10 Warning Signs of a Weak Culture of Quality

“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” – Henry Ford

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Many organizations claim Quality as a core value. In fact, quality (or excellence) is the third most common value found across Fortune 500 companies. Yet, how many of these companies have a formal quality program in place?

Sadly, some still view quality as the responsibility of the Quality Control Department who pull products off the assembly line that don’t meet a minimum standard. For such companies, a satisfactory ratio of bad to acceptable products is simply viewed as the way things are done.

But those that are serious about quality look at things quite differently.

Quality is not viewed as an output. It’s about continuous improvement. Instead of focusing on minimum standards, quality parameters are established that create competitive advantage.

Ideas for improvement are encouraged from ALL employees – and vendors too. They are encouraged and rewarded for bringing forward ideas that improve the quality of their products and/or services.

Such companies have a strong culture of quality.

So is there a way to know if your organization has a strong or weak culture of quality?

Warning Signs of a Weak Culture of Quality

In 2014, Forbes Insights and ASQ produced a report titled Culture of Quality: Accelerating Growth and Performance in the Enterprise. This 40-page document is a summary of a global quality survey of 2,291 executives and managers.

Near the end of this report (on page 33), they highlight the following warning signs of a weak culture of quality:

• The CEO and other senior executives rarely discuss quality – let alone performance against quality objectives.
• The company’s quality vision is either non-existent or has minimal linkage to business strategy.
• Managers throughout the organization either fail to consistently emphasize quality or are resistant to quality initiatives.
• The organization has few if any feedback loops for continuous improvement of processes.
• The company lacks formal mechanisms for collecting and analyzing customer feedback.
• Metrics used for performance evaluation feature little-to-no mention of quality goals.
• Employees are not familiar with the company’s quality vision and values—or perhaps worse, view them as mere slogans.
• Training and development do not emphasize quality.
• New hires are not formally introduced to the organization’s quality vision and values.
• The organization experiences frequent, though often minor, setbacks owing to inconsistent quality.

If these signs indicate your organization might have a weak culture of quality, what can you do to fix it?

Revisit your core values – and how they are implemented.

As suggested in one of the recommendations in this report:

An organization’s “values” can help individuals at all levels make better and more responsible decisions relating to issues of quality…. BUT… only half, 50%, say such values are clearly understood throughout the organization.

The right values can make a hug difference. But it’s not enough to simply identify the values. They need to be clearly communicated, incorporated into the hiring criteria and training programs, and woven into the employee reward and recognition program.