🚀 go-pugleaf

"P. Malinee" wrote:

> Quality is here to stay.  Customers have come to
> expect quality.  Perhaps people don't talk about
> quality or apply for awards related to quality because
> they are WAY TOOOO BUSY trying to DO QUALITY.

> Saying quality is dead is very sexy. Unfortunately,
> based on the amount of activity out there and the
> rising demand for quality professions, the saying is
> not a true one.


Patricia, I have to wonder!  Recent media reports
that customer service/satisfaction is at it's lowest
in decades certainly begs to differ with our perceptions.
I think that as in so many ventures, the proponents
of quality have in many cases forgotten it's roots.
I see far to much internal focus than I do
external.  I see far too much focus on efficiency, I
still see far too much focus on the proximate rather
than the longer term.

Organizations often don't even see it as a problem
since they still blame the customer.  Just like on the
recent media show, the companies blame the
customer for demanding lower prices and that
in-turn justifies lower expectations being delivered.
Oh, did I forget about customer needs?  We won't
even go there...

I don't mean to sound so bleak since I hold high
promise for quality.  It's just that I think quality,
as we understand it, has a very long way to go
before it's really accepted in business.  Look at
one of the largest internet services, they have 16
million customers and virtually no competition
except for local ISPs.  Do they care about their
customers?  They say they do, however their
behaviors and policy changes speak otherwise.
They are in the position of giving the customer
what ever the company thinks they should have
and the customer seems to have no recourse
except to lower their expectations.

It seems to me that as long as these companies
succeed at telling the customers what they think
the customer should have, then we still have a
long way to go...

my thoughts

ron ferrick
ron@innsols.com