Abstract

Problem solving (PS) and continuous improvement (CI) describe the impetus and the nature of work for quality professionals. Each quality tool available to quality professionals and made in any way popular in the field is appropriate at some level in PS and CI efforts at different phases and for different purposes. Plan-do-check-act, for example, is equally good for either PS or CI. For each approach, steps can be sorted along the lines of an introductory, body and a conclusory phase. Each starts with an attempt at description of the issue and/or conditions requiring a quality professional, proceeds to a diagnostic phase of a quantitative nature and closes with whatever activities are required on what bases to remediate, improve or eliminate the initiating issue. For a quality professional, familiarity with the approaches and their varying propriety per application can perhaps improve the improvement process.