February 1973 — VOL. 54, No. 2 —
Building and
Keeping Up Quality
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The quality of people and of the
goods they make and the services they perform concerns everyone.
Every hour of every day we are required to trust people, and
we must be able to rely upon the goodness of the articles
we buy and use.
When we say that a person or an article has quality we mean
that he or it has a degree of excellence that makes the person
or the article reliable.
While there are many definitions of excellence, all of them
include the idea of "first-rate". Striving toward the first-rate
has created most of the greatness in men and women in all
history.
The making of goods by machinery has not eliminated the
human being as a factor in good quality output. Every job
is important, whatever its rank may be on the scale of job
classification, and it must measure up to certain quality
standards. The most elegant railway train in the world, with
all its electronic devices, could not run if it were not for
the "gandy dancer", the man who maintains the road-bed and
the rails at the standard required for safe and smooth riding.
Quality is measured by the service an article gives in the
use for which it was designed.
It is impossible to value too highly the good effect on
all processes within a factory of upgrading quality. On the
other hand, the effect of downgrading quality will be felt
adversely by the selling branch of the firm. The volume of
work will fall off to the disadvantage of employees, and the
firm's income will decrease.
The value of a person's judgment or opinion about quality
is set and limited by the extent of his acquaintance with
the best standards. Knowledge of these must be sought continually.
In the world of quality there is no standing still, but motion
within a framework of stability. Discontent with things as
they are is to some people a nagging nuisance, giving them
nothing except subjects to grouch about; creative discontent
is a restlessness of mind that is searching for new and better
ways of doing things.
The law prescribes the standards to be met by certain goods;
the standards of some others are set forth in codes of ethics
written by their makers. There is a general movement of business
away from such unethical principles as "Let the buyer beware".
Beyond the law and the codes there is a demand by purchasers
and a desire by workmen for good craftsmanship in machine-made
as well as in hand-crafted goods. Prince Philip said in an
address to the Royal College of Art: "There is no reason why
we should be palmed off with second-rate stuff on the excuse
that it is machine-made."
The great difference between the craft skill of former days
and that of today is this: the old time workman shaping a
physical substance like wood, clay or metal had the feel of
it in his finger-tips, whereas today he controls a mechanical
process. They were workers of excellence who carved the procession
of youths and maidens on the Parthenon in Athens. They were
as careful as though the figures were to be viewed at eye
level and not from forty feet below. The quality machine worker
of today is as careful with his gauges and switches as the
stone workers were with their chisels and hammers.
What is quality ?
Skill, knowledge and judgment enter into quality work, as
do energy and persevering diligence. One does one's best,
and is content, though he knows that it is far from the best
that might be done. He is interested in doing the job well
for its own sake.
One must have an ideal, but it is a good practice while
keeping an eye on that ideal, to work toward it by doing what
is within one's power to do now, and to make a habit of doing
well what has to be done.
John D. McLellan, B.A. Sc., of Northeastern University,
said in his Alexander Hamilton Institute volume in the Modern
Business series: "For an employee to get recognition for his
work in a plant, he must do more than meet the expected requirements.
He must strive for exceptional performance."
Careful craftsmanship shows the honest delight of a workman
in his work. It gives him a feeling of personal importance.
It prompts him to do habitually work that has the stamp of
authenticity. Michelangelo had never seen an angel, and Della
Robbia had never seen a cherub, and yet the quality of their
sculptures convinces us that there are angels and cherubs.
When an honest person finds out what is fitting and needed,
and uses his skill to supply it, he is on the right road to
excellence.
It is a piece of self-love to imagine that one has already
attained to what is best. Having the desire to achieve excellence,
the next thing to do is to act toward winning it.
This effort is not always successful on easy terms. It takes
time to bring ability to full growth as excellence. Even as
he touches the fringe of excellence, the ambitious person
is getting ready for the better work he will do tomorrow.
He is acquiring new knowledge, looking ahead, planning his
course, learning thoroughly by practice, and cultivating the
desire and the willpower to add to his proficiency.
If you wish to be thought good at anything the shortest
and safest and most certain way is to try to make yourself
really good at it. There is a lighthearted example in the
Gilbert and Sullivan play H.M.S. Pinafore. Sir Joseph
Porter got to be First Lord of the Admiralty by doing well
every task in his varied life: copying letters, cleaning windows,
sweeping the floor, and polishing the handle of the big front
door.
Everyone needs to cultivate his feeling for good quality,
and to show it in his work. A person who does not know of
the existence of excellence is in a bad way, but not nearly
so bad as that of a person who knows that there is such a
thing as excellence but makes no effort toward it.
Quality in business
The problem faced by a manufacturer is how to produce good
quality merchandise, demanded by customers, at a reasonable
price which provides profits for shareholders. A manufacturer
has many points to consider in setting a quality standard
for the goods he produces. He needs to determine the grade
of raw material to be used, the efficiency of his machines,
the skill of his workers, and the fitness of the design of
his product.
The grade of quality must be measured against cost, but
the manufacturer cannot compromise with the required standard
of quality and maintain his good reputation or his share of
the market.
Getting the quality right is important to the worker at
the bench. Good quality is essential to sales volume brought
about by repeat orders, and repeat orders are the backbone
of most businesses. Therefore good quality on the production
line is an assurance of continued steady work for the factory
hands.
These factors enter into judgment of quality: good materials,
good design, engineering accuracy, and superior workmanship.
To judge whether a product is of the best quality the purchaser
needs to learn whether it gives the service it is supposed
to give, and whether it will last long enough to justify the
price he paid for it.
During the past twenty years there has been a growing practice
among manufacturers to pay attention to these points, to establish
standards, and to inform customers what these standards are.
Look at the merchandise spread before customers, from ballpoint
pens to automobiles, and you will see that claims to good
quality are universal selling points.
There are, roughly, four kinds of groups interested in establishing,
defining and checking quality: manufacturers, wholesalers
and retailers who set their own standards; trade associations
which formulate codes of ethics and standards for their members;
government departments which check and test certain sorts
of commodities, and consumer groups which compare notes on
the performance in use of various articles from heavy household
equipment to packaged cereals.
In the factory, the manager or the foreman is responsible
for the quality of goods produced by workers under his supervision.
Besides being the principal actor in his own life drama, a
manager is also director of the performance of others. He
has to know his workers and their roles; he has to allow them
to play their parts, directing their effort but not infringing
their individuality.
The foreman has the undoubted responsibility to see that
work is done properly so as to maintain the quality of the
goods produced, in accord with standards set by the executive.
He will try to inspire a sense of commitment to quality in
workers. They cannot be made quality conscious by an occasional
speech about doing good work. Continuous education is necessary,
and acquaintainceship with models of the best.
At the very base of quality production is the desire for
excellence, and this needs to be given life by the man in
charge. A person will work with his hands in order to live,
but he will put his heart into his work when he is striving
toward excellence.
What is this excellence, and how high is the quality that
is desired? Any foreman or manager who wishes his staff to
make an effort toward quality output must state his purpose
and his requirements clearly, and back up his statement with
facts and examples. His objectives need to be unmistakably
defined. Quality standards locked up in a supervisor's mind
have no significance or usefulness.
Motivation
The foreman seeking to see his workers reach the peak of
their best performance should seek and find out what triggers
them to try.
Great men have an all-consuming passion for their work.
They delight in their talent and pursue it with restless energy
and patient thoroughness. Pride of achievement is their powerful
incentive.
It is essential for a worker to have an aim, and it needs
to be something specific, concrete and definite. This requires
a manager to get to know his people, because what motivates
one person will leave another cold. Individuals respond to
different stimuli.
There is one factor that seems common to most workers: the
admiration that is given to a piece of work well done. The
ordinary business of making things goes hand in hand with
the instinct to make them beautiful. A cabinet-maker will
run his hand lovingly over a smooth joint; a machinist will
pat almost affectionately the axle and socket he has machined
to a fine tolerance; the accountant will, purr over the last
line in a huge array of figures where the balance shows that
his calculations were correct.
The great achievements of men of science, artists and writers
have been sparked by a desire to improve. Every accomplishment
is first of all an idea, and every visible successful act
is primarily an invisible thought. If these thoughts are of
making or doing things better they will develop into ideas
and commendable performance.
Incentive wages should convey the idea that they are a dividend
made possible by increased production of good quality goods,
rather than a speed-up device. The desire for recognition
of work well done is not satisfied by an envelope containing
a cheque. When a surgeon is called upon to perform a difficult
operation, and he performs it with consummate skill, it would
be the plainest nonsense to say that his only motive is the
fee.
Inspiring employee enthusiasm
Managers are giving serious attention to the making of jobs
more attractive and interesting. Good quality work has been
seen to be the rule where workers have a satisfying social
relationship and comfortable working conditions in the office
or work-room. One of the greatest assets any human being can
possess is a sense of satisfaction with his environment.
In judging whether a person did his best in a job, attention
must be given to the circumstances under which he worked.
A disorderly workplace, for example, whether office, factory
or kitchen, is likely to produce poor quality work. A worker's
reaction to his surroundings reflects itself in the kind of
work he turns out.
Goodwill and loyalty are essential characteristics of work
people who are required to do quality work. Business that
keeps a manager from giving his workers the recognition that
their egos need is undermining any effort toward encouraging
growth of these valuable assets.
Some people in authority take for granted that if they do
not complain, their workers will know that everything is fine.
This is a mistake. Most people, though they do not seek lavish
praise, wish to be reassured as to their continued ability.
Feedback of commendation and encouragement is important in
promoting the search for excellence.
Need it be said that it is a mistake to tell an employee
only about his defects? A boss who smothers his people under
criticism is weakening his own position. He must recognize
the fact that all people make errors. As Shakespeare wrote
in a sonnet: "Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud...
All men make faults." The manager's duty is to advise and
counsel so that blunders do not recur.
In his effort to be positive rather than negative he will
devise ways of providing opportunities for his workers to
display their initiative and their expertness. Many a person
who has become stale on a job has been freshened by discovery
of the possibilities in his work for creative improvement.
From the buying side
The buying public will benefit when it learns to form its
own judgment of what is good.
The consumer who buys carelessly, ignoring quality, is lowering
his level of living. As N. E. Brown says in Consumer Education
(Macmillan Co. of Canada, 1964): "When he wastes a dollar
in poor buymanship be deprives himself of other products that
he might have enjoyed if he had purchased with greater wisdom."
Knowing what is bad, what is shoddy, is a first step: the
second is to make known what you consider to be good quality.
If a purchaser does not make clear to a seller what quality
goods he desires he cannot hold the seller responsible for
a shortfall in quality.
For evidence of the manufacturers' awareness of quality
standards one need only notice the increasing number of labels
and tags that carry concrete information about material and
workmanship. The consumer will learn much about the suitability
of the goods to his needs by reading the label, including
the small type.
There is no need to wait for experience in order to become
a wise purchaser. Consumer education is available in books,
magazines, and in night classes. The Consumers' Association
of Canada, Ottawa, a non-profit organization, reports through
its bulletin, Canadian Consumer, on misleading advertising,
the degree to which manufacturers live up to the virtues they
claim for their goods, and the relative values, in terms of
service and price, given by various brands of goods. There
are magazines which provide information on many consumer commodities,
with comparisons based upon tests made of competing brands.
The wise consumer wishes to get his money's worth, and in
that quest he will follow some simple procedures. The first
step toward buying quality goods is to plan your shopping.
Make a list of what you need and want, including the things
that you expect your purchase to do for you. Consult a consumer
test publication and compare models.
Consider both price and quality. The shrewd buyer knows
that the only bargain is an article that fills a need. Just
because something is on sale at a low price does not justify
one in buying it. The questions to ask are these: Has this
article the capacity to fill my need? Has it the features
that make it a quality buy for me in my present circumstances
and in view of my needs?
To find out what the measure of worth is, answer further
questions: What do I want it to do? How long will it last?
How efficient is it? How easily does it operate? Are repairs
easy to obtain? How much does it cost? What is the cost of
operating it?
Enemies of quality
There are a dozen things that influence quality harmfully,
both quality in production and quality in buying. Some of
them are: haste, carelessness, disinterest, inattention, ignorance,
poor training, and lack of pride.
If an article is faulty, it may be due to any of several
causes. Enough time was not taken to manufacture it carefully;
not enough testing was done to find out how the article would
perform in use; inferior material was used; workmanship was
not good.
Some people are content to settle for just passable performance
or just good enough merchandise. They are satisfied with mediocrity,
and that is not within striking distance of excellence.
The man is not only turning out inferior merchandise, but
is inflicting on himself a shoddy life, who scamps his work
to the point where he lets its quality sink to the level below
which his supervisors will not let it fall.
It is distressing to watch a person with little knowledge
or skill trying to handle a job, but it is truly pitiful to
see a person who is gifted with skill and knowledge doing
a slovenly job through carelessness, lack of pride or disinterest.
"Will it pass?" is a low class standard to apply to a piece
of work, far removed from the superior workman's touchstone:
"Is it good?"
No spirited mind is satisfied with merely "getting by".
It reaches out for excellence. It combines faultless workmanship
and the professional spirit to produce something that has
good quality and gives the crowning feeling of satisfaction.
Seeking perfection
Even if perfection is not reached, working toward it will
result in a better product than if one is content to continue
on an easy level.
A dream of future perfection should not blind us to the
desirability of doing the best we can now. Reaching for the
best possible under the present circumstances is a high ideal.
Nobody should expect to be perfect, or be unduly troubled
by the fact that he is not. The dedicated absolutist is like
a person who will love nothing but perfection, who does not
believe in the existence in human life of anything perfect,
and who quarrels with the world for not containing perfection.
The search for perfection should not become overstrained.
Too much painstaking is blamable, just as well as too little.
One has to know when to quit. Some artists keep touching up
their paintings, so that to the end they remain "sketches".
As critics said of Ingres's painting of Oedipus in the Louvre:
"The young Greek is so carefully drawn, so smoothly modelled,
so tiresomely drawn and modelled, that it cannot arouse the
enthusiasm such perfection otherwise might."
There are some jobs in which good quality consists in ability
to perform a function: elegance and polish are not necessary.
An old Scottish proverb says: "What need to make the bridge
much wider than the road?"
Quality in one's life
The Criminal Code and the Ten Commandments are effective
in compelling behaviour that does not transgress a neighbour's
rights, but these are only the beginning of his development
to a person seeking to build quality into his life.
Quality in living is not a newly-sought way of life. Several
thousand years ago the sacred book of Egypt pictured moral
perfection. The soul pleading before Osiris and the celestial
jury said: "I have told no lies, committed no frauds, promoted
no strife, caused no one to weep, made no fraudulent gains;
I have sown joy and not sorrow, given food to the hungry and
clothed the naked."
Quality living does not consist merely in not doing wrong.
There are people in every age who stand out head and shoulders
above others. They are people who have something to do and
do it well.
"Something to do" is a key phrase in quality living —
something to do, the doing of which gives self-fulfilment,
the satisfaction of achievement, the pleasure of using one's
head and hands creatively for the advantage or welfare of
society. "Something to do" is one of the greatest aids toward
excellence, because the feeling of having something to do
engenders and feeds the desire to do it well.
Whatever a person's position in society, executive or labourer,
politician or voter, he has a duty in a world that rides uneasily
on the surface of chaos. There was service to be given even
in the Celestial City toward which John Bunyan's pilgrim made
his way.
Quality and excellence
There is nothing quaint and old-world about love of quality
and the desire for excellence. Everyone has admiration for
things well done, and everyone, at some time, has dreamed
of doing some excellent thing.
Quality performance is not to be kept for great occasions.
Small matters provide the training ground for excellence.
A peasant basket ornamented with a garland of coloured straw
roses is as important in its place as a fresco on a palace
wall.
Everyone who tackles it finds the search for quality in
the work he does a mind-satisfying and life-broadening endeavour.
His reward is not necessarily money or public acclaim. Self-respect
and the respect of others, and the knowledge of having done
something well are quite enough. As Ruskin put it: "The delight
of the First Great Artificer when He looked upon His handiwork
and 'saw that it was very good'."
Published by RBC Financial Group. All editions from the RBC
Letter collection are available on our web site at www.rbc.com/responsibility/letter.
Our e-mail address is: rbcletter@rbc.com.
Publié aussi en francais.
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