For Quality Conquor the "Vital Few" Versus the "Trivial Many"

I don't make a habit of reading obituaries but there was a memorial published recently about Joseph M. Juran. I knew the name in a hazy way so, curious, I read about him and learned about an inventive innovator. Juran, along with Edward Deming, revolutionized the way businesses are managed. Both worked in Japan after World War II and were major influences on that resurgent economy. Both preached the mantra of improving quality - Deming in statistical methods, Juran on management methods.

Mr. Juran argued that producing higher quality goods might seem costly initially, yet the lowered costs for fewer repairs and chargebacks would result in a market advantage from the reputation for quality; a strategy that would pay off handsomely. Juran's take on the 80 / 20 principle stated that 80% of a company's problems came from 20% of the causes. If management would concentrate on the "vital few" rather than the "trivial many" it could improve its products and processes gaining both market share and efficiency.

He formulated a theory of quality-control management, the Juran Trilogy. It focused on planning, control, and improvement to create a management led culture of continuous quality improvement. I wish more company managers subscribed to Juarn's theory. It would solve many of their problems and allow them more time, energy, and capital to devote to creating new, better products and services while serving more customers.

It is evident when dealing with companies that adhere to Juran's theories (even if they had never heard of him) that they are constantly evolving to produce better products and services to continuousy satisfy their customers better and constantly working to improve every aspect of their business. They are working on the "vital few."

Yet 80% of companies are working on the "trivial many." Their strategies are often whims focused on the idea of the moment, vague clich?and fads consisting of expedient short-term "fixes" instead of long-term improvements. They move in an endless cycle from "fix" to "fix" while companies that are able to work on the long-term move in a far more forward-focused, quality direction.

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