Exploration into the quality septet

Abstract

Purpose

The paper has the objective of finding why the number seven most commonly appears with respect to the number of steps, number of quality tools, and several other quality related topics including personal quality.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper relies on the secondary data available through print and electronic media including the world wide web. Though this it is at least ensured to be quite broad based.

Findings

No specific reason could be attributed for using only number seven as no such reasoning was provided anywhere in the literature for the various lists proposed by different authors. However, in an early paper it has been reported that there is a finite span of immediate memory and for a wide range of test materials, this span is about seven items. This postulate has been widely debated and no evidence exists to generalize the issue. Thus, in the opinion of the author that there are no valid or scientific reasons for the issue considered.

Research limitations/implications

Search is not claimed to be exhaustive as all the lists have not been examined to check the use of number seven.

Originality/value

Based on literature review it was found that the question “why number seven?” was not addressed and hence this paper has attempted to answer it. Secondly, no compilation of lists to demonstrate the use of number seven existed and this paper has filled the void.

Citation

Raj, J. (2006), "Exploration into the quality septet", The TQM Magazine, Vol. 18 No. 5, pp. 433-439. https://doi.org/10.1108/09544780610685430