Balanced Quality - Alignment of Organisational Culture, Work Output, and Customer Relationships

by Andrew Dunning

Ever feel like some people in your organisation are pulling together for the benefit of everyone, while others seem intent on merely looking out for themselves? If you are like me and see this situation regularly, then read on as this article on Balanced Quality may be just what you are looking for.

Balanced Quality aims to improve performance of manufacturing and/or service operations, and the following statement is the foundation of Balanced Quality:

"What we aim for and how well we get along together shapes the amount and standard of our work and influences the outcomes experienced by our customers."

Accordingly, Balanced Quality focuses on three areas (elements) of a business: organisational culture; work output; and customer relationships. Organisational culture means the way things are done in the business. Useful indicators of organisational culture are the effectiveness of work relationships between people employed in a business and how people feel about working in the business. In a small business, the owner is often the most important person in developing and maintaining the organisational culture.

Work output is the production of manufactured goods and/or services and customer relationships reflect the interaction between the customer and the business. The effectiveness of these customer relationships mean how well they work, and as with work relationships between employees, trust and communication are essential to building long term sustainable relationships to ensure customers keep on coming back to buy from the business. In essence, Balanced Quality is designed to improve the quality of outcomes within these three elements such that quality is balanced both within and between these elements.

Quality needs to be built into the organisational culture to help drive and support increased work quality which then drives improved relationships with customers as their satisfaction with the business' products/services grows. This results in happy customers and improved financial position for the business.

A word picture may help to explain the need for Balanced Quality. Imagine a circle representing organisational culture where it turns slowly clockwise like a wheel on an axle. Aligned next to organisational culture is another circle indicating work output that fits closely and turns anti-clockwise in response to the driving force of organisational culture. A third circle, customer relationships, sits next to work output and revolves clockwise.

The whole effect is that where Balanced Quality is present, balance is evident within and between all three elements. Each element rotates smoothly around a centre point (balance within the element) and the first element engages and drives against the second which in turn drives the third (balance between each element).

A situation of imbalance within an element would see the element wobble as it rotates around a point other than in the middle of the circle. This flows through to a lack of engagement with the element next in line so that engagement or driving only occurs part of the time.

The outcome is that a lack of balance within elements leads to lack of balance between elements with a flow on effect of reduced business performance. This occurs as customer relationships are not as effective as they should be due to a lack of inherent quality which has come about through a lack of quality in work output influenced by a lack of quality in the organisational culture.

How Balanced Quality helps to improve business performance

Balanced Quality aims to identify deficiencies and makes sustainable improvements in quality and balance in a business' organisational culture, work output and customer relationships. This is a three step process.

1. Develop broader understanding and improvement in organisational culture so that actions of employees are directed towards effective (quality) work relationships: between employees; management and employees; and with customers

2. Use improved work relationships to increase productivity and reduce errors/rework. Draw on the natural tendency of many employees to take pride in their work. In short, to improve quality of output

3. Achieve better outcomes for customers through higher quality products and/or services. Relationships with customers will be strengthened leading to repeat sales, reductions in the cost of gaining and maintaining customers, and result in increased profits for your business.

Implementing Balanced Quality

Balanced Quality can be achieved by clearly communicating what the organisational culture means and encouraging all employees to get along together, creating a collective understanding of the need for quality products and/or services, and focusing everyone in the business on satisfying customers.