OMBHA 306 Q1 - define quality and specify the

dimensions of quality.

Dictionary definitions of the word “quality” cover fairly similar ground. Merriam-
webster defines it as “degree of excellence” or “superiority in kind,” while oxford
opts for “the standard of something as measured against other things of a similar
kind; the degree of excellence of something.” When talking about quality in terms
of providing products or services, however, we have to drill a bit further down into
how we define the term. In terms of providing a quality product or service, “fitness
for purpose” is a useful benchmark. But perhaps a better definition still would be
that quality is “customer satisfaction and loyalty” – because ultimately, the
satisfaction of the customer and the loyalty that engenders is the true measure of
success for any organization.

Defining the features and characteristics of quality

Quality can be understood by breaking a product or service down into a number of
individual features or characteristics. There are various approaches to this, but a
good starting point is david a. Garvin’s “eight dimensions of quality.” These are:

• Performance
• Features
• Reliability
• Conformance
• Durability
• Serviceability
• Aesthetics
• Perceived quality
Other examples of quality features that might be applied in manufacturing
industries could include factors such as ease of use, availability of custom options,
and expandability. In service industries, examples of features could include
accuracy, timeliness, completeness, friendliness, anticipating customer needs,
knowledge, and the appearance of personnel or facilities.
Defining the customer
If we accept that quality is defined as “customer satisfaction and loyalty,” then to
further understand the core concepts of quality management we must understand
what we mean when we say “customer.” In this context, the wider definition of
customer may surprise you – we consider a customer to be “anyone who is affected
by the service, product, or process.” The most obvious – and important – customer
of any organization is the external end user of the product or service; however, in
terms of quality it serves us well to think beyond this. Intermediate processors such
as retailers who sell your products to the end user, for example, are customers.
Other external customers might include suppliers, partners, shareholders and
investors, and even the media. In terms of quality management, we must also
consider internal customers, such as other divisions of your organization that your
department provides with information or components for assembly, or
departments or individuals that supply products or services to each other. For
example, when a purchasing team receives a specification from the engineering
team for a procurement, then the purchasing department would be an internal
customer of the engineering division. When that procurement is provided, then the
situation is reversed and engineering becomes the internal customer of purchasing.
The term “stakeholders” is often used to refer collectively to the totality of all
external and internal customers.

The two dimensions of customer loyalty and satisfaction

Quality – that is, customer satisfaction and loyalty – is achieved through two
dimensions: features, and freedom from deficiencies. Let’s look at those in more
detail.
Features
Although we’ve given some examples of features that might typically be used in
quality management above, the reality is that there can be vast differences within
manufacturing industries (for example, auto assembly versus pharmaceuticals) and
within services (for example, banking versus restaurants). What is essential to
achieve quality is for the individual organization to identify the dimensions of
quality that are truly important to its customers. Features have a direct effect on
sales income, and it’s also worth noting that the overall external customer base can
often be segmented by the level of quality desired in relation to price – this is why,
for example, both luxury hotels and budget hotel chains exist, and may operate
under the same parent company. Features refer to the quality of the design, and
it’s important to be aware that increasing design quality generally leads to higher
costs and a higher consumer price point.

Freedom from deficiencies

Deficiencies have an inevitable effect on costs through scrap, rework, and even
customer complaints. Deficiencies may be considered by different measures, such
as volume or percentage of errors, defects, failures, or off-specification products.
Freedom from deficiencies is ultimately tied to the quality of conformance of
products and processes with defined specifications. Increasing the quality of
conformance – and therefore increasing freedom from deficiencies – will typically
result in lower costs, as well as delivering increased customer satisfaction. In
addition to purely quality-based metrics, time and cost dimensions are also directly
relevant to both features and deficiencies. By combining these dimensions
effectively an organization can make progress toward achieving quality excellence.

Quality is defined by the customer

In the final analysis, quality is defined by the customer, and features and freedom
from deficiencies are key determinants of customer satisfaction. While the various
quality experts may offer slightly different shorthand definitions of what quality is
– “fitness for use” (Juran), “conformance to specifications” (Crosby), “predictable
degree of uniformity” (Deming) – these definitions are complementary rather than
contrary, and each can come into significance at different phases of quality
management activities. Today the concept of quality has expanded far beyond the
manufacturing sector, to government agencies, healthcare, education and non-
profit organizations. Quality principles are being widely applied not just to
products, but also to services, processes, and data. As a final note: the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines quality as the “totality of
characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy stated and implied
needs.”

EIGHT DIMENSIONS OF QUALITY

The eight dimensions of quality were defined by David A. Garvin, who passed away
in 2017 at the age of 64.
Garvin was a Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business school and
his publications on quality were based on his research on U.S. manufacturers.

What are the eight dimensions of quality?

A quality product is a product that meets the expectations of the customers. The
eight dimensions of quality help producers to meet these expectations. It is a
strategic management tool that can be used as a framework to analyse
characteristics of quality. The eight dimensions are performance, features,
reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics, and perceived
quality.
Performance
Performance has to do with the expected operating characteristics of a product or
service. Does a service or product do what it’s supposed to do? The primary
operating characteristics involve measurable elements, which makes it easier to
objectively measure the performance.
Some of the performance requirements are related to subjective preferences, but
when they are the preference of almost every consumer they become as powerful
as an objective requirement.

Features
What the dimension ‘performance’ doesn’t focus on are the features, the
characteristics that decide how appealing a product or service is to the consumer.
Such features are the extras of a product or service and complement its basic
functioning. This means that the ones designing a product or service should be
familiar with the end-users and should be updated on developments in consumer
preferences. Often it’s difficult to see a clear line between primary performance
attributes and additional features.
An example of features in service is offering free drinks on a plane. An example of
features in products is adding a drink cooler in the car.

Reliability
Reliability is usually closely related to performance. The focus of the dimension
reliability is more on how long a product will perform consistently according to the
specifications of that product. This is important to customers who need the product
to work without any errors and contributes to a brand or company’s image.
The dimension reliability shows the probability of the product having signs of error
within a specific time of period. For measuring reliability you should measure the
time to the first failure, how much time there is between failures, and the failure
rate per a specific time of period.
These measures are usually applied to products that are expected to last for a
longer time and not so much for products that are meant to be used directly and
for a shorter time period. Usually when the costs for maintenance or downtime
increase, reliability as a dimension of quality becomes more important to
consumers.
For example, for parents with children who depend on a car, the reliability of the
car becomes an important element. Also for most farmers, reliability is a key
attribute. This group of consumers is sensitive to downtime, especially during the
shorter harvest seasons. For a farmer, reliable equipment can be crucial in
preventing spoiled crops. Also, the reliability of computers is key for many
consumers.

Conformance
This dimension is closely related to the dimensions performance and features. The
dimension of conformance is about to what extent the product or service conforms
to the specifications. Does it function and have all the features as specified? Every
product and service has some sort of specifications that comes with it.
For example, the materials used or the dimensions of a product can be specified
and set as a target specification for the product. Something that can also be defined
in the specification is the tolerance, which states how much a product is allowed to
deviate from the target. Problematic with this approach is that it makes it easier
for producers to focus less on if the specifications have been met as long as they’ve
met the tolerance limits.
When it comes to service businesses, conformance is measured by focussing on the
accuracy, the number of processing errors, unexpected delays and other common
mistakes.

Durability
Out of the eight dimensions of quality, the dimension durability is about how long
a product will last or perform and under what conditions it will perform. Estimating
the length of a product’s life becomes complicated when it’s possible to repair the
product.
For such products, the durability will be counted until it is no longer economically
beneficial to use it. This is when the repairs and the costs of repairing increase.
Customers then must weigh the costs for future repairs against the costs of
investing in a new one together with its operating expenses. In other cases,
durability is measured by the amount someone can use a product before it stops
working and repair is impossible.
This, for example, is the case when a light bulb burns up and must be replaced by
a new one. In this case, repairing it is impossible.

Serviceability
Serviceability is one of the eight dimensions of quality that reflects on if the product
is relatively easy to maintain and repair. This becomes important for consumers
who are more focused on the total cost of ownership as criteria for selecting a
product. Serviceability reflects on how easy it is for the consumer to obtain repair
service, how responsive the service personnel is, and how reliable the service is. It
also focuses on the speed with which a product can be repaired and also the
competence and behaviour of the personnel.
Customer’s concerns are mainly about the product getting defects, but also how
long it takes for the product to be repaired. It is not only important if a product can
be fixed, but also how satisfied the customer is about the company’s complaint
handling procedures.
This can affect how the customer evaluates the service quality and eventually the
company’s reputation. Each company has a different way of dealing with complaint
handling and not every company attaches the same level of importance to
serviceability.
For example, there are companies that do their best to resolve the complaints they
receive, while others don’t offer any service when it comes to complaints. An
example of improving a company’s serviceability is by installing a cost-free phone
number to reach the helplines.

Aesthetics
The aesthetics dimension is all about the way a product looks and contributes to
the company’s identity or a brand. Aesthetics is not only about how a product looks
but also about how it feels, tastes, smells or sounds.
This is clearly determined by individual preference and personal judgement,
however, there is a way to measure this dimension. There are some clear patterns
found in the way consumers rank products based on personal taste. Still, the
aesthetics of a product is not as universal as the dimension ‘performance’.
Not all people prefer the same taste or smell, which makes it impossible to please
every single customer. For this reason, companies end up searching for a niche.

Perceived Quality
The perception of something is not always reality. Meaning that a product or
service can have high scores on each of the seven dimensions of quality, but still
receive a bad rating from customers as a result of negative perceptions from
customers or the public.
Customers sometimes lack information about a service or product and for
comparing brands will rely on indirect reviews. This is usually the case when it
comes to a product’s durability because in most cases it can’t be observed directly.
Also, reputation plays a significant role when it comes to perceived quality. It’s
easier for a customer to trust the quality of a company’s new product when the
established products received positive reviews.

Competing on the Eight Dimensions of Quality

For a company to apply all eight dimensions at the same time is not always possible.
Some dimensions can reinforce one another, while others can’t. An improvement
in one dimension can result in a decline in the other dimension.
Another reason why it’s not always possible to pursue all dimensions is because of
the costs of investment, which could lead to unreasonable prices for the customer.
Therefore, understanding which trade-offs among the eight dimensions are
preferred by the customers can lead to a competitive advantage.

Summary
As a strategic management tool the eight dimensions of quality, as defined by David
A. Garvin, help producers to meet the expectations of its customers. This tool can
be applied to products and services and consists of the following eight dimensions.
The first one is performance and refers to the primary operating characteristics of
a product or service. The second one, features, focusses on additional elements of
a product or service that improve the customers appeal to it.
Measuring quality along the lines of reliability is the third dimension. The fourth
dimension, conformance, measures to what extent the product or service meets
the standards that are specified.
Also measuring the length of a product’s life determines the quality of a product
and falls under the dimension durability. The sixth dimension, serviceability, is all
about the service provided after a product breaks down. For this dimension, quality
will be measured by the speed of the service, the competence and the behaviour
of the service providers.
Aesthetics is the most subjective dimension of the eight and focuses on the
individual’s preference. The last dimension is about the quality ranking that has
been given for a product or service as a result of indirect measures. Using the eight
dimensions of quality while understanding the preferences of the customer can
lead to a competitive advantage.