Quality and value

This phrase, at the bottom of an empty page, perfectly sums up my memories of the quality management systems which invaded consulting firms in the mid-1990s. It is stating the obvious; it has no proper verb (no action....); and it treats us as though we’re stupid. Fortunately, they didn’t last long, at least outside some very specific areas of the public sector. The invasion of the initiative-snatchers evaporated, leaving only shelves of decaying ring-binders and process checklists as a sign that it had ever existed.

I was chatting to Tim Morris, who’s a professor at the Said Business School in Oxford and an expert on professional services, and we ended up talking about fruit. An enterprising, and presumably fiendishly healthy, Stamford professor put a bowl of fruit outside his office so that the students could help themselves for free. Faced with three different types of fruit, the students decided quickly and felt virtuous.

Despite the best intentions of highly skilled and paid consultants, purchasing staff, budget holders and users, the number of professional services assignments that end up with unsatisfactory outcomes or dissatisfied participants, is too high.

It is hard to establish the true level of satisfaction; clients are cautious about admitting to problems for reasons of credibility or confidentiality, and providers and unlikely to volunteer the information.