Category: Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs

The focus of articles and blogs here would be relating to the Quality as a Profession and as Way of Life.

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – Volume XI – July 2023 Edition

Welcome to July 2023 edition of the XIth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

The theme for the XIth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is The Defining Trends of Quality Management – An Analytical Survey.

Presently, we take up the concept of Structured Innovation ….

Normally, innovation is the creative ability of the individual., hence unpredictable and perhaps unique to that individual. Even most creative individuals also follow a structured approach to continually foster their spirit of creativity. Organizations need to be even more structure to sustainably create innovation.

5 reasons for a structured innovation management approach[1]:

    1. The weakest link determines performance.
    2. Not urgent today, but important for tomorrow
    3. Inadequate incentives and rewards for success, as well as failures
    4. Need for effective and efficient improvement systems management.
    5. Want to be better than the best.

XXII ISPIM Conference paper, Collaborative Trend Management, suggests the following components of structured innovation management:

ISO has issued ISO 56002:2019 which can serve as Innovation management system to provide guidance for the establishment, implementation, maintenance, and continual improvement of an innovation management system for use in all established organizations. The systems approach to innovation management recognizes that there are several interrelated and interacting elements or factors in an organization that must be in place to ensure innovation success.

Read more about the systems approach to innovation management and how to implement an innovation management system.

Also:

Introduction to innovation management system

The systems approach to innovation management

The Structured Innovation has also been described as a tale of two cultures comprising: front end innovation and back-end exploitation.  Front end Innovation focuses on defining the innovation opportunity or the problem that hasn’t properly been solved and finding better ideas to solve the problem.  Back-end exploitation focuses on taking the strong concepts developed during front-end innovation and developing business model s and adoption strategies to take the solution to market.[2]

BMGI’s Structured Innovation and D4 methodology provides a framework that assists in identifying an opportunity for innovation right through demonstrating value of the embodied idea as a product or service.

A well-thought-out innovation structure is an essential component of the successful innovation process. However, this does not mean that a completely new structure has to be created. A new procedure or a new team composition can already be sufficient.[3]

The structured innovation has to be made a way of the life. The Sustained innovation is a high-productivity state in which an organization strives to innovate in all aspects of its business, including management, divisions, operations, customers, and suppliers. It requires a seamless, structured management approach that begins with board- and CEO-level leadership and connects all the way through technology investment and implementation. Above all, sustained innovation is a journey, not a destination.[4]

More Reading: Shaping the Future of Innovation

Business model innovation is the art of enhancing advantage and value creation by making simultaneous—and mutually supportive—changes both to an organization’s value proposition to customers and to its underlying operating model. At the value proposition level, these changes can address the choice of target segment, product or service offering, and revenue model. At the operating model level, the focus is on how to drive profitability, competitive advantage, and value creation through these decisions on how to deliver the value proposition:

    • Where to play along the value chain
    • What cost model is needed to ensure attractive returns
    • What organizational structure and capabilities are essential to success[5]

Regardless of industry, geography, or size, the organization need to keep innovating its business models[6]:

One of the reasons projects fail miserably is because, we choose to ignore warning signs in early-stage gates and keep pushing it through until it is too late and too big to handle. Therefore, Managing Risk in an Innovation Project becomes imperative. The well-defined risk management process:

    1. Identifies the makeup of a review team and lays out the decision criteria upfront,
    2. Provides a forum and timing to discuss and approve any scope changes,
    3. Clarifies and adapts the roles & responsibilities during execution,
    4. Facilitates informed decision making for the continuation of the project based on the availability of resources, business case, and risk analysis, and
    5. Identifies intellectual property and other business protection needs.[7]

More reading: Top 7 Reasons Why Innovation Fails in Organizations?

Some More Reading:

Innovative Organizations: Structure, Learning and Adaptation – Alice Lam

The Credera Brief series – to distil the trends and ideas to meet the toughest business challenges and to share different insights and perspectives across the spectrum,

HBR report: “Business Transformation and the Role of the CIO.”

HBR articles @ Competitive Strategy

Innovation Management website

Innovating India – In pursuit of Global Leadership by IBM Institute for Business Value

We will now turn to our regular section -.

We now watch ASQ TV episode on –

    • 2023 Standards Update – an update on what’s happening—and what COULD happen—this year in so far as some important ISO standards are concerned.

Finally, we take up the article ‘From the Editor’ (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand:

    • Maps Have Been Helping Us for a Thousand Years – The concept of the map has not been limited to just physical locations. Just think about any activity that would or should be repeated by others. As the old adage has said, what if no one had followed Columbus’ journey to the New World? As frustrating as it may sometimes seem, what if no one had provided any instructions for putting together that end table or bookcase? What if no one had documented that manufacturing process to help ensure the creation of a high-quality product? What if no one laid out “a road map to achieve organizational excellence and build a culture around it?”

Thanks to the concept of maps, we do not need to ponder these questions, particularly the last one. According to authors Hung Le, Ph.D., and Grace L. Duffy, “Building and improving a culture of organizational excellence requires a systematic approach. A robust model is required to achieve and sustain its performance goals. Organizations must assess the maturity of their processes and organizational readiness to implement such a methodology before embarking on the journey.”

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of The Defining Trends of Quality Management – An Analytical Survey.

Note: The images or video clips depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images /videos.

[1] 5 Reasons why innovation needs structure

[2] Structured approach to innovation pays off big time – Dimitri Markolides, SCP and Structured Innovation Leader, BMGI

[3] How a structured innovation process creates creative ideas – Brian Fried

[4] How Successful Companies Sustain Innovation – By Faisal Hoque

[5] Business Model Innovation – Boston Consulting Group

[6] Four Steps to Sustainable Business Model Innovation – By David Young and Marine Gerard

[7] Managing Risk in an Innovation Project – Part 2

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – Volume XI – June 2023 Edition

Welcome to June 2023 edition of the XIth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

The theme for the XIth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is The Defining Trends of Quality Management – An Analytical Survey.

Presently, we take up the concept of Full Innovation Lifecycle ….

The Innovation Life Cycle outlines the typical stages an innovation goes through – from the initial idea generation to development, implementation, evaluation, and adoption.[1]

The typical Innovation Lifecycle is succinctly captured herein as:

However, more frequently the bell-curve usually ends up in a S-curve:[2]

In his book Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey Moore proposes a variation of the original lifecycle. He suggests that for discontinuous innovations, which may result in a Foster disruption based on an s-curve, there is a gap or chasm between the first two adopter groups (innovators/early adopters), and the vertical markets.[3]

The following is a typical example of how typewriting has moved in these S-lifecycles:

The theory of disruptive innovation has proved to be a powerful way of thinking about innovation-driven growth. “Disruption” describes a process whereby a smaller company with fewer resources can successfully challenge established incumbent businesses.[4]

Created by McKinsey & Company, the Three horizons of growth is quite a popular model for helping organizations structure their initiatives and find an appropriate balance between short-term and long-term projects in their portfolio.[5]

On a similar thinking process, the then Google CEO Eric Schmidt, was first to introduce the 70-20-10 rule is a simple rule for allocating resources between “the core”, “the adjacent” and “the innovative stuff”, often referred to as “the transformational”.[6]

How large companies can stay innovative and entrepreneurial has been the Holy Grail for authors of business books, business schools, consulting firms, etc.  There’s some great work from lots of authors in this area.

Harvard Business Review Articles:

– Meeting the Challenge of Disruptive Change, Clayton Christensen/Michael Overdorf: March/April 2000
– The Quest for Resilience, Gary Hamel/Liisa Valikangas: Sept 2003
– The Ambidextrous Organization, Charles O’Reilly/Michael Tushman: April 2004
– Darwin and the Demon: Innovating Within Established Enterprises, Geoffrey Moore: July/August 2004
– Meeting the Challenge of Corporate Entrepreneurship, David Garvin/Lynne Levesque: Oct 2006

     – The Innovators DNA, Jeffrey Dyer, Hal Gregersen, Clayton Christensen: Dec 2009

And of course,

However, a note of caution towards all the good that innovation can bring would be in order.

Innovations too fail. Here are five typical reasons:[7]

1 Misaligned incentive – Too heady success of an innovative strategy can lead the organization not to remember that all other rules that make a business a success are still very much applicable.

2 Lack of Preparation – Creating a culture of innovation is essential if you want to really change your business and maintain momentum in creative product development. And it’s not something you can do overnight.

3 Misunderstanding Your Market – Riding on the wave of a brilliant innovative idea can lead to go astray on simple assumptions. One such failure is to read the market correctly for the product. A right product in wrong market is sure formula for failure. And a failure can sometimes be too costly, in terms of efforts and time lost.

4 Prioritizing Technology over Solutions – Technology has come to play so big role in the way business is run that it can be taken as end rather than a means, even if a very vital one.

5 Bureaucracy –  In large organization the bureaucracy can turn out a be silent killer of many innovative ideas in their cradle stage only.

The Bottom Line

Successful innovation isn’t a strategic business decision — it’s an ongoing state of mind that the leadership and stakeholder teams must have if the organization wants to build a culture of innovation and succeed in the short as well long term.

We plan to take up a detailed look at the Structured Innovation Approach in our next episode.

We will now turn to our regular section -.

We now watch ASQ TV episode on –

    • Developing Idea Generation Skills: TRIZ – Sunil Kumar V. Kaushik, Business Program Manager at Microsoft, discusses TRIZ[8], and how this theory of inventive problem solving can be used to innovate, think creatively, and solve issues quickly and effectively.
Cartoon by Clive Goddard on Oxford Creativity Cartoons Gallery

Next, we take up the article, Building Blocks to Improve Organizational Culture– Lay out a road map to achieve organizational excellence and build a culture around it. by Hung Le Ph.D., Grace L Duffy MBA, LSSMBB. When processes and people are not aligned with the strategic direction of the organization, a culture of excellence cannot be sustained. Without a strong foundation of alignment to long-term goals, people soon revert to how they did things in the past. Alignment goes hand in hand with having the right people on the team. As discussed in Jim Collins’s book “From Good to Great,” it is essential to have disciplined people with disciplined thoughts who can carry out disciplined actions. The Building Blocks of Organizational Culture are a combination of process and people.

The Building Blocks of an Organizational Culture of Excellence5 | Source: Grace L. Duffy

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of The Defining Trends of Quality Management – An Analytical Survey.

Note: The images or video clips depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images /videos.

[1] Innovation Life Cycle

[2] Innovation Lifecycles -Soren Kaplan

[3] Technology adoption life cycle

[4] What Is Disruptive Innovation? – Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor, and  Rory McDonald

[5] Enduring Ideas: The three horizons of growth

[6] Innovation Management – The Ultimate Guide – Jesse Nieminen

[7] Five Reasons Why Innovation Fails – Scott Arpajian

[8] What is TRIZ?

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – Volume XI – May 2023 Edition

Welcome to May 2023 edition of the XIth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

The theme for the XIth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is The Defining Trends of Quality Management – An Analytical Survey.

Presently, we take up the concept of Moving From Continual Improvement to Continuous innovation …..

A textbook definition of Innovation is the successful conversion of new concepts and knowledge into new products, services, or processes that deliver new customer value. For instance, all the time and effort invested in trying to make a candle that burns the brightest would still yield a candle only. Innovation will convert the concept of using electricity to a create a bulb.

Continuous Improvement (CI) is a method to identify opportunities for streamlining work and reducing waste in operational processes.

While Innovation is about creating new value by materializing on effective ideas, Continuous Improvement strives to strengthen an existing value proposition to make processes efficient. Innovation effectively improves the outcomes and Improvements yield efficient processes. The mental model in improvement focuses on optimizing existing systems and eliminating defects. Innovation requires a different mental model — creation of something fundamentally new and different from what we’ve experienced before. A different process or end-result that can then be further optimized using improvement.

Presented here above is a set of eight essential attributes that are present, either in part or in full, at every big company that’s a high performer in product, process, or business-model innovation.[1]

The key to being a good innovator is being observant. Look for those things that are positive or negative deviants. Find the outliers that are remarkable or give you some insight into a system. Identify a process that will allow you to make a system better.

In the daily life, when you go to a restaurant or queue up in the line at the airport, notice the things that you think are being done extremely well or, conversely, extremely poorly. Those examples may hold the lessons to help you solve the problems you’re facing right now. If we pause to be observant and then reflect on those observations — in our daily operational practice or in our lives outside the workplace — we can make meaningful, important improvements or innovations to our existing practice. Innovative thinking can go beyond those simple yet revealing observations and become a new mindset and even an organizational function ― a pivot that leads to progress.

A typical structured innovation approach generally rests on these four themes:[2]

      • Resource and Knowledge Repurposing
      • Embracing Full Innovation Lifecycle
      • Data-Driven Approach to Decision-Making
      • Customer Centricity

We plan to take up a detailed look at the Full Innovation Lifecycle and the Structured Innovation Approach in our next episodes.

We will now turn to our regular section -.

We now watch ASQ TV episode on –

      • Innovation and Process Approach – Jack” West – a long-time member of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group to ISO Technical committee 176 (TAG 176) and a former TAG 176 chair – discusses innovation and the process approach as they relate to ISO 9001:2015.

Next, we take up the article, From Vision to Reality: How to Implement a Continuous Improvement Program (Next Gen Quality Analytics section of Quality Magazine) – Implementing CI programs requires more than just tools and technology. It necessitates a cultural shift that involves training and educating stakeholders to be a part of the operation and monitoring process.

When starting from scratch must first establish a clear vision and set of goals. This involves identifying areas for improvement and setting specific, measurable goals that align with their high-level goals.

Next, they should involve all the relevant staff, from across the organization.

Identify the sources of accurate and reliable data that needs to tracked and analysed w. r. t. the area(s) of improvement.

Finally, it’s crucial to ensure that the continuous improvement program is sustainable over the long term. This involves creating a culture of continuous improvement, where ongoing improvement efforts are part of the fabric of the organization.

Clear objectives, a strategic approach to getting team buy-in, a mindful approach to data —and a sustainable approach — can help manufacturers accomplish substantial improvements in efficiency and profitability.

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of The Defining Trends of Quality Management – An Analytical Survey.

Note: The images or video clips depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images /videos.

[1] Innovation and creativity, wherein McKinsey principal Nathan Marston explains why innovation is increasingly important to driving corporate growth and brings to life the eight essentials of innovation performance.

[2] Structured Innovation 2.0: Four Themes Driving Innovation Success During the Pandemic – JoLynn Smith

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – Volume XI – April 2023 Edition

Welcome to April 2023 edition of the XIth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

The theme for the XIth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is The Defining Trends of Quality Management – An Analytical Survey.

To delve a little deeper into the subject of Future Competitiveness we take up Sustaining Long Term Competitive Advantage.

Sustainable advantages fall into three categories: size in the targeted market, superior access to resources or customers, and restrictions on competitors’ options.[1]

The dissipation of long term competitive advantage can be readily explained by Porter’s Five Forces Model.

The study of available literature on how to build sustainable advantage ultimately seems to boil down to just one area – Continuous innovation needs to be a core capability of the entire organization.

We will take up this aspect of continuous innovation in the next episode…..

Further study resources @ History’s Greatest Strategists.

We will now turn to our regular section -.

We now watch ASQ TV episode on –

Till writing of the present episode, new additions to Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems.

So, we take up the article ‘From the Editor’ (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand:

    • Iterations: From manufacturing to personal growth. – 2.0 signals a new and improved version of the last. Industry has grown from Industry 1.0 to Industry 4.0 with its subsets Quality 4.0 and so on. Do we live still live in our 1.0 or have moved to 1.01 and so one, or 2.0?

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of The Defining Trends of Quality Management – An Analytical Survey.

Note: The images or video clips depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images /videos.

[1] Sustainable Advantage – Pankaj Ghemawat

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – Volume XI – March 2023 Edition

Welcome to March 2023 edition of the XIth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

The theme for the XIth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is The Defining Trends of Quality Management – An Analytical Survey.

Our first topic for a detailed look at the theme is Short Term Competitive Advantage.

There are two basic types of competitive advantages: cost leadership and differentiation. When combined with the scope of a firm’s activities, they give rise to three generic business strategies:

    • cost leadership – where the firm seeks to become the low-cost producer in an industry.
    • differentiation – where the firm seeks to position itself uniquely along one or two dimensions that the customer values; and
    • focus – where a firm tries to optimize its strategy by selecting a segment or a group of segments in the industry, and seeks to achieve competitive advantage in the target segment(s).

The VRIO framework[1] is a tool for identifying the competitive advantages of an organization (if they have any). The VRIO (Value, Rarity, Imitability, Organization) is the four-question framework used to evaluate the resources and capabilities of an organization. The VRIO framework categorizes the organization’s tangible as well as intangible resources into one of the following groups: competitive parity, temporary competitive advantage, unused competitive advantage, or long-term competitive advantage.

The process of analysing organization’s  internal environment (internal analysis tools)[2] as well as the external environment (external analysis) is extremely important in the strategic planning process. Typically, the category that usually poses the biggest potential for improvement is the Unused Competitive Advantage Category.

The resources in the Unused Competitive Advantage category don’t have the support, processes, and culture in place to completely utilize their value. The next step is to develop a strategic plan that takes these unused competitive advantages into account and works to support these resources through strategic management will allow companies to transform their resources into sustained competitive advantages. A well thought-out and crafted strategic plan[3] will align the processes, people, and structure needed to support these resources and turn them into sustainable competitive advantages.

In a world where a competitive advantage often evaporates in less than a year,[4] strategy is still useful but not by sticking to the same old playbook. In order to seize the transient advantage, the organization needs a new playbook which positions the organization’s current working between two statements of assessment – Focused on extending existing advantages vs. Capable of coping with transient advantage.

Defining where you want to compete, how you intend to win, and how you are going to move from advantage to advantage is more critical than ever in the critical in the times of the digital revolution, a “flat” world, fewer barriers to entry, globalization, when the competitors and customers have become too unpredictable, and industries too amorphous.

That should keep organization always thinking about is it possible to restore a balance between durability and variability of the organization in terms of strategy?

We will take up the possible answers in our next episode. Till then, download a free guide and canvas to identify organization’s sustainable competitive advantage(es).[5]

We will now turn to our regular section -.

We now watch ASQ TV episode on –

Till writing of the present episode, new additions to Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems.

So we take up the article ‘From the Editor’ (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand:

      • Riddle Me This – A man is walking down the middle of the street dressed in all black. There are no streetlights. No moon. At the same time, a car is driving down the same road with no headlights. At the last second, the car swerves to avoid hitting the man. How can this happen?

(Alert: Please do not read further till you have figured out the answer.)

The tactic deployed in riddle like this is called extraneous detail. The story overloads the reader with imagery of darkness and descriptions of things associated with night—streetlights, headlights, the moon—to distract the reader from what is not being said.

Most of the times, our knowledge and experience can potentially lead us to poor assumptions, and hence poorer outcomes. Poor assumptions are part of what is called a syllogistic fallacy.

Don’t feel bad if you have ever participated in a syllogistic fallacy, as the greats like Shakespeare have been called out for a syllogism that falls apart in the end. And don’t feel bad if you didn’t figure out the riddle. With millions of points of data, we can be overwhelmed by what is important and what is not.

By the way, answer to the riddle was: It is daytime.

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of The Defining Trends of Quality Management – An Analytical Survey.

Note: The images or video clips depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images /videos.

[1] What is the VRIO framework?

[2] Internal firm analysis: Understanding a firm’s resources and capabilities

[3] How to Write a Strategic Plan: The Cascade Model.

[4] Transient Advantage – Rita McGrath

[5] https://onstrategyhq.com/competitive-advantages-guide-download/

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – Volume XI – February 2023 Edition

Welcome to February 2023 edition of the XIth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

The theme for the XIth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is The Defining Trends of Quality Management – An Analytical Survey.

Our first topic for a detailed look at the theme is Future Competitiveness.

Competitive advantage is the favourable position an organization seeks in order to be more profitable than its rivals, in the short as well as long run. To gain and maintain a competitive advantage, an organization must be able to demonstrate a greater comparative or differential value than its competitors and convey that information to its desired target market.[1]

“If a man…make a better mousetrap than his neighbour, tho’ he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.” Attributed to one of Emerson’s lectures in the nineteenth century, these words seem to have anticipated the exhortations of the twentieth: manage for uniqueness, develop a distinctive competence, create competitive advantage.[2]

Tweaking a management system based on old rules will no longer be effective. It is time to act now to start building an organization in accordance with the new principles.[3]

The three main types of competitive advantages are differentiation, cost advantages, and focus advantages.[4]

McKinsey outlines how companies can reimagine themselves for the future by asking: Who we are? How do we operate? How do we grow?[5]

Further reading: Future of work

We will continue in our next episodes with more detailed insight into the subject of competitive advantage.

We will now turn to our regular section -.

We now watch ASQ TV episode on –

    • Effective 21st Century Quality Leadership – Mike Turner, Managing Partner, Oakland Consulting, discusses the business challenges of the 21st century, and how quality professionals should respond in order to meet them.

Till writing of the present episode, new additions to Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems and From the Editor’ (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand have yet to come up. So, we take up

    • The Multi-dimensionality of Quality – Speaking of Quality | Duke Okes – People outside the qualify profession see it as a potentially negative, narrow focus on just trying to find things wrong. Meanwhile, those who have made it a profession are more likely to see it as one with endless opportunities to learn and contribute to the success of the organization and its employees, customers and suppliers. … Quality is not a single field, but in fact the integration of knowledge from many fields of science, technology and management. … At its foundation, quality is about managing organizational processes that will meet stakeholder needs and expectations. … This is complicated by the fact that each customer or player who encounters the product during its life cycle may have different definitions of quality.  .. This multi-dimensionality then allows each quality professional to find a niche that suits their level of interest in technology and/or management roles, enabling them to have satisfying work that will yield a more productive environment. …Evolution of industry will require adaptation of known quality principles and technologies to new products …Technology will help improve many aspects of quality management. …Like many other support functions, quality personnel not only manage several critical processes such as calibration and corrective action, but they play a technology transfer role that embeds quality philosophies and methods into core functions. …Whether one wants to be a technologist, facilitator or leader, the opportunities for contribution and growth are immense.

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of The Defining Trends of Quality Management – An Analytical Survey.

Note: The images or video clips depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images /videos.

[1] competitive advantage – Nicole Laskowski, Rachel Lebeaux

[2] Sustainable Advantage – Pankaj Ghemawat

[3] Organizing for the Future: Why now? – Elizabeth Mygatt, Richard Steele, Mitya Voloshchuk

[4] 3 Main Types of Sustainable Competitive Advantages

[5] Organizing for the future: Nine keys to becoming a future-ready company

 

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – Volume XI – January 2023 Edition

Welcome to January 2023 edition of the XIth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

The theme for the XIth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is The Defining Trends of Quality Management – An Analytical Survey.

The aim for the present episode to overview the major trends already identified in the first two years of the present decade that are expected to shape the working philosophy for the quality management professionals. We shall look at some of the critical trends in a little more details in the subsequent months.

In order to identify the first step is carry out the trend analysis.

The trend analysis can be carried out from either the perspective of past data or from the potential changes that can take place in the future.

The real, lasting, and positive change to happen from implementation of CAPA[1] (from the past trends) or from the actions emending out of strategic planning – based on appropriate risj management approach -may require rethinking on the organization’s approach to trend analysis w. r. t. the quality management philosophy. These three questions provide a good beginning before taking up new trend analysis areas or tools/ modifying the existing ones.

  • What is the primary objective of the trend analysis? – One fundamental guiding principle is that a meaningful trend analysis should identify, evaluate and eliminate or prevent the issue that is having negative effect on product quality or customer expectations or to enable the organization to maintain / improve / sustain its competitive edge in the future.
  • What method to choose? – Primarily this driven by the basic purpose of the trend analysis exercise.
  • Is the data being analysed timely and adequate? – The timeliness of the data would mean that data neither should be outdated or should be irrelevant for the purpose and period of the trend analysis.

We now try to enlist major trends as identified in the presently documented literature:

    1. Changes in quality perceptions and approaches in terms of product and system quality as well as customer expectations.
    2. Evolving of management of risks under constantly changing business practices
    3. Knowledge sharing within and across the departments as well with outside stakeholders.
    4. Increasing significance of decision intelligence
    5. Improving the quality and reliability of the supply chain.
    6. Defining quality standards and related job roles in view of increasing need for seamless blending of technical and cross-functional skills.
    7. Increasing significance of integration of QEHS
    8. Increased importance of quality management approach with enterprise-level strategic planning

Apart from these generic issues, there are industry-sector specific trends analyses that can also help bring more generic issues under the radar.

The subject of trends analyses for very specific areas like  quality /environment /occupational and health and safety standards, geo-political-economical-social micro level and macro-level realignments, business performance measurement practices, micro- and macro-level racial and cultural changes etc.

There would be more trends identified in areas of Sustainability, Social relevance and Business continuity or Use of Quality 4.0 technology vis-à-vis Industry 4.0 technologies and IT technologies and the like.

Some of the Sources used as references:

We will now turn to our regular section -.

We now watch ASQ TV episode on –

We have taken up one article from Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems:

  • Motives Are Important in Everything We Do – The success of our endeavors depends not so much on the endeavors themselves but, rather, on our motive for doing them. …. The key to success of The greatest writers, the greatest quality professionals, the greatest companies – the greatest men and women in all walks of life –is to be found in the fact they were motivated more, at least in the beginning, by what was important to them, what society needed, or by what they felt they had to do, rather than the thought of profit. This is the actual secret – the key to success… True success comes from working on things we really care about.

From the Editor’ (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand, we have –

  • Knowledge is Power – From Sun Tzu to Chuck McGill – Why do we remember the past, and not the future? It is a perplexing question with no tangible, concrete answer. The question stems from, or at least often follows, Albert Einstein’s famous utterance, “Time is an illusion, although a stubbornly persistent one.”  …. We can even go as far as to replace the notion of memory with that of knowledge. Knowledge, after all, is facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education, i.e. the memories of that experience and education. So now the question becomes, “What if we had knowledge of the future?” … No matter your answer, the question points to the accuracy of an old, but particularly apt adage—Knowledge is power! ….As Sun Tzu states in the Art of War: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” … In the real world and on the “battlefields” of good business, particularly regarding the field of quality, knowledge lies in training. As contributing editor Genevieve Diesing writes, “As the pandemic and advances in technology impact the field, education and training remain paramount — especially for newcomers.”

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of The Defining Trends of Quality Management – An Analytical Survey.

Note: The images or video clips depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images /videos.

[1] Management of an Effective CAPA

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – Xth Volume – December 2022 Edition

Welcome to December 2022 edition of the Xth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

The theme for the Xth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is inspired from the editorial of the January 2022 special Issue of Prabuddha Bharata (The Awakened India) – Living a Meaningful Life in a Digital World.

For our present episode, we take up the article, What Remains by Srinivasan Raghuraman.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

The bottom line is that we have not been able to meet in person, talk in person, watch movies, go for fun trips, and the like. All these limitations have been imposed upon us by this, so-called, digital world.

So what remains in this new world? What are those things that we can still do?

The first and foremost, and probably the most important, thing that remains is our ability to help each other and ourselves. Not that people do not do this.

However, focus of many remains on limiting the changes that the digital world has bestowed on us.  In general, we focus not on what isn’t but what is. Not on what was not but what was.

Some more readings:

Don’t Focus on What You’re Not. Focus on What You Are. | Judy John

Stop Chasing Purpose and Focus on Wellness | Chloe Hakim-Moore

Such a predisposition may not be entirely our doing. But, nonetheless, it is our duty to correct this predisposition of ours. Focus not on what isn’t but what is. Not on what was not, but what was. Not on what won’t be but what will be. Not on what one cannot, but on what one can. Not on one’s limitations, but on one’s strengths. Not on life’s sorrows but on life’s joys. Not on what has gone but on what remains.

This, indeed, is not to paint the picture of the ideal callous individual who cares not for any faults and simply revels in the simple pleasures. What is implied is that rather than brooding over the negatives may not be a good, and sufficient or necessary, way for o[possible motivation to turn them into positives. Love for something for what is, what it was and what it can be, what remains?

Some more readings:

Focus on what remains, not what we’ve lost – Samantha Dosso

At varying stages in one’s life, many ponder the purpose of their existence, of their role in this macrocosm, on what will outlast over one’s mortal being. Memories fade, wealth diminishes, fame is fickle. what is that really remains? Would it not be more purposeful to lead as more meaning life, now, in the present.

Such a thought has buried inside the potential for leading, not just a more practically joyful life, but s much deeper, spiritually stronger and meaningful life. That, in turn, would draw our attention to a little close to the word ‘remain’ This tiny two-syllable packs within itself a host of implications, the most notable among those being that of TIME.

Indeed, for something to remain, firstly there must have been something that did not really remain. For that something else not to remain, there must have been else must have been in the state of being for some amount of time, and then, at some other point of time, transitioned into a state of non-being.

So, let our search for what remains, let us strive to live a meaningful life as we work towards our goals and aspirations in the new normal, just as we did, just as we have always done and will always do, independent of the TIME.

We will now turn to our regular section -.

We now watch ASQ TV episode on –

We have taken up one article from Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems:

  • Megafamous – The problems with being superfamous or megafamous are varied and persistent:

First, it can corrupt the work. By ignoring the smallest viable audience and focusing on the masses, the creator gives up the focus that can create important work.

Second, the infinity of more can become a gaping hole. Instead of finding solace and a foundation for better work, the bottomless pit of just a little more quickly ceases to be a stimulus and becomes a burden instead.

Trust is worth more than attention, and the purpose of the work is to create meaningful change, not to be on a list.

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of Living a Meaningful Life in a Digital World.

Note: The images or video clips depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images /videos.

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs wishes everyone the year 2023 to provide the Meaningful Life in the new normal of Digital World.

 

Please click the hyper link to read /download January 2022 to December 2022 articles on the core subject of Living a Meaningful Life in a Digital World @ Xth Volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – Xth Volume – November 2022 Edition

Welcome to November 2022 edition of the Xth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

The theme for the Xth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is inspired from the editorial of the January 2022 special Issue of Prabuddha Bharata (The Awakened India) – Living a Meaningful Life in a Digital World.

For our present episode, we take up the article, Sailing Unprepared in to a Storm Called the ‘Digital Age’ by Anikethan Ramakrishna V.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

Over the time the transitions that human civilization has undergone have been with increase pace of change. But drastic changes were ‘mostly once a generation’. That gave the people necessary time to eventually reorient themselves with the change.

The digital age has been a revolution like no other in human history. Every dimension of the human society is now in constant state of rapid churn.

Our ability to find meaning in life greatly depends on the reasonable stable set of principles and ideas with which we can work towards and an identity with we can relate to. However, abundance of mostly unreliable and irrelevant information is a challenge to us in our quest for an identity and meaning. And hence the challenges in integrating the right amount of digital presence and information.

  • The ‘societal’ and ‘individual perspective – Every significant change in the society has impacts at overall societal level and other at the individual level. The human tendency has always been to go with group, despite having possibly having and exact opposite point of view, at least to begin with. In the process, we tend to forget the freedom of choice that an individual has. This freedom of choice and our ability to exercise it, in many a case, is the difference between a meaningful life and one that is otherwise. Thus, the first step towards ensuring meaningful life in this digital age is through exercising the choice to participate in the digital world to the extent that is necessary and optimal for an individual.

Further readings:

Growing up in a digital world: benefits and risks

Leading concerns about the future of digital life – Kathleen Stansberry, Janna Anderson and Lee Rainie

  • The challenge of ‘How much to’ and ‘How to’ communicate and participate – Historically, owing to geographical and technical constraints, a person’s interactions on a regular basis were mostly limited to the people one would meet in person or could communicate via traditional mail or telephone services. More the level of interaction, stronger was the overall sense of community. However, the seamless communications that the digital world have rapidly ushered in has trivialised the inter-personal communication.

Further readings:

How to overcome 14 common communication challenges in the workplace – Aleksandar Olic

  • The challenge of ‘What to’ and ‘What not to’ be influenced by – A unhealthier aspect of information overload is to influence our ideas and actions, generally without much contemplation. Consequently, the ability to critically dwell on the idea, internalize it if relevant and then if necessary to act on it gets lost. As result, Attention Deficit and Satisfaction Deficit have gained prominence now.

Further readings:

The Challenges of Countering Influence Operations – Elise Thomas,  Natalie Thompson,  Alicia Wanless

How to Increase Your Influence at Work – Rebecca Knight

ADHD:  Symptoms, Causes and Natural Support Strategies – Dr. Jockers

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – Saul McLeod, PhD

In the end, one must remember that society and individuals will have to live with the on the unending exposure to the information in the digital era. It is for the individual to exercise the choice of the extent and type of information that he would like to be exposed to and how he wants to act on it.  Leveraging this choice is the only means to ensure that we make life meaningful, on the daily basis as well as overall.

We will now turn to our regular section -.

We now watch ASQ TV episode on –

New Job Opportunities for Quality Professionals in Cloud Management – Alka Jarvis is the co-author of Successful Management of Cloud Computing and DevOps (ASQ Quality Press) with Prakash Anand and Johnson Jose. Along with discussing the benefits of cloud storage and how to align your cloud computing strategies with the business objectives, Alka discussed important skills quality professionals already have for getting into this new field.

We have taken up one article from Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems:

  • The Real Value is in the Effort: The effort that we expend to reach a goal or a target is critical to our growth, both professionally and personally. Whether we accomplish the goal or target, perhaps is not the point-it is the learning, strength, confidence and fulfilment that is gained on our journey that is the real value to us and to those who surround us.
    • Anything worth accomplishing usually takes long, difficult and sustained effort to accomplish
    • The real value of accomplishment is in the journey toward reaching our goal.
    • No matter how difficult the journey may be, it makes all the difference in the world when that journey is leading to a destination we have chosen.
    • The commitment, discipline, focus and effort are indeed their own rewards.
    • It is precisely the effort and the value we put into the accomplishment that gives it value to us.
    • We need to commit to make the most of every opportunity and to give our best effort, and we’ll find ourselves surrounded by real, lasting value.

From the Editor’ (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand, we have –

  • Roko’s Basilisk: The Scariest Thought Experiment Ever – This thought experiment[1] posits that the creation of an artificial intelligence will lead to an all-powerful, future artificial intelligence that will retroactively punish anyone who did not help bring it into existence. It’s been described by many as the scariest thought experiment ever. The really scary part is that it is grounded in actual rational thought and game theory. … It has been associated with Blaise Pascal’s argument that one should believe in God, even if God’s existence cannot be proved or disproved through reason. Taken to what some would agree is a satirical extreme, it has also been referred to as “Believing in and searching for kryptonite on the off chance that Superman exists and wants to kill you.” ….. Whether bolstered by a legacy of fantastic stories or not, because of the progress of the technology, these kinds of arguments have thrust themselves into real-world discussions of late…. For quite some time in manufacturing, the question was, “Are robots coming to take our jobs?” The answer, then and now, is that robots and AI stand ready to do the job side-by-side with humans, who can relinquish the mundane and repetitive jobs to concentrate on the aspects of the job machines just cannot do. Which means that addressing the skills gap is just as important as it has ever been for manufacturers.

Further readings:

How to Defeat Roko’s Basilisk – Kyle Hill

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of Living a Meaningful Life in a Digital World.

Note: The images or video clips depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images /videos.

[1]

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – Volume X – October 2022 edition

Welcome to October 2022 edition of the Xth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

The theme for the Xth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is inspired from the editorial of the January 2022 special Issue of Prabuddha Bharata (The Awakened India) – Living a Meaningful Life in a Digital World.

For our present episode, we take up the article, Collapsing Separateness by Gitanjali Murari.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

The development of science over last couple of centuries have dramatically broadened the playfield of the human being, serving to emphasize the universality of human life experience in every region of the earth.

Swami Vivekanand explains the miracle of scientific innovation in this illuminative statement: ‘The greatest force is derived from the power of thought. The finer the element, the more powerful it is. The silent power of thought influences people even at distance because the mind is one as well as many. The universe is a cobweb; minds are spiders.’ This has become the reality in the digital age, in the form Internet. People from all parts of the world meet virtually in a matter of seconds in a way that all barriers to knowledge have collapsed.

According to theory of butterfly effect[1], the flap of butterfly’s wings can create a hurricane halfway across the world. The modern internet travels much faster than that, not just over the physical distance, but over the mental distance too. As a result, the distance between minds have collapsed. More than a hundred years ago, in his lecture on ‘Vedanta and Its Application to Indian Life’, Swami Vivekanand had prophesied: ‘Even in politics and sociology, problems that were only national twenty years ago can no more be solved on national grounds only. They are assuming huge proportions, gigantic shapes. They can only be solved at the broader light of international grounds.’  How true this holds even today!

The Internet is continually expanding to accommodate variety. It seems to mimic nature which celebrates variety. This principle applies to humans as well. Not only we look different, but each has unique fingerprints, unique personalities, likes and dislikes, behaviour pattern, our own Gods. In his letter to Justice Subramanya Iyer, dated 3 January, 1895, Swami Vivekanand writes, ‘Jati means creation. I am one, I become many. Unity is before creation, diversity is creation. Now if this diversity is stops, creation is destroyed. So long as species is vigorous and active, it must throw out verities. When it ceases or is stopped from breeding varieties, it dies.’

In the pre-digital era, while the man was thrilled to discover cultures beyond his ken, he also used his power to subjugate indigenous tribes., he either excised or ‘civilized’ them for the sake of maintaining the social status quo. The degree of separation experienced by different societies then, literally and figuratively, spanned oceans. In the same letter to Justice Iyer, referred to earlier, Swami Vivekanand goes on to add, ‘The present caste system is not the real Jati, but a hindrance to its progress. It really has prevented free action of Jati, i.e., caste or variation.’

In the digital age, our interconnectedness – constant sharing of thoughts and ideas – is helping many to find their voice. What was tolerable or acceptable a decade ago is now under minute scrutiny.

The ever-changing nature of human values is reflected in scientific developments. As our need for greater satisfaction evolves, so does technology. Like Maslow, whose hierarchy of needs leads to self-actualization at the very top of the pyramid, Julian Huxley, a biologist and philosopher, believed that man journeys through levels of temporary satisfaction, transcending them one by one to ultimately reach a state of complete and eternal fulfilment. Swami Ranganathananda described this journey as adventure with many heights to conquer’, calling all the people ‘a great line of pilgrims. …. You give up something because you have got something better, something higher, something more valuable. And the highest value is spiritual realization.’.

As humanity continues to chase fulfilment, technologies of future will even be more sophisticated. The gap between inequalities may diminish, but new forms of injustices may also arise. Since we will be more intricately meshed together, the repercussions of these injustices will be swifter and harsher.

To attain equality and freedom, i.e., absolute well-being, is our birth right. Swami Vivekanand emphatically states that this can be acquired only through the knowledge of the Self. All other attempts to achieve absolute welfare, though well intentioned, will be short-lived.

Our struggles for a life full of purpose and consequent everlasting happiness hinges on refining our experiences by sacrificing sole self-interest and moving closer to the source of our absolute well-being.

If there is at all a possibility of a permanent end to our problems, then it lies in being as expansive and as inclusive as the Internet that we have created in being curious about our internal nature and understanding our external nature and allowing the ‘splendour’ within to collapse separateness forever.

More reading:

Man’s Search of Meaning[2] – Victor E. Frankl – While Freud speaks of a “will to pleasure” and Adler speaks of a “will to power,” Frankl focuses on a “will to meaning”, as the primary motivational force in man.

4 Keys to your life’s meaning – Dr. Viktor Frankl

We will now turn to our regular section -.

We now watch ASQ TV episode on –

  • Data Storage And Analysis – With big data comes great responsibility. Quality professionals have the knowledge and the and skills to help manage the challenges.

We have taken up one article from Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems:

  • Organizations Need Committed People to Succeed – To be blunt, if anyone finds they cannot recommit rapidly when the organization must make changes, they should probably go somewhere else where the culture fits their approach. … This is not the same as asking that you be blindly loyal to the organization. That would likely strike you as rather hypocritical anyhow. Some leaders, however, seem to recognize the importance of two-way loyalty. … It is not surprising that employees who trust and respect the organizational leadership often feel more empowered and motivated to do their best – they become a highly committed workforce…. Organizations with a highly committed workforce generally outperform their competitors. However, the worker must get something in return, with both tangible and intangible benefits.  … Commitment is a gift you should give yourself, your family, your friends, and your organization. It can become contagious! Being committed will make your life, and those who surround your life, much more rewarding.

‘From the Editor’ (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand, we have –

  • Prepare for the Worst, Hope for the Best – a mantra, made popular by poet and activist Maya Angelou and sales wizard and speaker Zig Ziglar – In its most elaborate form, it is part of exposure therapy, a cognitive behavior therapy.  … In essence saying, even if the worst happens, we will know how to deal with it. … Exposure therapy takes it a step further and, in a very controlled way, turns the activity which one fears doing of into a reality. As we experience doing that over and over again and realizing it does not result in our death, our discomfort with that activity begins to subside. …Individuals, businesses, and governments do roughly the same thing. Have you ever tested an unfamiliar chair by pressing on it to get a sense if it can hold your weight or pulled on a door after you’ve locked it to make sure it is secure? … Possibly nowhere else is this preparedness more evident than in manufacturing, particularly in quality… …. Quality processes not only increase our confidence in the products produced, but also in the health of the organization producing them.  .. One of the processes helping us tackle these risks is Lean manufacturing.  … So, check out Genevieve Diesing’s article, “Why Lean Principles Stand the Test of Time”  …….

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of Living a Meaningful Life in a Digital World.

Note: The images or video clips depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images /videos.

[1] Chaos: The science of butterfly effect

[2]