Quality: Friend or Foe?
| Date | 01 October 1993 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059304000301 |
| Published date | 01 October 1993 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
122
Quality:
Friend
or
Foe?
Hazel
Kemshall,
Senior
Probation
Officer
in
the
West
Midlands
and
Lecturer
in
Social
Work
at
Birmingham
University
provides
a
critical
analysis
of
the
concept
of
Quality,
a
key
ideological
term
in
the
present
push
to
a
market
economy
base
for
the
public
sector
and
its
current
use
by
the
Probation
Service.
She
warns
against
an
uncritical
acceptance
of
a
term
that
may
well
be
a
’Trojan
Horse’
in
the
debate
between
finance
led
values
and
professional
ones.
An
alternative
view
of
the
term
Quality,
and
its
potential
to
unify
the
Service
in
the
pursuit
for
effectiveness
in
dealing
with
offenders
is
offered.
uality
is
set
to
become
the
new
w,atchword
of
the
1990s.
Much
vaunted,
little
understood,
with
many
public
sector
managers
adopting
the
term
unques-
tioningly
as a
means
of
either
improving
or
saving
their
organisations.
The
cynical
amongst
us
may
even
suspect
that
it is
simply
being
used
to
re-vitalise
the
jaded
and
under-
resourced
public
sector.
It
is
an
oft
quoted,
commonsense
term
now
ripe
for
confusion.
It
is
perhaps
time
therefore
to
take
stock
and
ask
what
can
it
mean
for
us
in
the
Proba-
tion
Service
and
how
can
we
harness
it
as
a
useful
tool
in effective
service
delivery.
From Mass Production
to TQM
Quality
in
its
original,
industry
related
form,
was
’reactive
and
inspection
orien-
tated’’,
specifically
linked
to
the
task
of
mass
production,
assisting
in
the
provision
of
high
volume
products
with
consistent,
unifortn,
and
inter-changeable
parts.
The
lat-
ter
were
of
particular
importance
to
the
munitions
industry,
and
quality
control
has
its
early
beginnings
there.
Over
time,
quality
has
evolved
as
a
concept
and
today
we
are
asked
to
think
of
quality
in
the
workplace
as
being
about
’zero
defects’,
preventing
error,
getting
it
right
first
time
and
’doing
the job
well’.
This
is
the
language
of
Quality
Assurance
and
Total
Quality
Management.
In
essence,
this
view
stresses
that
quality
concerns
should
be
built
into
the
original
specification
of
the
product
or
delivery
of
the
service,
continuously
monitored
and
im-
proved,
with
all
staff
committed
to
this
end.
Quality
in
this
context
is
about
getting
it
right
much
of
the
time,
providing
what
you
say
you
are
going
to
provide.
At
best,
it
is
meant
to
provide
a
value-added
measure
to
your
product
or
service,
and
put
you
at
the
leading
edge
in
the
competitive
race.
At
worst,
it
can
enslave
your
organisation
to
a
never
ending
pursuit
of
an
elusive
and
slippery
concept.
This
is
the
quality
quest
that
the
public
sector
has
inherited
from
the
private
economy
and,
as
Ann
James
has
recently
pointed
out2,
it
is
an
inheritance
with
very
particular
connotations.
The
1980s
saw
the
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