In the initial part of my professional life, between 1996 and 2001, I carried out Business Reviews for 400+ organizations which had Quality Audits as an essential element. In the last 15 years, while utilizing Six Sigma, I have been working with Quality professionals and leadership teams across domains and countries.

Six Sigma professionals seek to work on defect reduction projects with Quality function and customer satisfaction projects with Marketing function. I have been observing that Marketing & Quality do not collaborate well when needed and the Six Sigma professional finds it hard to bring them together.

Marketing will do anything to enhance customer satisfaction and Quality goes out of the way to ensure the highest quality.

Before we try and explore the reasons for this disconnect, we need to answer a question related to a customer focused business objective. Out of the three related terms, which is the one that the management should seek to enhance more than others?

Quality
Value
Customer Satisfaction

Which, according to you is the measure that an organization must maintain as its highest priority? I recommend that you read further only when you have made up your mind.