Is It Time to Change Your Quality Management System Goals?

Introduction: In an ISO 9001-certified organisation, quality management system (QMS) goals serve as the roadmap for consistent excellence. These goals  often formalised as quality objectives drive compliance, customer satisfaction, and continual improvement across industries from manufacturing shop floors to hospital wards and tech development labs. But quality management goals are bound to change with time. If your organisation is relying on the same objectives year after year, they might be falling out of sync with reality.. Outdated or misaligned QMS goals can leave a company uncompetitive and complacent. How do you know when it’s time to recalibrate these targets? Below, we explore clear warning signs, the internal and external forces that prompt goal re-evaluation, and how to realign objectives with ISO 9001 principles like leadership involvement, customer focus, and continual improvement. The aim is a proactive, agile QMS that evolves with your business  rather than holding it back.

Signs Your QMS Goals May Be Outdated or Misaligned

Frequent Audit Issues or Compliance Gaps: Struggling through audits or facing new non-conformities is a red flag. Being unprepared for audits often stems from misaligned processes and outdated documentation, which in turn suggests that QMS goals and practices aren’t keeping up. For example, if regulatory standards have evolved but your quality objectives haven’t, compliance challenges and surprise audit failures may result. A well-implemented QMS should make you “audit-ready,” so repeated audit issues signal that your QMS goals or processes need revision.

• Stagnant or Easily Met Performance Targets: If your team consistently meets quality targets with minimal effort  or if key quality metrics have plateaued  your goals might be set too low or focused on the wrong outcomes. Quality objectives should drive improvement, not just maintain the status quo. An inability to track meaningful performance improvements can indicate that objectives are not effective. Conversely, if goals are never met despite best efforts, they may be unrealistic or misaligned with process capabilities.

• Increasing Customer Complaints or Recurring Issues: A rise in product complaints, returns, or service issues often means the QMS is not addressing what customers care about most. If your current goals emphasise internal efficiency while external customer satisfaction is declining, the goals are misaligned. For instance, an uptick in product recalls or customer complaints is a symptom of QMS problems that must be fed back into the system for continual improvement. Goals need to reflect customer expectations for quality, reliability, and timeliness  otherwise you risk eroding trust.

• Changes in Strategy or Market Not Reflected in Goals: Businesses evolve, entering new markets or launching new products. If your quality goals still only pertain to yesterday’s business model, that misalignment can hamper growth. QMS goals should be aligned with the organisation’s strategic direction. A telltale sign of misalignment is when top management shifts strategy (e.g. focusing on innovation or safety) but the quality objectives remain unchanged and thus fail to support the new direction. The QMS should be a strategic asset, not a disconnected checklist.

• Low Employee Engagement or Understanding: Front-line employees may indicate (directly or indirectly) that quality goals are irrelevant to their day-to-day work. Perhaps training hasn’t kept pace or the objectives are too abstract. In a failing QMS, staff often lack awareness of quality policies and don’t see how their roles connect to the objectives. If “quality” is viewed as the job of just the quality department and not everyone’s responsibility, it suggests the QMS goals aren’t embedded across the organisation. Goals that employees find meaningless or unattainable will breed apathy rather than the intended culture of quality.

In summary, listen to your QMS. Plateaued performance metrics, audit troubles, customer dissatisfaction, strategic disconnects, or anemic enthusiasm for quality initiatives are all signs that your current QMS goals may be due for a refresh.

Internal and External Factors That Prompt Re-evaluation

Business environments are dynamic. Both internal factors (within your organisation) and external factors (industry or market forces) can render yesterday’s quality objectives obsolete. ISO 9001:2015 explicitly urges organisations to consider their internal and external context when planning their QMS (Clauses 4.1 and 4.2). Here are common factors that prompt companies to rethink their QMS goals:

• Shifts in Organizational Strategy or Leadership (Internal): A change in top leadership or corporate strategy is a prime time to revisit QMS goals. New CEOs or managers may set different priorities (e.g. focusing on customer experience over cost, or vice versa). The QMS must align with these priorities to remain relevant. Additionally, growth milestones like a startup becoming a mid-size company, or a manufacturer adding new product lines, can strain existing objectives. As one quality guide notes, significant business changes – scaling operations, entering new markets – are opportune moments to upgrade or adjust your QMS. Internally driven quality issues can also be catalysts: a spike in defect rates or a serious service failure might expose that current goals (and their underlying processes) are insufficient.

• Workforce and Process Changes (Internal): The introduction of new technology, automation, or processes can quickly date your old metrics. For example, if a factory implements advanced automation that dramatically improves precision, the prior defect-rate goal might be too conservative  you could aim higher now. Similarly, if remote work or digital tools change how teams operate (common in tech companies), quality objectives related to communication or review cycles might need adjusting. Employee feedback and pain points are valuable signals here. If your quality teams complain that goals are impractical or irrelevant, it’s time to investigate and possibly recalibrate.

• Market Shifts and Customer Expectations (External): External market forces often demand a QMS response. A significant market shift  such as a new competitor setting higher quality benchmarks or a change in consumer expectations  can make your current objectives look antiquated. For instance, if customers now expect near 100% on-time delivery or zero-defect products thanks to an industry leader’s influence, your “98% on-time” goal might need raising. Market trends toward sustainability and ethical sourcing are another example; quality goals may expand to include these dimensions of performance. Organisations must monitor the needs and expectations of interested parties (customers, regulators, suppliers) as required by ISO 9001, and address changes as risks or opportunities.

• Technological Changes (External): Rapid tech advancements can both enable stricter quality goals and introduce new quality considerations. In manufacturing, Industry 4.0 technologies (IoT sensors, real-time analytics) might allow more ambitious targets for process control and defect reduction. In healthcare, telemedicine technology might necessitate new quality objectives around digital service reliability or data security as part of quality of care. A software company may adopt continuous delivery practices, prompting quality goals that measure customer-reported bugs or uptime. Simply put, when technology changes “how” you deliver quality, it’s likely time to change “what” your quality goals are. Embracing innovation often means revisiting objectives to exploit new capabilities or to control new risks that come with the tech.

• Regulatory and Standard Updates (External): Changes in laws, regulations, or standards can immediately necessitate goal changes. If a new regulation imposes stricter quality requirements (for example, a healthcare regulation demanding improved patient safety metrics, or an automotive standard mandating higher traceability), your QMS must adapt. The ISO 9001 standard itself is periodically revised (the next major revision is expected around 2026), potentially adding new focus areas. Organizations should proactively address such changes. A risk-based thinking approach is helpful here – ISO 9001:2015 introduced risk management precisely so that companies anticipate and plan for external threats and opportunities. If you identify a new risk (e.g. cybersecurity threats in a tech firm), creating a quality objective to mitigate it (such as “zero critical security defects in product releases”) might be appropriate.

• Changes in Risk Profile (Internal/External): As implied above, the continuous assessment of risks and opportunities (Clause 6.1) can drive new objectives. For example, if supply chain disruptions become a significant risk (external factor, as seen in global events), a manufacturer might establish new supplier quality objectives or inventory quality checks to manage that risk. Internally, if data analysis reveals a previously unknown weak point (say, a spike in lab testing errors in a pharma company), a targeted goal to reduce that error rate would align with a risk-based, preventive mindset. Essentially, whenever risk assessments uncover notable gaps between current performance and potential problems or opportunities, it’s time to revisit your goals.

In practice, many of these factors overlap. For instance, a tech change (like adopting cloud-based QMS software) is an internal decision but often made in response to external competitive pressure; it will require updated goals and metrics to measure its impact. The key is to integrate awareness of context into your QMS planning. ISO 9001’s emphasis on understanding organizational context means your quality objectives should never be static  they should evolve as your context evolves. A leading QMS consultancy sums it up well: the ideal time to upgrade or change your QMS depends on factors such as organizational growth, regulatory changes, and quality team feedback. Don’t wait for a crisis proactively align your goals to the current landscape.

How to Reassess and Realign QMS Objectives

Recognizing the need for change is the first step; next comes how to change your QMS goals methodically. Reassessing and realigning quality objectives should be a structured process, rooted in the Plan-Do-Check-Act philosophy that underpins ISO 9001. Below are key steps and considerations:

1. Conduct a Thorough Performance Review: Start by evaluating your current objectives against actual performance data. Gather relevant metrics, audit results, and customer feedback. Are you meeting targets? If so, are those targets still driving improvement or have they become routine? If not, where are the shortfalls? Use this gap analysis to pinpoint which goals need adjustment. For example, if on-time delivery has consistently exceeded your objective (indicating the goal was too low), you might set a more ambitious target. If customer satisfaction scores are lagging, perhaps a new objective around response time or first-pass quality is needed.

2. Revisit Organizational Context and Strategy: Ensure you clearly understand your organization’s current mission, strategic direction, and any recent changes in context. ISO 9001 requires that quality objectives be consistent with the quality policy and strategic direction of the company. Ask whether each existing objective still supports those high-level goals. This is a good time to involve top management. Management review meetings (Clause 9.3) are designed for this purpose – to examine whether the QMS (and its objectives) remains suitable and aligned with business goals. During the review, consider any new internal/external issues (from the factors above) and decide how your quality objectives should address them. A useful question is: “If we set or change this objective, how does it further our business strategy or mitigate a current risk?”

3. Engage Stakeholders for Input: Realigning goals shouldn’t be a top-down exercise only. Consult the people who execute the processes quality engineers, production staff, customer service reps, etc. They can provide insights on pain points and areas for improvement. Similarly, consider customer and supplier feedback; these stakeholders might highlight quality aspects you hadn’t formally measured. For instance, a tech support team might reveal that a significant share of customer complaints relate to usability  suggesting a new goal around user experience quality. Engaging a cross-functional team not only enriches the goal-setting process but also builds buy-in. When people see their concerns reflected in new objectives, they are more likely to commit to achieving them.

4. Set or Update Objectives Using SMART Criteria: When defining new QMS goals (or refining old ones), follow the tried-and-true SMART framework  Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound. This ensures goals are clear and trackable. Vague aspirations (e.g. “improve product quality”) are not sufficient  an effective objective might be “Reduce product defect rate by 15% within 12 months” or “Achieve 95% patient satisfaction this fiscal year” depending on context. Being specific and data-driven matters: organizations that set SMART goals are measurably more successful (by about 12%) in reaching their targets than those with unclear goals. Also verify that objectives are realistic and aligned with strategy (the “R” in SMART). They should tie into your quality policy commitments, such as customer satisfaction or continual improvement, ensuring relevance to the bigger picture.

5. Plan Actions and Resources to Achieve Objectives: Clause 6.2 of ISO 9001 emphasizes not just setting objectives, but planning how to achieve them. Once new objectives are set, determine what actions are needed, who will be responsible, and what resources are required. For each objective, define initiatives or projects (for example, a process improvement project to reduce defects, or a training program to improve customer service quality). Set timelines and milestones  intermediate checkpoints help keep the organisation on track. Importantly, identify KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for each goal. If the objective is to reduce turnaround time, a KPI might be “average process cycle time in days” tracked monthly. Incorporate these plans into your QMS documentation and operational plans. Clear planning transforms lofty goals into actionable, bite-sized tasks that teams can execute.

6. Communicate and Align the Organisation: Roll out the updated objectives with robust communication. Ensure all levels of the organisation understand the new goals and how their roles contribute to achieving them. Quality objectives should be cascaded to relevant departments  for instance, a high-level goal to “improve customer satisfaction by 10%” might translate into specific targets for the customer support team, the production team, and the shipping team each addressing their piece of the customer experience. Providing context is key: explain why objectives changed (e.g. due to a new strategy or feedback) to foster acceptance. This is also the time to update any training materials or work instructions so that daily activities align with the new objectives. A culture that understands and embraces the goals is far more likely to achieve them.

7. Monitor, Review, and Adapt Regularly: Setting objectives isn’t a one-off annual exercise  it’s an ongoing cycle. Establish regular intervals (through management reviews or performance meetings) to review progress on each objective. Use KPI data and audit findings to evaluate whether you’re on track. ISO 9001 requires that management review meetings include a look at performance against objectives and whether the QMS is effective. In these reviews, be prepared to adjust objectives if needed. Business conditions might change even mid-year, and a flexible QMS can respond accordingly. As guidance from BPR Hub suggests, you should periodically assess objectives for effectiveness and modify them based on new insights, changes in strategy, or emerging challenges. In practice, this might mean raising the bar when an objective is consistently met (to drive further improvement), or reallocating resources if an objective is lagging. Keep a living document of objectives and update it to reflect organizational changes like process updates, workforce shifts, or market dynamics. By treating QMS goals as dynamic, you ensure they stay relevant and impactful.

8. Celebrate and Reinforce Successes: Lastly, when updated goals are met, acknowledge and reward the contributions that made it happen. This reinforces the value of setting fresh, challenging objectives and motivates the team for the next cycle. It also provides an opportunity to standardize successful practices that led to goal achievement (turning improvements into the new baseline). Then the cycle continues  as one industry expert notes, KPIs (and by extension objectives) are bound to change as the company achieves its quality goals. Continuous improvement means today’s stretch goal could become tomorrow’s normal performance, prompting you to set new goals again in pursuit of excellence.

By following these steps, organisations create a sustainable process to realign QMS objectives in harmony with ISO 9001’s requirements and the business’s needs. This approach ensures that quality goals remain a living part of the management system, driving real improvement rather than gathering dust in a quality manual.

The Role of Leadership, Customer Focus, and Continual Improvement

Realigning QMS goals is not just a technical quality exercise  it hinges on core ISO 9001 principles that give the QMS its direction and energy. Chief among these are leadership commitment, customer focus, and continual improvement. Reinforcing these principles will make your new quality objectives far more effective and persuasive throughout the organisation. In fact, successful QMS implementations typically emphasise people engagement, customer focus, process approach, and continuous improvement as guiding tenets. Let’s examine each principle’s role in updating QMS goals:

• Leadership: Strong leadership is the driving force behind meaningful QMS change. ISO 9001 places responsibility on top management to ensure quality objectives are established and aligned with strategy, and to demonstrate commitment to the QMS (Clause 5). In practical terms, leadership must champion the reevaluation of goals and provide the necessary resources and support. This could mean forming a cross-functional quality leadership team, as some manufacturers do, to spearhead new quality initiatives. Leaders set the tone that quality goals are a priority, not an afterthought. For example, a dedicated quality leadership team will frequently update policies and objectives once milestones are achieved, keeping the QMS agile. Leadership should also communicate the “why” behind new goals, linking them to the organisation’s vision. When employees see executives and managers actively engaged in quality reviews and celebrating quality improvements, it creates alignment from the top down. In essence, leadership ensures that changing QMS goals is viewed as a strategic business move, not just a quality department task. This top-management buy-in is crucial for breaking inertia and driving organization-wide participation in achieving new objectives.

• Customer Focus: “Customer focus” is the first principle of quality management for a reason  the ultimate judge of quality is the customer. Any update to QMS goals must keep customer needs and expectations front and center. Ask: will this new objective improve our ability to satisfy our customers? ISO 9001 requires quality objectives to reflect commitments to customer satisfaction and product/service conformity. In practice, that means many QMS goals should be tied to customer-facing outcomes: on-time delivery, defect-free rates, service responsiveness, net promoter scores, etc. Consider a hospital setting where patient satisfaction and safety are paramount – QMS goals might target reducing patient wait times or infection rates. Or a tech company might set objectives for system uptime or customer-reported bug reduction. A survey of best practices confirms that aligning QMS goals with what customers value yields tangible benefits; one analysis found that improved alignment of QMS with business (and thus customer) objectives can boost customer satisfaction by 20. Moreover, by continuously monitoring customer feedback and perceptions (required by ISO 9001 clause on customer satisfaction), organisations can translate that data into new goals. As Quality Magazine notes, rather than use vague satisfaction percentages, companies can break down what truly makes customers happy  e.g. delivering what they asked for, when they need it, with reliable performance and fair pricing  and set measurable objectives around those factors. In short, keeping a strong customer focus ensures your QMS goals drive improvements that your market will actually appreciate, thereby strengthening customer loyalty and market position.

• Continual Improvement: The very ethos of ISO 9001 is continual improvement (kaizen). This principle underpins why we should revisit QMS goals in the first place. A static set of goals betrays the spirit of continuous improvement. Instead, organizations should view every goal achieved as an opportunity to set a new, more ambitious target – thereby fostering a cycle of ongoing improvement. For example, if your initial goal was to reduce defect rate from 5% to 2%, and you succeed, the improvement principle suggests you might next aim for 1% or focus on a different aspect of quality. Continual improvement also means systematically using lessons learned: using root cause analysis on misses to improve processes, or standardizing and spreading practices from areas that met goals. In ISO 9001, improvement is not only reactive (correcting problems) but also proactive – identifying opportunities to do better and drive innovation. A case in point: one manufacturing company introduced regular performance tracking and found it reduced quality mistakes and fostered continuous improvement across teams. They recognized that KPIs will evolve as improvements are made, and they adjusted them to keep pushing forward. Continual improvement culture also encourages not fearing change in objectives. Employees become accustomed to the idea that quality goals will be periodically tightened or refocused as the organization improves  it’s “how we do things” to stay competitive. By embedding continual improvement into the QMS goals process, you turn the act of changing goals into a positive, expected practice rather than a disruptive event. This principle ensures your QMS never grows stale: it’s always oriented toward better performance, which is exactly the intent of regularly revisiting your quality management system goals.

By bolstering leadership engagement, anchoring goals to customer expectations, and embracing continuous improvement, you create a QMS environment where changing objectives is not only accepted but demanded. These principles work together: leadership creates the vision and allocates resources, customer focus gives direction to what improvements matter, and continual improvement provides the momentum. The result is a QMS that is resilient and responsive, consistently realigning itself with both business strategy and customer needs – truly living the ISO 9001 philosophy of quality.

Real-World Examples and Case Insights

To illustrate the above concepts, let’s look at how organisations in manufacturing, healthcare, and technology have recognised the need to change their QMS goals  and what they did about it. These examples show that regardless of industry, aligning quality objectives with current realities yields significant benefits:

• Manufacturing Industry  Adapting to Remain Competitive: A mid-sized manufacturing company noticed that despite hitting all their quality targets, they were losing bids to competitors and seeing a slight rise in customer complaints. Their QMS goals, set years prior, emphasised internal yields and production efficiency, but not metrics that customers noticed (like on-time delivery or durability). Realising their goals were outdated, they undertook an overhaul. Management initiated rigorous internal audits and facility inspections beyond the routine, aiming to uncover hidden inefficiencies. The audits revealed non-productive processes and equipment maintenance issues causing subtle quality dips. Armed with this data, leadership updated the QMS objectives: they introduced a new goal to increase first-pass yield on critical production lines by focusing on preventive maintenance (since equipment downtime had been affecting quality). They also set a customer-focused goal to improve on-time delivery from 90% to 98%. A dedicated quality leadership team was appointed to drive these changes, communicating new practices and monitoring progress weekly. The results were telling – within a year, the company not only met the new delivery and yield targets, but also saw a 20% boost in customer satisfaction and reduced cost of poor quality. This aligns with broader industry findings: companies that align their QMS with business strategy can increase operational efficiency by up to 30% and significantly cut waste. By being proactive and revising their goals, this manufacturer turned quality into a competitive advantage.

• Healthcare Sector – From Bureaucracy to Patient-Centered Goals: A hospital in the Netherlands provides a compelling case of QMS evolution. Initially, the hospital’s ISO 9001 QMS was viewed by staff as bureaucratic, focused on documentation and checklists rather than patient outcomes. Management recognized this perception as a sign that the QMS goals needed realignment to what truly mattered  the patients. They refocused their quality objectives on patient-centered metrics: for example, reducing medication errors, improving patient discharge process times, and increasing patient satisfaction survey scores. To support these goals, the hospital identified all care delivery processes and made them subject to continuous improvement and measurement. Performance data started to drive decisions, and improvements were celebrated. The impact was powerful: “The focus on patients has been re-established. All processes are identified and subject to continuous improvement… Measurements lead to improvement of quality of care and to quality system improvements,” reported the hospital’s quality team. In other words, by changing the QMS to prioritise patient-centric goals, they saw tangible improvements in care quality and patient safety, all without adding excess bureaucracy. Staff became more engaged knowing the quality system was truly about better patient outcomes, not just internal compliance. This mirrors a broader truth in healthcare  implementing ISO 9001 with a focus on patient needs and continuous improvement can enhance care quality and safety. One study noted positive effects like re-established patient focus and improved care quality when a hospital fully embraced ISO 9001 principles. The takeaway: healthcare organizations should regularly revisit their quality goals to ensure they align with the latest patient care standards and technologies (such as telehealth quality metrics or new safety protocols). In doing so, they turn a potentially stale QMS into a driver of excellence in patient care.

• Technology Company  Evolving with Rapid Tech Changes: Consider a software company that achieved ISO 9001 certification a few years ago. Their initial quality objectives centered on process compliance and product defect counts. However, the tech industry’s fast pace meant that within a short time, the company’s context changed  they adopted Agile development, started delivering software as a service, and faced new cybersecurity threats. These changes rendered some old objectives less relevant (for example, release cycle compliance was less useful in an Agile continuous deployment model). Recognising this, the company realigned its QMS goals dramatically. Customer focus became paramount: they set a new objective for user experience quality, measured by a reduction in user-reported issues by 30%. They also added a risk-based objective around security, aiming for zero critical vulnerabilities in releases (aligning with growing cybersecurity needs). One notable goal was to improve user satisfaction with the software’s usability, tying into their strategic aim of being the most user-friendly product in the market. By integrating quality processes with business objectives, such as the goal of user-friendly design, they ensured every department  from design to testing  prioritised that outcome. In practice, developers and QA started collaborating on usability testing, guided by the new objective. The benefits soon showed: the software company delivered more intuitive products and saw higher customer retention. This example reflects a scenario described by QMS experts: a software company aligned its QMS with the goal of providing user-friendly applications and, by focusing on quality at every development stage, delivered products that met customer needs  leading to higher satisfaction and repeat business. Moreover, by updating goals to address emerging risks and opportunities (like security and cloud performance), the company avoided quality crises and maintained a strong reputation. The lesson for tech firms is clear when your technology and market shift, your quality goals must shift accordingly. Regularly review and update objectives to include things like uptime, data protection, and user experience metrics. This keeps the QMS relevant in an industry where change is the only constant.

Each of these cases underscores the core message: changing your QMS goals at the right time can spark significant performance gains and risk reduction. Manufacturing saw efficiency and satisfaction improvements, healthcare improved patient outcomes, and tech achieved better customer experience all by reevaluating and realigning quality objectives with present needs. The common thread is that these organizations did not treat QMS goals as static relics; they actively managed them as living tools for business excellence.

Conclusion: Evolving Your QMS Goals for Ongoing Excellence

In the journey toward sustained quality and organisational excellence, asking “Is it time to change our QMS goals?” should become a habit, not a one-off consideration. The evidence is persuasive that regularly updating your quality management system objectives keeps your organization aligned with the ISO 9001 principles and competitive in a changing world. When goals become outdated or misaligned  as indicated by telltale signs like stagnant performance, rising complaints, or shifts in strategy  savvy organisations respond proactively. They examine internal dynamics and external pressures, then courageously realign their targets to meet the new reality.

The process is certainly a formal one (grounded in ISO 9001’s requirements for planning, management review, and continual improvement) but it is also a profoundly human one. It requires leadership vision to initiate change, customer-centric thinking to guide what goals should aim for, and a culture of continuous improvement to embrace the evolution. The payoff is a QMS that truly supports business growth and customer satisfaction, rather than holding them back. As we saw, companies that tightly align QMS goals with their strategic objectives can reap efficiency gains, cost reductions, and higher customer loyalty. In contrast, clinging to outdated quality policies can leave even industry leaders lagging behind.

So, reflect on your own organisation: Are your quality objectives driving the improvements and outcomes that matter most today? If not, the start of a new year or quarter might be an ideal moment for a QMS goal “health check.” Leverage your management reviews as an opportunity to ensure the QMS remains suitable, adequate, and effective for current challenges. Encourage open feedback from employees and customers  they are your early warning system for misalignment. And remember that changing goals is not a sign that your past approach was wrong; rather, it’s a natural progression of continuous improvement. In the dynamic environments of manufacturing, healthcare, technology and beyond, agility in quality management is a strength.

In conclusion, it may indeed be time to change your QMS goals if you recognise the signs we’ve discussed. By doing so with a clear method and principled approach, you don’t just edit a document  you reinvigorate your entire quality management system. You set new sights for your teams to achieve, keeping everyone focused on what excellence means now and into the future. In the spirit of ISO 9001, let your quality objectives be a living framework that evolves as your organisation does, always aiming higher. That is the surest way to maintain compliance, delight your customers, and foster a culture of perpetual improvement. After all, a QMS that never changes will never improve  and improvement is the essence of quality