Two sisters – Quantity & quality
We are in the crisis of lifetime. COVID-19
has gripped the entire world and has brought it to a halt, literally. Human
lives are lost every minute. Nations once compared for the economic might are
today being compared against the total deaths. The ranking has a new meaning. The
death toll in countries are ranked based on their quantity, not quality. Of
course, any human loss is grave in itself. But don't you think, if 1000 US
citizens die due to COVID must have got better medical care for them to fight
the disease than those let say 500 from a country like Chile.
It's human nature to compare and the
mind tends to get inclined to real numbers or quantity for comparison. This is
so routine for us that we don't even realize what has it been doing to us. We
attach importance to ranking in any exams and assume it to be correct for the knowledge
aspect too. Current pandemic (read lock-down) has thrown an opportunity to introspect.
Quantifying things are many times
simple. For example, success in any examination is quantified in terms of ranks,
percentage or marks. It also gives easy chance for comparison. The numerical
system supports the quantification. On the contrary, quality- as must have come
to your mind too- is non-quantifiable. After all, how can you quantify the
pleasure of spending time with family during lock-down? In any case the quality
cannot be expressed in numbers for it is very personal in nature. The terms we
often use like quality time, quality education are illustrations of the
abstract nature of quality.
Hence, can it be said that these two
terms - quality and quantity - are opposite in nature? are exclusive? Well, not!
In fact, these are two sides of the same coin. If a consumer goods company
wants to achieve higher sales (quantity) it must ensure higher quality. If as a consumer I experience that quality of
spices from company has not been up to the mark, those shall be avoided during
shopping. Quality affecting quantity! Recently, few medical equipment
manufacturing companies had to increase production of face mask due to high
demand. Now if these companies do not maintain the quality of the products as
per the government norms/standards they would have huge inventory and suffer
loss. Quantity affecting quality.
While quantity draws boundaries and
offers targets to look at, quality gives surety for blissfulness. The current
pandemic has to be looked from both perspectives. The quantity to be checked
while quality to be ensured. The government administration has a challenge to
limit the number of infections while it also has to ensure quality medical
facilities. The contradiction of quality and quantity has to be balanced not
only during this crisis but post crisis too.
