Strategic Quality And System Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Strategic Quality And System Management - Essay Example Starbucks is a good example of an organization that undertook strategic quality change after heavy failures experienced after the 2008 recession (Miller, 2011). A new product named Sorbetto failed to meet customer expectations but the instant coffee Via, a deviation from the custom-made coffee of Starbucks, met the quality expectations and was successful and helped Starbucks emerge from the poor performance of the recession (Miller, 2011). As the costs and benefits of strategic quality change are illustrated in the case of Starbucks, organizations need to evaluate the outcomes of strategic quality change and implement steps to align strategic quality change measures with strategic objectives. Taking the example of Starbucks, the organization could have avoided the cost of failure of Sorbetto launched in 2008 if it had robust quality change evaluation systems. Smylie (2010, 144) recommends a continuous quality improvement system which balances innovation routines that promote experimentation and risk-taking with generative learning feedback systems that provide continuous feedback from the environment. The outcome of strategic quality change initiatives can be measured by setting measurable outcomes for the change and their communication across the organization. Since the former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz admits that Sorbetto was launched in haste and failed because it was too sweet for customers’ tastes (Miller, 2011), the results from a pilot study or feasibility study would have helped it to modify the product quality or defer the decision to launch it. In addition, Pickett (2010, p. 459) emphasizes the need for a quality assessment system in organizations and also states that quality change should be undertaken at the systems level as opposed to operational levels. Where the outcomes of the strategic quality change indicate a deviation from strategic objectives, the management needs to