CQI armorial ensign

It is timely to examine our armorial ensigns following the granting of a Royal Charter.

A full description of the armorial ensigns appeared in the June 1979 edition of our Technical Journal Quality Assurance and I have used this to create the annotated graphic below.

The Armorial Ensigns is therefore implying that the CQI should stand for:

Achievement of standards

It remains our mission in society to influence the pursuit of quality which is in essence the achievement of standards for public benefit. Where we have perhaps failed is in allowing our influence to decline and others to usurp our position in this regard.

Watchfulness

We have always monitored the field in which we operate but our ability to respond to change has not been as effective as it ought to have been which has led to a decline in membership and influence.

Communication between people

We have always had the means for communication between members within the Institute and we have had strong links with other organisations and government, but perhaps the bugle has not sounded as clear a note as it should to have attracted and retained members to our cause and alert those we seek to influence.

Motivation of people 

Through our publications, training, conferences and education schemes we have attempted to motivate not only members but leaders in industry and commerce in the pursuit of quality but once again the sound of our bugle has not been of sufficient quality to sustain the motivation. Quality initiatives have not fulfilled their promise as we have allowed commercial interests to distort and even change the notes our bugle sounds.

Virtue, honour and integrity 

It is possible that these traits are meant to indicate that the conduct of the Institute’s governors, members and staff will be of the highest moral standards with abstention on moral grounds from any form of wrong-doing or vice. However, as with all organisations the needs and expectations of stakeholders are sometimes incompatible such that it is not possible to be fair, honest or open to one group of stakeholders without appearing to deceive another group. It’s a delicate balance to manage but more attention could have been given to these traits to ensure they were shared by all within the Institute.

Inspection 

The eye within an annulet might relate to the origins of the Institute and we have certainly moved a long way from those origins but the image has a certain relevance for what we stand for. We observe, we look for patterns, we discover causes and test theories then look again to see if those theories work in bringing about improvement. We might not implement the solutions – that is for others to do but we influence what they do through the application of the knowledge we provide.

Plan, measure and control

This is the motto of the Institute but the Latin words do not translate directly. There is no Latin for plan and Fingere is more about shaping, forming and creating. Perhaps the Latin word Concepta meaning conceive, or imagine is a better translation. Also the Latin word Rectificare fits the idea of control better than Tractare which is more to do with traction, pulling and handling.

The trilogy of Plan, measure and control uses three elements of Deming’s Plan Do, Study, Act methodology. It omits the element “do” because the concepts of quality control are about setting standards, devising methods to achieve them, measuring performance and acting on the difference.

But is this now out-dated especially as it is entirely different to the new motto? “Through innovation and care we create quality”  possibly conceived without any reference to the original motto. This notion of innovation and care came out of the rebranding following the granting of our Royal Charter.

In examining the brochure published at the time we find the following rationale:

We must begin by understanding that our job (of applying the tools and measurements to achieve quality) is a never- ending process, that it is about innovation. The minute we stop innovating we stand still and quality diminishes. And we must accept that to do something well, we have to care about it. No one can make us do that; it must com from within. Quality stems from innovation and flows from care.

On closer examination of this rationale we find the logic is flawed. The job of applying the tools and measurements to achieve quality is not only about innovation and the minute we stop innovating we do not stand still.

There is a danger that we are advocating throwing the baby out with the bathwater as we can improve in leaps and bounds simply by using better what we know already. For example it does not require innovation for organisation to simply do what they say they will do and honour their commitments.

What has happened here is that in the quest to produce sound bites, the marketing consultants have misconstrued the concepts. It is true that if we were to resist all change to the status quo we would not survive but:

• There are changes that arise from the application of existing ideas, tools and techniques that bring either gradual improvement or breakthrough in performance.
• There are changes that arise from the application of new ideas, tools and techniques that lead to improvement on any scale i.e. innovation.

Quality, as we know, stems from understanding stakeholder needs and managing the processes that produce outputs that satisfy those needs. Doing this efficiently and effectively requires that we take care in so much as doing the right things right first time, doing what we say we will do and acting as responsible citizens. It also means that when appropriate we think outside the box, find better ways of doing things, embrace change and promote creativity to bring about innovation.

Juran writes on improvement thus “Putting out fires is not improvement of the process - Neither is discovery and removal of a special cause detected by a point out of control. This only puts the process back to where it should have been in the first place”. Doing what we say we will do might not be innovative but, it might be a revolutionary in some organisations.

I think it is a matter of context. When the original motto was conceived, the Institute was at the transition from quality control to quality assurance in the evolution of ideas on the achievement of quality. The thinking had moved from a notion of inspection as a means of achieving quality (i.e. sorting good products from bad ones) to one of failure prevention through planning and product design.

Now, the thinking has moved beyond product into all aspects of an organisation and so “plan, measure and control” is applied from the boardroom to the showroom and applies equally to strategic planning as it does to product planning.

The new motto translates into Latin as: