Although quality is an enterprisewide issue, many companies struggle to define how it fits into overall corporate strategy. The 2012–2013 LNS Research Quality Management Survey put this into perspective when it asked executives what their top quality challenge was. More than 50 percent marked off having difficulty with the way quality was viewed in their organization. They said it was looked at as a department rather than a responsibility.

When quality management is perceived in this manner, efforts to improve the quality of products and processes tend to be localized rather than across the organization. In many cases, it’s the quality structure within the organization that enables holistic quality management. However, when corporate leadership tries to change this perception, it can be met with considerable pushback at the regional, business unit, or site level.

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