Two sisters – Quantity & quality

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.