Rethinking Quality Improvement - WSJ

Rethinking Quality Improvement
The Wall Street Journal 09/19/05
author: Erin White
(Copyright (c) 2005, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

Managers have been falling head over heels for quality-improvement programs for years. The systems -- which go by unblinkingly nerdish names such as TQM, ISO 9000 and Six Sigma -- differ in details, but they all aim to reduce error and improve quality by standardizing processes.

These so-called process-management techniques took off in the U.S. in the 1980s at manufacturing companies desperate to compete with higher-quality Japanese products. But they have been widely applied across industries from retailing to financial services.
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The systems can help boost quality and efficiency and help companies cut costs.
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Now, some academics and consultants are raising questions about the limits of these systems. In essence, they say managers have stretched the techniques, by applying them too broadly to more creative areas such as research and new-product development.
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The critics say process management helps improve existing products and routines, but can hinder a company's ability to innovate.

How many companies use these processes? Does yours? Do you think it limits innovation?

Edited: Visual Corrections

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