At one time the word was defined as ‘conformance to specification’, until it was realized
that specifications sometimes do not exactly and explicitly match a particular customer
need and that, though some article or service might indeed meet its specification, it still
failed to result in customer satisfaction. So the operational definition of quality evolved, in
the light of this potential incongruity, into ‘meeting the customers’ expectations’. This
seems to be as useful a definition as any, provided that the ‘customers’ expectations’ which
are supposed to be met are clearly and unambiguously understood by the one who sets out
to meet them and so provide the ‘quality’. This is not always the case.