Quality management is always a relative issue

A real quality management – that means quality of management in practice – always takes place in a real organization and in its transactions with stakeholders of its business community. In order to be concrete and practical quality management should be considered from one organization’s viewpoint. Quality is manifested ultimately by organization’s outputs (products) to its stakeholders.

Within any organization there is always some kind of status quo situation in respect to the quality of management. This present situation is the existing unique reality within the organization. The organization cannot disengage itself from the past, from its historical development that has happened. At the very present moment the organization also takes its step to the future. Thus, the elements of present, past, and future exist simultaneously at every present moment.

Always an organization gets impacts from its business environment and business community. It lives in the same business culture with its stakeholders and business partners. And there are also strong impacts from the society as a whole where the organization exists.

Quality thinking and practices are continuously developing at all the following levels:

• individual organization
• business community
• society

Difficulties may if an organization tries to operate simultaneously with different business branches or within different societal environments e.g. of different geographical areas.

Quality management may be neither at practical nor theoretical level an objective issue. It is always depended on by whom and in which situation it is being considered.