The next true-or-false statement from Philip B. Crosby's Quality Is Free is "Zero Defects needs management support." Like I mentioned in my last post, if you have already answered true or false to the ten statements, to test your understanding of the concept of Zero Defects, please read ahead and continue. If you haven't already answered, please take the time to go back and read them so you understand the concept of Zero Defects, related to construction programs and Enterprise Quality Management in the construction industry.
Here is the answer to the second of ten statements: “Zero Defects needs management support.”
ANSWER = FALSE
Active management participation. Crosby asserts that ZD needs active management participation, not only management support. To cite the adage, “actions speak louder than words.” What people do is more important than what people say. If the ZD effort is limited to field personnel at the project level, and never extends up to the management level, to the project managers, directors and executives back at the regional office or the home office, Crosby affirms that the ZD will collapse within a year’s time. Management cannot initially buy in to a Zero Defect program or an Enterprise Quality Management program, and then pass the responsibility off to the distributed and sometimes disconnected project teams – the program will not succeed and sustain itself over the long term without active management participation. Management holds the responsibility for actively leading and guiding the ZD program, on a routine basis, week to week, month to month, quarter to quarter.
Reports. Web-based construction analytic reports, with charts and graphs, now enable active management participation. Management gains real-time insight in to the success of the Zero Defect program and Enterprise Quality Management program. From the desktop, management now has the ability to access accurate information about project, trade contractor and subcontractor, and personnel performance, both across many projects and within any one project. Management may opt to login to the secure web-based application and dynamically explore information on-demand, or opt to receive emails on a scheduled basis with reports attached. Web-based analytic reports present corporate quality performance and quality risk profiles in dashboard style displays, easy-to-read and easy-to-understand at a glance. Web-based analytic reports serve as a powerful tool to enable active management participation, not only management support, for a construction Zero Defect program or an Enterprise Quality Management program.
For more information on Zero Defects or “ZD” – an Enterprise Quality Management program for construction, please read my blog entry each week.
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