Welcome to October 2020 edition of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.
For the year 2020, we have chosen the core subject of Revisiting Basic Quality Concepts w.r.t. the sustained success of the organization As of now we have visited
- History of Quality in January 2020
- The Sustained Success of Organization in February 2020
- Organizational Context in March 2020
- Understanding Needs and Expectations of the Interested Parties in April 2020
- Risk Based Approach in May 2020
- Opportunity Based Approach in June 2020
- The Organizational Knowledge for the Sustained Success in July 2020
- Competent people for the sustained organizational success in August 2020
- Process Management for Sustained Success in September 2020
We take up Performance Measurement for Sustained Success as our next core concept this month–
Beyond a simple agreement about it being linked to some kind of measurement of performance there is little consensus about how to define or use performance measures. [1]
Also, selection of inappropriate measures is also seen as a wide-spread phenomenon.
The three major reasons that seem particularly relevant in this context are:
- The overconfidence bias
- The availability heuristic
- The status quo
To determine which statistics are useful, you must ask two basic questions
- First, what is your objective?
- Second, what factors will help you achieve that objective?
The most useful statistics are persistent (they show that the outcome of an action at one time will be similar to the outcome of the same action at another time) and predictive (they link cause and effect, predicting the outcome being measured). [2]
The great Coca-cola turnaround strategy rested on placing equal emphasis on Performance (what an enterprise does to deliver improved financial and operational results for its stakeholders) and Health (how effectively people work together to pursue a common goal),
Beyond Performance 2.0 lays down five frames of performance and health are collectively called the “5As”:
- Aspire. Where do we want to go?
- Assess. How ready are we to go there?
- Architect. What must we do to get there?
- Act. How do we manage the journey?
- Advance. How do we continue to improve?
The following figure shows the specific steps within each of the five frames of performance and health, as well as the relevant masterstrokes – important lessons about human irrationality and how to work with it constructively.[3]
From the vast variety of literature available on the subject, the foregoing two articles possibly neatly picks up the essence of what a performance analysis for the sustained success ought to be. Here are few more additional readings on the subject:
- Performance measurement system – a conceptual model – Neide Cristine Ossovski, Edson Pinheiro de Lima, Sergio E. Gouvea da Costa
- What is the measure of success?
- How to Measure the Metrics that Matter By Chris Brahm, Mark Kovac and Peter Guarraia
- DASHBOARDING AND ANALYSIS
- Business Scorecards Archives | Competitive Solutions
- Maximum vs. Sustained Performance: What’s the Difference? by Matthew Mister
The detailed note on Performance Measurement for Sustained Success can be accessed by clicking on the hyperlink.
We will now turn to our regular sections:
In the series the Organizational Culture, we have taken up Organizational Culture Transformation – The whole journey of change covers both internal and external environments and the gradual sense of identity regarding who we are. “Vibrant cultures have high levels of performance because they create internal cohesion, attract talented people, and inspire employees to go the extra mile.”[4]
We now watch ASQ TV, wherein we look at a relevant video from the archive:
- Dashboards as Management Tools – Dashboards are being used as management tools that harness data from an organization to predict trends and highlight actions that should be taken as a result.
From Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems this month we have picked up one –
- Successful Quality Professionals Go Beyond Normal – As a matter of survival, people instinctively remember painful experiences more than pleasant memories. Performing a quality function is often a dirty job, but somebody has to do it! –
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- Choose different words to describe quality information in a different light – as initiatives, opportunities, or preventive actions.
- Become bilingual to use terms with which other departments are more familiar.
- Get over the myth that the greatest economic case for quality is resolving the issues of dissatisfied customers. Instead invest in attainment of customer delight, by focusing on better understanding, and fulfilling the needs of quiet customers who are not dissatisfied but merely satisfied.
- Redefine yourself and your role as something more than an enforcer of specifications, standards, and regulations.
You might be surprised how the organization will react to the ‘new you.’ You might be amazed to discover managers approaching to ask for your input versus talking about a poor-quality issue.
I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the subjects of Basics of Quality and Organizational Culture and their role in Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.
Note: The images depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images.
[2] The True Measures of Success by Michael J. Mauboussin
[3] A better way to lead large-scale change – Excerpted from Beyond Performance 2.0
[4] Importance of a culture transformation
The world is too small? or Is it? 
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