Definition Quality - The ISO definition of Quality

Which is the definition of quality?

  • Quality (noun)

    Votes: 1 33.3%
  • Quality (adj.)

    Votes: 1 33.3%
  • None of the above

    Votes: 1 33.3%

  • Total voters
    3
  • Poll closed .
J

jasonb067

#1
There are two primary definitions of quality in the Merriam – Webster dictionary.

Quality (noun)

1
a : peculiar and essential character : nature <her ethereal quality — Gay Talese> b : an inherent feature : property <had a quality of stridence, dissonance — Roald Dahl> c : capacity, role <in the quality of reader and companion — Joseph Conrad>
2
a : degree of excellence : grade <the quality of competing air service — Current Biography> b : superiority in kind <merchandise of quality>
3
a : social status : rank b : aristocracy
4
a : a distinguishing attribute : characteristic <possesses many fine qualities> b archaic : an acquired skill : accomplishment
5
: the character in a logical proposition of being affirmative or negative
6
: vividness of hue
7
a : timbre b : the identifying character of a vowel sound determined chiefly by the resonance of the vocal chambers in uttering it
8
: the attribute of an elementary sensation that makes it fundamentally unlike any other sensation



Quality (adj)

: being of high quality


My question is which (if either) of these two definitions are the ISO using in defining Quality management systems? If none of the above then what definition do you suppose is being used?

P.S. I feel that this is something which has been discussed here before but I can not find it. If it is here somewhere I am sorry.
 
Elsmar Forum Sponsor
#3
Re: ISO definition of quality

One thing that struck me immediately with the latest revision of ISO 9001, is they removed the language of product quality to product conformity to requirements.

It is kinda interesting that a Qualtiy Management System - Requirements standard removed the word quality from the language. :notme:
 
J

JQuality

#4
The term "quality" is a lot more subjective than saying "requirements specified by the customer" or, "conform to product requirements". I think that it's an important distinction.
 

Pancho

wikineer
Super Moderator
#5
I personally like Robert Pirsig's definitions (or non-definitions) of Quality from his book Lila, Ch. 5:

Quality doesn't have to be defined. You understand it without definition, ahead of definition. Quality is a direct experience independent of and prior to intellectual abstractions...

To the intellect the process of defining Quality has a compulsive quality of its own. It produces a certain excitement even though it leaves a hangover afterward...

What the Metaphysics of Quality would do is take this separate category, Quality, and show how it contains within itself both subjects and objects. The Metaphysics of Quality would show how things become enormously more coherent — fabulously more coherent — when you start with an assumption that Quality is the primary empirical reality of the world . . .
Yup, that's the assumption to make.

:D
 
J

jasonb067

#6
Re: ISO definition of quality

One thing that struck me immediately with the latest revision of ISO 9001, is they removed the language of product quality to product conformity to requirements.

It is kinda interesting that a Qualtiy Management System - Requirements standard removed the word quality from the language. :notme:
This exactly why I vote number 2. This standard is directing a management system which the ISO believes is a quality methodology of management. I know this is obvious to those that know the contents but too many make assumptions of scope based on title alone.
 

Big Jim

Super Moderator
#7
From ISO 9000:2005

quality: degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements.

If you want to dig deeper into that definition, they reference definitions for both requirements and characteristics.

There are also notes showing that "quality" can be used with adjectives such as poor, good, or excellent; and that quality is "inherent" as opposed to "assigned".

Another definition that I often run across is consistency.
 
V

vanputten

#8
If one does not look at ISO 9000:2005, how would you know if ISO provided a defintion?

The Technical Comittees within ISO use the Oxford English Dictionary if the term is not already defined in a standard.

Parsig's book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenace" should be required reading for anyone in the "Quality" field. The book is about trying to define what "Quality" is.
 
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