Religion plays an important part in the daily lives and identities of many people across the world. “Religion has survived and thrived for more than 100,000 years. It exists in every culture, with more than 85 percent of the world’s population embracing some sort of religious belief (Azar, 2010)”.
According to the Bible (Maxwell, 2018), God’s works are excellent. Adam was created by God in his image and His Likeness. God put him in the Garden of Eden to take care of it and to WORK it.
Creativity and perfection are attributes of God and men are by design called to excellence. In accomplishing his task, Adam was to use the knowledge and the know-how of HIS CREATOR so that the fruits of his work are perfect.
Evans and Lindsay (2008) mentioned this:
quality has been an important aspect of the production operations throughout history. The Egyptians wall paintings circa 1450 BC for example give the evidence of measurement and inspection. During the Middle Ages in Europe, the craftsperson served both as manufacturer and inspector.
This is also visible in several places like among Kuba artists of the Demographic Republic of Congo of which the artworks continue to generate so much admiration.
The product focused notion of quality evolved into the concept of performance excellence which is an integrated approach to the organizational performance management. After being for a long time a business of the organizations manufacturing products, quality continues to spread among service organizations.
The study by Qayyum, Anjum & Sabir (2019) found that “Developing countries show the positive impact of religion on economic development but these results are not robust. In developed countries the effect of religion on economic development is positive and it is robust as well.” Gürtler (2018) said this:
Praying to God alone is unlikely to change the fortunes of your business, but the sense of purpose and other values embedded in various religions can be a dynamic, if not a spiritual, force for good – and they may even provide a competitive advantage.
People play an essential role in achieving quality. At the time of creation there were neither organizations, nor companies. The basic functional unit was the family and teachings on quality was starting within the family. The story of the creation as narrated in the first and the second chapters of the book of Genesis in the Holy Bible reveals that the teachings on quality must begin at family level. At Ultimate Support Services & Consultancy (PTY) Ltd we believe that among others, Churches have a major role to play on this matter so that quality becomes part of the culture of every human being and every society to the great benefit of humankind.
J.H.Mukendi Meji Kazadi
References
- Azar, B. (December 2010). A reason to believe. American Psychological Association. 41(11) p 52
- Gürtler, D. (2018, July 19). The Connection between religion and business. Roland Berger. https://www.rolandberger.com/en/Point-of-View/The-connection-between-religion-and-business.html
- Maxwell, J. C. (2018). The Maxwell Leadership Bible (New International Version). Thomas Nelson.
- Qayyum, U., Anjum, S. & Sabir, S. (2019). Religion and economic development: new insights. Empirica. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10663-019-09456-3
