Why Quality is Important and How It Applies in Diverse Business and Social Environments, Volume I

CHAPTER 5

Quality and the Individual

The language used in connection with people and quality can be off putting. Addressing other members of staff as “human resources”—and departments dealing with the people involved in an organization are often called that, which doesn’t sit easily with many.

We are certainly deeply involved and central to many aspects of quality and will continue to be so whatever contributions artificial intelligence and robotics make to our future.

Our behaviours and attitude largely determine the look, feel, and success of service industries—as long as competence is present. Competence can’t be traded off against anything else. We may engineer out aspects of direct human control and involvement in manufacturing processes, ...