In several pieces I have raised concerns about the future of ASQ.  Recently, the CEO of ASQ resigned and the Board of Governors is being presented with a petition from membership.  This piece discusses the petition and its implications.

By way of disclosure, I am a long time member of ASQ.  I was not directly asked to sign the petition.  However, I’m a very concerned member of ASQ

Background

ASQ is the major association of the quality profession.  While it offers numerous quality-oriented training and certifications, much of the certification training can be obtained from other sources for less than that offered by ASQ.

As an organization, ASQ is being disrupted.  Membership has been declining. Further, ASQ allowed its brand to be degraded.  For instance, I have a Six Sigma Green Belt and a Manager of Quality and Organization Excellence certification.  Many supervisors at the United States Postal Service, where I worked, had a Green Belt certification.  They felt that my green belt certification was of lower value than theirs.

There are three forces causing ASQ’s disruption. First, ISO 9001 certifications have been declining for several years.  Material and training related to ISO 9001 certifications contribute to ASQ’s financial base. A decline in ISO 9001 certifications means a decline in revenue.

Second, ISO has been moving its certifications towards risk management.  ASQ is quality, not risk oriented. Over time, skills related to risk management will supersede those associated with quality management.

Lastly, the quality profession is in decline.  For instance, the Department of Labor forecasts that quality technician positions will see a decline in numbers.   Another example is a comment H. James Harrington made to me when I asked why he switched from quality to innovation.  He said: “quality had become commoditized”. Consequently, quality management will increasingly be handled by Artificial Intelligence. Thus, beside losing financial resources, the trend is against quality management and towards risk management.

ASQ’s Inflection Point

These forces put ASQ in a position which requires major adjustments.  Most importantly, ASQ is at an inflection point. An inflection point is a point in time where the governance decisions can make or break the organization.  Bad decisions could result in ASQ becoming the equivalent of the 20^th Century Moose Lodge. Good decisions could result in ASQ flourishing.

But there are problems within ASQ. If these problems are not addressed, no matter what ASQ leadership decides, ASQ will decline.  The extent of the internal problems can be seen in the items in the petition.

Petition

The petition lists eight items the signers want the Executive Director and the Board of Governors to address. Items are similar, thus five will be presented.

1. Policies enacted affecting the governance, structure, and funding of ASQ, Section and Section Affairs, and Divisions and Technical Communities be rescinded, previous policies restored, and future policies be put to a member vote requiring a 2/3 majority.
2. Member Unit Operating Agreement that Section and Division leaders were forced to sign under threat of being removed and/or having their Section or Division dissolved be rescinded, previous agreements restored, and future agreements require the actual agreement of Sectional and Division leaders and member requiring a 2/3 majority of the affected Section or Division membership.
3. ASQ Headquarters be restructured to solely focus on providing functional and transactional support to ASQ with minimum level of staffing necessary and that ASQ Headquarters staff not directly engage in proposing or promoting changes to the governance, structure, or funding of ASQ.
4. ASQ Headquarters or a selected association management service be required to operate within its approved budget, maintain a balanced budget, and return unused funds to the use of the Society and that cost savings resulting in reversing ASQ Transformation be used to reduce Member dues to a reasonable level for a professional society and maintain a reasonable reserve for ASQ.
5. If ASQ Headquarters remains as an entity that the ASQ Center headquarters building in Milwaukee be sold and more cost-effective office space location and arrangements be made.

The petition elements make several things clear.

1. Petitioners are seriously upset with ASQ corporate.
2. ASQ is experiencing financial troubles.
3. ASQ corporate took draconian measures by taking money and power from the local chapters.
4. Petitioners want what was taken away restored.
5. Corporate building is a financial albatross. The petitioners want the Board of Governors to consider selling it.
6. Petitioners want corporate to live within its means.
7. Petitioners want to restrict the power of the Board of Governors.
8. Petitioners want the Board of Governors to consider hiring a management service to replace headquarters staff.

The demands illustrate the challenges facing ASQ.

Challenges

The petition makes it clear that a portion of ASQ membership have significant and deep-seated animus towards the Board of Governors.  Until the issues expressed in the petition are resolved, ASQ will limp along as a seriously disrupted organization. But, even after smoothing things with membership, there are challenges which must be overcome before the Board of Governors can develop strategies which will counter act the disruptive forces ASQ faces.

One challenge will be for the Board of Governors and Executive Director to convince membership that change must occur. This will be difficult since the petitioners want a return to the old status quo. The petition also signifies considerable resistance to ASQ’s current direction.

Internal resistance is a problem every disrupted organization faces. In the case of ASQ, the problem is more complicated.  Many of its members are quality consultants.  As ISO 9001 certifications continue to decline, there will be fewer demands for consultant services.  Further, as ISO continues to emphasize risk management, these same consultants will find their knowledge base and skills less applicable. This group will likely resist any change under the belief that the old status quo will insulate them from disruption. This is a fallacy, since the disruptive forces are external and not internal.

It is obvious that ASQ is in financial difficulty.  If this was not so, the Board of Governors would not have authorized the draconian measure of taking funds from the Chapters and force Section and Division leaders accept this action under threat of being removed and/or having their Section or Division dissolved. Consequently, any strategic action to deal with disruption must ensure financial solvency. It must also deal with several issue related to governance.

First, as a member, I was not aware of the draconian measures imposed upon Chapters.  Nor was I informed of the petition.  Thus, corporate and chapter or section leaders must do a better job communicating with all members.  If ASQ is to avoid becoming irrelevant as a professional organization, it must be more egalitarian in its communications.  Having information and decision making limited to a select few will only drive membership down.

Second, the fact that the governing body is being asked to reverse its decision, indicates a distrust of the governing body’s decisions. ASQ cannot move forward unless its members believe that the governing body and executive director are making decisions which strengthen the organization, not divide it.

Lastly, the petition wants to lessen the powers of corporate and the Board of Governors. Having the chapters go their own way is not likely to result in a stronger ASQ. Nor is it likely to result in the development of strategies which adequately counter the forces causing disruption.

Summary

ASQ is a disrupted organization.  This disruption strikes at the core of ASQ and its knowledge base, quality.  ISO 9001 certifications continue to decline. Consequently, the demand for the related certifications and training will continue to decline. This adversely impacts ASQ’s revenue stream. In addition, the outlook for quality related positions is also bleak. But, perhaps the most significant challenge to the quality profession is ISO’s continued move toward a risk management emphasis in its standards.  This emphasis reduces the importance of quality, as opposed to risk management. It places at a competitive disadvantage consultants and organizations like ASQ, which are primarily quality oriented.

Dealing with disruption is difficult at the best of times.  For ASQ, these are not the best of times. The petition clearly indicates that a portion of the membership distrusts the Board of Governors and its policies. They want a return to the old status quo.   Yet, the old status quo does not adequately respond to the disruption.

Unless membership recognizes that change must occur, ASQ will slowly spiral into an irreversible decline towards professional irrelevance. Unfortunately, the Board of Governors may not be sufficiently trusted to allow it to heal the internal fracture and push forward the needed changes.

Bio:

James J. Kline is a Senior Member of ASQ, a Six Sigma Green Belt, a Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence and a Certified Enterprise Risk Manager®.  He has work for federal, state and local government. He has over ten year’s supervisory and managerial experience in both the public and private sector.  He has consulted on economic, quality and workforce development issues for state and local governments.  He has authored numerous articles on quality in government and risk analysis. His book “Enterprise Risk Management in Government: Implementing ISO 31000:2018” is available on Amazon.  He is the principle of JK Consulting. jeffreyk12011@live.com