Quality management: An Introduction to Quality Management: Quality definition on the web-site for teachers and learners of English as a secondary language from a German point of view providing teaching and learning strategies in schools and seminars.

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Five Ways of Looking at Quality Definitions

David M. Dilts, Professor of the Faculty of Science at the Universität of Waterloo, Waterloo Ontario, Canada made a list of quotations according to 5 different targets:

1. Customer - based

"Quality consists of the capacity to satisfy wants."(C.D. Edwards, "The Meaning of Quality", in Quality Progress Oct.1968)
"Quality is fitness for use." (J.M. Juran, ed. Quality Control Handbook 1988)

2. Manufacturing - based

"Quality is the degree to which a specific product conforms to a design or specification" (H.L. Gilmore: Product Conformance Cost. Quality progress June 1974)
"Quality [means] conformance to requirements." (P.B. Crosby: Quality Is Free)

3. Product - based

"Quality refers to the amount of the unpriced attributes contained in each unit of the priced attribute." (K. B. Leifler: Ambiguous Chamges in Product Quality,
American Economic Review Dec.1982)

4. Value - based

"Quality is the degree of excellence at an acceptable price and the control of variability at an acceptable cost." (R. A. Broh: Managing Quality for Higher Profits, 1982)

5. Transcendent

"Quality is neither mind nor matter, but a third entity independent of the two, even though Quality cannot be defined, you know what it is." (R. M. Pirsig: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance)

Quality in different areas of society

Area	Examples
Airlines	On-time, comfortable, low-cost service
Health Care	Correct diagnosis, minimum wait time, lower cost, security
Food Services	Good product, fast delivery, good environment
Postal Services	fast delivery, correct delivery, cost containment
Academia	Proper preparation for future, on-time knowledge delivery
Consumer Products	Properly made, defect-free, cost effective
Insurance	Payoff on time, reasonable cost
Military	Rapid deployment, decreased wages, no graft
Automotive	Defect-free
Communications	Clearer, faster, cheaper service

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Qualitätsmanagement in der Praxis go on to:
Total Quality Management