Crosby: philosophy for quality assurance
Phillip Crosby philosophy for quality assurance is “Zero Defect” or “Right the First Time”, meaning
train properly and thoroughly to get it done right the first time. He believes it is cheaper the do it
right the first time instead patching then coming back to the situation. Crosby also believed that
managers need to lead by example set standards the all employees can reach as well as the
needs of the business.
Crosby has 14 steps to Quality Improvement:
1. Management is committed to quality
2. Create quality improvement teams – with (senior) representatives from all departments.
3. Measure processes to determine current and potential quality issues.
4. Calculate the cost of (poor) quality
5. Raise quality awareness of all employees
6. Take action to correct quality issues
7. Monitor progress of quality improvement – establish a zero defects committee.
8. Train supervisors in quality improvement
9. Hold “zero defects” days
10. Encourage employees to create their own quality improvement goals
11. Encourage employee communication with management about obstacles to quality
12. Recognize participants’ effort
13. Create quality councils
14. Do it all over again – quality improvement does not end
These steps would allow employer and employees to follow a “game plane” to continuous quality
assurance. Quality assurance teams should be put in place with senior members to insure all
steps are taken the quality assurance. This team will also train the employees on how to do it
right the first time. This management philosophy is a continuous process of providing quality
customer service.
This philosophy is one I believe in personally. It is so much easier to do thing right the first
time. In my profession I want all information to make the right decisions so it will only have to be
done once or right. Steps on how to do my job or provide good customer service will always be
helpful.