ABSTRACT
Dierent approaches to assuring quality in organizations have evolved over the years dependent on the needs of the industry, the denitions of quality, and the level of management of the quality process. In high-performing organizations, assuring that quality exists in products and services is an integral part of the organizational and department-wide strategy. A quality product or service is essential to an organization’s reputation, liability, and potential for growth or dominance in a market. Quality and approaches to quality, however, are not without signicant cost. e cost of quality includes prevention costs, appraisal costs, internal failure, and external costs. All have to be weighed to formulate an eective quality assurance program.
