Quality Management Maturity Grid
The Quality Management Maturity Grid , or QMMG for short , is a maturity matrix designed by Philip B. Crosby that serves as a quality benchmark for companies and organizations. Crosby published this in 1979 in his book "Quality is Free".
Crosby's approach and tools
Maturity models serve to illustrate the development of an organization or a company. A development level / maturity level is assigned.
Philip B. Crosby , along with Joseph M. Juran and William Edwards Deming , is considered one of the American pioneers of quality who tried to revolutionize the definition of quality. To directly confront the conventional way of thinking about quality, he conceived five false hypotheses:
- Quality means goodness, luxury, gloss or weight
- Quality is immaterial
- There is an economy of quality
- All problems always arise from the employee due to several predefined criteria. Since the maturity levels build on each other, the criteria of this level as well as those below must have been successfully completed in order to reach the respective level.
- Quality arises in the quality department
Through these untruthful assumptions he underlines the new understanding of quality that he has conveyed.
As the title of his 1979 book "Quality is Free" suggests, Crosby is convinced that quality is not linked to an increase in costs. Crosby also emphasizes that the cost-based measures of a company arise through correction processes, i.e. when production does not initially run error-free and therefore does not meet the requirements. Hence, Crosby concludes that quality is an organization's ability to meet requirements.
Based on the fundamental definition that quality is a free, attainable, measurable and profitable good, Crosby implements tools with which companies and organizations can develop their quality program autonomously and check the quality standard independently. Among the best known tools of quality management development grid count (English Quality Management Maturity Grid, in short. QMMG) and the fourteen-step improvement program (engl. Forteen-step Quality Improvement Program, in short: QIP). In addition, Crosby is developing the 10 management traits that are effective in implementing a quality management program. With the help of these tools and strategies, Crosby is shaping a new way of doing business in terms of quality management. He also creates revolutionary-thinking individuals and organizations who strive for the zero-error strategy and thus work more successfully and profitably.
Structure of the QMMG
The Quality Management Maturity Grid is a maturity matrix consisting of five columns and six rows. Each column represents a maturity level that the organization can be in. The lowest level of quality development is called uncertainty in the maturity matrix. As the company develops its quality standard, it moves from this level through the levels of awakening, insight and wisdom to the highest level of certainty. The maturity levels are compared to the six evaluation categories, management understanding and attitude, quality status in the organization, problem handling, quality costs in% of sales, quality improvement measures and the total of the company's quality attitude in the lines. Each entry in the matrix has a brief description of how each individual assessment criterion is implemented in the respective maturity levels.
use
The QMMG is not only used to give the company an indication of the quality level it is in, but also provides suggestions on how it can improve its quality program. To do this, it must try to meet the criteria of the next higher level of maturity. In order to be able to record the current status of quality management, employees from various departments and positions are asked to give a subjective assessment. For each evaluation criterion, one to five points are awarded according to the degree of maturity. The minimum total number of points to be achieved is therefore six points, the maximum amount to be achieved is thirty points.
Advantages and disadvantages
As already explained in the use of the QMMG, the organization can set up a quality improvement program independently and simply on the basis of the evaluation result. Since evaluation criteria for the maturity levels are listed, the quality standard is easy to determine. In addition, the evaluation criteria of the higher levels of maturity give the company orientation opportunities to continuously improve. Furthermore, an evaluation can be carried out quickly and effortlessly.
In the event that employees doubt the anonymity of the survey, this can lead to a distorted result of the quality evaluation. Furthermore, it is possible that employees from different positions have different assessments and can only figure this subjective perception. It is therefore necessary to take the view from different positions and evaluate them. However, this also offers the organization the opportunity to carry out position-related implementation strategies of the QMMG and to be able to implement different points of attack as solution approaches.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b QZ-online: Maturity models (last accessed May 25, 2016)
- ↑ a b c d e Ian Nerney: " A summary of quality is free " (last accessed on May 25, 2016)
- ↑ a b c d Tom Gaskel: Quality and Product Insights (last accessed May 25, 2016)
- ↑ a b Michael Giebel: Kassler series quality management (last accessed: May 25, 2016)