Q 433. Both Deming and Crosby gave their own 14 point / step philosophy for business excellence. What is the similarity and differences in the two approaches?

 

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Both Edward Deming and Joseph P Crosby lead quality movement in the early 20^th century across the industrial world. Deming more emphasized on top down approach, management commitment, change in management mind set, need for move away from production focus and metric. Deming basically emphasized trade-off to achieve quality. In some cases, the principles are more generic and guiding without much specifics.

 

Crosby is his 14 principles; his major focus is only on quality to improve and sustain organization performance. He first time brought concept of Quality right first time, zero defects and quality is free. Unlike Deming, he was more specific on what organizations should do with involving employees, management to achieve quality objectives.

Following are some similarities among Deming principles and Crosby steps.

 

 

Below is largely a divergent view on quality or means to achieve quality

 

 

Crosby made very specific focus areas on quality, especially below.

 

 

Deming has not made such specific reference / principles on quality. However, he has come with high-level statements, guiding principles directed towards management, echoing ownership / accountability.

 

 

Conclusion : While Deming has brought quality movement across the world in early 20th century, his successors like Crosby carried the baton with more specifics on quality like  zero defects , right first time,

 

 

W Edwards Deming was born in 1900 in the United States. He was an American and an engineer and statistician. He was also a consultant and the author of numerous books.

Philip B Crosby was born in 1926. He was a businessman, a consultant, and an author. Crosby's philosophy on quality was focused on doing it right the first time. He defined quality from the perspective of the customer.

Demings 14 points for business excellence include constancy of purpose, new philosophy, moving away from mass inspection, focus on improving production and service, on-job training, education and training programs, supervision, removal of barrier among staff areas, remove work standards and numerical quotas, numerical goals, remove things that burden the workers, and top management.

Crosby’s 14 points to quality improvement were long term commitment to quality by management, cross-departmental quality teams, identification of potential and current areas of problems, assessment of the cost of quality, being proactive and quick in correcting problems, focus on zero defects, training of supervisors in quality, focus on individual and team improvements, communication flow amongst and between workers and supervisors, recognition, quality control.

Deming looked at the management process as a single unit and focused on constant improvement. He used principles of management to improve both quality and reduce cost. Cost reduction included reduction of waste, staff attrition, etc. The Japanese summarized Deming's methodology as focus on quality would in the long-term lead to a reduction of cost and focus on cost would lead to a reduction in quality and in the long-term lead to increase in cost. Deming was also known for the PDCA Cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act). Deming also described the seven diseases to increase effectiveness and constant improvement. These included the constancy of purpose to plan, focus on short-term profits. Performance evaluation systems, job-hopping, cost of medical, and liability. Deming gave an emphasis on training over education. He believed that training provides skills to do the task whereas education only provided knowledge. Deming, therefore, gave emphasis to the training of all employees.

Crosby defined the four absolutes of quality management. The first absolute was the definition of quality as conformance to requirements, the second being the system of quality being the prevention of defects, the third absolute of quality being its performance which is zero defects, and finally, the metric of quality is the price of non-conformance. Crosby believed that training management at all levels was necessary and that the management would communicate with the employees. Crosby gave a great emphasis to zero defects and included determination, education, and implementation in the basic elements of improvement.

References

https://www.simplilearn.com/deming-vs-juran-vs-crosby-comparison-article

https://treehozz.com/what-is-the-difference-between-demings-and-crosbys-approach#:~:text=Subsequently%2C%20one%20may%20also%20ask%2C%20which%20is%20a,levels.%20Management%20communicates%20their%20understanding%20to%20other%20employees.

 

Quality is key to success. Most of us try to measure the quality of the final product which goes to the customer and improve them. However, we fail to realize that quality is important in each step and everything a company does. It can be accounts, procurement, delivery, sales and all other processes. There are many theories, methods and tool provided by several scholars on how to improve quality. Out of all the tools and theories, we are going to understand 14 principles laid down by Dr. Deming and by Philip Crosby.

 

Deming’s 14 Points for Total Quality Management (TQM)

Deming in his book titled “Out of Crisis” has explained about his philosophy in details. This was mainly focused to manufacturing industries but can be used in any business.

 

Crosby's 14 Steps To Improvement

Philip Crosby on other hand provided 14-step quality improvement program which is more focused on how the employee understands what quality means & partner the quality movement.

 

Below are the 14 steps or Points for Quality Improvement

Sr No	Crosby's 14 Steps	Deming’s 14 Points
1	Management Commitment	Create a Constant Purpose Toward Improvement
2	Quality Improvement Team	Adopt the New Philosophy
3	Quality Measurement	Stop Depending on Inspections
4	Cost of Quality Evaluation	Use a Single Supplier for Any One Item
5	Quality Awareness	Improve Constantly and Forever
6	Corrective Action	Use Training on the Job
7	Plan for Zero Defects Program	Implement Leadership
8	Supervisor Training	Eliminate Fear
9	Zero Defects Day	Break Down Barriers Between Departments
10	Goal Setting	Get Rid of Unclear Slogans
11	Error Cause Removal	Eliminate Management by Objectives
12	Recognition	Remove Barriers to Pride of Workmanship
13	Quality Council	Implement Education and Self-Improvement
14	Do It Over Again	Make "Transformation" Everyone's Job

 

Though both Deming and Crosby focused on improving quality, there are some similarities and differences in their thoughts and approach.

 

Similarities:

· Management commitment is important

· Continuous improvement

· Customer focused

· Supervisor or manager responsibilities

· Quality improves profit

· Radical change in value

 

Differences:

· Roadmap

o   Deming: - No start and end point

o   Crosby: - Have start and end point

· Workers

o   Deming: - Variance is not largely affected by workers

o   Crosby: - Workers need to be motivated to produce zero defects

· Management

o   Deming: - Major threat to managers

o   Crosby: - Not many changes in the thoughts of a manager and worker

· Implementation

o   Deming: - Difficult to implement as it requires huge structural change

o   Crosby: - Comparatively easy to implement

 

Conclusion:

In today’s world almost all the organization is taking up the best characteristics of these steps and framing their own structure which suits their business requirement. However, if Deming’s steps are implemented then the organization can have the best impact.

 

In quality management, key holistic approaches are defined as the 14 Principles by Deming and the 14 Steps by Crosby. Although both above models of quality management are focused on end goal of achieving highest quality of goods, the most important factor is the customer itself and quality is governed by consumer feedback, Crosby on the contrary highlights that the organizations set a standard of quality and it is not governed by customer perception.

Deming’s approach points to how quality is all about exceeding and meeting customer expectation while for Crosby states quality is continuous improvement the production process. While there are differences, both approaches agree on the concept of how quality can be improved through the approaches. Both Deming and Crosby state that responsibility of quality management needs to be top driven, hence highlights the importance of the defining the vision governing the business operates in the quality front.

 

Similarities between the philosophies are majorly on the following:

 

-Both Deming’s and Crosby advocates that Quality requires a strong upper management commitment and needs top-down drive.   

-While Deming defines Quality as Non-Faulty Systems, Crosby defines it as conformance to requirements, but both agrees that Quality saves money.

-Responsibility of Driving quality and improvement initiative in both approaches is deemed to be placed on managers, not workers for improved success of the program across the organization.

-Most of the Quality Management approaches defines Quality as a continuous improvement and that it  is a never-ending process

-Both are Customer-orientation approach, Deming’s approach points to how quality is all about exceeding and meeting customer expectation.

-Both approaches state the need for shift in culture for achieving required quality improvements

-Quality arises from reducing variance which can be defined as Non Faulty Systems in Deming to Conformance to requirements in Crosby Approach.

 

	W Deming’s	P Crosby
Orientation Towards Quality	Technical	Motivational
Quality Definition	Non Faulty Systems  Continuous Improvement	Conformance to Requirements
Emphasis	Tools/ System	Motivation (Behaviour)
Types Of Tools	SPC	Minal Use
Quality Responsibility	Management	Management
Importance of Customer Requirements as Standard	Very Important	Very Important
Goal Of Quality	Meet/ Exceed Customer Needs Continuous Improvement	Continuous Improvement Zero Defects
Methods of Achieving Quality	Statistical, Constancy of Purpose Continual Improvement collaboration between functions	14 point Framework
Chief element of implementation	14 Point Program	14 Step Program Cost of Quality , Quality Management , Maturity Grid
Role of Training	Very Important to Managers and Workers	Very Important to Managers and Employees
User of Goals & Targets	Not Used	Posted Goal for workers

 

The major differences in opinion are around Nature of Organization where Deming believes focus on Social Responsibility and moral conduct can solve problems with industry and society while for Crosby a better approach is to focus on Organization-wide, team building approach.

Demining has no defined Implementation Processes with a defined start or steps while Crosby provides a very user friendly prescriptive with defined obvious starting points and clear steps.

Although Deming requires a radical shift in values, both the approaches are holistic quality management approaches

Deming is very dogmatic and uncompromising in handling resistance to change ; depends on facts, however Crosby the resistance is normal and need not be an obstacle. Depend on facts to unseat criticism.

Deming is perceived a threat to most managers and requires an admission of incompetence while requires very little shift in view of workers and managerial roles.

Deming feels variance is largely unaffected by workers’ activities. Organization exists in large part to develop and provide for workers. While Crosby believes workers can be motivated to improve quality and not produce defects.

 

 

Deming 14 steps:

 

1.Create a consistency of purpose toward improvement.

2.Adopt the new philosophy.

3.Cease dependence on inspections.

4.Use a single supplier for any one item instead  awarding business on the basis of price tag.

5.Improve constantly and forever.

6.Institute training on the job.

7.Implement leadership.

8.Eliminate fear.

9.Break down barriers between departments.

10.Eliminate unclear slogans.

11.Eliminate management by objectives.

12.Remove barriers to pride of workmanship.

13.Implement education and self-improvement.

14.Put everyone in the transformation process.

 

Crosby 14 steps:

1. Management commitment
2. Quality improvement team
3. Quality measurement
4. Cost of quality
5. Quality awareness
6. Corrective action
7. Zero defects planning.
8. Supervisor training  
9. Zero defects day
10. Goal setting
11. Error cause removal
12. Recognition
13. Quality councils
14. Do it over again

Similarity and Difference:

From the above points we can say , Deming focuses more on process control and involvement of everyone in the quality improvement initiatives while Crosby focusses more on Motivation , zero defect and attitude change

Interesting answers to an enticing question. Both Deming and Crosby have laid out principles for an organization to optimize their processes. This question gives us an insight into the similarities and differences between the two.

 

Best answer has been provided by Sandip Mittra. Well done!