners by publishing significant research rel-evant to quality management practice and provides a forum for discussion of such research by academ-ics and practitioners. This issue summarizes an article by Richard Schonberger, which originally appeared in the July 2014 issue of QMJ. It describes the advantages of integrating quality management and lean methods to improve processes. A link to the original article is included at the end of this department so readers can dig into the details.

PremiseFor more than 30 years it has been recognized

that quality management and lean can be combined to provide a highly effective means for process improvement. Figure 1 depicts the mutual depen-dencies that originally were identified between these two approaches.1

• The left side indicates elements related to just-in-time or are lean oriented.

• The elements on the right side are associated with quality management or total quality control.

• Heightened awareness of problems and their causes feeds both approaches equally well by smoothing output rates, which, in turn, reduces inventory buffers and workers, accelerating heightened awareness.

• The ultimate outcomes of this combination appear in the rectangle at the bottom of the figure.

Although this model remains valid today, time has indicated that some fine-tuning would make it even better, as described below:

• Smoother output rates might be better stated as “less variation in output rates,” which reflects Deming’s focus on variation reduction.

• The top right of the figure contains an entry, “Deliberate withdrawal of buffer inventories/workers.” This relates to a widely used lean meta-phor regarding lowering the water to expose and remove the rocks (problems) in the stream of processes. In practice, however, rivers of process data act to wear down the rocks instead of a specific action magically providing the solution.

Metamorphosis of Terms and PracticesDespite the fact that quality management and

lean are every bit as compatible today as they were when Figure 1 was first introduced, the past 30 years included a hodgepodge of changes related to their application. Here is a short list of those changes, which the original article addresses in more detail.

• Total quality control became known as total quality management. Similarly, just-in-time pro-duction was rebranded as lean manufacturing or the Toyota Production System. At first, the con-tent of these approaches remained the same, but that also shifted throughout the years.

• Total quality management developed offshoots, such as teams and other practices stemming from the behavioral sciences.

• With the introduction of Six Sigma in the late 1980s, the statistical and quality sciences became more inexorably linked. Although the two fields had been viewed as interconnected for many years, Six Sigma fostered expansion into non-manufacturing and engineering environments. Furthermore, the associated education, training, and certification emphasis as well as organi-zational structure conferred both prestige and cachet upon Six Sigma.

• Initially, just-in-time production and lean’s pri-mary emphasis was on quicker responsiveness, including quick setup, Kanban, one-piece flow, rate-based scheduling, supplier partnership, and a multi-skilled workforce that adjusts to where

Richard Schonberger

A Symbiotic Relationship


ONLINE-ONLY CONTENT



the work moves. Furthermore, this approach featured a simplified organizational structure by product or customer families, which are called value streams. Relocation of tools and fixtures also occurred, enabling quick setup and very short Kanban-friendly flows. It also enabled real-time quality management through what Shingo called “source inspection,” in which the person directly next to someone inspected his or her work on the spot.2

• Core methods, such as total productive main-tenance, fail-safing (poka-yoke), and 5S housekeeping have been expanded to include takt-time-based scheduling, load-leveling box, supermarkets, spaghetti diagramming, overall equipment effectiveness, and lean accounting. Several Japanese-named concepts are common now; for instance, kaizen (meaning continuous

improvement) is well-known. Value-stream mapping, value-add/nonvalue-add analysis, and attack on waste are tools used in many projects these days. The QMJ article describes the use and impact of these methods, as well as others, in more detail.

• Additional methods from lean have led to the widespread use of standard work and best prac-tices. In addition to the generic application of them, many more specific systems have emerged such as ISO 9001.

• As the article in QMJ states, “Although this lean list seems hopelessly limited, the items on it appear frequently and practitioners give them prominence, especially in some service organiza-tions—which have generally had a late start in lean and are still seeking to find their way. What is not clear from the conversation is whether

Figure 1: Merger of TQC and JIT

Reduced bufferinventories and/or

workers

Heightened awarenessof problems and problem causes

Ideas forcontrolling defects

Ideas for improving JITdelivery performance

Ideas forcutting lot sizes

Fast feedbackon defects

Scrap/Qualitycontrol

JITproduction

Lot-sizereductions

Smootheroutput rates

Lessinventory

Less indirect cost of interest on idle inventory, space and equipment tohandle inventory, inventory accounting,

physical inventory control

Fewer reworklabor hours

Less materialwaste

Higher productivity, faster market response, better forecasting, less administration

Deliberatewithdrawal of bufferinventories/workers


other improvement methods were left out of the conversation for lack of awareness or because of obtuse prioritization.”

The Relationship Between Quality Management and Lean

Ultimately, the question becomes, “Do quality management and lean have a symbiotic relationship in common practice. The answer to that question is not as clear as might be hoped, and there certainly is no consensus on this area.

• Conceptually, these two approaches can be integrated successfully. In fact, one common assumption associated with the implementation of lean is that quality is a necessity, “a given.”

• On the other hand, an ongoing debate is under-way related to the current situation, “A 54-page blog that addresses whether SPC has suffered serious decline or not includes dozens of well-crafted opinions, both conceptual and based on in-the-field experience.3 Nothing close to consensus shows itself in that blog—no surprise given all the churning in quality management and lean methodologies and concepts that has taken place,” according to the original article.

• It is likely that quality management and lean are symbiotic and that they cannot be opti-mally effective when independently applied. The churn in terminology and profusion of con-cepts and methods being used, however, seems to generate confusion as well as misguided training and application.

The QMJ article concludes by recommend-ing, “Academic researchers need to examine the degree to which companies have truly inte-grated lean and quality management in their programs. For example, are companies bypass-ing high-potential applications for lack of their emphasis in process-improvement training? Do companies fully involve front-line associates in continuous improvement or in kaizen projects? Is the improvement that the companies achieve from these programs obtained through the involve-ment of front-liners? Or, is it possible to have continuous improvement without their involve-ment? Is the improvement obtained due to the implementation of standard problem solving that is then used through the organization? How do companies measure whether process problems are actually solved and remain solved?”

More Online To learn more about this important topic, be sure to read the

original article from the Quality Management Journal at https://secure.asq.org/perl/msg.pl?prvurl=http://asq.org/quality-management/2014/07/lean/quality-management-and-lean-a-symbiotic-relationship.pdf.

References1. Richard J. Schonberger, Japanese Manufacturing Techniques: Nine Hidden Lessons in Simplicity. 1982, Free Press.

2. Shigeo Shingo, Zero Quality Control: Source Inspection and the Poka-Yoke System, 1986, Productivity Press.

3. Michel Baudin, “Is SPC Obsolete?” Michel Baudin’s Blog, 2014, http://michelbaudin.com/2011/12/27/is-spc-obsolete/.

Based on: “Quality Management and Lean: A Symbiotic Relationship”

Volume 21, Issue 3Link: https://secure.asq.org/perl/msg.pl?prvurl=http://asq.org/quality-

management/2014/07/lean/quality- management-and-lean-a-symbiotic-relationship.pdf

Quality Management Journal

Richard SchonbergerRichard Schonberger, independent researcher, author, and speaker, has been a practicing industrial engineer, University of Nebraska professor, and University of Washington affiliate professor. He is author of more than 200 articles and 15 books, including Japanese Manufacturing Techniques, World Class Manufacturing, and Best Practices in Lean Six Sigma Process Improvement. He was the recipient of the 1990 British Institution of Production Engineers’ International Award in Manufacturing Management, the 1995 Academy of the Shingo Prize, and the 1998 IIE Production and Inventory Control Award. He serves on several editorial boards and directs the “Global Leanness Studies” and “World Class by Principles” international benchmarking project. He can be reached by email at [email protected].


https://secure.asq.org/perl/msg.pl?prvurl=http://asq.org/quality-management/2014/07/lean/quality-management-and-lean-a-symbiotic-relationship.pdf




http://michelbaudin.com/2011/12/27/is-spc-obsolete/

http://michelbaudin.com/2011/12/27/is-spc-obsolete/





There are many quality approaches in use today. To determine which of these approaches are cur-rently favored, I read through job ads for quality professionals. I was surprised to find an extremely wide variety of descriptions and acronyms used in them, which indicated how diverse the expectations of different organizations are in their practices of quality concepts and tools.

The over-arching goal of these myriad approaches is to improve business performance. Intelligent and thoughtful individuals and teams have developed these methods in response to real-world problems. When applied appropriately to an organization, they can yield substantial improvements.

During my professional career, however, I have learned that these approaches have varying degrees of success. Here are some examples of practices that are not always addressed well when determining what techniques should be used.

• Impact of the external and internal environment. Many external environmental circumstances that cannot be controlled can lead to this issue. For example, the start of a business downturn and associated layoffs can be internalized within the organization and undermine the application of the quality method. On the other hand, more controllable circumstances also may reduce a quality approach’s success, such as might occur when the proper training and skill improvement of individuals is not incorporated into the design.

• Impact of project scope. Many quality approaches are dependent on the size of the project to which they are applied. For instance, applying failure mode and effects analysis to a project that is too large can be problematic, while using design of experiments on a small project may be overkill. Aligning the quality approach with the specific project is critical to its successful application and ultimate long-term acceptance within an organization. When an approach is first implemented, there generally are numerous good project candidates for the quality tool. As time progresses, however, there are often fewer

appropriate opportunities, yet the push may continue to apply the technique and showcase the results. This can undermine positive percep-tions of the approach as the law of diminishing returns takes effect.

• Impact of leadership misunderstanding. Even though the external environment is supportive and right-sized projects have been selected, the potential benefits of the quality approach may not be realized because its business champion doesn’t know how to lead its usage.

A Real-Life ExampleOur champion, Mike, gained experience in the U.S.

manufacturing environment from 1960s through the 1980s. Skill, ability, and luck generated promotional opportunities for him. He advanced until he held the position of manufacturing supervisor. During the 1980s, Mike was exposed to and became an ardent believer in quality circles, an approach that had originated in Japan. Quality circles involve a group of employees meeting regularly to consider ways of improving their operations. Although it was very popular at one time, its appeal faded substantially over the years, as shown in Table 1.1

After one plant where he had worked closed, Mike was hired as the head of manufacturing for a start-up company. He prided himself on his quality

Christopher Bertoni

Program Champions’ Influence on the Application of Quality Approaches

Personal perspectives to stimulate thinking, change, and even controversy …

Table 1: Quality Circle Consultants in the United States

Year Consulting Firms Consulting FTEs

1978 2 ?

1980 2 11

1983 60 469

1988 21 264

1991 13 91

1994 5 60

Original Source—Paul Wasserman and/or Janice McLean, Training and Development Organizations Directory, Gale Group, 1978,1980, 1983, 1988, 1991, 1994, as included in Strang and Marcy.1




circle knowledge and championed its use at his new company. He took to heart the message that when manufacturing folks were allowed to make decisions about their workplace through a qual-ity circle, the whole organization benefited. This became Mike’s mantra, and his philosophy was simple. When something unknown came along, he would insist that the manufacturing group be involved. He believed that his team’s input was very important and that other functions, such as engi-neering, finance, and quality, were there to support the manufacturing group.

In this organization, production equipment was furnished by the parent company and needed to be laid out when received. Mike and his team mem-bers had no experience with the manufacturing process, but they did have some information on how to operate the machines. Mike’s quality circle philosophy precluded allowing the manufacturing team members from requesting assistance from any-one outside of their group. He felt that because the layout principally involved the manufacturing team and as such, the quality circle’s decisions should not be influenced by others. The result was a layout that worked well for the manufacturing operators but ignored facility requirements (e.g., overhead piping for ventilation; piping for cooling water and the associated drains for water; and piping for supply gases such as hydrogen, nitrogen, argon, etc.).

The layout of the equipment resulted in a con-tent manufacturing team, but the installation was more costly than necessary because the manufactur-ing team did not take into account the equipment’s other facility-related needs. An even greater over-sight, however, was associated with optimizing the capacity of each piece of equipment. Suppose that the process uses three production machines, where A feeds B, and B feeds C. If the capacity of the A and C machines are 10 pieces per hour, but B is only five pieces per hour, then a second B machine would be required to avoid bottlenecks.

During tours of the facility, the manufacturing supervisor put on his quality circle hat and related to the participants how a manufacturing quality circle team had laid out the facility without other func-tional support and shared the successful result. He received numerous plaudits from the tour attendees.

Eventually, the day came when it was neces-sary to increase production volume beyond five

pieces per hour, necessitating the purchase and installation of a second B machine. Due to qual-ity circle’s oversights related to the original layout, the addition of a second B machine could not be accomplished without relocating and reinstalling most of the major pieces of equipment in the pro-duction line—a costly rearrangement. The second layout was also done by the manufacturing quality circle team without other input. As had occurred previously, the installation was more costly than necessary because the facility requirements once again were overlooked. Mike continued to brag that the quality circle team had single-handedly laid out the production line.

The Bottom LineAs demonstrated in this example, support of

the project champion is not sufficient to ensure success. There are many quality approaches used in organizations today, but none of them are uni-versally applicable. Project champions truly must understand the situations that exist before selecting the approach used; one size definitely does not fit all. That is the only way to ensure the organiza-tion obtains the optimum benefits. External and internal environmental factors must be considered to avoid the pitfalls associated with misuse. Finally, project champions need to keep one other thing in mind—although they perceive that a particular approach has been applied successfully, the real determination of effectiveness should be based on performance-oriented evaluations.

Reference1. David Strang and Michael W. Marcy, “In Search of Excellence,” American Journal of Sociology, July 2001.

Christopher Bertoni Christopher Bertoni is the director of quality and technical services for Entrematic. He has held positions with a number of companies including General Electric and Robert Bosch. Bertoni is a licensed professional engineer and has been a member of ASQ for more than 30 years. He can be contacted at [email protected].

The focus for this issue of The Journal for Quality and Participation is one that I often pon-der. The structure of what we call our quality field has changed throughout the past 70 years since ASQ was officially organized. This is a good thing, although I am reminded of the old Chinese prov-erb, “Be careful what you ask for; you may get it.” I have a nasty feeling that I am getting what I have written about for the past 20 years!

Recently, I became aware of 10 change impera-tives that were developed to prompt discussion during the 2016 ASQ board of directors’ strategic planning process. I will use these 10 discussion points to present my thoughts about where the quality profession should be going in order to get out in front of the generational and global changes we are seeing.

• The meaning, relevance, and value of membership and networks are shifting. This is a generational inevitability. I am finally at the point where I find myself saying, “Well, in my day...” That means I need to get out and see things from the perspective of the new generation. My anthro-pological degree reminds me that the elders of a tribe are there to help the young know its history, so they don’t repeat mistakes. There is a balance, however, between knowing the history and being chained to it.

• Quality reach is extending across functions, affecting the work of every employee to create culture change. This is the change imperative that made it clear I am getting exactly what I’ve been request-ing. My view has always been that quality is a characteristic of the process in which we are engaged. Quality is only a standalone science, so we can put a language around it for descrip-tive purposes. It is no different than physics or chemistry. We use these foundational skills to do or make something. Unless we reintegrate quality back into our daily activities, it is just an enjoyable, but unproductive, mental exercise. Culture comes from behavior and doing, not mental exercise.

• Changing global landscape, supply chains, and economies require greater presence, diversity, sensi-tivity, and versatile skill sets. I have seen the trend initiated in Europe through the European Union to break down boundaries across cultures and traditions. Again, as an anthropologist, I am sensitive to balance. Most certainly, we live in a global world of technological interconnectiv-ity and mutual dependence. That is good. On the other hand, I see mankind losing tradi-tional supports and tribal anchors that allow us to maintain value systems and facilitate effec-tive decision making. There are cultural aspects across the globe that deserve respect at the local and historical levels. We will lose the value of diversity if we expect everyone to think the same way. Our professional society understands pro-cess and standards of performance. Surely, we can include new global members in the dissemi-nation of quality techniques that fit both their immediate and long-term needs.

• The growing need for improved quality practices in developing countries and newer market sectors is impacting economic growth and companies world-wide. I am encouraged by current ASQ divisional and global projects, such as the Healthcare Division’s special Green Belt proficiency project, which will be piloted in Africa, and the Quality Management Division’s global membership growth imperative. Talk is cheap. Doing is what drives culture and change.

• Open collaboration, partnerships, and new business models are driving growth. I’m not sure that any-thing has changed in this regard. I am reading Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, which was written in 1787. Supply and demand, as well as risk and market exchange, are part of the human condition. My approach is to provide a structure the same way that nature creates the medium in which crystals grow. Understand the structure and then facilitate the growth.

• The explosion of content and more points of access require faster, more open ways of generating and

Grace L. Duffy

Thinking About Change Imperatives for the Future

Contemplating the themes in this issue




disseminating highly relevant knowledge. We may be fighting this one too hard. The information is out there whether we harness it or not. Is it pos-sible that we should focus more as a society on helping the newer members use the information wherever it is, rather than trying to corral it all on the ASQ cloud? Networking and what I call “sharing shamelessly” concerning information related to the concepts and tools of quality need not be constrained within specific boundaries. Let’s design the ASQ Knowledge Center (based on the Quality Body of Knowledge) so that it can grow similar to an amoeba in response to where the conversation goes. Quality is a concept, cul-ture, and frame of mind, and its boundaries are constantly shifting.

• There are rising expectations and accountability for social responsibility and a mission for doing good. ASQ’s mission is “To increase the use and impact of quality in response to the diverse needs of the world.” Need I say more?

• Leadership demands thought leadership that is real-time, bold, forward-thinking, and actively takes a point of view. This is an increasing chal-lenge; I am pleased to see a more eclectic mix of members on the board of directors. As a profes-sional society, we must focus on our members’ growth. It always has been a challenge to attract and involve strong volunteer leaders. Now that we are more global—and frequently using vir-tual technologies—means that we lose much of the value of face-to-face expression. Body language goes a long way toward communicat-ing and leading.

• Content is driving networks rather than networks driving content—people are increasingly forming their own groups and gravitating less toward life-long organizations that determine content. Isn’t that what crowdsourcing is all about? A professional society is the granddaddy of crowdsourcing, and

it should foster sharing shamelessly, as I men-tioned previously. Furthermore, professional societies are founded on the academic principle of developing and refining ideas through sharing and innovation. At my age, I don’t have the per-spective of how the younger generations spark and sustain the energy and drive for grouping around content. Twitter? Blogging? I must trust the next generation to handle those skills. I am honored to provide some of the content that goes out on those new networks.

• The pace of change requires increased innovation and driving more agile practices and structures within organizations. This is undoubtedly true, and the pace of change is incredible. We must choose our battles carefully, however. The role of the qual-ity profession is to provide the foundation and structure to enable the next generation to learn from the past, yet not be shackled by it in the future, which is no small challenge.

Grace L. DuffyGrace L. Duffy is president of Management and Performance Systems, where she provides services in organizational and process improvement, leadership, and quality. She has authored several books and articles on quality, leadership, and organizational performance. Duffy is an ASQ Certified Quality Auditor (CQA), Quality Improvement Associate (CQIA), Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence (CMQ/QE), and a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt. She was named Quality magazine’s 2014 Quality Person of the Year and received the 2016 Asia Pacific Quality Organization’s Miflora M. Gatchalian Medal for Women Global Quality Leadership. Contact her at [email protected].

Cracking the Case of ISO 9001:2015, Third EditionAuthors: Charles A. Cianfrani and John E. (Jack) West

Abstract: This guide is available in two versions—one for manu-facturing and one for service. It is intended to help everyone in an organization participate in creat-ing and sustaining a foundation of integrity, meet requirements and customer expectations, and support robust processes. This approach benefits both the organi-zation and its customers. The book provides a simplified explanation of the clauses of ISO 9001:2015, including what’s required, reasons to use the standard, implementa-tion tips, and questions to ask to assess conformity. Also included is a chapter that answers the question “Why do ISO 9001:2015?” and a chapter that summarizes the key differences between the recent and previous editions of the standard. This guide also includes a chapter describing many quality tools, which can assist with implementing QMS processes.


ISBN: 978-0-87389-907-9 (Manufacturing version)

ISBN: 978-0-87389-908-6 (Service version)

Format/Length: Spiral bound/281 pages

Price: $17 (ASQ members); $29 (nonmembers)

The ISO 9001:2015 Implementation Handbook: Using the Process Approach to Build a Quality Management SystemAuthor: Milton P. Dentch

Abstract: This book was written by an implementer, auditor, and expert with decades of experi-ence with ISO 9001, and it offers a practical guide for organiza-tions using that approach as the basis for their quality manage-ment systems—from both the manufacturing and service sectors. In addition to summarizing recent changes to the ISO 2015 stan-dard, it offers guidance for internal auditors with audit questions for every clause of ISO 9001. The handbook is structured to guide organizations that are new to ISO 9001 as they connect their current practices to the standard’s requirements. For certi-fied organizations, the book provides advice on how to use ISO 9001:2015 as a foundation for building a QMS into a more helpful asset for managing a business. All clauses of the standard are explained to show what they mean for organizations.


ISBN: 978-0-87389-938-3



ONLINE-ONLY CONTENT

New Publications Related to the People Side of Quality




A Practical Field Guide for ISO 9001:2015Author: Erik V. Myhrberg

Abstract: The intent of this field guide is to assist organizations in implementing a step-by-step quality management system in conformance with ISO 9001:2015, whether “from scratch” or by transitioning from the previous standard. Each sub-clause is the focus of a two-page spread that consistently pres-ents features which contain the requirements, and a visual representation provided in flowchart format. The book recommends what to consider retaining and/or adding to a quality management system as well as approaches for internal auditing, spe-cifically what to ask to verify that a conforming and effective quality management system exists. It also points management to its responsibilities, in addi-tion to enhancements to consider for satisfying the ISO 9001:2015 requirements.


ISBN: 978-0-87389-940-6



Kaizen Kanban: A Visual Facilitation Approach to Create Prioritized Project PipelinesAuthor: Fabrice Bouchereau

Abstract: This guide shows how to create prioritized project pipelines and set up improvement boards to maximize business success through the execution of con-tinuous improvement projects. It introduces the “Faster and Better” visual facilitation approach that enables you to seamlessly leverage and combine fundamental tools in order to identify improvement opportunities for entire value streams, compile them in a prioritized project pipeline, and set up improvement display boards (kaizen kanbans) that are linked to key business objectives. This approach follows the same principles used with traditional kanbans; it relies on visual communication tools that are visible to all employees within the organization. The difference is that instead of telling operators what to build next or what parts to retrieve, these kanban cards tell improvement teams what pre-approved projects are most relevant to current business needs and are next in line for implementation. This approach is designed to complement and enhance the effective-ness of quality, lean, continuous improvement, and project management initiatives that already may be in place.


ISBN: 978-0-87389-937-6




Achieving Customer Experience Excellence: Through a Quality Management SystemAuthors: Alka Jarvis, Luis Morales, and Ulka Ranadive

Abstract: This is the age of the customer, when they are empow-ered more than ever before, demanding a high level of attention and service. Their increasing expecta-tions across the world have forced organizations to transform and prepare for the customer-experience battlefield. This book addresses what customer experience really means, why it matters, whether it has any substantial business impact, and what an organization can do to deliver and sustain its efforts. Based on exhaustive research conducted by incorporating various components that affect customer experience, the authors make a case for transforming the customer experience and making it the next natural evolution of the quality manage-ment system in order to create a more sustainable and cost-effective platform.


ISBN: 978-0-87389-935-2



Practical Process ValidationAuthors: Mark Allen Durivage and Bob (Bhavan) Mehta

Abstract: Validation issues pose a substantial problem for many regulated industries. The intent of this book is to provide manu-facturing quality professionals a quick, convenient, and comprehensive guide for properly conducting process validations that meet regulatory and certification requirements. It will aid quality technicians, engineers, managers, and others who need to plan, conduct, and monitor validation activities. The authors share their collective knowl-edge to help organizations improve results and increase profitability while maintaining a state of compliance with regulations and standards.


ISBN: 978-0-87389-936-9




Find the pieces you need to contribute to your organization’s quality and continuous improvement initiatives through ASQ.Knowing how to establish, enforce, and achieve your organization’s quality and continuous improvement goals can be puzzling. As an ASQ member, the resources you need to bring the value to these initiatives are at your fingertips.

YOU BRING THE VALUE

VISIT asq.org/BringValue

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organization’s success

• Learn from reputable quality instructors respected worldwide

• Choose from face-to-face courses, e-learning, virtual learning, and on-site options to fit your schedule

Become an Even Greater Quality ContributorLearn more online about the professional communities, ASQ Knowledge Center, and training and certification opportunities available.

CONTACT ASQSpeak with a Customer Care representative and learn how ASQ can help you bring the value as a quality and continuous improvement professional.

[email protected] OR CALL 800-248-1946

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This year’s conference may very well be the best one yet … inspiring speakers, informative presentations, and opportunities to connect with leading professionals to expand your network.

Don’t miss out on all the excitement, enlightenment, and opportunities for development at ASQ’s 2017 World Conference on Quality and Improvement.

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2017 WORLD CONFERENCE ON QUALITY AND IMPROVEMENTMay 1 – 3, 2017 | Charlotte, NC

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