QUALITY IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT (CONTD.):Total Quality Management

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LESSON 35

QUALITY IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT (CONTD.)

BROAD CONTENTS

The Quality Movement

Quality Development Stages

Quality Audit

Deming Philosophy

35.1

THE QUALITY MOVEMENT:

During the past 100 years, the views of quality have changed dramatically. Prior to World War

I, quality was viewed predominantly as inspection, sorting out the good items from the bad.

Emphasis was on problem identification. Following World War I and up to the early 1950s,

emphasis was still on sorting good items from bad.

However, quality control principles were now emerging in the form of:

· Statistical and mathematical techniques

· Sampling tables

· Process control charts

From the early 1950s to the late 1960s, quality control evolved into quality assurance, with its

emphasis on problem avoidance rather than problem detection. Additional quality assurance

principles emerged, such as:

The cost of quality

Zero-defect programs

Reliability engineering

Total quality control

35.2

DEVELOPMENT OF QUALITY STAGES:

This comprises of the following "five level model":

Inspection

Quality Control

Quality Assurance

Quality Management

Total Quality Management

Inspection:

"Activity such as measuring, examining, testing, or gauging one or more characteristics

of an entity and comparing the results with specified requirements in order to establish

whether conformity is achieved for each characteristic" (ISO 8402)

Quality Control:

Quality control is a collective term for activities and techniques, within the process, that

are intended to create specific quality characteristics. Such activities include continually

monitoring processes, identifying and eliminating problem causes, use of statistical

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process control to reduce the variability and to increase the efficiency of processes.

Quality control certifies that the organization's quality objectives are being met.

Quality control is also referred to as the technical aspect of quality management. They

set up the technical processes and procedures that ensure that each step of the project

provides a quality output from design and development through implementation and

maintenance. Each step's output must conform to the overall quality standards and

quality plans, thus ensuring that quality is achieved.

A good quality control system will:

Select what to control

Set standards that provide the basis for decisions regarding possible corrective

action

Establish the measurement methods used

Compare the actual results to the quality standards

Act to bring nonconforming processes and material back to the standard based on

the information collected

Monitor and calibrate measuring devices

Include detailed documentation for all processes

Quality Assurance:

Quality assurance is the collective term for the formal activities and managerial

processes that are planned and undertaken in an attempt to ensure that products and

services that are delivered are at the required quality level. Quality assurance also

includes efforts external to these processes that provide information for improving the

internal processes. It is the quality assurance function that attempts to ensure that the

project scope, cost, and time functions are fully integrated.

The Project Management Institute Guide to the Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) refers to

quality assurance as the management section of quality management. This is the area

where the project manager can have the greatest impact on the quality of his project.

The project manager needs to establish the administrative processes and procedures

necessary to ensure and, often, prove that the scope statement conforms to the actual

requirements of the customer. The project manager must work with his team to

determine which processes they will use to ensure that all stakeholders have confidence

that the quality activities will be properly performed. All relevant legal and regulatory

requirements must also be met.

A good quality assurance system will:

· Identify objectives and standards.

· Be multifunctional and prevention oriented.

· Plan for collection and use of data in a cycle of continuous improvement.

· Plan for the establishment and maintenance of performance measures.

· Include quality audits.

Quality Management:

During the past twenty years, there has been a revolution toward improved quality. The

improvements have occurred not only in product quality, but also in quality leadership

and quality project management. Unfortunately, it takes an economic disaster or a

recession to get management to recognize the need for improved quality. Prior to the

recession of 19791982, Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler viewed each other as the

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competition rather than the Japanese. Prior to the recession of 19891994, high-tech

engineering companies never fully recognized the need for shortening product

development time and the relationship between project management, total quality

management, and concurrent engineering. The push for higher levels of quality appears

to be customer driven. Customers are now demanding:

Higher performance requirements

Faster product development

Higher technology levels

Materials and processes pushed to the limit

Lower contractor profit margins

Fewer defects/rejects

One of the critical factors that can affect quality is market expectations. The variables

that affect market expectations include:

Salability: the balance between quality and cost

Produceability: the ability to produce the product with available technology and

workers, and at an acceptable cost

Social acceptability: the degree of conflict between the product or process and the

values of society (i.e., safety, environment)

Operability: the degree to which a product can be operated safely

Availability: the probability that the product, when used under given conditions,

will perform satisfactorily when called upon

Reliability: the probability of the product performing without failure under given

conditions and for a set period of time

Maintainability: the ability of the product to be retained in or restored to a

performance level when prescribed maintenance is performed

Customer demands are now being handled using total quality management (TQM).

Total quality management is an ever-improving system for integrating various

organizational elements into the design, development, and manufacturing efforts,

providing cost-effective products or services that are fully acceptable to the ultimate

customer. Externally, TQM is customer oriented and provides for more meaningful

customer satisfaction. Internally, TQM reduces production line bottlenecks and

operating costs, thus enhancing product quality while improving organizational morale.

Total Quality Management (TQM):

For this, we first explain what "total quality" is. Total Quality means:

Quality of work

Quality of Service

Quality of information

Quality Process

Quality of Organization

Quality of People

Quality of Company

Quality of Objectives

Mature organizations today readily admit that they cannot accurately define quality.

The reason for this is because quality is defined by the customer. The Kodak definition

of quality is those products and services that are perceived to meet or exceed the needs

and expectations of the customer at a cost that represents outstanding value.

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The ISO 9000 definition is "the totality of feature and characteristics of a product or

service that bears on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs." Terms such as fitness

for use, customer satisfaction, and zero defects are goals rather than definitions. Most

organizations today view quality more as a process than a product. To be more specific,

it is a continuously improving process where lessons learned are used to enhance future

products and services in order to:

Retain existing customers

Win back lost customers

Win new customers

Therefore, companies today are developing quality improvement processes. Figure 35.1

shows the five quality principles that support Kodak's quality policy. Figure 35.2 shows

a more detailed quality improvement process.

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management strategy aimed at embedding

awareness of quality in all organizational processes. Total Quality Management (TQM)

has been widely used in manufacturing, education, government, and service industries,

as well as NASA space and science programs.

Total Quality provides an umbrella under which everyone in the organization can strive

and create customer satisfaction at continually lower real costs.

Total Quality Management (TQM) is the management of total quality. We know that

management consists of planning, organizing, directing, control, and assurance. Then,

one has to define "total quality". Total quality is called total because it consists of the

following three qualities:

1. Quality of return to satisfy the needs of the shareholders

2. Quality of products and services to satisfy some specific needs of the consumer

(end user)

3. Quality of life - at work and outside work - to satisfy the needs of the people in the

organization.

This is achieved with the help of upstream and downstream partners of the enterprise.

To this, we have to add the corporate citizenship, that is the social, technological,

economical, political, and ecological (STEPE) responsibility of the enterprise

concerning its internal (its people) and external (upstream and downstream) partners,

and community. Therefore, total quality management goes well beyond satisfying the

customer, or merely offering quality products (goods and/or services). Note that we use

the term consumer or end customer. The reason is that in a Supply Chain Management

approach, we do not have to satisfy our customers' needs but the needs of our

customers' customers' all the way to the end customer, the consumer of a product and/or

service.

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Figure 35.1: Kodak's Five Quality Principles

Figure 35.2: The Quality Improvement Process

These two figures (35.1 and 35.2) seem to illustrate that organizations are placing more emphasis on the

quality process than on the quality product and, therefore, are actively pursuing quality improvements

through a continuous cycle.

35.3

QUALITY AUDIT:

A quality audit is an independent evaluation performed by qualified personnel that ensures that

the project is conforming to the project's quality requirements and is following the established

quality procedures and policies.

A good quality audit will ensure that:

The planned quality for the project will be met.

The products are safe and fit for use.

All pertinent laws and regulations are followed.

Data collection and distribution systems are accurate and adequate.

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Proper corrective action is taken when required.

Improvement opportunities are identified.

Figure 35.3: The Result of Total Quality

35.4

DEMING'S PHILOSOPHY:

Deming postulated that 85 percent of all quality problems required management to take the

initiative and change the process. Only 15 percent of the quality problems could be controlled

by the workers on the floor. As an example, the workers on the floor were not at fault because

of the poor quality of raw materials that resulted from management's decision to seek out the

lowest cost suppliers. Management had to change the purchasing policies and procedures.

Management had to develop long-term relationships with vendors.

Dr. Deming's Dreadful Diseases:

Looking elsewhere for examples, or concluding that "our problems are different.

"Creative accounting" rather than "commitment"

Purchasing to an "acceptable level of quality.

Management's failure to delegate responsibility.

That employees cause all the problems.

Quality can be "assured by inspection".

False starts: no organization-wide commitment.

Although many experts have contributed to the success of the quality movement; the three most

influential contributors in this country and internationally are W. Edwards Deming, Joseph M.

Juran, and Phillip B. Crosby. Dr. Deming pioneered the use of statistics and sampling methods

from 1927 to 1940 at the U.S. Department of agriculture. Dr. Deming applied Dr. Shewhart's

Plan/Do/Check/Act cycle to clerical tasks. Figure 35.4 shows the Deming Cycle for

Improvement.

Deming contended that workers simply cannot do their best. They had to be shown what

constitutes acceptable quality and that continuous improvement is not only possible, but

necessary. For this to be accomplished, workers had to be trained in the use of statistical process

control charts. Realizing that even training required management's approval, Deming's lectures

became more and more focused toward management and what they must do.

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Figure 35.4: The Deming Cycle for Improvement

Table 35.1

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