From Quality to Business Excellence: A Systems Approach to Management [Paperback]

Charles G. Cobb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2003

As the face of business continues to change, organizations are looking for new ways to remain competitive and profitable. Many businesses have succumb to the "program du jour" management trap, jumping from one management philosophy to the next looking for the ultimate solution. ISO 9000, Baldrige, Six Sigma…which is the best program for your company? From Quality to Business Excellence: A Systems Approach to Management demonstrates how these and other management philosophies compliment each other and form the basis for a new systems approach to management. By better understanding how these approaches all potentially fit together, managers will be able to use these tools more effectively in a much more integrated approach. From Quality to Business Excellence will show how to integrate a management approach using a variety of methods to bring the most out of your business.

Use From Quality to Business Excellence to help your organization:

• Shift from a narrow, compliance-orientation to Quality Management to a high-impact, continuous improvement orientation that drives business results
• Learn how to apply the right management tools to your situation
• Create your own high performance management system to last for decades
• Use Information Technology More Effectively to Drive Business Results
• Build in the capability to absorb new techniques as they emergeAvoid gut-wrenching (and costly) restarts to accommodate new methods and standards

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Amer Society for Quality (February 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873895789
• ISBN-13: 978-0873895781
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #518,005 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important addition to every managers bookcase, February 27, 2003

By 

Adrian W. Bishop (Plymouth, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Quality to Business Excellence: A Systems Approach to Management (Paperback)

This is the first book I have read that gives real guidance to business owners and managers on the application of quality
standards and practices to genuinely improve their business operation and results. It does not concentrate on any one approach, but gives good, unbiased, advice on how to select and implement the most suitable quality management techniques that really add value. The author has done a good job researching his subject and has included some excellent case studies from well
known companies to support his argument. His conclusions are well thought out and his overall message clear.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Managers who want to make a REAL difference!, February 27, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: From Quality to Business Excellence: A Systems Approach to Management (Paperback)

This book is for "enlightened" managers who want to make a REAL operational difference within their company.
All material has been used in real life situations.

If management wants to take their company to an internal business excellence that will generate outstanding profitability, customer satisfaction, employee commitment and inherent continuous improvement, they need only two things...

1) ACTIVE commitment/participation from senior management and,
2) the tools in this book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Ain't Your Daddy's Quality System, January 31, 2005

By 

C. Null (Chandler, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From Quality to Business Excellence: A Systems Approach to Management (Paperback)

Step out of your typical "Quality" box and read a state-of-the-art book that will get you thinking differently! In this book Cobb pushes the envelope about quality systems thinking and argues that it's time quality professionals coalesce the many programs and international specifications offered in industry. By doing so, Cobb suggests that this integrated systems approach will be more effective and produce business results that are long lasting.

Indeed, today's quality industry has reached a quagmire of program-du-jours - Six Sigma, ISO 9001:2000, maturity tables, to name just a few - that may leave some people wondering how they all fit together to drive results. Cobb's vision, in adopting "systems thinking", says that it's ok - YES! IT'S OK!! - to not limit your company to one approach; but to pick and choose the best management tool for each situation and integrate them! His book has a number of helpful visuals such as systems roadmaps, process models, alignment of business metrics, and a lifecycle model for complex improvement initiatives. His fourth chapter "Designing Integrated Management Systems," drives home the point through examples and that our changing industry "...requires greater alignment among technology, systems, people, and organizational units."

Cobb thoroughly and efficiently describes typical programs and their linkages, and surprises the reader by addressing other enablers such as cultural and behavioral factors, knowledge management, and the strong use of cross-functional integration of metrics to drive customer value. His book does fall short, however, in citing a process for translating ever-changing incoming customer requirements into the company's integrated quality systems.

Overall, this is an excellent book to drive innovative thinking and paradigm shifts about quality and implementing change. This definitely is not your "daddy's quality system" anymore!