Over decades, the
science of Quality Management has been developed to help organizations better
understand the needs of customers and stakeholders so they can develop these
offerings and solutions while also constantly innovating and improving and using
fewer resources. Hence, in essence, Quality Management serves as a platform for
sustainable development where customer and societal needs are met while
constantly using fewer resources.
Most of the
sustainability research and discussions going on today focus on effects. It is
very important to understand the effects of our lifestyle on climate, limited
resources, nature, people, etc., but the problem can´t be solved this way. Just
focusing on effects of doing things will put light on the symptoms of man’s
behaviors. To solve the problems behind negative effects on sustainability,
focus has to be moved to the system behind those effects and their root causes.
In this way necessary actions could be identified by systematic problem-solving
activities, value-based process development and innovative methods. Knowledge
areas that are foundations for quality management.
The International
Academy for Quality (IAQ) and a large number of quality
researchers/professionals have for a long time tried to spread knowledge about
how to transform today’s symptom-focused sustainability approach to a more improvement-focused
approach that really makes a difference by delivering real measurable results. Many
papers and articles have been written, presentations have been made at numerous
conferences around the world and theoretical models have been developed to show
the link between quality and sustainability. Some progress has been made but
the need of empirical proof and examples of real improvement activities that have
delivered effects/results within the area of sustainability is strong.
The purpose of the IAQ
Quality Sustainability Award is therefore to identify and share good examples
of how quality management principles have been used to develop more sustainable
solutions and offerings while also reducing waste and optimizing the use of
resources. By sharing such good examples and success stories, the skills to
create more result-focused sustainability work will increase and the
possibility to link important knowledge and competence within the field of
quality management into today’s sustainability activities will be increased.
Another important purpose is to create a public database of good examples linking
quality management to sustainability for future research, learning and
benchmarking in order to facilitate leverage.
