Quality Without Tears: The Art of Hassle-Free Management

Unlike some of Crosby's books, where the material is getting very dated, this one is pretty timeless. Phil was a good author, with an approachable style and easy read. Where this book differs is that he makes extensive use of vignettes and other stories to demonstrate management principles that are as relevant today as when the book was written 25 years ago. I would recommend it to any manager.

A solid understanding and committment with the concepts presented on this book: the absolutes of quality, the fourteen steps process and the individuals role, will cause quality to happen if the company decides to be involved in the life long process of quality improvement.'Hassle free offers better working relationships, a smooth system and happy employees'

In Quality Without Tears, Crosby adds new layers to his original "zero defects" philosophy. He offers fourteen steps for quality improvement in teams. Let's look at one of them, Step 6, "corrective action." The common problem with "corrective action," says Crosby, is that people don't understand what the term means.Suppose, says Crosby, that you suddenly found a grizzly bear in your back yard: "The answer would not be to set up an armed camp to protect yourself from the bear. This is the sort of action that takes place when parts of an organization are given a shoot-to-kill license. All that results is a lot of yard that can't be used and several dead bears."Corrective actions have to begin by identifying the source of the bears. Another step is Zero Defects Day: "Many people rarely have exciting days at work . . . A well-planned, dignified, Zero Defects Day on which management understands what it is talking about is a delight that will be remembered forever."Recognition also plays a role. An organization recognizes people who can serve as "beacons." These are the people who shine so brightly that they help keep everyone heading in the right direction:"Many managers feel, somewhat cynically, that people are being paid to do their jobs and that's that. This attitude reflects an insensitivity to people that is a trademark of many hockey-style managers."To drive his philosophy home, Crosby cites an unusual case study:In "A Quality Carol," Emory Spellman falls asleep on a bus. A spirit appears and takes him to see his deceased partner. The partner is repairing thousands of defective items that their company has made.This is punishment ..."... For being the cause of the hassle other people had to live with. For not preventing these things by being interested in quality."The apparition warns:"All these years, you have treated quality like something you could take in or take out. Well, unless you change your ways, you are going to wind up right next to me, forever and ever, twenty-four hours a day. No time off, no visitors, no meetings ---- just all the problems you ever caused."Predictably, three more visitors appear.Quality Past is a former college professor who wants to retract something he had taught Emory. The misinformed lesson was to cut corners on quality.Quality Present appears as a woman who tries to sell him on the quality vaccine. Failing in that, she brings Emory's customers to him through a television screen. One after another comes into view with a litany of complaints about the company's products and services.When Quality Future enters, Emory finally sees the light. The final and most portentous visitor is a "severe looking person carrying a briefcase and dressed in a black three-piece suit." He has just bought the company from a bankruptcy court.Emory returns later in the book and applies Crosby's methods to avert that fate.

Philip Crosby is widely recognized as a quality pioneer for the concepts he drove homw with Quality is Free and Quality Without Tears. After reading, Quality Without Tears, I was struck by how deep a conviction he held that his concepts were valid. It's easy to say that now that they have become widely accepted, but it takes a visionary to act that way when they're a somewehat new approach.The concepts which Crosby developed were a extension of the work of Dr. Edwards Deming (who also has published a bunch of books) and Crosby's work seems to be the basis of the later Six Sigma approach that proved to work so well.

Phil Crosby has the most coherent view of achieving quality of anyone I've read in 25 years of management. I continue to come back to him when I hit a quality problem in our company or those from whom we buy. This book is the best summary of his philosophy, in my opinion.