Because quality is value-added, it can be measured for any process that adds value. In any enterprise, all stakeholders engage in a value exchange. Employees exchange their labor and ideas for monetary compensation in the form of wages or bonuses. Owners exchange their investments for a financial reward. Managers exchange their organizational and planning systems for monetary compensation.
Customers exchange their money for the benefit they derive from the product or service.
These value exchanges are based on the belief that other parties in the exchange are performing to the best of their abilities. Investors assume that management utilizes the assets entrusted to them in the most effective way they know. Owners expect management to look for better ways to utilize the organization's assets. Management assumes that employees will, to the best of their abilities, do the jobs they are paid to do and offer suggestions for how the job might be done better. Employees assume that they will be rewarded commensurately to the value they create.