Is It Possible to “Overdo” Quality?

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” isn’t a motto usually associated with the quality sector. If anything, professionals in the field believe just the opposite — they tend to be relentless in their pursuit of improvement. And to be fair, there are plenty of reasons to adopt a continuous approach to improvement; research indicates that better quality has a significant and positive relationship with business performance. Perfection might be just out of reach, but betterment never is.

However, a headlong race towards improvement at all costs can cause businesses to stumble. While quality initiatives can provide extremely valuable outcomes, it is possible to go too far in pursuit of an incremental improvement that offers limited returns. In this whitepaper, we’ll explore the seemingly blasphemous idea of “overdoing” quality by teasing apart the benefits and potential hazards of launching a continuous improvement initiative. This paper will also:

• Discuss the necessity of conducting value-add assessments on potential quality initiatives
• Illustrate the consequences of over-correcting in pursuit of quality improvements
• Outline the process for implementing a successful improvement initiative