Risk and Quality Management: The Symbiosis

Vol. 2 No. 4

Year : 2008

Issue : Mar-May

Title : Risk and Quality Management: The Symbiosis 

Author Name : Hosein Piranfar, Lewis Combstock 

Synopsis :

Risk management has been around longer than quality — at least in the field of finance and insurance. Recent events from the Natural to man-made, have given a new boost to risk management. So much so that some speak of training quality managers to complement their skills with those of risk management. Risk managers may interpret this wrongly, assuming that risk is taking over from quality. This is not the view advocated in this paper. As specialists in both fields the authors believe that there is a ground for symbiosis. Risk has no doubt shaken the semi-religious total confidence in quality making concepts such as uncertainty and ‘preoccupation with failure’ more acceptable. On the other hand the literature advocating quality assurance as a main preventative measure against risk is taking off. Risk management education too is taking interest in quality assurance (UEL and some other British universities). It is likely that a similar integrative trend is taking place outside the academia. To identify such a development we shall review the literature on quality and risk, teaching of risk management at UEL, and the experiences of quality assurance in a London-based subsidiary of a fire alarm company and its customers.