Abstract
This chapter gives an overview of the importance of the quality as a whole in a company, considering it moves in an environment not only determined by the velocity of change of the technologies but also by the cultural change suffered in recent years. It has been proposed a new framework where new factors have to be analyzed to achieve a company pioneer and leader in the industry. Also, it explains all the benefits of doing it and how it will affect the performance of the staff, in the vision of clients and users, and the financial results of the firm. In conclusion, all these advantages will have a great benefit to society.
TopIntroduction
Although quality and value have always been a concern for small or large entrepreneurs, this vision must be checked and updated. Based on IT (Information Technology) quality and its evolution from its origins until now, the business environment is now moving needs to be taken into account. It is an environment disruptive, changing, and hyperconnected where the power of social networks has grown exponentially. The impact and speed of communication are so high that it has made companies invest money and efforts to control as far as possible the effect of social networks.
In this scenario, some of the big, or known, trends adopted or assimilated by most companies must be reviewed to survive. The value of quality is taking on particular relevance since it must be considered from another perspective, the new technologies that require a change. In this chapter, it has been considered some of these technologies or technological advances, such as Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT), or cybersecurity, among others that are now priorities for every company (Blosch, 2019). This quality factor, so relevant here and now, has to be led and commanded by the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO). However, the collaboration and participation of all the staff are not only necessary but also indispensable, due to they are also part of the social networks, not only from the point of view of employees but also, in some cases, from the point of view of the user or even an influencer.
As mentioned previously, the support and follow-up of the leader is essential, but not enough. The disruptive environment has led the company to require the existence of new profiles, among which the profile of a quality management leader stands out, whose weight will increase day by day. Other existing profiles need to be updated because they will have to cover more needs, such as the Chief Learning Officer (CLO), that changes slightly regarding the past, and can have a significant impact in this changing environment (Lackey, 2000).
Leaders’ roles related to quality are not limited to products and services. Quality-related leaders increase EBITDA, manage human resources efficiently, and optimize quality management. The rankings made by many consulting groups show the desire of many people to work or be part of a specific company. The vision people have of it is very positive. They will see the company as an excellent place to develop a professional career, to work, they will want to be part of its staff. Usually, they will wish to have products or services offered by such a company, since it is assumed to have the same high quality. People’s perception of the company is more relevant now than in the past due to the echo of each comment or review vertiginously spread through social networks.
This chapter proposes a new quality framework, based on the experience of more than fifteen years working on projects carried out by different companies. By analyzing how quality has to be considered in the current environment, significant due deficiencies have been detected in many companies. It has been observed that the focus continues to be placed mainly on products and services, without considering quality weight in the leadership style and in the way of managing the company. Nowadays, more people are looking at the behavior of the company when there is some change in technology, normative, or anything that influences it. Thus, it has been detected the necessity of designing a quality analysis proposal, considering the factors that affect and influence this quality in the current digital ecosystem, so different and changing from recent years.
This proposal is framed in the area of management, leadership in terms of quality, without losing the way the quality gained in products and services, but thinking more about how the company responds and reacts to current events. This is the reason why several Critical Success Factor (CSF) have been enumerated. It is necessary to have them in mind when thinking about how to lead with quality from a high point of view, the point at which the CEO is the responsibility of leading a company where quality is the benchmark in each one of its actions, and what makes them different and better than competitors.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Influencer: It is a person that uses social networks to give an opinion and who is considered by a sector of the population as a reference to follow.
Connective Leadership: It is when a leader works as a facilitator between team members, helping to work together and to create a collaborative environment.
Transformer CLO: They are formed by s enior managers that help companies and employees to thrive. They drive the main changes in a company, transforming their learning methods, forgetting old ways of learning.
Internet of Everything: The fact of considering that in the future, almost all devices will be connected, so every machine will have the required technology to be more automatic and, in a certain way, more intelligent.
Intelligence of Things: It is the way to give any machine attributes of human beings, thanks to the AI and connecting all among them.
Disruptive: A change that breaks with previous ideas and conventions, implying a significant shift in enterprises to survive in the new environment.
Resilience: It is the capacity that a company has to face any problem or difficulty and recover from it quickly, minimizing the impacts.
Mentoring: A way of teaching an employee through the experience of another employee with an extensive professional career and acquired knowledge for his expertise in a diverse group of projects, departments, or companies.
Quality Circle: It consists of a group of employees who periodically dedicate part of their time to find and implement the solutions to problems related to their work.