Conventional management wisdom:
You can have quality or quantity but you can’t have both.
- Bang ’em out quick
- Sod the quality, feel the width
- Cost, quality, speed ~ pick any 2
Even the Romans knew this was the case.
It is quality rather than quantity that matters ~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca
So if you want more, the quality is always going to slide.
But there is a problem with conventional wisdom. Sometimes it is wrong…
If you want higher quantity start with higher quality
As quality goes up quantity goes up.
Why? — Less rework
As quality goes up employee engagement goes up.
Why? — People take more pride in their jobs.
As employee engagement goes up and rework goes down, costs go down.
Why? — Less absenteeism and wasted time.
As costs go down profits go up.
Why? — Greater margins and more sales.
As profits go up quality goes up.
Why? — More investment.
So if you want more quantity start with higher quality
But if you start pushing quantity first…
Then let’s be honest…
The quality is bound to slide.
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Image by Stuart Rankin
James, thanks for reinforcing this counter-intuitive phenomenon. Many folks eschew quality with a cry that it would “cost too much.” Truth is, the cost of poor quality is almost always higher than the cost of higher quality, once you consider the rework, scrap, customer attrition, rebates, auditing and other detrimental impacts of a low-quality operation. So now the question becomes, how to drive quality? Well, that’s a topic for a separate blog (or several), I’m sure.
Thanks for your comment Mark, the question I struggle with isn’t how do you drive quality more why don’t people understand the issue. It isn’t new management thinking yet every new generation of managers appears to be blind to it.
James
Yes, I think our communication/conversation about “quality” just hasn’t progressed enough to make it more of a cultural way vs. a company edict. “Quality” thinking as a way of doing business inside and out isn’t really taught in MBA programs. The old definition of auditing after the fact and punishing or re-educating the recalcitrants still rules in most management circles. It might just be human nature. We do the best we can at things and only seek to improve – intentionally and continually – if/when forced to by outside pressures.
James,
My question would be….why do many firms not get this and fall into the trap of just chasing more quantity?
Is it because that they assume that their quality is currently ok and that it will remain so if they grow?
Adrian
Unfortunately I have no idea Adrian. When I work that out I will write a book. (and make millions)