Review of Crosby’s “Quality is Free”

In an awkward and sometimes clumsy manner, Crosby outlines the theoretical basis and the practical application of a new concept of quality.  Quality was once thought of as an idea of goodness or fitness, a measurement typified by subjective estimations.  This often made mistake, the cause of much lost opportunity, can be explained by several erroneous assumptions.  Once these are understood and exposed, a quality management plan can be put into place in order to ensure an ongoing effort to guarantee that quality is achieved.

Five erroneous assumptions demonstrate the misunderstanding of the concept of quality, according to Crosby.  First, quality does not mean goodness or fitness.  Quality must have a definition in order to be measured.  It must be defined as conformance to requirements.  Second, quality is not an intangible aspiration that cannot be measured.  It can be measured by cash flow in that the cost of quality is the cost of nonconformance to requirements.  Third, there is no economics of quality.  It is always more cost effective to do the job right the first time around as opposed to allowing defects and correcting them afterwards.  Fourth, quality problems do not originate with workers.  Planning and creation are determined long before a worker can exhibit any influence and this is where quality is defined.  And finally, quality is not the responsibility of the quality department alone.  Quality must be the product of each department while the quality department measures and encourages the ongoing process of ensuring quality.  Quality management is a way of ensuring that structured activities occur in the way in which they were planned, unlike the way in which these false assumptions may suggest.

A quality improvement program must consist of four integrity systems in order to make success certain.  The first is management participation and attitude.  It is true that the attitudes of leaders set the tone for the organization with which they hold authority.  Therefore, it is imperative to the success of the quality improvement program that management believes and is positive about quality improvement.  Many of Crosby’s fourteen steps are focused on educating management, improving communications about quality, and planning for zero defect parties.  The second integrity system is professional quality management.  This is the process involved with setting up committees to include representatives from each department to oversee the processes needing change in order to improve quality.  Having quality professionals from each department direct the quality improvement effort helps to disseminate information and to gain a pervasive understanding of quality.  The third integrity system is original programs.  As was mentioned earlier, Crosby’s fourteen step program is an original which helps to guide quality improvement efforts.  They allow for practical application of concepts that are easy to understand and participate in.  The fourth integrity system is recognition.  Seeing as how people are further motivated by intrinsic rewards, recognizing a job well done is an essential element to quality improvement.  A process of ongoing improvement must be an effort undertaken by motivated people.

Quality is free is the simple concept that doing something correctly the first time is always cheaper than having to correct it after a defect has been detected.  Crosby claims that a sizable percentage of revenue can be saved from squander if a quality improvement program is successfully integrated.  This seems to be true enough as long as management is devoted to the cause and patience is a virtue practiced by the organization.