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What Is Quality As A Degree Of Excellence?

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Merriam Webster defines quality as a degree of excellence, or a distinguishing attribute. Managers strive for excellence in the workplace to improve customer satisfaction, increase the output in manufacturing while minimizing defects, as well as making the company more profitable. There are several different management systems or methodologies available for businesses to use, but the Balanced Scorecard and the Malcolm Baldrige Performance Excellence Program are the most common and widely used in the United States.
The Balanced Scorecard Institute reports that in the 1950’s General Electric was the first to use the Balanced Scorecard approach, but it was not until the 1990’s when Dr. Robert Kaplan, a Harvard Business School professor, and Dr. David Norton officially titled it the Balanced Scorecard. Once used as only a measurement tool for organizations, it is now a complete strategic planning and management system (Balanced Scorecard Institute, n.d.). Originally, businesses looked at their financial reports to distinguish whether they were quality companies or not. Kaplan and Norton however, believed the financial reports only showed past history and an organization must also track how it is performing currently and look at ways to constantly improve future performance. Kaplan and Norton established that there are four business segments or perspectives to measure and make improvements on. The four segments are financial perspective, business process, customer perspective,
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