No two organizations define quality in the exact same way, whether due to their industry, their organization size, or their cultural and historical contexts. Indeed, even within an organization’s culture, finding and coming to agreement on quality is often a challenge. At all levels of the organization, the language and practice of quality methodologies can assist both leaders and their workforce. Thinking of quality as a culturally sensitive issue requires accountability, patience, and processes to create daily practices that are rooted in quality principles.

In this Category Study, ASQE explores the connectivity of two Insights on Excellence^® categories—Operations and Barriers & Disruptors—to build effective operations through inclusive culture. This approach helps to understand how the strength of quality management systems enables organizations to better handle disruption and how quality is a culturally sensitive issue that impacts operations in ways that are unexpected or external to the process.

This is an updated version from the original published in April 2023.