Objective Ranking Method — Quality Management

Do you have many things to do or many goals to reach, but no idea where to start? This method is for you. You can use it in your business for quality management, or in your daily life to set your priorities. After all, we can feel a little lost outside of work too.

What Is This Method About?

Objective Ranking helps you line up your organization’s activities with its goals and shows where to focus your efforts. In the end, every team and every person can see how their work connects to the big picture.

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Use it whenever you need to work out how to reach your goals and where to start. It’s a guide for answering “Where do I start?” when you have more than one priority.

How to Use It

The process has 8 standard steps:

1. Collect a list of possible objectives.
2. Write each objective on a card.
3. Remove any objective that isn’t realistic.
4. Rank the objectives from the most basic to the highest purpose.
5. Check the list against customer needs.
6. Find the minimum action that would satisfy customer requirements.
7. Pick the best objective you can reach with the resources you have.
8. Pick the objective that meets customer requirements and that the team can achieve.

Let’s go through each step with an example.

Case Study: “Fast Cargo” E-Commerce Company

• The problem: The company is losing more and more customers because of poor service quality.
• The root cause: Too many packages are delivered to the wrong address.
• The constraint: A limited budget.
• The challenge: Where should the management team start to improve quality?

Brainstorming & Filtering (Steps 1–3)

Step 1: Collect a list of possible objectives.

Start by brainstorming. Write down every goal you can think of, with no filtering yet. For Fast Cargo, the ideas were:

• Identify the customer
• Renew company vehicles
• Delight the customer
• Eliminate customer complaints
• Provide the best service
• Increase market share
• Improve customer care

Step 2: Write each objective on a card.

Once you have your ideas, put each one on its own card.

Step 3: Remove any objective that isn’t realistic.

Now be realistic and objective. Fast Cargo has a limited budget, so renewing the company vehicles isn’t an option, and that card goes.

Building the Hierarchy (Step 4)

Step 4: Rank the objectives from the most basic to the highest purpose.

This is the most important step. Arrange the remaining cards in a chain, starting at the bottom and moving up, so that each step supports the one above it:

1. Increase market share (top)
2. Delight the customer
3. Provide the best service
4. Improve customer care
5. Eliminate customer complaints
6. Identify the customer (bottom)

Read it from the bottom up. To eliminate complaints, we first need to know who our customers are. Without complaints, we can improve customer care, which leads to the best service. Great service delights the customer, and delighted customers grow our market share.

Aligning with Reality (Steps 5–6)

Step 5: Check the list against customer needs.

Next, compare the chain with what customers actually want. Fast Cargo’s customers don’t need a VIP experience right now. They need delivery errors fixed immediately.

Step 6: Find the minimum action that would satisfy customer requirements.

• Customer need: Delivery errors fixed immediately.
• Minimum action required: Stop incorrect deliveries.

The Final Decision (Steps 7–8)

Step 7: Pick the best objective you can reach with the resources you have.

Now look at the resources. Fast Cargo can’t afford new technology, so the most achievable step right now is to train the existing staff. This is our optimum target: it fits the current budget and directly tackles “Eliminate customer complaints,” because well-trained staff make fewer delivery mistakes.

Step 8: Pick the objective that meets customer requirements and that the team can achieve.

This brings us to the “Objective to be achieved” box on the chart. This is the bigger goal we are working toward: delighting the customer. We can’t jump there right away, but every step below it, starting with training our staff and eliminating complaints, moves us closer. Once our customers are delighted, the top of the chain follows: a bigger market share.

In short, the optimum target is where you start today, and the objective to be achieved is where you are heading.

That’s the whole method: eight steps that take you from a messy list of ideas to one clear starting point. Fast Cargo is a business example, but as I said at the beginning, the same chain works for your personal goals too. Say you want to get fit, learn a new language and save money all at once. Write each goal on a card, drop the ones you can’t realistically take on right now, and rank the rest from the most basic to the highest purpose. Your optimum target is the first step you can take today with what you already have.

So next time you’re asking yourself “Where do I start?”, build your own chain and see where it leads. I hope you found it useful!

Source: Kanji, G. K., & Asher, M. (1996). 100 Methods for Total Quality Management. London: Sage Publications.