Introduction
In modern society, the quality of products and services is a critical element directly linked to corporate survival and development. Three concepts have gained widespread recognition as frameworks for ensuring and enhancing quality: Quality Management (QM), Quality Assurance (QA), and Quality Control (QC). This article traces the historical development of each term, elucidates the hierarchical structure in contemporary quality management, and provides an accessible explanation suitable for beginners while maintaining professional depth.
1. Historical Background of Quality Management
In earlier times, quality in manufacturing settings depended heavily on the skills and experience of craftsmen. However, following the Industrial Revolution and the advent of mass production, quality issues became a major societal concern, heightening the need for systematic management methodologies. In the early 20th century, scientific approaches such as Statistical Quality Control (SQC) emerged, positioning quality as “an enterprise-wide initiative rather than merely a workshop concern.” This marked the genesis of what would evolve into modern QM, QA, and QC practices.
The foundation of contemporary quality management was significantly influenced by the work of pioneers such as Dr. W. Edwards Deming and Dr. Joseph M. Juran. After World War II, these experts visited Japan and introduced advanced quality control concepts. The Japanese transformed these teachings into systematic approaches, including the establishment of the Deming Prize in 1950, which catalyzed the quality revolution in Japanese industry. In 1962, under the leadership of Professor Kaoru Ishikawa at Tokyo University, the first Quality Control Circle was registered with the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) at Nippon Wireless and Telegraph Company, initiating a grassroots quality improvement movement that would spread worldwide.
2. QM (Quality Management): The Comprehensive Perspective
Quality Management encompasses organization-wide management activities responsible for quality policy and strategy formulation, goal setting, and resource allocation. It requires clearly defining “quality” and establishing and operating systems and structures to achieve it. Specifically, the construction of a Quality Management System (QMS) compliant with international standards such as ISO 9001 forms the cornerstone of QM activities.
Currently, the latest version of ISO 9001 is the 2015 edition, with Amendment 1 published in 2024 to address climate change considerations. This amendment requires organizations to consider climate-related issues when determining their context and ability to achieve intended results. Furthermore, the next major revision, ISO 9001:2026, is scheduled for publication in September 2026, which is expected to place greater emphasis on organizational resilience, sustainability, risk management, supply chain management, and change management. The revision will maintain the core framework established in 2015 while introducing clarifications on quality culture, ethical behavior, and strategic alignment.
QM demands unwavering commitment from top management and plays a crucial role in embedding a culture of quality throughout the organization. It establishes the overarching direction that guides all quality-related activities and ensures that quality objectives align with the organization’s strategic direction and long-term vision.
3. QA (Quality Assurance): The Guarantee Function
Quality Assurance represents activities that “promise and demonstrate the fulfillment of quality requirements.” Under QM policies, QA establishes mechanisms to assure both internal and external stakeholders that products and services meet defined quality standards. QA encompasses concrete activities including the creation of various procedural documents from the design stage, process auditing, and ensuring traceability, thereby guaranteeing the reproducibility and reliability of products and services.
QA departments frequently support on-site QC activities while focusing their efforts on constructing and operating comprehensive quality assurance systems. This includes establishing robust documentation systems, conducting internal and external audits, managing supplier quality, implementing risk-based thinking, and maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements. In the context of modern quality management, QA also plays a vital role in managing knowledge, lessons learned, and continuous improvement initiatives that bridge strategic intent with operational execution.
The role of QA has expanded significantly in recent years to address emerging challenges such as cybersecurity in digital products, supply chain resilience, and sustainability verification. QA professionals must now demonstrate competence not only in traditional quality assurance methods but also in understanding the broader organizational context, including climate-related risks and opportunities as mandated by the 2024 amendment to ISO 9001.
4. QC (Quality Control): Practical Implementation
Quality Control refers to quality measurement, analysis, and improvement activities actually performed at the operational level. Specifically, this includes quality verification through inspection and testing, root cause analysis of defects, process standardization, and improvement activities through the practical application of the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle. QC is typically led by frontline personnel or dedicated departments and is characterized by direct, real-time management of product and service quality.
In Japan, QC Circle activities have flourished and are internationally recognized as voluntary quality improvement initiatives originating from the workplace. These small group activities, consisting typically of three to twelve members from similar work areas, meet regularly to identify, analyze, and solve work-related problems using structured problem-solving methodologies and the seven basic quality control tools, including cause-and-effect diagrams (Ishikawa diagrams), Pareto charts, control charts, histograms, scatter diagrams, check sheets, and stratification.
The QC Circle movement, which began with the first registered circle at Nippon Wireless and Telegraph Company in May 1962, spread rapidly throughout Japan under the coordination of JUSE. By 1978, the movement had grown to an estimated one million circles involving some ten million Japanese workers. While initially focused exclusively on quality issues, QC Circle themes have expanded to encompass diverse areas including productivity, efficiency, cost reduction, design, safety, and production control. Today, QC Circle activities continue to thrive in Japan and have been successfully adapted in more than 50 countries worldwide, demonstrating that the concept transcends cultural boundaries and appeals to the universal human desire for workplace improvement and participation.
The evolution of QC activities reflects broader trends in quality management, including the integration of digital tools for data collection and analysis, the application of advanced statistical methods, and the incorporation of lean principles and continuous improvement philosophies such as Kaizen. Modern QC practitioners must be proficient not only in traditional quality control techniques but also in emerging methodologies that address contemporary challenges such as process digitization, automation, and the management of increasingly complex supply chains.
5. The Hierarchical Structure of QM, QA, and QC
These three concepts do not exist independently but form a clear division of roles and hierarchical structure within organizations. QM establishes organization-wide quality policies, strategies, and systems; QA implements assurance activities under these policies; and QC performs daily quality management activities at the operational level. By appropriately operating this hierarchical structure, organizations can achieve overall optimization and generate long-term competitive advantages.
This hierarchical relationship can be visualized as follows:
| Level | Role | Key Responsibilities | Typical Stakeholders |
|---|---|---|---|
| QM (Management) | Strategic quality planning and governance | • Quality policy formulation<br>• Strategic goal setting<br>• Resource allocation<br>• Management system design<br>• Organizational culture development<br>• Compliance with ISO 9001 and regulatory requirements<br>• Climate change and sustainability integration | Top management, Board of directors, Quality executives |
| QA (Assurance) | Quality system construction and maintenance | • Quality assurance system design<br>• Procedure and standard creation<br>• Process auditing and verification<br>• Traceability management<br>• Evidence and record management<br>• Supplier quality management<br>• Risk assessment and mitigation<br>• Corrective and preventive action coordination | QA managers, Quality engineers, Auditors, Compliance officers |
| QC (Operations) | Operational quality activities and improvement | • Product and process inspection<br>• Quality measurement and monitoring<br>• Defect analysis and root cause investigation<br>• PDCA cycle implementation<br>• QC Circle activities<br>• Process standardization<br>• Continuous improvement at the workplace level<br>• Statistical process control | Frontline supervisors, Production workers, QC Circle members, Process operators |
The effectiveness of this hierarchical structure depends on clear communication channels, well-defined interfaces between levels, and mutual understanding of respective roles and responsibilities. Top management commitment at the QM level must cascade through QA systems and processes to reach and empower QC practitioners at the operational level. Conversely, feedback from QC activities, including improvement suggestions and problem identification, must flow upward through QA channels to inform strategic QM decisions.
In practice, successful organizations recognize that while this hierarchy provides necessary structure, it must be balanced with cross-functional collaboration and horizontal communication. Quality issues often require coordination across all three levels, and the boundaries between QM, QA, and QC should be viewed as interfaces for collaboration rather than rigid barriers. Modern quality management approaches, including Total Quality Management (TQM) and integrated management systems, emphasize this holistic perspective while maintaining appropriate organizational structure and accountability.
6. Contemporary Developments and Future Directions
As organizations face increasingly complex challenges in the 21st century, the concepts of QM, QA, and QC continue to evolve. Several contemporary trends are reshaping how organizations approach quality management:
Digital Transformation and Quality 4.0: The integration of digital technologies including artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and big data analytics is fundamentally changing how quality is managed across all three levels. Predictive analytics enables proactive quality management, while digital twins and simulation technologies allow for virtual validation and optimization of processes before physical implementation.
Sustainability and Climate Change: As evidenced by the 2024 amendment to ISO 9001, climate change considerations are now integral to quality management. Organizations must assess climate-related risks and opportunities, integrate environmental considerations into quality objectives, and demonstrate accountability for sustainability performance. This represents a significant expansion of quality management’s scope beyond traditional product and service quality.
Supply Chain Resilience: Recent global disruptions have highlighted the critical importance of supply chain quality management. Organizations are enhancing their QA capabilities to include supplier risk assessment, diversification strategies, and the ability to maintain quality standards despite supply chain volatility.
Stakeholder Engagement: Modern quality management recognizes the expanding circle of stakeholders beyond customers and regulators. Employees, communities, investors, and society at large all have legitimate interests in organizational quality performance. QM strategies increasingly incorporate stakeholder engagement and transparent communication about quality performance and continuous improvement efforts.
Ethical Quality Management: The upcoming ISO 9001:2026 revision explicitly requires top management to promote and demonstrate ethical behavior and quality culture. This reflects growing recognition that quality cannot be separated from integrity, transparency, and ethical business conduct. Organizations are expected to establish clear ethical guidelines and ensure that quality objectives never compromise ethical standards.
7. Conclusion
QM, QA, and QC have evolved autonomously through historical development and now constitute a multi-layered hierarchical structure in contemporary quality management. Each has clearly defined roles, and they contribute to quality improvement through organization-wide collaboration. Understanding this hierarchical structure enables beginners to more easily grasp the overall picture of quality management.
As global competition intensifies and societal expectations expand, accurately understanding and practically implementing these fundamental concepts of quality management becomes increasingly critical. Organizations that successfully integrate QM’s strategic vision, QA’s systematic assurance, and QC’s operational excellence—while adapting to emerging challenges such as digitalization, sustainability, and supply chain complexity—will be well-positioned to thrive in an increasingly demanding business environment.
The journey toward quality excellence is continuous and never-ending. As Professor Kaoru Ishikawa emphasized, quality control is fundamentally about respect for humanity and the belief that through education, training, and empowerment, all individuals can contribute meaningfully to quality improvement. This human-centered philosophy, combined with rigorous systems and continuous innovation, remains the foundation of effective quality management in the modern era.
Organizations embarking on or enhancing their quality management journey should recognize that success requires commitment at all levels: strategic leadership from top management (QM), systematic processes and verification from quality professionals (QA), and engaged participation from frontline workers (QC). When these three levels work in harmony, supported by appropriate tools, training, and organizational culture, they create a powerful synergy that drives sustained improvement in quality, customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and ultimately, organizational success and sustainability.
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