Managing for Quality

Objectives

This Guideline provides a pathway for incubators to develop and benefit from quality management systems.

What is quality? A fundamental definition of quality is conformance to requirements. The term quality means different things to different people. J.M Juran (1988) states "Quality is fitness for use” and Gitlow et al (1989) states “Quality includes the expectation that a product or service exceed the expectations of the customer”.

According to the Vanderbilt University “the field of quality has its roots in agriculture”. Statistical research conducted by R.A Fischer in Britain early this century inspired W. Edward Deming to devote his life to the teaching and improvement of quality methods. After World War II Deming couldn’t find any interest in quality methodologies in the U.S., so he went to Japan where he found a receptive audience for his ideas. The Japanese fully embraced quality ideas and methodologies and commenced to integrate the concepts into their industrial base.

The assurance of quality within an incubator is not easy, since incubator managers are not only under tremendous pressure to adapt and/or enlarge support services but also because quality can be very subjective. An incubator manager’s idea of what constitutes high quality support services is not necessarily the same for other managers in another state, another country or even in the same incubator. Also, their perceptions of quality may be quite different from that of the client companies. To assure high quality within the incubator it is important to have indicators to measure quality provided and received. (See Guideline on Incubator Performance Evaluation)

The implementation of a quality assurance system could include Total Quality Management (TQM), Total Quality Control (TQC), or any other system. Any type of quality program aims to improve operating processes, products and services. They all comprise a series of planned activities that add value to the delivery of a given product/service, reducing the risk of flaws. Total Quality must be integrated with the overall mission, objectives and plans of the organization.

Adoption of internal standards of quality is recommended. According to the US Small Business Administration: “To gain an ISO 9000 registration, a company must meet certain standards for quality assurance in its operations, as certified by a third-party registration agency. The quality assurance system, not the product or service itself, achieves the registration. Any ISO 9000 registration says to customers: This company has a system in place to ensure that any product or service it sells will consistently meet international standards of quality. Companies that gain ISO 9000 registration often benefit from reduced operating costs and increased demand for their products or services. There is no doubt that any organization that adopts international standards gains competitive advantage over its competitors.

One of the ISO 9000 certified incubators in Brazil is the INATEL Incubator, a 12 year old technology based incubator located in Santa Rita do Sapucaí in the state of Minas Gerais. According to Mr. Rogério Abranches Silva, Assistant Coordinator of INATEL, in spite of all the work required and costs involved in the registration process, every incubator manager should pursue the establishment of a quality culture in the workplace. “After 12 months of hard work a professional upgrade was felt within the incubator. Having every process and procedure standardized helped us reduce the costs of doing things wrong and put our management team in touch with our customers, processes and people.”

Key Issues

Client Satisfaction –

Usually, a quality program only emphasizes the improvement of processes and procedures. However, Total Quality means completely satisfied client companies on the full range of products and services they receive from the incubator. It is about pleasing your costumers, not only preventing annoyances. Quality assurance should focus both on customer satisfaction and on internal business processes and procedures. Therefore, to achieve a real balance in quality assurance, incubator managers should identify and measure client companies’ needs and link them with improvements. It is about balancing the amount of support services currently available and the way in which these support services are delivered.

Understanding Client Expectations –

Related to the measurement of client satisfaction is the evaluation of client expectations. When measuring client expectations incubator managers should take into consideration several issues like culture, prevailing social structures, existing competitive conditions, the local economic situation and legal and regulatory aspects. However, expectations are not easy to measure since there is a mixture of subjective and objective factors.

Usually, your client will face more difficulty evaluating a service rather than a product. The perception of quality of a provided service comes from the comparison made between their expectation of a service and what is provided.

Innovation –

Quality management and total client satisfaction are particularly important when an enterprise is able to innovate. Innovation in customer service demands creativity and knowing what would interest the client company. Incubator staff should always put their imagination to work, based on their understanding of human needs. Providing your client companies with what everyone else is providing will certainly not surprise anyone or make an innovative difference.

Most incubator products and services are linked to psychological needs. Evaluation of incubator activities should include evaluation of the psychological impact of its support services on client entrepreneurs.

Staff Involvement -

Quality management in service delivery recognizes that people are the most important resource, and that employees have knowledge and experience to contribute. All the incubator team, with no exceptions, should be involved when an incubator decides to implement a quality assurance program. Incubator managers should transform their staff into real entrepreneurs themselves, and should change patterns if their incubator still sees employees as mere “task executors”. Managers need to promote real employee empowerment, and be seen to value initiative and hard thinking to support your client companies, through interest, integration, creativity and dedication of the incubator staff. Decisions should be shared among the team, which leads more to collaborative leadership than management by hierarchy.

Responsible Parties

All incubator members

Indicators

• Client companies’ level of satisfaction
• Stakeholders’ level of satisfaction
• Incubator growth and development

Results

• Achievement of international standards of organizational excellence.
• Improvement of operational processes, procedures and client satisfaction, reducing the risk of flaws.
• Adopting international standards.

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