Quality Management Papers

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Why Strategic Plans Fail

Strategic Planning has long been considered a necessary tool for business success. Unfortunately, many businesses will invest countless hours of their key managers' time and spend thousands of dollars publishing a Strategic Plan only to file the impressive document away and never use it. A strategic plan that is not used is worthless! This paper will discuss classical strategic planning techniques and explore some of the reasons why plans are not used to guide the business. It will also present alternative techniques that can improve the business planning process. The concepts of effective mission statements and visions will be reviewed. The distinction between "business intent" and long range plans will also be addressed. The intent of this paper is to share tools that will help make the strategic plan an integral part of business management; not just a once a year exercise for senior management.

Quality Management Decision Making

The old phrase "actions speak louder than words" is very appropriate in quality management. We can put up banners, create full color brochures, and deliver eloquent speeches all describing our commitment to quality, but the real test comes when we are forced to make tough decisions. The choices we make will define what our quality culture truly is, and once established, that culture is very hard to change. This paper will describe some typical situations quality managers face and how their decisions can influence the quality culture. It will also provide some guidelines for making decisions that promote a quality culture. Because of the importance of these decisions, it is critical for quality managers to understand the consequences of their decisions.

The Quality Index

Deciding when a new product is ready to ship to customers is critical to business success. Ship too soon, and product failures could destroy customer satisfaction and your company reputation. Wait until product quality is perfect and you could miss the market window and allow your competition the chance they have been waiting for. The question is, how do you know when the product is ready?

How Good is Good Enough?

As a result of Total Quality Management activities, more and more companies are conducting surveys to measure their customer satisfaction. We are even seeing the results of these surveys in company advertising. Companies are very proud of their 90% customer satisfaction levels. Still others boast of 95% satisfaction. Intuitive logic says the higher the satisfaction level, the better you are. The business question, however, is how much satisfaction is good enough? Should your company invest $100K to improve satisfaction from 95% to 98%?

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	Why Plans Fail			QM Decision Making
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