Crosby Medal
Quality Paper
By
Conrad A. Joseph Jr.
Introduction:
“The Crosby Medal is presented to the individual who has authored a distinguished book contributing significantly to the extension of the philosophy and application of the principles, methods, or techniques of quality management.” (“Crosby medal,”). For one to understand the Crosby Medal, we must first explain how it came into existence and the person behind this distinguished honor. Philip Bayard Crosby, a philosopher and practitioner of quality, is also the man whom the medal is named after. Philip B. Crosby came to be known as the person, who developed the “Zero Defects” concept for quality, while working at Martin Marietta in the 50’s. Crosby wrote a book on his concept while at the same time preaching his concept to any corporation that is willing to listen and learn. He did this at a time when the United States was losing the global market to the Japanese right after the great world war. Crosby wrote several books which have been translated into 17 different languages worldwide. Philip B. Crosby, an author, businessman, philosopher, teacher and even a practitioner of quality.

History: Philip Bayard Crosby was born in Wheeling, West Virginia on June 18, 1926. Crosby was the son of a podiatrist. Shortly after finishing high school, Crosby joined the ranks of the Navy and became a hospital corpsman. After completing his tour of duty, Crosby entered Ohio college of Podiatric Medicine in Cleveland to follow in his fathers footsteps. Crosby practice podiatry with his father right after graduation back in Wheeling. Fortunately for us, podiatry was not his calling and soon after he left that field and joined the Crosley Corporation in 1952 as a junior electric test technician. In 1955, he went to work for the Bendix Corporation as a reliability technician. While working at Bendix as a quality engineer, Crosby was task with investigating defects found by various testers and inspectors for the Talos missile, which was being develop and tested by Bendix and the Navy. As the days lingered on, Crosby investigative reports evidence a change is needed. In order for these changes to take effect, Crosby would have to become an executive. Unfortunately, Bendix was not willing to make the jump of faith. In 1957, Crosby joined the ranks of Martin Marietta as a senior quality engineer. “During his eight years with Martin Marietta Mr. Crosby developed his “Zero Defects” concepts, began writing articles for various journals, and started his speaking career’ (Crosby). In the 60’s Crosby left Martin Marietta to work for ITT (International Telephone and Telegraph), as the vice president in charge of quality. In this role, Crosby was implementing his “Zero Defects” management philosophy and found it worked, also coining the phase “doing it right the first time” (Pryor). After fourteen years with ITT, Crosby left to found Philip Crosby Associates. At his company he taught management around the globe to hundreds of corporations on quality management. He worked at his company up until his retirement in 1991. Ten years after his retirement Philip Bayard Crosby died on August 19, 2001 at the age of 75 from complications of cancer. Philip B. Crosby defined quality as a “conformity to certain specifications set forth by management and not some vague concept of goodness. These specifications are not arbitrary either; they must be set according to customer needs and wants” (“Philip Crosby: the,”). Crosby went on to four absolutes of quality management which are listed below: Four Absolutes of Quality Management 1. Quality is defined as conformance to requirements, not as “goodness” or “elegance”. 2. The system for causing quality is prevention, not appraisal. 3. The performance standard must be Zero Defects, not “that’s close enough”. 4. The measurement of quality is the Price of Nonconformance, not indices. (“Philip Crosby: the,”) Crosby’s dedication to quality, former president of the ASQ, made the board of directors voted him to become the newest Honorary Member. The highest honor accorded by the society, Soon after Crosby’s death the American Society of Quality (ASQ) board of directors approved the Philip B. Crosby Medal, “for authoring a distinguished book contributing significantly to the extension of the philosophy and application of the principles, methods or techniques of quality management,” (“Crosby medal,”). In addition to the Crosby Medal, “a certificate with a brief citation describing the recipient’s personal contribution to the world of quality and a medal of Crosby’s likeness on one side” (“Philip B. Crosby,” 2002) The first eligibility criteria were announced in August 2002, where the first nominations for the Crosby Medal were accepted on November 2002, where the presentation of the first medal was scheduled for May 2003. The eligibility criteria as stated on the ASQ website, “The Crosby Medal is presented to the individual who has authored a distinguished book contributing significantly to the extension of the philosophy and application of the principles, methods, or techniques of quality management.”

Award Criteria An organization or an individual can be awarded with a Crosby Medal for one of three distinguished awards. The criteria for an individual includes the authoring of a distinguished book contributing to the philosophy, applications of principles, methods or techniques of quality management. In addition, the other criteria are for the formation of mission statement, vision, strategy, implementation of strategy and assessment of quality results. At the first implementation of this criteria for the medal, there was a dedicated research team at the Eberly College of Business at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, identifies specific companies and performance. There is another award associated with the Crosby Medal for organizations, is for the advancement global competitiveness through quality. This is for organizations that have proven themselves competitive in the global market with there primary weapon of choice quality. The award criteria for authoring a distinguished book for further advancement of quality, is given by the American Society of Quality (ASQ). The other criteria were established and given by Philip Crosby himself from the organization he founded called the Quality College. To distinguish between the different medals is by the name Crosby Medal is given by the ASQ, whereas the Crosby Medal for Quality is given from The American Society of Competitiveness. Whatever the award an organization decides to pursue there are seven groups of criteria an organization most be suited for in order to be nominated. The criteria are as follows; • Leadership and Strategic planning • Customer and Market focus • Quality Measurement • Quality Analysis and Knowledge Management • Human Focus • Process Management • Business Results

Benefits of Award There are significant benefits to receiving a Crosby Medal. The notoriety associated with the achievement with free publicity and branding. Many organizations that have participated in the award process do so to improve the organization and the structure of the company as it involves the entire organization. This process is done to help organization attract and retain customers. The added benefits are also reducing wastage by improving quality, improving employee morale and organizational performance. Ultimately, the application process for such an award can give any organization the necessary tools to help solidify their economic growth and stability in the increasing competitive market. Past Winners The have been several past medalists for the ASQ Crosby Medal, the medalists is as follows; • 2007 Peter Patton • 2007 Bijay Jayaswal • 2005 Gregory Watson • 2004 Forrest W. Breyfogle, III • 2003 William M. Lindsay • 2003 James R. Evans • 2002 Subir Chowdhury (“Crosby medal,”) These are the past medalists from the time of the medal inception at the ASQ. All of these winners have made significant contribution to the world of quality with the books and various publications they have written throughout the years.

Conclusion The Crosby Medal is a great way for an organization to increase their market presence. Unfortunately, this medal is not for every organization. In my opinion there needs to be another set criteria for an organization to even include before attempting to implement steps to achieve this medal. Our current organization will not be a great benefactor of this medal, for instance most of our customers or suppliers do not either care or is unaware of the value it possesses to an organization. There is an expected level of quality that is associated with granite fabrication, but there is no universal standard. The quality issue is left for interpretation for each customer, builder, or shop owner depending on there standards. The investment need to pursue this award will cripple any granite fabrication shop, where most shop owners only concern is making money some don’t even care about employee retention, morale, or creativity. In conclusion, this medal is not pursuable, viable or relevant to the world of granite countertop fabrication or installation.

References:

Evans, J.R., & Lindsay, W.M. (2008). Managing for quality and performance excellence 7th edition. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Pryor, M.G. Quality gurus. Reference for Business, Encyclopedia of Business, 2,

Philip crosby: the fun uncle of the quality revolution. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.skymark.com/resources/leaders/crosby.asp
Crosby medal. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://asq.org/about-asq/awards/crosby.html

Philip b. crosby medal will honor distinguished authors. (2002). Quality Digest, Retrieved from Philip b. crosby medal will honor distinguished authors. (2002). Quality Digest, Retrieved from http://www.qualitydigest.com/aug02/news.shtml

Crosby, P. (n.d.). Winter park public library; the philip crosby collection. Retrieved from http://www.wppl.org/wphistory/philipcrosby/index.html