Why quality have different definitions

If you want to understand something, explain it to someone else

If you want to understand anything, explain it to others. This sentence is considered one of the tools that should be known and used by every person who loves to develop himself and benefit others.

When I was preparing for an awareness campaign to spread the ideas of quality through small articles about quality on Twitter and Instagram, I asked my daughter to help me search for some pictures and general definitions of quality, and after she searched the Internet for these definitions and pictures, she asked me why there are many definitions for quality and which one is right? Why did people not agree on a standard definition of quality?

Here I entered into a short explanation process ​(yeah it was short) of my opinion on this subject and I then talked about it on my podcast channel “Simple ideas in the daily development of quality” (in Arabic) and it was well-received by the followers, so I decided to write it into an article or post for my thoughts on this topic

Why is identification important?

Before we discuss why we have different definitions of quality, let us start with a simple question: Why is the definition critical?

 It seems that this question is very easy, but after thinking, you will find that it is difficult and requires more focus and more reflection. Defining anything that represents the reason for its existence and represents its location or address on a map and the definition is the way to reach this site and then confirm that we have reached our right goal.

So the definition is a method of communication between the parties, a guide to access, and then a measure to confirm the achievement of the goals of the work.

Here lies the importance of defining anything. It is a means of communication between different parties when discussing topics that are based on a scientific basis or need a framework that defines basic points such as responsibility and limits. There are many discussions that end with the discovery that the thing being discussed is different from our understanding or that it is outside the limits of their coverage or their responsibilities.

Why are there different definitions of quality?

First, all of these famous definitions are correct!! As I explained earlier, each definition represents a method of communication between the parties, a guide to access, and then a measure to confirm the achievement of the goals of the work; So each definition is affected by who wrote it, why it was written, and the time of writing

All these definitions were written by experts to explain what is quality and connect their understanding to this changing and developing science. Quality science, or the field of quality, is a science that represents people’s thinking; and advances with the progress of people and society. It is a flexible science and not a static science.

The science of quality changes as people change

​Quality is one of the sciences that I call continuous changing and developing science, and the reason for their change is their connection with people and society. 

Quality science deals with people directly to explain what they mean by quality, for that the concept of quality changes with the change of society and people, and with the passage of time the complexity of the concept of quality increases, and even the areas of quality, it was focused in the past on manufacturing, and now it reaches education and medical services and to every field of life; so that you cannot find a field in life that is not connected to quality and for this with the diversity of people, places, time and areas of interest, the definitions of quality keep changing to keep pace and satisfy of all those interested in quality.

Here is another question: who is interested in quality or affected by quality? The answer is everyone. The consumer, the seller, the factory owner, the supplier, service provider, all have a relationship and have ideas about what quality is, even a child has ideas about what quality means to him.

If we look at the existing quality definitions, we will find that with its differences there is a relationship that brings it together, as I indicated earlier, these definitions are related to work, time, people, society, and also cost, but they have another important core, which is the satisfaction of the parties related to quality, this satisfaction needs to be balanced between the interested parties (customer, seller, factory owner, worker …) on a sustainable way which will lead to continuous quality and with sustainability the satisfaction continues, and the quality continues (maybe I will write an article explaining this relationship more in the future).

Using the definition of beauty to explain the variety in quality definitions

Everyone knows what is beautiful and can tell you what it is ​beauty, but it will be from their own point of view, and you cannot force anyone to be convinced that this thing is beautiful if he does not see it as such, 

But there are general rules of society on the beauty that most agree with it at a specific time and place, however, these rules and agreements on beauty may change with time because they are related to people’s concepts and desires

!We know if quality is missing

​So we can say, quality is hard to define, but we can recognize it when we see it. And we can notice its absence when the required level of our expectations for it is not achieved. What does this mean? Quality is closely related to expectations and is also linked to satisfaction.

Because of that, it was easy for everyone to know quality, but difficult to explain it, and we all know when it is not there.

And this is what my daughter came up with as a definition of quality and I liked it.

Quality is difficult to define, but we can recognize it when we see it. And we can notice its absence when the required level of our expectations for it is not achieved 

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How do I define quality?

 If I want to define quality, then ​quality is to satisfy all parties with the work and the product with the least effort and cost while maintaining sustainability. 

?How do I explain this 

It is the satisfaction of all parties, and here the parties are the ones who have a relationship with the work, (the service providers, the producer, the factory owner, the workers, the buyers, the distributors,…)  and this satisfaction is conditional on making the least effort in performing the work and at the lowest cost. 

Sustaining the least effort and lowest cost will lead to having the quality as it is intended to be achieved while maintaining production. 

Sustainability here is that the product is always made with that same quality by balancing the satisfaction of all.

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