Al finalizar la gestión administrativa del rector Alfredo Piñeyro (1985) concluye un largo periodo de inestabilidad política al interior de la Insti-
2. Manuel Silos: el inicio de la reforma académica (1991-1996)
As we discussed in detail in Chapter 1: Quality Throughout History, in each moment of life, each person interprets his or her experience at four levels: uni- versal, cultural, social, and individual. That natural, automatic, largely uncon- scious evaluation leads to an inner sense that might be I like this; this is good for me.But, to generate that feeling, the experience must be satisfactory on all four levels and in all ways. Otherwise, the experience is soured. Also, our bodies and emotions are constantly changing. As a result, what we like for breakfast, we don’t like for lunch.
For each person, the sense of value and quality is fleeting and everchanging. And no two people like exactly the same thing. It is no wonder that philosophers concluded that quality could not be defined. They were right: As people, we know quality when we see it, but we can’t define it.
Yet no one can determine what is “quality” for me. That is, no one can tell me to like something, or tell me what to like. The philosopher’s position is true, but it leaves the businessman stuck. For, to succeed in business, we have to deliver things to the customer that the customer values and perceives as valuable. So we have to define quality with the customer, and also attempt to do it for the cus- tomer, even if that is supposedly impossible.
There is a solution. In Chapter 2: The Development of Quality Management,
we said that engineers know how to make things work even when scientists don’t know why they work. The same is true for quality managers and quality engineers. We know how to define quality for and with the customers, even when philosophers and customers can’t say why they like something or what they really mean by quality.
Economists and marketing folks look at quality from the customer’s perspec- tive. Economists see quality as that which gives value to customers by satisfying their wants or needs. Customers are willing to pay to receive that value, which sets up demand for products and services. That demand, in relation to available supply, determines market price. Marketing folks see quality as that which adds value, but then focus on the customer’s perception of value. They ask if cus- tomers know what they want, and if they can be informed or persuaded to choose certain items. At that point, marketing goes in two directions. Some marketing campaigns focus on getting the message out so that customers can understand value and make a clear choice about their preferences. Others seek to influence customer preference, getting customers to change their minds about products.
Marketing and product definition involve a great deal of compromise because it is difficult to know what customers want. In figuring out what customers want—in defining quality—businesses face these problems.
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The customer doesn’t know, and no one can decide for the customer.If the basic response to quality is, as the philosophers say, “I know it when I see it,” then defining quality before the product is made and delivered is diffi- cult. We solve this by including the voice of the customer in the quality definition process.•
Each person has unique preferences, but we try to build one product that will satisfy many people.This leads to choices about pricing and quality. For example, some people will buy something only somewhat satisfac- tory—even if it doesn’t give them all of what they want—if the price is low enough. It also leads to product lines with options that make the product different for different customers, and to customization.•
It takes time and money to work with the customer to define quality.This can lead to a trade-off: higher quality items costing more.•
It takes many types of expertise and analysis to work with the customer to define quality.We may need to bring together everything from marketing experts to statisticians to computer programmers to figure out what the customer wants.•
Customers react to experience, not just to products.Our product or service is just one part of the experience. The customer may react to something else that is going on—not part of our product, and only perhaps under our control—in their experience of the product and of our company.•
Customers are complicated. Even one person is complicated. But, often, the term customer refers to a group of people. Mothers and fathers buy things for their babies and children. People buy gifts for one another. And all business sales have people in multiple roles. These include the purchase decision, use, and realization of benefits of a product. Even if we sell to a one-person company, that person buys and perceives value both as an indi- vidual and also in terms of his or her role in the company.•
The real final value of the product is often not perceived before, or even soon after, the time of purchase.If the product is something that the cus- tomer will use for a long time, then a customer’s expectation that it will last five years can leave the customer dissatisfied when it only lasts three. Or, if a customer eats a big meal late one night and loves it, he may not be as happy when he gets on the scale in the morning.•
Influencing customer desires through branding and marketing is an alter- native to finding out what the customer really wants.But after the customer has the product, a question remains as to whether we’ve really met a need, or only fulfilled a perceived need.All of this complexity is very, very human. And most engineers are more focused on things and data than on people. That is not a criticism. Studies in the
field of human resources show that everyone has a propensity for one of three areas—to work with people or animals; to work with data, knowledge, and infor- mation; or to work with physical objects and equipment. Each of these leads to a satisfying career. Psychotherapists, architects, and construction workers all add value to society. What makes quality management a challenge is that success- fully defining quality and delivering it to the customer requires all three talents.
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We need people skills to elicit customer requirements and manage the team to deliver to those requirements.•
We need skills with data and information to form customer requirements into a technical specification and to plan the work.•
We need physical skills with things to actually make our products and serv- ices and deliver them.The key turning point in this process is the specification of customer require- ments. If we can take information that comes from outside—from the customer— and turn it into a clear definition of requirements that, if met, will deliver quality, then we’ve done what the philosopher cannot do—define quality so that we can deliver it.
This is not to say that the job is done once we have a specification of customer requirements in writing. Even if it is a good specification—clear, consistent, achievable, and having other qualities we will discuss in Chapters 4, 5, and 6— we are not nearly done. To finish, we have to do three more things.
First of all, we have to meet the operations management definition of quality: to develop and deliver the product or service in conformance to, or exceeding customer specifications and expectations. This is the arena where most quality management work has been focused. We need to:
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Planhow to deliver quality.•
Dothe work following the plan.•
Checkthe work to make sure it conforms to specification, using inspection and quality control (QC).•
Act on the information we learn from checking, to eliminate error and deliver to specification.We will use the PDCA cycle many times in delivering each product.
Secondly, we need to make sure that we are doing a good job—that we are test- ing everything and responding to what the tests tell us. This process is called qual- ity assurance (QA),and it includes any and all activities—especially activities that cut across departments—that we do to make sure that we do our quality work right.
Thirdly, we need to deliver quality to the customer, and ensure that the cus- tomer receives not only the product, but the experience of quality, as well. Our goal can be—and should be—customer delight. Customer delight is what hap- pens when the customer receives quality in the product and knows they got it, and is also delighted with every experience that they have with every represen- tative of our company. Customer delight leads to customer loyalty, repeat busi- ness, referrals, and lasting success.