What Is Quality Management?

Quality management encompasses the actions and processes an organisation implements to establish a quality or continuous improvement approach, obtain specific certifications or accreditations, and improve the quality of its operations, products, and services. Although quality management is often associated with industry, procurement and supply chain management, it applies to organisations across many sectors, from healthcare and higher education to technology and finance.

Business schools also have a direct interest in quality management. They manage their own quality processes for programmes, degrees, accreditations and standards, while also preparing students to understand these issues in their future careers. At EMLV, quality management is covered within the Procurement & Supply Chain Management specialisation.

Understanding quality management

Quality management, or QM, encompasses a range of coordinated activities designed to continuously improve an organisation’s performance. Its main objectives generally cover three areas.

The first is customer satisfaction, aiming to provide products or services that meet or exceed customer expectations.

The second is regulatory compliance, ensuring products and services meet all applicable legal and regulatory requirements. The third concerns continuous improvement, with processes designed to identify opportunities for improvement and implement changes that increase operational efficiency and effectiveness.

Quality management is a broad field covering several areas and functions. Within organisations, the terms quality control, quality assurance and quality management are frequently used. Although closely related, they have different scopes.

Quality control follows a reactive approach and focuses on identifying existing, visible defects so that they can be corrected. For example, a procurement professional may identify a problem with goods delivered by a supplier, while a software tester may detect bugs in an application under development. The next step is to identify the cause and establish procedures to prevent it from recurring.

Quality assurance follows a proactive approach and aims to prevent defects by establishing specific processes and methods. The objective is to create working practices that reduce the risk of errors and problems. Examples include keeping documentation up to date, maintaining an organised working environment or consulting relevant experts before submitting a deliverable.

Quality management takes a broader approach that encompasses both quality control and quality assurance. It operates at a more strategic level, involving the definition and implementation of an appropriate quality policy, strategic planning, performance indicators and tools for monitoring and assessing quality.

Quality management tools

Effective quality management relies on established tools and techniques that help organisations understand, analyse and improve their processes. Several methods are commonly used.

5W1H: structuring information systematically

The 5W1H method — What, Who, Where, When, How and Why — provides a systematic framework for organising information about a particular issue. It supports problem analysis and action planning by using a structured series of questions to define and understand a situation.

Cause-and-effect diagram: identifying the causes of a problem

Developed by Japanese engineer Kaoru Ishikawa, the cause-and-effect diagram, also known as the Ishikawa or fishbone diagram, helps teams visualise and organise the potential causes of a problem.

These causes can be grouped into categories such as people, equipment, materials, methods and environment. This structure makes it easier to identify and analyse the different factors that may be contributing to a problem.

Brainstorming: generating ideas as a group

Brainstorming is a collaborative method designed to generate a large number of ideas around a particular topic within a limited period of time. It can be used to identify problems, investigate their causes and propose potential solutions.

A moderator often facilitates sessions, structuring and guiding the discussion while encouraging group contributions.

Pareto chart: identifying priority areas

A Pareto chart ranks the causes of a problem by relative importance. It is commonly associated with the 80/20 principle: in many situations, a relatively small proportion of causes accounts for a large proportion of the effects.

The method helps organisations identify priority areas and allocate resources to the issues likely to have the greatest effect on performance.

Weighted voting: supporting group decisions

Weighted voting facilitates decision-making during group discussions, particularly when the available information is qualitative.

Participants rank problems, solutions, or options by relative importance and assign different weights. The results provide a structured basis for comparing priorities and reaching a decision.

Flowchart: visualising processes step by step

A flowchart provides a sequential representation of the actions and decisions required to complete a process or achieve an objective.

By making each stage visible, it helps teams develop a shared understanding of how a process works, identify potential inefficiencies and work collaboratively on improvements.

Compatibility matrix: supporting decision-making

A compatibility matrix is a decision-making tool that compares selection criteria with different problems, solutions or possible actions.

Options can be assessed against criteria such as cost, timeframe, and effectiveness. This structured comparison provides decision-makers with a clearer overview when evaluating different courses of action.

Quality management: technical and interpersonal skills

Quality management combines technical expertise with an understanding of processes, performance and organisational priorities. Professionals in this field may need to analyse risks, assess procedures, monitor performance indicators, coordinate stakeholders, and contribute to continuous improvement.

These responsibilities also require interpersonal skills. Teamwork, rigour, collaboration, communication, and emotional intelligence can all contribute to effective management of quality processes, particularly when projects involve multiple departments, suppliers, or external partners.

At EMLV, these issues connect with the broader approach of the Grande École Programme, which combines management expertise with technological understanding and the development of interpersonal skills. The Procurement & Supply Chain Management specialisation covers topics including procurement and supply chain strategy, supplier relationship management, responsible procurement, sustainable supply chains, risk management, digitalisation and quality management.

More information about the Procurement & Supply Chain Management specialisation