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Polarity

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Polarity Management of Cost and Quality
Dustin Klinger
Kaplan University

Polarity Management of Cost and Quality Polarities are interdependent pairs that support a common purpose yet tend to be contradictory of one other (Polarity Partnerships, para. 1). Some examples of polarities include: stability and change, individual and team, long and short term, autocratic and participatory and my topic, cost and quality. Any of these pairs are known to counter the other. In my case, it is important to note that when quality improves, cost generally increases and vice versa. Throughout this paper I will discuss managerial approaches to utilize these two concepts to your advantage without ever overlooking either of them. It is important to embrace the fact that there are polarities everywhere we turn and instead of trying to fight against them, we should develop their concepts to make us more complete. Larry Hirschhorn has argued that in order for managers to become proficient in managing polarities, they must develop a set of “rules of thumb” for when they encounter different circumstances. They establish these rules with the hopes of somewhat standardizing their way of thinking as well as how to allocate resources for each instance. The guidelines are generally developed to recognize patterns and opportunities. Hirschhorn recommends managers create a 2 x 2 table to help illustrate this concept and to categorize its different states. Each axis would include a “hi” and “lo” status with the top right box representing the “Hi-Hi” state. The “Hi-Hi” state would represent the situation which required the expert’s immediate attention (Hirschhorn, 2001, p. 12) Below is an example of a polarity map for my argument.

Competitive Advantage

Goods are manufactured, cost-effectively-wasteful spending does not occur-overhead is at a minimum | Quality goals are

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