Quantity vs. Quality.

The debate about quality versus quantity occurs in a variety of settings: Is twenty pages better than ten for a term paper? Is an all-you-can-eat buffet preferable to a gourmet meal? Is a huge lawn more desirable than a small yard? As a society, we tend to value the quantity of productivity to determine how successful a person is. Focusing on the amount produced, however, is based on the false assumption that quantity by itself is an appropriate judge of worth. In fact, the quality of a product is far more important, as we can see by looking at examples from current events, practical employments, and literature.

One of the biggest recent scandals in the business world involved many executives from Enron. These men were focused on how much they could produce, on how much money they could make for themselves. To increase their production, they engaged in risky, illegal, and unethical business practices that eventually led to the total destruction of the entire company and ruined the lives of thousands of Enron employees and investors.

Ford assembly line, 1913.

English: Photo of Judy Blume in 2009

Judy Blume in Skokie, IL

The Enron executives should have focused on making a quality product rather than on quantity in order to maintain a successful company along with satisfied employees and stockholders.

Even in a situation where high productivity is important, quality is just as essential if not more so. For example, and automotive assembly-line. To be successful, this assembly line and all of the workers must work quickly to produce many parts to meet the demand and fill orders from customers and dealerships. However, if the work is careless, then the final product in the car will malfunction and the company will have to order a recall on a certain part or face lawsuits for injuries that result from this lack of quality. In this case, then...