Q for Quality
02. 10. 2024
Mostly, people answer that quality is something that is the best. Something that is good. Something that is useful. What is useful to me. The emphasis is on me. Or to several people. Because what is good for one person may be bad for another, or vice versa. If one person likes coffee and another tea, it will be difficult for them to talk about drinking their favorite hot beverage if they switch. It would be difficult for both to judge whether the coffee or tea is of good quality if they do not normally drink it. But we did just swap both of their favorite things. So, it is a personal feeling. It’s a personal view of the drink. It’s likely that both drinks are prepared well enough, and yet the feeling of both after the swap is not the best.
My favorite definition is: “Quality is meeting the customer’s requirements and expectations.” Or the user. So, the end user of something, a product or a service. Anything, basically. Which, after all, is clearly seen in the case of the coffee and tea. It is true that the coffee and tea were made with the assumption of meeting the requirements and expectations of both. But after the changeover, the coffee and tea continued to meet the requirements but not the expectations of the users. You could say that the requirements are linked to a standard, to a norm of how coffee or tea should be prepared. In this respect, the person who prepares the beverage has to comply with generally accepted standards. For example, it must use the right raw materials, it must follow the right way of preparing the beverage, it must be ‘packaged’ in the right packaging. Hygiene is probably one of the essential requirements, in addition to appropriate raw materials. The preparation process must be correct, otherwise the drink will not meet the first quality condition.
On the other side is the user’s expectation. What do we expect? Only the best? Really? Always? I don’t know if we are willing to pay for that. I don’t know if we are willing to pay for a beverage service beyond our expectations. It is true that most people expect the ‘packaging’ to be adequate. So, a cup that does not have sharp edges, that is not dirty, that has a handle or something like that so that we do not get burnt. And so on. Do you ever think about that? Not usually, because these are things that are expected. Which are the general norm. In any case, we expect the drink to be warm. To be prepared just before, to be fresh. If it is too hot, we do not like it very much, but that is easily solved. We just wait. On the other hand, if it is too cold, it is not so easy to solve. And it is not something we expect.
Quality is a kind of balance, between what is possible and our expectations of how it should be. And these expectations, like requirements, have been shaped over time. After all, coffee has not always been drunk hot. It is well known that in the past, ladies drank cold coffee because of the non-existence of face powder (after all, that’s why they say cold coffee is for beauty). So requirements and expectations change over time. Requirements probably change because of scientific knowledge, not even necessarily related to the product itself. In the case of coffee, also with the science behind the face cream. And then with the development of technologies. What is even possible. Because a couple of hundred years ago, there was no technology, not even the technology to produce the raw materials to make a more durable powder. And there are many other things that could have been found. In general, the requirements increase with development. As the standard of a population rises. Most obviously probably in hygiene requirements.
But in a way, the requirements are also man-made. A group of people. So somehow the demands are part of a wider agreement. A broader agreement on what is good enough. Because the requirements are, in principle, the minimum conditions that a producer has to meet. So, whoever is making the drink, if we are talking about tea and coffee. Not only him, but also everyone before him in the production chain. Also, the person who grows and processes the raw material. The one who makes the beverage preparation device. The one who produces the cups. Do you ever wonder how many requirements have been met to serve you a cup of coffee or tea.
When the waiter brings the cup to the table, we don’t think about it. Not at all. Yet a whole range of people have led to you getting the coffee or tea you expect. And yet, in the end, you only get angry with the waiter if something is not good and, conversely, reward the waiter if you are satisfied. Interesting, isn’t it? Everyone in the chain of making your coffee or tea must have gone to great lengths to make sure that everything is as it should be. They have all tried to be of high quality and to meet the requirements and expectations that you and no one else have. And of course all those who are drinking coffee or tea at the same moment, either before you or after you. If requirements are a matter of the wider population and its agreement on what is good in time and place, expectation is a different dimension of quality. Yes, place is important too, because coffee is drunk in different ways around the world. Better said, it is prepared in different ways. You have all been surprised to find that the coffee you like is called something different in Slovenia than in, let’s say, Germany. Expectation is one of the strongest emotions. The greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment. If expectation is, in most cases, recognized as a positive emotion, then once that expectation is met or lived up to, a positive or negative experience follows.
We were all waiting in a queue on the road. In a traffic jam. But is it not easier to wait if we know how long we are going to wait? The worst is when we do not know what is ahead. If we had known that we would be in a queue for 15 minutes, or 2 hours, it would have been easier to wait. We would have got distracted by something else. Otherwise, we have to be constantly on the alert that we will have to keep driving. Conversely, we know that we have so much and so much time that we can spend on anything. Just an example of how we can influence people’s expectations. By informing them, by explaining to them, by educating them. The more they know about something, the easier it will be to meet their expectations. That does not mean that they will be permanently more satisfied. No, absolutely not. Because they will demand more. Their expectations are likely to grow, because they know more about it than before. They are more likely to appreciate it all, but not necessarily. Because they will be much more critical of everything that has happened and is happening with the product or service they want or are ordering.
We see that the expectation is really very personal, and it varies. It also changes with people. Everyone has their own expectations. It is true that most people belong to the average, but you have people who expect less, maybe a lot less, and you have some people who expect more, a lot more. After all, everyone in the chain of production or service should be asking something quite different from what is usually asked of the providers. Most of the time, they focus on what they know, what they offer. Instead of asking what the customer needs (expects). What the customer is “capable of”, not what I am capable of. After all, they always ask you what kind of coffee or tea you’re going to have. They don’t make the same coffee or tea for everyone. After all, coffee or tea does not cost the same everywhere in the world. Nor do different types of coffee or tea cost the same in the same place. That’s because they meet our (your) expectations in some way. Why is this so easy to understand with coffee or tea? Why is the concept of expectation easy to understand when it is about us, when we are the customer? Conversely, we often do not do it very well. Why? Why the seller (supplier) often focuses on what he offers and not on what the (potential) buyer expects. Why do they not ask what the prospective buyer expects when developing products.
We are too concerned with price expectations, not content. What is the customer’s expectation of content. Are we able to offer him something more. Meet or even exceed his expectations? Often no. Because on the other hand, our expectation is that if something is good for most, then it is good for all. Why, as a provider, would I expect everyone to be happy with what we think is good. That it is right. I am not sure that that is meeting the expectations of the customer or the user. Neither! Make no mistake, the customer also has a part to play in this. Customer expectations should not be beyond the limits of what is possible. Expectations must not be unrealistic. At least not at the moment. You cannot expect to go to the bank and get interest-free credit. Because that is not possible, at least not in this day and age. Even though that may be the expectation of some. But it is not possible, nor is it fair. Because the bank is also offering credit as a service, and it has to pay all the costs that come with it. Because, like everyone else, bank employees expect to be paid for their work. Banal, you may say. But do you ever wonder what all a bank has to do (have) to offer you credit? Even with coffee or tea, you don’t ask yourself that.
Quality is a concept that is imbued with our own feelings. Our perception of the world around us. And when we think about “meeting customer requirements and expectations” we will always find the right answer to what quality is. If we simplify the question, and leave out just one word, one part of the definition of quality, we too quickly arrive at a misunderstanding of quality as such. As a result, it probably also means that people will not accept your product or service as being adequate or of good quality.
Primoz
Next time, 16 October 2024, Routine (procedure, method)