1

A strategic collaboration between ASQ and Forbes Insights

ACCELERATING GROWTH AND

PERFORMANCE IN THE ENTERPRISE

By Sunil Thawani, ASQ Fellow & Member, ASQ Strategy Deployment

Committee

“Since the launch of our

Quality Driven

Management program in

2008 … we have been able

to achieve hundreds of

millions of dollars of

cost savings.”

Culture of Quality Benefits

Rebecca Yeung, Managing Director,

Service Experience Leadership,

FedEx

5

Demographics

Worldwide

• 50% C-Suite

• 50% Senior Executives

Revenue Groups

• 50% with less than $500 million

• 50% with more than $500 million

Industry Groups

• Manufacturing

• Health Care

• Technology

• Consumer Goods

• Food & Drug

1,010

Responses

6

Worldwide

• Surveying its worldwide membership

Revenue Groups

• From organizations of all sizes.

Industry Groups

• From all industry groups.

1,281

Responses

Forbes Survey ASQ Survey

Total = 2291

Developing, Sustaining a Quality Culture: Vision, Values, Leadership

12

Values

• 60% describe their quality

values as clearly stated

• 50% say such values are

clearly understood

throughout the organization

Vision

• 60% say their quality vision

is clearly stated

• 32% view their quality

statement as compelling

Senior Executives

Quality Professionals

Total Respondents

75%

47%

59%

What Organizations Exhibit a Culture of Quality?

13

Self-Described World-Class Organizations

12

What Drives Your Company’s Pursuit of Quality?

18Percentage of respondents who selected

Significant or Very Significant

How Involved Are Customers in Quality?“H

ighly

Applic

able

”

20

Customers and Quality

22

Incentives – An Essential Component to a Quality Culture

26

Challenges Abound in Worldwide Quality Adoption…

28

Companies are planning substantial

improvements to quality programs

over the next 18 months.

…But Positive Change is on the Horizon

• 54% of all respondents plan to

increase investment in quality

programs.

• 73% of executives say they are

making investments in technology to

improve performance against quality

objectives.

• 90% of respondents say they are investing in technology to meet end

customer needs

29

Warning Signs of a Weak Culture of Quality

30

• The CEO and other senior executives rarely

discuss quality – let alone performance

against quality objectives.

• Managers throughout the organization either

fail to consistently emphasize quality or are

resistant to quality initiatives.

• The organization has few if any feedback

loops for continuous improvement of

processes.

• Metrics used for performance evaluation

feature little-to-no mention of quality goals.

• Training and development do not emphasize

quality.

Key Findings

Organizations that self-describe their quality programs as world-class or state-

of-the-art rate 59% say their organization exhibits “a comprehensive, group-wide

culture of quality.” But there is a disconnect—while 75% of senior or C-

suite titles believe this, responses drop to less than half among those

with quality job titles

12 % of respondents self-describe their overall quality programs

as world class Throughout the survey, these companies tend to

score significantly higher in areas that drive a culture of quality.

11

Only 16% overall strongly agree that they use big data to gauge

customer sentiment, compared with 41% of world class organizations.

Only 12% overall strongly agree that they use social media to gauge

customer sentiment, rising to 30% among world-class organizations.

Key Findings

Organizations that self-describe their quality programs as world-class or state-

of-the-art rate 81 % of world-class companies say that all KPI s can be tracked directly to an

overall business vision compared with only 64% of the overall respondents.

Similarly, 79% of world-class organizations say their KPI s are effective in

promoting cooperation among business units vs. 52% among others in survey.

Customers’ demands are a main driver of a quality culture, but

executives contend with other factors, like quality’s role in profitability.

11

Access the Research

Download “Culture of Quality:

Accelerating Growth and

Performance in the Enterprise” today.

Also, take the self-assessment tool that

allows organizations to measure and

benchmark their culture of quality.

Visit cultureofquality.org or email

cultureofquality@asq.org.

31