Strategies for Driving Profitability and Business Growth

Quality as an Organizational Strategy (QOS) concept is becoming more imperative as the outputs of an organization, in many ways are outpacing the ability to hire. Not only is the acquisition of employees becoming more difficult in many markets, the availability of qualified, motivated employees tends to be even more scarce.

Companies are both needing to manage internal personnel to meet the needs of their customers and simultaneously manage the risk associated with a growing workforce. This reality is pushing many organizations to look at their internal quality systems to understand how they can ensure industry and customer needs are continually being exceeded. Training with a focus on retention and developing a quality-centric culture tend to be at the top of these efforts and present organizational challenges themselves.

One challenge I have experienced throughout my career, post 2008 and more prevalent in recent years, is the corporate hiring strategy of contract vs. permanent when looking at growing an employee base. Contract employees provide for a relatively fast scalable solution to needed personnel, but can put a strain on quality systems, specifically if those controls are employee centric. Juxtaposed to scaling with contract employees, permanent employees in many cases, are processed through more upfront training and tend to already have some level of industry experience, not always present with their contract counterparts.

When we look at QOS centric organizational systems, strategic objectives aligned with hiring employees, adapting to business sector growth, or scaling your business into additional markets are filtered through systems focused on quality outputs. These consequently tend not to be as reactionary in nature and look at longer term forecasting. Further, when organizations operate within these constraints, systems are developed to counter employee inputs and more effectively control outputs, providing less overall risk with scaling with less tenured employees.

Further, when we look at the long-term cost of employee acquisition, given both alternatives, full time employees will have a greater influence on internal quality systems and culture than their contract counterparts, ultimately providing a stronger more sustainable culture of quality reducing overall risk.

However, as with most decisions, there are a multitude of factors that influence leadership within an organization to pursue one direction over another and a majority of times short-term financial risks tend to be at the center of those decisions. Hiring contract employees is significantly less expensive than the alternative in the short-term but tend to present greater risks to internal quality systems, not applicable to the same extent with permanent employees, driving less favorable long-term cost trends and reductions in quality deliverables.

With that being said, contract employees still play a significant role in the manufacturing business sector, making it more imperative an organization's quality culture is well developed and continually pursued by all aspects of a company's leadership. Every employee of an organization needs to feel they are driven within everything they do, by the desire to exceed the expectation of both internal and external customers.

According to (Srinivasan & Kurey, 2022), "four factors that drive quality as a cultural value: leadership emphasis, message credibility, peer involvement, and employee ownership of quality issues", require greater emphasis from a leadership perspective to drive higher levels of engagement among employees. As a quality professional, working in a variety of roles over my career, I have seen the results of a lack of consistent, credible messaging and how it influences quality culture within an organization regardless of the employee makeup.

Employees within an organization need to understand their influence on a company's quality objectives are as important to the operational outcomes as anyone else within the organization, regardless of position or tenure. Developing a culture that emphasizes employee engagement and QOS will provide an organization the tools needed to meet both short-term and long-term operational goals.

Developing these operational systems for any business looking to grow, given the renewed emphasis on quality systems being driven by the majority of OEMs, will place organizations that build quality into the core of their operational structures, at a significant advantage over their industry competitors. A company's culture of quality will drive business growth and increased profitability within the manufacturing business sector at a much greater pace than companies that only emphasize cost as a competitive advantage.

In conclusion, the integration of Quality as an Organizational Strategy is essential for sustainable growth and competitiveness in the manufacturing sector. A robust quality-centric culture, supported by strategic hiring practices and a strong emphasis on employee engagement, can significantly mitigate risks and enhance overall operational effectiveness. By prioritizing long-term quality objectives over short-term financial gains, organizations can build a resilient foundation that not only meets but exceeds industry standards and customer expectations, leading to continuing success and profitability.

Srinivasan, A., & Kurey, B. (2022, November 7). Creating a culture of quality. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2014/04/creating-a-culture-of-quality