Discuss the application of William Edwards Deming's 1st principle of quality management (i.e. create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service) through the use of a 21st Century industry example?

Introduction

It was in the past that quality was a USP, but today it is an obligation. With businesses functioning at multiple locations and holding a plethora of product lines, managing quality and improvising its effectiveness has brought out areas for concern and discussion (Williams, 2015). Moreover, as in the past it was one in a bunch, that a company introduced aspects of managing quality, today all competitors are fighting the race of overriding each other in terms of quality innovations. With such a kind of competition in the market, the survival of a company is based on its quality management. The concept of quality management though has gained its pace and importance in the last two centuries but its inception and importance was identified back in the 1950s with the implementation of quality and its principles by Japanese companies like Toyota, Fuji and others though its actual release dates back to 1982 with publication of his theories in form of a book (Brown, 2013). The concept of constant improvement was the first among the principles of Deming which was further polished under the Japanese concept Kaizen. A very immaterial fact, as in the '50s, as presented by Deming, of introducing the quality aspect for both Products and services is seen today as the most sought after aspect in quality in the fast-growing service industry.

Quality in the past was majorly inspecting into the production process targeting attainment of desired standards in term of service delivery but the turn in centuries has brought out quality as a business excellence tool implemented to create a philosophical turnout in the image of the organization and its products and services and meeting a customer-focused approach (PP&S, 2014).

The work goes into analyzing the concept of quality management as identified and managed in the processes of Mc Donald, a fast food chain working in the service industry. The same has been analyzed based on the effective implementation of Edward Deming's age-old quality principles in the company.

Case Analysis

McDonald's, the fast-food chain, has well introduced total quality management in its system to manage the quality of food delivered across the world. Though it sounds simple, the challenge is in providing the same taste of food in all its product range in all its outlets across the world and manage competitiveness. Where hospitality industry is based on the service orientation and abilities of its personnel and almost all hotels and its chain face an issue of consistent quality in food with change in chef, McDonalds has been able to attain its quality control and quality management in a way that's beyond expectations, which has helped it survive the competition without impacting much on the price of its products (Theobald, 2015). The company credits the implementation of the age-old Deming's principles that have helped attain such a stature (Mc Donald’s , 2011). 

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