Small Business Today Magazine NOV 2014 EXHIBIT NETWORK | Page 20

EDITORIALFEATURE

Big Picture of Business -

Real Quality vs. Arbitrary Metrics
By Hank Moore, Corporate Strategist™

T

here’s this thing that online retailing websites do.  They use
the term “metrics” out of context.  Their metrics are arbitrary and they jerk the chains of sellers with figures that are
unsubstantiated.  They arbitrarily disable accounts.  Sadly, this
is what is thought of as “quality” in the digital age.  Websites that
sell products are digital platforms, not the arbitrators of quality in
the business world.

Metrics are easily skewed and do not reflect the overall customer satisfaction.  A criticism of performance metrics is that
when the value of information is computed using mathematical
methods, it shows that even performance metrics professionals
choose measures that have little value.  This is referred to as the
“measurement inversion.”  Metrics seem to emphasize what organizations find immediately measurable and tend to ignore high
value measurements simply because they seem harder to measure.

Quality is not something that managers assign others to achieve. 
It is a mindset that permeates organizations from top-down as
well as bottom-up.  Rather than assume all is wrong or right with
an organization and take a defensive posture, management must
view quality as essential to their economic survival or growth.

Organizations measure quality by overall involvement.  It is not
enough for management to endorse quality programs; they must
actively participate.  Quality applies to service industries and manufacturing operations.  Even non-profit and public sector organizations must utilize quality approaches for staff and volunt Y\