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QUALITY AND PRACTICES FOR ITS ASSURANCE 7 2 QUALITY AND PRACTICES FOR ITS ASSURANCE The term quality, particularly when applied to facilities, has no single generally accepted meaning. For many people, it is a characteristic of an object. For others, it has something to do with actions taken to achieve an object with certain characteristics. Quality is a value-laden term that depends on one's point of view. According to the dictionary, quality means "a degree of excellence . . . superiority in kind."9 The authors of ASCE's manual defined quality as "the totality of features, attributes, and characteristics . . . that bear on . . . ability to satisfy a given need: fitness for purpose . . . meeting the requirements."10 The American Society for Quality Control termed quality "a 9 Mish, Frederick C., ed. 1985. Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam- Webster, Inc., Springfield, MA. A glossary of terms is presented in Appendix B. 10 ASCE, op. cit., p. 17.
