Abstract

Companies of all sizes must focus on four elements in order to determine their quality standing. These include a firm's position relative to market competition, the cost of poor quality for the organization, the quality culture, and the effectiveness of actions taken to achieve quality goals. There are several ways to assess the current quality culture of a small company. It is important to develop technologies that will meet customers' needs and expectations and to encourage customer-focused quality throughout the organization. Assessments of quality culture help companies to foster the five key behaviors required for the development of a positive quality environment. Companies must create and maintain and awareness of quality, provide evidence of management leadership on quality, encourage self-development and empowerment, provide opportunities for employee participation to inspire quality action, and offer recognition and rewards for achieving quality goals. Researchers studied four small firms to determine ways smaller organizations can assess their quality culture. Manufacturing firms tended to rely more heavily on informal and impromptu feedback, while service firms used more extensive and formalized methods for gathering quality information. Small businesses used three main methods to collect information: questionnaires, focus groups, and use of trusted peers. An assessment of employee perceptions is critical for determining the present quality culture in a small business.