quality - advantages and disadvantages Flashcards
quality control adv
-Ensures that faulty goods are not sent to customers.
-Limits the potential for a bad reputation due to faulty products.
quality control disadv
-Can create a lot of waste as the quality of the goods are not checked until they are made and have to be thrown away if they do not meet quality standards.
-Products have to be reworked from scratch, costing the business time and money.
quality assurance adv
-Less wastage, which decreases costs spent on discarded materials.
-Easy to identify where faults in the production process lie.
quality assurance disadv
-Can slow down production as many processes are inspected.
-Can increase the costs of production, e.g. paying QA managers’ wages.
continual improvement adv
-The business stays ahead of the competition.
-The business can react easily to changing external factors.
continual improvement disadv
-The business can have high staff-development costs.
-Employees may feel under pressure to continually keep improving.
quality circles adv
-Employees will be motivated as they get to have a say in decision-making.
-Management get well-informed suggestions from the workers who actually produce the product.
quality circles disadv
-Employees meet during paid company time, meaning production time is lost.
-Employees are often trained to join a quality circle, costing the business even more time and money.
quality standards and symbols adv
-Awards prove to customers that a product has met an agreed standard of quality.
-Symbols can be used as a promotional tool to gain a competitive edge.
-Customers will have confidence in purchasing the product and may repeat purchase.
-Higher prices can be charged as the product is of high quality.
quality standards and symbols disadv
-Time-consuming processes need to be completed to achieve the award.
-Agreed standards need to be maintained at all times.
-If any award is removed it would give the organisation a poor reputation.
-Annual checks and audits by awarding bodies can disrupt production.
quality management adv
-Quality management should result in zero errors, which drastically reduces waste.
-Staff are motivated, as they are constantly consulted on improving quality.
-Products will be renowned for being of the highest quality, increasing customer confidence and market share.
-A culture of teamwork is established, as everyone works
together to improve.
quality management disadv
-Substantial staff training, to ensure no mistakes are made, will increase costs and result in lost work time.
-Requires the commitment of all staff, which could require a stricter selection process.
-Processes need to be continually monitored and compared to policies and procedures, which can be time consuming.
mystery shoppers adv
-The mystery shopper is not employed by or directly connected to the business. This means no bias is shown.
-Valuable feedback, which may be lost when a customer chooses simply not to buy a product, is gathered when a product is below standard or unsatisfactory.
-The mystery shopper can suggest improvements that ensure a better match between the experience that the customer actually has and the one the business intends them to have.
-Dissatisfied customers are likely to share their poor experiences with others, whereas the mystery shopper is not permitted to do this.
mystery shoppers disadv
-Staff may resent a mystery shopper evaluating them, if they are aware of it, and may take the feedback personally.
-The mystery shopper’s feedback may not be fully representative of the business as a whole as it provides a limited evaluation, i.e. one day, one branch, one customer service assistant, etc.
-Allowances have to be made for human error in judgements. Mystery shoppers are people who have feelings and opinions, which may cloud their judgement from time to time.
-Businesses need to pay mystery shoppers, often through an agency, increasing costs.
benchmarking adv
-If successful, the product will be as good as the best on the market
-Saves the business time developing their own approach to ensuring quality.
