quality management assignment example

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What Is Total Quality Management (TQM)? Meaning, History, Elements, Implementation, and Examples

Total quality management (TQM) ensures all parts of an organization continuously improve quality. It involves everyone in an organization focusing on meeting customer needs and enhancing organizational effectiveness. In this article, learn about TQM’s history, elements, implementation, and a few examples.

• Total quality management (TQM) is defined as a management approach that aims to continuously improve product or service quality.
• It involves everyone in an organization, from top management to frontline workers, focusing on meeting customer needs and enhancing organizational effectiveness.
• This article delves into the key fundamentals of TQM, detailing its history, principles, implementation process, examples, and significance in industries.

Table of Contents

What is total quality management (tqm), history of tqm, tqm elements and principles, implementation of tqm, examples of tqm, importance of tqm in devops.

Total quality management (TQM) is a management approach that aims to continuously improve product or service quality. It involves everyone in an organization, from top management to frontline workers, focusing on meeting customer needs and enhancing organizational effectiveness.

Here’s a use case illustrating TQM:

Step 1: Identify customer needs

A car manufacturing company wants to improve customer satisfaction. It gathers feedback through surveys, complaints, and market research to understand what customers want, like durability, safety, and comfort.

Step 2: Set quality goals

Based on customer feedback, the company sets specific quality goals, such as reducing defects, improving fuel efficiency, and enhancing the driving experience.

Step 3: Involve everyone

All employees are involved in the quality improvement process. Managers, engineers, assembly line workers, and support staff work together towards the common goal of delivering high-quality cars.

Step 4: Continuous improvement

Regular quality audits, inspections, and performance reviews are conducted to identify areas for improvement. Suggestions from employees and customers are welcomed and implemented promptly.

Step 5: Training and education

Employees receive training on quality management techniques, problem-solving skills, and new technologies to ensure they have the knowledge and skills to meet quality standards.

Step 6: Supplier relationships

The company works closely with suppliers to ensure the quality of components and materials used in car manufacturing. Supplier performance is monitored, and feedback is provided for improvement.

Step 7: Monitoring and measurement

Quality metrics are tracked regularly to monitor progress toward achieving quality goals. Key performance indicators (KPIs) such as defect rates, customer satisfaction scores, and warranty claims are analyzed to identify trends and take corrective actions.

Step 8: Customer feedback loop

The company maintains open communication channels with customers to gather product quality and satisfaction feedback. This feedback is used to make further improvements and adjustments.

Step 9: Recognition and rewards

Employees who contribute to quality improvement efforts are recognized and rewarded for their contributions. This fosters a culture of continuous improvement and encourages active participation.

Step 10: Repeat

The process of continuous improvement never stops. The company constantly reviews and refines its quality management practices to stay competitive and meet evolving customer needs.

Thus, TQM is a systematic approach to achieving and maintaining high-quality products or services through continuous improvement, employee involvement, and customer focus.

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TQM has a rich history that spans several decades. It developed through the work of various quality pioneers and evolved into a comprehensive management approach. Here’s a brief overview:

Early 20th Century: Beginnings

TQM’s roots can be traced back to the early 1900s. Frederick Taylor introduced scientific management. His focus was improving worker efficiency through time and motion studies. However, his approach was more about productivity than quality.

1920s-1930s: Statistical methods

Walter Shewhart, a statistician at Bell Laboratories, developed the control chart in the 1920s. This was a tool to monitor processes and ensure consistency. Shewhart’s work laid the foundation for statistical quality control (SQC).

1940s: World War II

During World War II, quality became crucial for manufacturing military equipment. The U.S. military adopted SQC methods to ensure high-quality production, and training programs were established to teach workers these methods.

1950s: Japan’s influence

After World War II, Japan sought to rebuild its economy. Japanese industries focused on improving quality to compete globally. They invited American experts like W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran to teach them quality management.

Deming introduced his 14 Points for Management, emphasizing continuous improvement and the importance of quality in all aspects of production. Juran focused on the human quality aspect and introduced the “quality trilogy” concept: planning, control, and improvement.

1960s: Quality circles

In Japan, quality circles became popular. In this, small groups of workers met regularly to discuss and solve quality problems. This approach encouraged employee involvement and teamwork.

1970s: Growing interest in the west

Western companies started noticing Japan’s success. They began adopting similar quality management practices. The term “Total Quality Control” (TQC) became popular, emphasizing the need for quality in all organizational processes.

1980s: TQM emerges

“Total Quality Management” (TQM) gained prominence in the 1980s. It integrated various quality management practices into a comprehensive system, focusing on continuous improvement, customer satisfaction, and employee involvement.

Philip Crosby, another quality guru, introduced the concept of “zero defects.” He emphasized doing things right the first time and preventing defects rather than inspecting them.

1990s: Global adoption

In the 1990s, TQM became a global phenomenon. Organizations worldwide have adopted TQM principles to improve quality and competitiveness. The ISO 9000 series of quality management standards, developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), also gained popularity. These standards provide guidelines for implementing quality management systems.

2000s to Present: Evolution and integration

TQM has continued to evolve. It has integrated with other management practices like ‘Lean and Six Sigma.’ These methodologies focus on eliminating waste and reducing variation to improve quality. Today, TQM remains vital to many organizations’ strategies for achieving excellence.

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TQM comprises several key elements and principles to improve quality and organizational performance. These elements and principles form the foundation of TQM implementation. Let’s delve into each one with examples for better understanding:

1. Customer focus

Placing customers at the center of all activities and decisions. Understanding and meeting their needs and expectations.

Example : Apple Inc. continuously gathers feedback from customers to enhance its products. The company conducts surveys, analyzes customer reviews, and monitors social media to identify areas for improvement.

2. Total employee involvement

Engaging all employees in quality improvement efforts. Encouraging participation, empowerment, and teamwork.

Example : Toyota implements the “Kaizen” philosophy, where employees at all levels are encouraged to suggest improvements. Workers on the assembly line can stop production if they identify a quality issue, demonstrating the importance of employee involvement.

3. Process-centered

Emphasizing the importance of well-defined and efficient processes. Continuously improving processes to enhance quality and efficiency.

Example : Amazon optimizes its order fulfillment process to ensure timely delivery and customer satisfaction. Amazon streamlines warehouse operations through automation and data analysis , reducing errors and improving order accuracy.

4. Integrated system

Ensuring that all parts of the organization work together towards common quality goals. Breaking down silos and promoting collaboration across departments.

Example : Google integrates quality management into its product development process. Engineers, designers, and marketers collaborate closely to ensure that products meet quality standards and customer expectations from conception to launch.

5. Strategic and systematic approach

Taking a proactive and systematic approach to quality management. Setting clear quality objectives aligned with organizational goals.

Example : Ford sets strategic quality goals, such as reducing vehicle defects by a certain percentage each year. The company implements quality management systems and regularly monitors progress to achieve these objectives.

6. Continual improvement

Committing to ongoing improvement in all areas of the organization. Embracing a culture of learning and innovation.

Example : Samsung conducts regular audits and performance reviews to identify opportunities for improvement. The company invests in employee training and development programs to foster a culture of continual learning and growth.

7. Fact-based decision making

Making decisions based on data, evidence, and analysis rather than assumptions or intuition.

Example : Walmart utilizes data analytics to make informed product selection and inventory management decisions. By analyzing sales data and customer trends, Walmart optimizes its product offerings and ensures shelves are stocked with items that meet customer demand.

8. Communication

Fostering open and transparent communication channels within the organization. Sharing information, feedback, and best practices.

Example : Coca-Cola holds regular town hall meetings where employees can voice their ideas and concerns. The company also utilizes digital communication platforms to facilitate collaboration and information sharing among teams across different locations.

Thus, by understanding and implementing these elements and principles of TQM, organizations can create a culture of quality excellence and drive continuous improvement. As a result, companies can enhance product and service quality, achieve greater efficiency, and ensure long-term success in today’s competitive marketplace.

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Implementing TQM involves a comprehensive approach that integrates quality principles into every aspect of an organization’s operations. Here’s how TQM can be implemented in a step-by-step manner:

• Leadership commitment : Top management must demonstrate a strong commitment to TQM by championing quality initiatives, allocating resources, and actively participating in improvement efforts. They set the tone for the entire organization.
• Establish a quality policy : A quality policy is a statement of the organization’s commitment to quality and customer satisfaction. It should be clear, concise, and communicated to all employees, emphasizing the importance of meeting customer needs and continuously improving processes.
• Training and education : Employees at all levels should be trained in TQM principles, methodologies, and tools. Training programs should focus on enhancing problem-solving skills, teamwork, and customer orientation.
• Create cross-functional teams : Establish cross-functional teams to work on quality improvement projects. These teams bring together employees from different departments and levels of the organization to collaborate on solving problems and implementing solutions.
• Quality improvement projects : Identify areas for improvement based on customer feedback, process inefficiencies, or quality metrics. Use tools such as process mapping, cause-and-effect diagrams, and Pareto analysis to prioritize improvement opportunities.
• Implement process controls : Develop and implement process controls to ensure consistent quality and prevent defects. This may include standard operating procedures, quality checkpoints, and quality assurance processes.
• Supplier partnerships : Work closely with suppliers to ensure the quality of raw materials, components, and services. Establish quality standards for suppliers and provide support and guidance to help them meet these standards.
• Continuous monitoring and measurement : Implement systems for monitoring and measuring quality performance using key performance indicators (KPIs) such as defect rates, customer satisfaction scores, and on-time delivery metrics. Use this data to identify trends, detect problems early, and take corrective actions.
• Employee involvement and empowerment : Encourage employee involvement and empowerment by providing opportunities for input, feedback, and decision-making. Recognize and reward employees who contribute to quality improvement efforts.
• Customer feedback loop : Establish mechanisms for gathering customer feedback and use this information to drive continuous improvement. Solicit customer input through surveys, feedback forms, and focus groups, and use this feedback to identify areas for improvement and make changes to products or services.
• Benchmarking and best practices : Benchmark against industry leaders and adopt best practices to continuously raise the bar for quality performance. Learn from the successes and failures of other organizations and strive for excellence.
• Review and adapt : Regularly review TQM initiatives to assess their effectiveness and identify areas for refinement or adaptation. TQM is a dynamic process that requires ongoing evaluation and adjustment to ensure continued success.

By following these steps and integrating TQM principles into every aspect of the organization, businesses can achieve sustainable improvements in quality, customer satisfaction, and competitiveness.

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Numerous organizations across various industries have successfully implemented TQM. Here are some prominent examples that highlight the principles and benefits of TQM:

1. Toyota Motor Corporation

Implementation of TQM :

Toyota is renowned for implementing TQM through the Toyota Production System (TPS). TPS emphasizes lean manufacturing and just-in-time production to eliminate waste and improve efficiency.

Key practices :

• Kaizen (Continuous improvement): Toyota encourages all employees to suggest improvements. This bottom-up approach has resulted in thousands of small, incremental changes that collectively lead to significant enhancements in quality and efficiency.
• Jidoka (Automation with a human touch) : This practice involves designing equipment to stop automatically when a problem occurs, preventing defects, and ensuring that issues are addressed immediately.
• Just-In-Time (JIT) : This principle focuses on reducing inventory levels and producing only what is needed when it is needed, reducing waste, and improving responsiveness to customer demand.

Toyota’s TQM practices have led to the production of high-quality vehicles, reduced costs, and increased customer satisfaction. The company is consistently ranked among the top automobile manufacturers in terms of quality and reliability.

2. Motorola

Motorola adopted TQM in the 1980s, which evolved into the Six Sigma methodology. This approach was driven by a need to improve product quality and reduce defects.

• Six Sigma : Motorola developed this data-driven approach to eliminate defects and improve processes. Six Sigma uses a set of quality management methods, including statistical tools , and creates a special infrastructure of people within the organization who are experts in these methods.
• Employee training : Motorola invested heavily in training employees in quality management techniques and problem-solving skills.

Implementing Six Sigma resulted in significant cost savings and enhanced product reliability, helping Motorola win the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1988.

3. Xerox Corporation

In the late 1980s, Xerox faced severe competition from Japanese manufacturers. To regain its market position, Xerox adopted TQM as a core business strategy.

• Leadership commitment : Senior management at Xerox actively promoted TQM and led by example.
• Benchmarking : Xerox adopted benchmarking practices to compare its processes with those of industry leaders, identifying areas for improvement.
• Customer focus : The company strongly emphasized understanding and meeting customer needs, using customer feedback to drive improvements.

Xerox’s TQM initiatives substantially improved product quality and customer satisfaction. The company reduced defects, improved service delivery, and regained its competitive edge, eventually winning the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1989.

4. Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company

Ritz-Carlton is a prime example of TQM in the service industry. The company adopted TQM to enhance guest satisfaction and maintain high service quality standards.

• Gold standards : Ritz-Carlton developed comprehensive service standards known as the Gold Standards, which define the company’s service philosophy and quality expectations.
• Employee empowerment : Employees are empowered to make decisions to meet guest needs and resolve issues promptly. This empowerment fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility among staff.
• Continuous training : The company invests heavily in training programs to ensure that employees consistently deliver high-quality service.

Ritz-Carlton’s TQM practices have resulted in exceptional customer satisfaction and loyalty. The company has won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award twice, in 1992 and 1999, reflecting its commitment to excellence in service.

5. Ford Motor Company

In the 1980s, Ford adopted TQM to address quality issues and improve its competitive position in the global automotive market. The company implemented the “Quality is Job 1” initiative.

• Quality operating system (QOS) : A systematic approach to managing quality across all operations, emphasizing defect prevention rather than detection.
• Supplier quality improvement : Collaborating closely with suppliers to ensure high-quality materials and components.
• Employee engagement : Involving employees at all levels in quality improvement initiatives and providing training and resources to support these efforts.
• Reduced defects : Significant reduction in manufacturing defects and warranty claims.
• Improved efficiency : Enhanced production efficiency and cost savings.
• Customer perception : Improved brand perception and increased customer satisfaction.

Apart from these, some other enterprises employing TQM include:

• McDonald’s QSCV program : McDonald’s adopted TQM principles through its Quality, Service, Cleanliness, and Value (QSCV) program, emphasizing consistent quality, excellent service, cleanliness, and value for customers.
• General Electric’s Workout program : General Electric implemented TQM principles through its Workout program, empowering employees to identify and solve problems. This resulted in increased efficiency, cost savings, and customer satisfaction.
• Amazon’s customer obsession : Amazon’s TQM approach revolves around its customer obsession principle, prioritizing customer needs and satisfaction, driving innovation, and continuous improvement across all aspects of its operations.

These examples demonstrate the wide-ranging benefits of TQM, from improved product quality and customer satisfaction to increased efficiency and financial performance.

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TQM plays a crucial role in DevOps , enhancing the collaboration between development and operations teams to deliver high-quality software efficiently. Organizations can achieve regular improvements, streamline processes, and ensure customer satisfaction by integrating TQM principles into DevOps.

Here are practical use cases demonstrating the importance of TQM in DevOps:

1. Automated testing and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD)

Application : DevOps teams integrate automated testing into their CI/CD pipelines to ensure code changes are continuously tested for defects.

TQM Impact : Automated testing aligns with TQM’s emphasis on process efficiency and defect prevention. By catching issues early, teams can maintain high quality and reduce the time and cost of fixing bugs post-release.

2. Monitoring and feedback loops

Application : DevOps practices include continuous monitoring applications in production to gather real-time performance data and user feedback.

TQM Impact : Continuous monitoring supports TQM’s customer focus and data-driven decision-making. By analyzing performance metrics and user feedback, teams can identify areas for improvement and make informed adjustments to enhance software quality and user satisfaction.

3. Blameless post-mortems

Application : DevOps teams conduct blameless post-mortems after incidents or failures to understand root causes and prevent recurrence.

TQM Impact : This practice embodies TQM’s principle of continuous improvement and fact-based decision-making. By objectively analyzing failures without assigning blame, teams can learn from mistakes, refine processes, and enhance system reliability.

4. Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Application : DevOps teams use IaC to manage and provision infrastructure through code, ensuring consistency and repeatability.

TQM Impact : IaC supports TQM’s process standardization and optimization principles. It reduces human error, accelerates deployment processes, and enhances the overall quality and stability of the infrastructure.

See More : What Is DevOps Lifecycle? Definition, Key Components, and Management Best Practices

The future of TQM in industries is promising, shaped significantly by advancements in digital technologies. TQM’s core principles of continuous improvement, customer focus, and employee involvement are being enhanced by the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) , big data analytics, and the Internet of Things (IoT) . These technologies enable real-time data collection and analysis, allowing for more precise quality control and predictive maintenance, thus reducing defects and downtime. 

Moreover, digital tools facilitate better communication and collaboration across global teams, fostering a culture of continuous improvement. Industry 4.0, with its emphasis on automation and smart manufacturing, further integrates TQM into the operational fabric of modern industries, making processes more efficient and agile.

Thus, TQM’s relevance is amplified in the digital age, as advanced technologies provide powerful tools to achieve higher standards of quality and efficiency, ensuring sustained competitive advantage.

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Quality Management Plan Template & Sample Project Example

What is Quality Management Plan?

Quality Management Plan is a well-defined set of documents and information to efficiently manage the quality throughout software development project starting from planning to the software deployment. The primary goal of making a Quality Management Plan is to ensure that the project deliverables are of adequate quality and fit for the software requirements .

Download the below Quality Management Plan Template

Purpose of this Quality Management Plan

The primary goal of the QM plan is to ensure that the project deliverables are of adequate quality and fit-for-purpose. Quality assurance and Quality control is an integral part of the Project Quality Management Plan.

Quality Management Plan Components

To achieve this, the <project name> Quality Management Plan includes the following components:

• Quality Assurance – to ensure quality project management processes.
• Quality Control – via the development of quality outputs
• Quality Improvement – review points to assess and improve quality where possible.

Quality Philosophy

• The Quality Philosophy describes the overall intentions and approach to be applied for maintaining quality.

The Quality Philosophy for the <Project name> Project involves:

• Standards and methodologies for project management quality assurance
• Effective processes to support arrangements for good governance and accountability;
• Input from individuals with the appropriate subject or technical expertise to ensure the development of outputs that are fit for the purpose.

Quality Strategy

The Quality Strategy for the <Project name> Project involves:

• Quality related issues faced in the application of the project management processes
• Quality issues encountered in the development of the outputs
• Relevant standards that must be applied
• Activities in the work plan that should be conducted correctly

Project Quality Assurance

• Quality assurance will be achieved by defining the defining the relevant quality project management processes.

Methodologies and Standards

The relevant methodologies, guidelines should be maintained for following items

• Standards of Risk Management must be maintained
• Records management, web publishing, information security, privacy, etc.
• Relevant business domain driven standards

Any changes to these standards need be recorded as an issue in the Project Issues Register.

Quality Review

Project quality consultants.

The role of any Quality Consultants should be explained in detailed depending on their area of expertise. Project Quality Consultants also contribute to the formal Project Evaluation by providing a Project Performance Review.

Project Evaluation and Review

In this Quality Management Plan sample, you need to define:

• The timing for reviews, which may be conducted at the end of a phase or every phase.
• A review of project performance and comparison with the defined project target outcomes
• A review of the methodologies needed to produce the outputs
• Learning points of the project
• Area for improvement

Management of changes to project scope

Management of changes to the project involves:

• Planning for possible changes through proper risk analysis
• Keeping track of all types of possible unanticipated issues
• Using an iterative approach to make change within the scope of a single project
• Reflecting changes of project scope in Project Business Plan

In this Project Quality Management Plan example, you need to identify the process that helps you to manage changes to the project scope and how it will be reflected in the project business planning.

Risk Assessment and Management

Risk management aims to ensure that levels of risk are managed properly. It includes the level of resourcing, time, cost, quality, and the realization of outcomes by the Business Owner should appropriately manage to ensure the project is completed successfully.

Here, you need to document the project approach to risk assessment and management to identify how risks to quality will be reflected during the process.

Information Management

Document management.

In this Quality Plan example, you need to explain what review and acceptance procedures will apply to the management of the project business plan and other core documents.

Record keeping

In this Quality Management Plan example, you need to mention relevant government policy, legislation, and rules which can easily affect how records for the project must be kept. It also includes detail of any protocols which needed to apply for records management, and how registration of all official documents should be managed.

Output Quality Control

Quality control for the <Project Name> Project can easily have accomplished by defining the relevant quality criteria for the outputs, or what characteristics should be used for this purpose.

Quality planning includes identifying the Output Quality Criteria and standards that will be used to determine their acceptability and ‘fitness for purpose.’ In this Quality Plan template, you can define who or what groups will be involved in the specification of the output quality criteria

Relevant methodologies and guidelines may be used to assist. These include technical specifications or other specific criteria. ‘Fitness for purpose’ for each output is also determined by the needs, expectations, requirements, and ‘critical success factors’ of various key stakeholders like:

• Business Owner(s) – The Business Owners need to contribute resources to the project during their development to ensure that the outputs are being developed satisfactorily.
• Advisory Groups: provide advice or technical expertise in relation to output development and quality assurance
• Reference Group: give a forum to achieve consensus among groups of stakeholders
• Working Group(s) – consist of small specialist work groups, which is dedicated to producing a well-defined output within a specific timeframe.
• Consultants – which provide advice about the development of specific outputs.

Output Review Procedures

In this Quality Management Plan example, you need to define when and how the outputs will be tested and reviewed and by whom.

This section of Project Quality Management Plan example includes a description of the approach to:

• Output testing and review: Generally, it is assumed that testing is only applied to IT systems, but it is also relevant to other outputs which may require testing to ensure they meet specified functional requirements . It is also important to formalize the output change management procedures that will be used to document problem reporting and rectification.
• Progressive audits or appraisals to be conducted throughout the project. These reviews are undertaken progressively, as quality cannot be built in at the end of a project.

The section should also cover:

• The technological aspects of the project.
• Project compliance with internal and external audit
• The form advice, preferably with dates, and to whom this advice will be provided should also need to mention here.

Change Control

In this Sample Quality Management Plan, mention the process that should be used for changes which need to be approved. Any changes to output specifications need to be controlled through a change process which should include:

• A structured process to facilitate the change to the system.
• Complete assessment of the impact of the projected changed
• A method of authorizing a change

Output Acceptance Procedures

• Output acceptance includes acceptance of related ongoing management responsibilities and accountabilities.

In this section, you need to define:

• Processes that Business Owners will apply to conduct final review and acceptance of the outputs based on the agreed criteria.
• Formal agreement captured in appropriate documentation like Handover Plan

Appendices include:

• Change request/rectification log
• Forms and templates developed by the Project to offer consistent documentation
• Relevant operational documents
• Quality Management Plan is a well-defined set of documents and information to efficiently manage the quality throughout software development project starting from planning to the software deployment.
• Quality assurance and Quality control is an integral part of the Project Quality Management Plan.
• The role of any Quality Consultant should be explained in detailed depending on their area of expertise.
• Quality planning includes identifying the Output Quality Criteria and standards that will be used to determine their acceptability and ‘fitness for purpose.’

Appendix A: Change Request/Rectification Log

Download the above Quality Management Plan Template

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Quality management Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Introduction

Problem and motivation, provisional title, analysis: google swot analysis, improvement options, recommendations.

Bibliography

Quality management activities in organizations are undertaken to ensure that quality in its products is achieved and maintained within an unacceptable budget 1 . It is an activity that is closely dependent on the feedback from the organization’s clients, thus the quality management concept involves establishing channels for relaying customer feedback for which it requires that they function properly through out 2 .

As a part of quality management, the feedback is taken and incorporated in the design of new products that are aimed at raising customer satisfaction. Quality management spans from creating a design and lifecycle plan for a product or service to its production and distribution.

The activity involves identifying and measuring process elements, doing performance analysis and applying continuous quality improvements on the products, services and systems of production and distribution.

In this paper, Google, the Internet search giant, is analyzed, and recommendations are made on how it can maintain as well as improve the quality of its products.

This is important for the company in maintaining and enhancing its exemplary performance as its pursues its mission, which is to create an Internet resource from which you can access any kind of information disregarding geographical borders 3 . Thus, the problem and motivation in this paper are quality and quality enhancement respectively.

The provisional title that describes the contents of this paper best is “Safeguarding and enhancing quality at Google”.

Brief Review of the related literature

As stated above, quality management activities in organizations are undertaken to ensure that quality in its products is achieved and maintained within an unacceptable budget. 4 The Quality management concept is enriched by eight management principles that are fundamental in improving the performance of an organization. 5

One of these principles is customer focus, which emphasizes to an organization its dependency on its customers and, therefore, highlights the need for it to understand and appreciate their current and future needs for which it should set out to meet. 6

When an organization achieves customer focus, it implies that it is necessary to know not only both its internal and external customers, but also their needs and quality standards. Another principle is leadership, which facilitates the establishment of unity of purpose among the personnel in an organization. 7 Unity of purpose in an organization is critical in the achievement of its quality objectives and goals.

Involvement of people is another principle that enriches the quality management concept. 8 In an organization, there is the need for its personnel from whatever level to be involved fully in benefiting the organization. The next principle is a process approach, which develops the idea that an organization’s objective is better realized when its activities and allied resources are managed as an organizational process. 9

The following principle is approaching management as a system so that efficiency and effectiveness in achievement of the organization’s goals are boosted. 10 Continual improvement is another factor that enriches the quality management concept. 11 This principle stresses the need to pursue continued improvement on its product or service to the organization.

Another principle is a factual approach to decision-making, which emphasizes on the need to base decision-making of the organization on data analysis and information. 12 The last principle is the organization having supplier relationships that are mutually benefiting as these increase the ability for it and its suppliers to add value to their product(s) or service(s). 13

SWOT analysis is a tool used in the managerial activities of corporate organizations that wish to attain stability and sustainability in the long-term. 14 Its use in corporate organization management is aimed at realizing long-term stability and sustainability, specifically in decision-making.

For a given corporate organization, a SWOT analysis procedure takes into account both its internal and external environment to reveal the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The analysis of the corporate organization’s internal environment reveals its strengths and weaknesses whereas that of the external environment reveals its opportunities and threats.

Once the analysis is completed, the SWOT approach is such that a corporate organization will consolidate its strengths, do away with its weaknesses, seize its opportunities and counter its threats. The following is a SWOT analysis for Google Inc., which, as discussed, will reveal the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Aims and objective of the research

In Google’s business model, the company believes in giving users an online experience that eventually leads to strong verbal marketing of the company and continually increasing Internet traffic directed to the company’s products. 15

The experience is embodied in services to users that are of the best and highest quality; thus, quality is a key issue in Google. The main aim and objective of the research done here is to come up with recommendations that are directed towards helping the company to maintain and enhance the quality of its products.

Statement of the design and methodology

Through a performance and SWOT analysis of Google, we understand the company’s operating environment, and why it is important for it to manage quality in its products.

Company Description

Google Inc. is one of the world’s most successful companies specializing in Internet technology. Originally co-founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the company offers a unique Internet service for which it has established itself as a market leader. 16 Its mission is to provide an Internet resource from which you can access any kind of information disregarding geographical borders. 17

Google’s business model

Google‘s business model that reflects the company’s mission is unlike that of its competitors. The model stresses on giving users an online experience that eventually leads to strong verbal marketing of the company and continually increasing Internet traffic directed to the company’s products. 18

The experience is embodied in services to users that are of the best and highest quality. The business model has led Google to make major acquisitions of and alliances with other Internet technology companies that include Amazon, e-bay, Picasa, Keyhole and You Tube.

Google’s collaboration and mergers with other huge online firms make a part of a strategy aimed at ensuring the company always ahead of its business rivals. 19 These acquisitions and mergers have, however, seen the company deviate from its original business model since it has found itself in entirely new markets. Taking into account the source of its revenue, it can be said that Google is mainly an advertising company.

For Google, appealing to its customers means redefining both e-commerce and e-business. Given that its business model stresses on advertisements and provision of services to all the Internet users the company maintains a strategic interest with online markets and firms that attract huge Internet traffic.

Google’s 2010 performance analysis

In 2009, Google Inc. emerged as the worldwide market leader in Internet and mobile search advertising and saw the company ranked fourth by CNNmoney in its list of 100 best companies to work for in 2010. 20 Although not spared by the 2008/9 global financial crisis, the company managed not only to register profits but growth as well as during the period.

Google’s 2010 turnover was slightly under $30 billion, which was a 24% increase using 2009 as the base year. 21 Given the size of the company, the figure implies that the company registered huge growth.

The growth is attributed to an increase in click volumes by 18% and a rise in the cost per click by about 5%. 22 The rise in volume can be itself linked to continued development of the company’s network, remarketing and/or the increased use of the Smartphone and tablets.

A further analysis of the turnover reveals that the share of revenue accrued in the U.S remained at 52% whereas that accrued in the U.K slightly declined in the fourth quarter of the year by 2%. 23 However, these had no effect on the overall revenue pattern of the company that remained relatively unchanged. 24

Also remaining unchanged was how revenue was split: revenue generated from advertisements on Google’s own websites remained at 66% that from advertisement’s on the company’s third party websites remained at 30% and that from other sources remained at 4%. 25

Google’s strengths

Google’s SWOT analysis reveals its market as one of its strengths. 26 The marketing strategy in use at Google is unique to it and historically, is one of a kind in online technology. Google does not restrain its business ventures to its search engine but is continuously introducing new products into the market.

One of Google’s target markets is the portion of the world’s youth in search for information, fun, knowledge and who wish to be at per with their different environmental surroundings. The other target market is any individual who uses the company’s search engine as he or she knowingly or unknowingly generates revenue for the company indirectly.

The SWOT analysis reveals Google’s key technologies as another of its strengths. 27 One of the company’s key technologies is its search engine whose development process has seen it answer queries more accurately. The software technology incorporated in the search engine enables it perform computations and return results at very advanced speeds. This is unlike traditional search engines whose technology is not as time-sensitive.

The company to examine web content and rank it by level of importance uses Google’s PageRank TM technology boosted by over 200 signals. The architecture of PageRank TM technology is such that it can hold over 500 million variables that in turn can hold 2 billion terms.

Due to this architecture it is thus possible for the company to profile web pages and determine those of importance so that they are programmed to appear first on the result page. Google as extended its technology to include Hypertext-Matching Analysis, which performs a full content analysis of text web pages in an effort to return more accurate results for a given query.

The SWOT analysis reveals quality of its personnel as another of Google’s strengths. 28 Google recruitment policy targets individuals of outstanding academic achievements and high experience in the various fields not only of information technology but also of knowledge management.

Top managerial posts at Google are filled with individuals who have an MBA or a PHD in a field that is relevant in enabling the company achieve its mission. To underline further that indeed quality of personnel is another of Google’s strength it can be seen from data collected in 2008 that the company had the highest profit per employee amongst its rivals, which was estimated at $209,624.

This figure is further motivation to the employees who are inherently encouraged by the company’s organizational culture to give out their best for the benefit of the company.

The SWOT analysis reveals Google’s capital base and its revenue streams as another of its strengths. 29 10 years after Google was founded its capitalization rose phenomenally to £105 billion which was enough to replace Procter and Gamble from 5 th place on the US stock market.

As stated earlier the main source of Google’s income comes from advertisements done on its site and those done on its third party sites. In 2006, Google was estimated as earning about 30% more on an advert than Yahoo or any other of its rivals does.

Google’s Weaknesses

One of Google’s weakness as revealed by the SWOT analysis is the high rate at which the company receives CVs and Resumes. The rate at which Google’s receives CVs and Resumes is staggering. 30 These results in large volumes of these documents that make it difficult for the company to recruit the best applicants for available positions.

Another of Google’s weaknesses as revealed by the SWOT analysis is external employee turnover of its senior executives. 31 A number of top executives have left Google in favor of Facebook. This exodus of highly skilled personnel from Google can have devastating effects on its future. Furthermore, the company seems not to know how to contain the problem and ironically its proposed measure as aggravated the crisis further.

Another of the company’s weakness as brought out by the SWOT analysis is recruiting a lot of contactors. 32 This habit has led to hiring of contractors who only waste the company’s resources. This is an indication of poor staff recruitment plans and poor job description and evaluation plans.

Other weakness of Google are its feeble presence in the social networking market, arbitrary content, too much liquidity, stock problems, material that is heterogeneous, Anglo-Saxon focus, political issues, problems with stock and its inability to generate revenue form You Tube.

Google’s opportunities

An opportunity for Google as revealed by the SWOT analysis is its operating system. Google has set out on a mission to assert its dominance in the operating system market with the Chrome and Android operating systems. 33 The approach by Google is to introduce an operating system that uses applications directly from the Internet as opposed to the traditional approach of operating systems that reside on a PC.

Experts who see the Internet as the future of information technology support the approach. This step by Google is seen by some people as a challenge to the current operating system’s market leader, Microsoft.

Other opportunities for Google are new acquisitions and mergers, growth in Internet usage globally, using web content of higher value, reaching new user groups and content, offering a starting point that is easy and more usage of expensive content.

Google’s threats

A threat to Google as revealed by the SWOT analysis is the lawsuits it faces. 34 Yahoo, Amazon and Microsoft are some of the companies that have at different times filed lawsuits against Google. One of the lawsuits filed collectively by these three companies saw Google settle it with an amount of $125 million. Another threat that faces Google as per the SWOT analysis is the company’s failure to motivate its contract employees. 35

The contract employees are spread in different regions in the world. Other threats to Google are gradually raising competition, privacy issues on content ownership, new technologies, the social networking site Facebook, censorship possibility and the slowdown in ad-spend.

Continual improvement is one of the principles that enrich the quality management concept. The principle stresses the need for a product to be of the best and highest quality. To improve quality in a company like Google, the apt option would be for the company to pursue CQI, which is a recurring process. 36

Considering Google’s mission and how it plans to achieve it, a suitable procedure for improving quality in the company should be based on FMEA. To add weight to this decision, we consider that the company is continually developing products whose quality has to be improved with time.

FMEA was first used by NASA specifically for identifying risks and mitigating their effects; however, the procedure has recently become widespread in industries where it is critical in realizing process improvement. With FMEA, potential failures associated with a product are identified beforehand and action plans formulated to deal with them. 37

For a given product, the FMEA analysis process begins with identifying potential failures in it. In this step, it is critical to know the set requirements for the product. If potential failures are found, the second step in the procedure is determining the level of severity for each.

This is a process that requires a complete picture of the system. The third step in the analytic procedure is knowing the cause of the failures and working out what is known as the probability of occurrence. The fourth step in the analysis procedure is coming up with controls and weighing their effectiveness.

If the controls are associated with risks, it prioritizes them. The fifth and the final step in the analysis procedure is documenting the action plans formulated to deal with each of the risks identified in the previous step.

Another option for quality improvement available to Google is Six Sigma strategy, which is built from concepts derived from the statistics and quality engineering fields. 38 Six Sigma is a strategy whose objective is to enhance business success through managing and improving quality. The strategy being a variant of Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle is implemented through two methodologies, namely, DMAIC and DMADV.

In the DMAIC methodology, the first step in improving quality is defining the problems of the existing system taking into account customer opinions. The second step is performing measurements of the current and existing system and collecting data that is relevant to the problem tackled. The third step is analyzing the data collected in the second step to determine the causes of the problem(s) and their effects.

The fourth step is improving the current and existing system by implementing the recommendations made from studying the problem. The fifth step is controlling future state processes so as to ensure that deviations from the required quality standards are corrected before finding their way to finished product.

In the DMADV methodology, the first step in improving quality is designing goals that reflect or capture the opinions of the customers. The second step is measuring the current system and identifying CTQs. The fourth step is analysis and development of alternatives to the design.

The fifth step is optimizing the design developed and preparing it for verification. The fifth step is design verification where the design is tested, implemented and submitted to the project owners who initiated it.

A recommendation to Google is for the company to adopt an FMEA based approach to quality improvement. The main shortcoming of the FMEA approach is that the activity is quite costly to implement on each and every product. However, considering its benefits and Google’s capital base, cost is not really an issue.

A recommendation to Google is for the company to pursue quality improvement through the Six Sigma approach. The Six Sigma approach is in line with Google’s business model for it is aimed at enhancing business success through giving customers pleasant experiences achieved through products of high qaulity. 39

Chartered Quality Institute, “What is quality” CQI , 2011. Web.

CNNmoney, “100 best companies to work for”, Cable News Network, 2011. Web.

Darkwah, Kwaku. “SWOT analysis of Google”, Adesua Global , 2011. Web.

Duke University Medical Center, “What is quality Improvement”, Duke University Medical Center. Web.

Graeme Knowles, Six sigma (Ventus Publishing ApS, 2011) International organization for standardization, “Principle 1: Customer focus ”, ISO , 2011. Web.

International organization for standardization, “Principle 2: Leadership ”, ISO , 2011. Web.

International organization for standardization, “Principle 3: Involvement of people ”, ISO , 2011. Web.

International organization for standardization, “Principle 4: Process approach ”, ISO , 2011. Web.

International organization for standardization, “Principle 5: System approach to management ”, ISO , 2011. Web.

International organization for standardization, “Principle 6: Continual improvement”, ISO , 2011. Web.

International organization for standardization, “Principle 7: Factual approach to decision making”, 2011. Web.

International organization for standardization, “Principle 8: Mutual beneficial supplier relationships, ISO , 2011. Web.

International organization for standardization, “Quality management principles”, ISO , 2011. Web.

Investopedia, “ SWOT analysis ”, Investopedia ULC, 2011. Web.

John Gamble and Arthur Thompson, Essentials of Strategic Management: The quest for competitive advantage (Boston: McGraw Hill, 2009), 14.

Norris, Simon “Google’s performance in 2010”, Periscopix Ltd, 2011. Web.

Rex Black, Managing the testing process: practical tools and techniques for managing hardware and software testing . (Canada: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2002)

Rose Kenneth, Project quality management: why, what and how. (Florida: Rose Publishing, 2005)

Wikiswot, “Google SWOT analysis”, Wiki swot, 2011. Web.

1 Rose, K. (2005), p. 41

2 Charterd Quality Institute. (2011), p. 1

3 Darwah, K. (2010), p.1

4 Rose, K. (2005), p. 41

5 International organization for standardization (2011), p.1

6 International organization for standardization (2011), p.1

7 International organization for standardization (2011), p.1

8 International organization for standardization (2011), p.1

9 International organization for standardization (2011), p.1

10 International organization for standardization (2011), p.1

11 International organization for standardization (2011), p.1

12 International organization for standardization (2011), p.1

13 International organization for standardization (2011), p.1

14 Investopedia (2011), p.1

15 Darwah, K. (2010), p.11

16 Gamble/Thompson (2009), p.14

17 Darwah, K. (2010), p.1

18 Darwah, K. (2010), p.11

19 Darwah, K. (2010), p.12

20 CNNmoney (2011), p. 1

21 Norris, S. (2011), p.1

22 Norris, S. (2011), p.2

23 Norris, S. (2011), p.3

24 Norris, S. (2011), p. 3

25 Norris, S. (2011), p. 4

26 Darkwah, K. (2010), p.14

27 Darkwah, K. (2010), p.19

28 Darkwah, K. (2010), p.20

29 Darkwah, K. (2010), p. 27

30 Darkwah, K. (2010), p. 27

31 Darkwah, K. (2010), p. 29

32 Darkwah, K. (2010), p. 30

33 Darkwah, K. (2010), p. 33

34 Darkwah, K. (2010), p. 39

35 Darkwah, K. (2010), p. 40

36 Duke Medical University Center (2005), p.1

37 Rex, B. (2002), p.25

38 Knowles, G. (2011), p. 12

39 Knowles, G. (2011), p.10 – p.13

• The History and Growth of Google
• How Google Governs the Internet
• Google's view on the future of business
• Difference between Leadership and Management
• An impossibility of objectivity in the world of humans
• Lean and agile operations
• Decision Making as an Essential Process of an Organization
• Decision-Making in Management
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IvyPanda. (2019, May 15). Quality management. https://ivypanda.com/essays/quality-management-essay/

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1. IvyPanda . "Quality management." May 15, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/quality-management-essay/.

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How To Develop A Quality Management Plan In 8 Easy Steps

If you're finding that your project deliverables are not up to standard, the solution is a quality management plan. Find out why they are important, the main components of quality management, and how to get our downloadable template and sample.

You probably consider quality management to be an important aspect of your project portfolio. But, what are you doing to drive quality improvement on your projects? What steps do you follow to deliver a quality product?

A quality management plan can help define what quality means for your project and outline a methodology to ensure high-quality execution throughout the project life cycle.

What is Quality Management?

Quality management is the way to ensure everything you create in a project adds value and is well-maintained. To understand quality management, we first need to understand what we mean by “quality.” 

You can manage quality in two ways:

• Product quality : this is your actual, tangible product. It could be the app you have built, the design prototypes your designer team built, or even the code documentation your developers wrote.
• Process quality : project managers are responsible for creating and maintaining project processes. In the context of quality management, we must also consider the impact our processes have on our team’s ability to deliver results . You might measure process quality using metrics such as velocity.

3 Components of Quality Management

If implemented correctly, quality management should be evident across project roles and throughout the project life cycle. 

The three major components of quality management include:

• Quality planning : sets the quality standards for a given project
• Quality assurance : the set of standards, guidelines, and procedures that you’ll implement to prevent quality problems from arising on your project
• Quality control : the tools and techniques you’ll use to monitor whether your project deliverables meet the quality standards established during quality planning.

What is a Quality Management Plan?

A quality management plan (sometimes shortened to QMP) details the processes you intend to follow to meet the quality objectives you have established for a given project (quality assurance) and how you intend to measure success (quality control). 

While the project manager is responsible for developing the plan, team members and other stakeholders (in addition to the project manager) are responsible for implementation.

Why is Quality Management Important?

Quality management offers several benefits to boost project success:

• Enhanced product quality : when you are practicing quality management, your team generates significantly better and more stable results. Your end users are happier and more satisfied with what you shipped.
• Decreased overhead : stakeholders are aligned on a stable quality process and plan with built-in contingencies that leave less room for error.
• Faster delivery pace : your team becomes known for quality, consistent output, which builds trust with project stakeholders.
• Improved collaboration and review : codifying quality management processes establishes quality as a collective responsibility. Developers engage in test-driven development. Stakeholders define acceptance criteria. Test engineers focus on exploratory testing and finding edge cases.

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Who Should Be Involved in Creating a Quality Management Plan?

The short answer: everyone.

Quality management is central to the project life cycle —it starts at the beginning, with everyone owning quality.

During initial project requirements gathering and definition, project team members, including stakeholders outside of the immediate team, should participate in requirements gathering and definition. Carry this thread of collaboration throughout development, integration of test cases, stakeholder acceptance, and even collection and prioritization of user feedback.

Quality Management Plan Template

You can find a quality management plan template in the DPM Membership template library. The template is in spreadsheet format and includes multiple tabs:

Career Builder members can access the template through the DPM template library. 

Quality Management Plan Example

Our quality management plan example (available for download in DPM membership ) works best for software development projects with small teams. 

It includes the following sections:

• Project quality measurements : how you define quality and what quality metrics you’ll use to assess performance
• Key responsibilities : who’s doing what when it comes to quality management
• Implementation checklist : a set of steps to follow to ensure you’re implementing your quality plan
• Requirements quality check : a log where you record quality requirements and check off various quality management and testing activities
• Target device list : a record of target devices to which to apply your software quality criteria.

You might list these in a document or as separate tabs in a spreadsheet (as in our example).

How to Create a Quality Management Plan for Software Projects

You should create a quality management plan during the project planning phase to help set you up for continuous improvement. Once your team has signed off on the project management plan, make it accessible to everyone as a shared project document.

Here are eight steps for creating a quality management plan on your next software project:

1. Create a shared understanding of what quality means for this project

Facilitate discussions with your team and stakeholders on what constitutes an acceptable level of quality to achieve customer satisfaction. Be concise and quantify where possible, like in this example with bug reporting, to ensure traceability:

To gather this information from team members and manage stakeholder expectations, ask questions like:

• How important is product performance (ex. load times)?
• How do we want to measure success?
• What are some of the most critical areas of the product when it comes to quality (ex. data-sensitive features)?
• What project controls do we want to maintain?

2. Divide up responsibilities for quality management

Decide who will be accountable for each aspect of project quality management. This includes defining who:

• Maintains a target device list
• Writes acceptance criteria for user stories
• Approves releases.

3. Determine target devices

Your target device list is valuable, as it helps your development team focus on specific aspects of quality. The target device list may be based on criteria of your choosing, such as:

• Hardware and age of hardware
• Operating systems and versions
• Web browsers and versions
• Screen resolutions
• Internet connection requirements
• The expected amount of concurrent users on any servers being used

4. Write acceptance criteria

Acceptance criteria are a feature-specific list of what to check for when reviewing a feature. Good acceptance criteria are specific but also broad enough to optimize for developer interpretation. For example:

5. Integrate unit tests into your code

Unit tests are coded tests that a development team typically writes.

They are incredibly valuable in any quality management plan, as they can check to ensure the code is functioning as expected. As your project grows and releases become more frequent, this is an incredible time-saver.

The project manager is not responsible for integrating the tests, but if you’re managing the quality plan, you’re responsible for logging the activity and tracking it.

6. Set up a deployment pipeline with optional quality checks

This step is optional, however, if you can afford the time for your development team to set up a pipeline, it is worth it. A deployment pipeline can allow you to set up additional automated quality checks, such as running unit tests and integration tests, through each deployment to multiple environments.

7. Set up a regression test process for gating releases

A regression test is a detailed test plan that often defines a few different “happy paths” your users may take. It is often used as a final test before a release to ensure that existing users did not experience a decline, or regression, in expected functionality.

In software development, a happy path refers to the steps that you would ideally expect a user to follow when using your product.

Typically, a regression test is run on each target device to help ensure optimal quality. This can become time-consuming as a project grows. At this point, it may be valuable to explore automated regression testing.

8. Configure a tool of choice to tie together the quality management process

It is important to make sure everything in this process runs smoothly to benefit the project and the team. Configure your existing project management tools to support quality management. Automation is valuable here. A few examples:

• If you use Jira or Asana , you can configure defined workflows to prompt quality checks when needed.
• If you use Zapier, you can automate reporting from task movement in your tool of choice.
• Monday.com supports numerous integrations, including the ability to automate capturing Zendesk tickets into your development backlog.
• Slack’s new Workflow Builder can tie together multiple data points into a single, seamless communications workflow.

Useful Quality Management Tools

While creating a quality management plan requires a time investment, there are a significant number of worthwhile tools out there for creating, maintaining, and tracking a quality management system. It’s also worth checking out project management software for this purpose.

Some examples include:

• Google Sheets: Great for regression test management
• Asana or Jira: For facilitating your quality management process
• Intercom: Great for connecting directly with your users to obtain manual feedback
• BugHerd: Helpful tool for collecting stakeholder feedback
• Heap: Valuable analytics to determine if the quality of your user experience and product flows are resonating with users
• Marker.io: Great for reporting website bugs and issues directly in your team's issue tracker like Jira, Trello , and Asana.

What Do You Think?

Have you implemented a quality management plan before? What went well? Was there anything you learned from the experience? If not, might creating one for your next project be helpful?

And if QA is your jam, be sure to check out our sister site, The QA Lead , for the latest and greatest on everything related to quality assurance.

How To Use a Project Lessons Learned Template

A Quality Principle: Everything You Need to Know about Total Quality Management

By Kate Eby | June 21, 2017 (updated June 28, 2023)

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Today, we take for granted that the items and services we consume should work well as soon as we purchase them. In fact, many Industrial and post-industrial societies have simply discarded what doesn’t work. However, there was a time when quality and effectiveness were not always the priority for goods and service providers. The intense focus on quality developed largely after World War II, in particular in the 1980s, in response to a marketplace that rejected cheap workmanship and consumer demand increased for durable products that considered the user’s needs. 

In this article, we’ll discuss the history of one of the preeminent quality management philosophies, total quality management (TQM). We’ll learn how it can help for profits and nonprofits become more effective and cost-efficient. In addition, industry experts discuss how TQM compares to other quality philosophies and methodologies, such as Six Sigma and Kaizen.   

What Is Total Quality Management?

Total quality management (TQM) describes a management system wherein a company attains organizational advancement through a commitment to customer requirements. A company meets those requirements when it empowers every employee in every department to maintain high standards and strive for continuous improvement. Total quality management is the predecessor of many quality management systems, such as Six Sigma , Lean, and ISO. 

Andy Nichols, Quality Program Manager at the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center , says that in practical terms, “Total quality management is really a company-wide initiative to get everybody involved in doing the right thing for the customer.”

What Is Quality Management?

First, what is quality? It is a measure of the level of acceptability of a product or service. The ASQ Quality Glossary defines quality management as “the application of a quality management system in managing a process to achieve maximum customer satisfaction at the lowest overall cost to the organization while continuing to improve the process.” Quality management has four parts: quality planning, quality assurance (defect prevention), quality control (which includes product inspection and other elements, such as competence), and quality improvement.    Why would it take until the 20th century to apply such seemingly obvious principles like product goals and parts inspection? Perhaps the right historical circumstances didn’t present themselves until the 20th century. Nichols credits new mass-production techniques, such as Ford’s assembly line, and the urgent demand for materials during two world wars for this particular innovation. “The US military demanded to some extent that every product they purchased be good because soldiers lives literally depended on the quality of the products they handled,” says Nichols. “Whether it was for K rations or bullets, these wars spurred a manufacturing revolution to focus on the idea of getting things right every time.”    Statistics play an integral part in quality management because being able to predict accuracy through numbers is much less expensive than inspecting parts. Moreover, sometimes inspection is simply inconvenient. “McDonald's needs to know that every burger is right without having to take a bite out of each one,” says Nichols. 

Total Quality Management Principles

No single accepted body of knowledge exists for total quality management, as does, for example, the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) for the Project Management Institute. Similarly, no prescribed actions exist for implementing TQM methods and tools. Organizations have been free to deploy and adapt TQM as they see fit, giving way to many definitions of the methodology. Despite these challenges to standardization, it’s possible to describe generally accepted principles:

• Customer Satisfaction  
• Employee Commitment: This creates empowerment through training and suggestion mechanisms. 
• Fact-Based Decision Making: Teams collect data and process statistics to ensure that work meets specifications.
• Effective Communications: There should be an open dialogue throughout an organization.
• Strategic Thinking: Quality must be part of an organization’s long-term vision.
• Integrated System: A shared vision, including knowledge of and commitment to principles of quality, keep everyone in a company connected. Taiichi Ohno recognized that even suppliers are an important part of the system. 
• Process-Centered: You can deconstruct every activity into processes, and, therefore, locate and repeat the best process. 
• Continuous Improvement: Every employee should always be thinking about how to better perform their job.

You could sum up the goal of TQM in this way: “Do things right the first time, every time.”  

The History of Total Quality Management

There is no single, agreed-upon source for the phrase total quality management. Some experts believe it came from two books by seminal quality management thinkers: Armand Feigenbaum’s Total Quality Control and Kaoru Ishikawa's What Is Total Quality Control? The Japanese Way . Others say the terminology arose from an initiative in the United States Navy to adopt quality management guru William Deming’s recommendations, which they termed total quality management . TQM did not enjoy widespread acceptance until the 1980s.   The roots of the principles and practice of TQM extend back to the early 20th century and Frederick Taylor’s Principles of Scientific Management , which advocated a consistent way of performing tasks and inspecting finished work to prevent defective products from leaving the shop. Further innovation came in the 1920s with Walter Shewhart’s elaboration of statistical process controls , which one could apply at any point in the production process to predict quality levels. It was Shewhart who developed the control chart, used today for managing with Kanban and Agile.    Throughout the 20s and 30s, Shewhart’s friend and mentee, William Deming, developed statistical process control theories that he would eventually use to help the US Census department in the early 1940s. This was the first use of statistical process control in a non-manufacturing field. 

The Beginning of the Quality Era in Japan

After the war, other American quality theorists, including Deming, who would achieve hero status in Japan, advised Japanese industry on how to improve processes and output to rebuild their war-shattered economy. At the time, the term made in Japan was synonymous with shoddy craftsmanship. As early as 1945, such visionaries as electrical engineer Homer Sarasohn spoke about controlling variation and monitoring process to produce better deliverables.    As a result, in the 1950s, quality became the byword for Japanese manufacturing. Quality concerned not just management, but all levels of a company. In the 1960s, quality circles began appearing in Japanese workplaces to allow employees the opportunity to discuss problems and consider solutions, which they then presented to management. Starting on the factory floor, quality circles spread to other functional departments. The company-wide focus on quality may also provide a clue to the origin of the phrase total quality . 

Total Quality Management in the USA

By the 1970s, the term made in the USA was no longer a badge of pride. Since the end of WWII, the main effort in American factories was to produce a large quantity of items, maintain the production schedule, and save money. Usability and durability seldom mattered until concerns about lack of product quality reached a fever pitch. As Japan successfully challenged the United States for industrial leadership, US industry now took a page from Japan’s quality-improvement book. A new interest in quality management took hold, building on the work of Shewhart’s disciples, such as Deming, Josef Juran , and Kaoru Ishikawa in Japan. Influential businessmen like Philip Crosby championed the trend.  

Although the growth of TQM seems to have occurred exclusively within the precincts of industry, the basic outlines of the concept owe much to a 1980s US Navy project that used Shewhart and Deming’s PDCA (plan, do, check, act) model. Navy guidelines articulated the principles that customer requirements should define quality and continuous improvement should pervade an entire organization. Navy success with the methodology led to TQM’s adoption by other armed services, such as the army and coast guard, and eventually the rest of the US government. Congress established the Federal Quality Institute in 1988 to highlight the need for quality management in business and reward organizations for successful implementations. 

Total Quality Management Meets the World

Quality management began in manufacturing, and TQM, like it’s subsequent methodologies, adapted well to finance, healthcare, and other fields. Some of the landmark companies to adopt TQM include Toyota, Ford, and Philips Semiconductors.

Worldwide, countries such as Germany, France, the UK, and Turkey established TQM standards. But by the 1990s, TQM was superseded by ISO (International Standards Organization), which became the standard for much of continental Europe, and by another methodological response of the 1980s to quality concerns, Six Sigma. Nevertheless, TQM principles form the basis for much of ISO and Six Sigma. For example, PDCA appears under the Six Sigma method DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, control). And in the 2000s, the ISO governing body recognized TQM as a foundational philosophy. TQM lives on in data-driven methods for a data-driven age. 

William Deming and the Origin of Total Quality Management

Much of our current understanding of the value and pursuit of quality traces back to William Deming. This American statistician, engineer, and management consultant laid many foundations for the use of statistics in production and work management. He introduced statistical process methods to the US Census Bureau in the early 1940s, marking the first time they were used in the business or service sector. During WWII, he advised US business and government on statistical methods to help with planning for wartime manufacturing. After the war, Deming was recruited by no less than General Douglas MacArthur to advise Japanese officials on census models to assess war damage and plan for rebuilding.  

Deming distinguished himself among many of the occupying forces by showing a genuine interest in Japan and its culture. Perhaps it’s not surprising, then, that the Japanese revere him for his role in midwifing the Japanese economic miracle.    Because Japan lacked abundant natural resources, Japanese leaders viewed the exportation of goods worldwide as their main path to financial success. Their post-war reputation for low-quality products posed a particular challenge to this goal. Deming was invited back to Japan by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE), whose president was Kaoru Ishikawa, to discuss quality management, ideas that formed the basis for what later became known as TQM. Japanese products were gradually recognized for usability and durability. In 1960, for his efforts on behalf of Japanese industry, Deming received the Second Order Medal of the Sacred Treasure from the Emperor of Japan. By the 1970s, Japanese exports surpassed those of the United States.    By contrast, American goods gained a reputation for poor design and defects. As early as 1940, Juran remarked that producing goods and meeting deadlines took priority, with quality being relegated to the final inspection. Deming believed that as soon as the war was over, US industry lost interest in statistical methods for pursuing quality. Ironically, it was Deming who, in the late 70s and early 80s, introduced the US and the UK to the quality management principles he’d taught in Japan 30 years earlier. In 1967, he published the article “What Happened In Japan?” in the journal Industrial Quality Control . Professionals consider it to be an early version of his famous 14 Points and PDCA cycle.

Although well-known in academic quality control circles, he achieved greater prominence when he was interviewed for the 1980 NBC documentary “If Japan Can, Why Can’t We?” In the program, Deming emphasized that, “If you get gains in productivity, it is only because people work smarter, not harder. That is total profit, and it multiplies several times.” The documentary revealed another act in Deming’s life, that of a sought-after quality consultant to American business. He gained a reputation for bluntness and fearlessness in the presence of senior executives. Legend has it he told senior Ford staff that 85 percent of quality issues resulted from poor management decisions. Some companies rejected him. However, on his advice, Ford conducted user surveys before designing and building the Ford Taurus. In 1992, the Taurus became the number one selling car in the US.   In his 1986 book, Out of the Crisis , he discussed his 14 Points for Management . The following year, at the age of 87, he was awarded the National Medal of Technology. In 1993, the year of his death, he established the Deming Institute . 

Why Is Total Quality Management Important to an Organization?

Nichols says that TQM tools and principles acquire power not when an organization creates a dedicated quality department, but when it includes the whole company in the pursuit of high quality. An example is the quality circle, in which workers directly involved in a process brainstorm to discover solutions. “People are a fabulous resource that is frequently underutilized. The leadership often doesn’t recognize the value that they bring to the everyday workplace. Employees know how to fix problems,” asserts Nichols. In addition to tapping a native resource, implementing a TQM philosophy can help an organization:

• Ensure customer satisfaction and customer loyalty
• Ensure increased revenues and higher productivity
• Reduce waste and inventory
• Improve design 
• Adapt to changing markets and regulatory environments
• Increase productivity
• Enhance market image
• Eliminate defects and waste
• Increase job security
• Improve employee morale
• Reduce costs 
• Increase profitability

What Are the Costs of Quality?

A fundamental tenet of TQM is that the cost of doing things right the first time is far less than the potential cost of re-doing things. There are also residual losses when customers abandon products and brands for quality reasons. Some schools of thought view quality as having a cost which cannot be recouped. Juran, Deming, and Feigenbaum held a different view. For advocates of TQM, the cost of quality really describes the cost of not creating a quality deliverable. There are four primary cost categories:

• Appraisal Costs: Appraisal costs cover inspection and testing throughout the production cycle. This includes verifying that the materials received from the supplier meet specifications and ensuring that products are acceptable at each stage of production.
• Prevention Costs: Prevention costs include proper setup of work areas for efficiency and safety, and proper training and planning. This type of cost also includes conducting reviews. Prevention-related activities often receive the smallest allocation of a company’s budget.
• External Failure Costs: This category concerns the cost of issues following a product’s market release. They may include warranty issues, product recalls, returns, and repairs.
• Internal Failure Costs: Internal failures are the costs of problems before products reach customers. Examples of internal failures include broken machines, which cause delay and downtime, poor materials, scrapped product runs, and designs that require rework.

Total Quality Management Models

Although TQM does not possess one universally recognized body of knowledge, organizations do pattern their efforts after a few formal models, including several industry entities and awards.   The Deming Application Prize was created in Japan in 1950 by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) to acknowledge companies and individuals from around the world for their successful efforts at implementing TQM. Winners have included Ricoh, Toyota, Bridgestone Tire, and many others.   Congress established The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) in 1987 to raise awareness of quality and reward US companies who pursue it. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) administers the award. It is given to large and small companies and nonprofit entities that demonstrate excellent performance in the following areas:

• Delivery of increasing value to customers and stakeholders, contributing to organizational sustainability
• Improvement of overall organizational effectiveness and capabilities
• Implementation of organizational and personal learning

Past winners have included the Chugach School District, Concordia Publishing House, and Boeing Mobility.    The nonprofit European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) was established in 1989 to provide a quality framework for organizations throughout Europe. They maintain the EFQM excellence model, which embraces the following precepts:

• Adding value for customers
• Creating a sustainable future
• Developing organizational capability
• Harnessing creativity and innovation
• Leading with vision, inspiration, and integrity
• Managing with agility
• Succeeding through the talent of people
• Sustaining outstanding results 

Participating organizations can partake of training and assessment tools and may apply for the EFQM Excellence Award.    The International Organization for Standards (ISO 9000) publishes guidelines and specifications for parts, processes, and even documentation to ensure that quality is consistent across companies, organizations, and borders. 

How Do You Implement Total Quality Management?

PDCA lies at the core of many 20th century quality efforts. PDCA began in the 1920s as a conception by engineer and statistician Walter Shewhart. It was originally called PDSA (plan, do, study, act). Widely disseminated by Deming, who referred to it as the Shewhart cycle, it is now often referred to as the Deming cycle. 

Marlon Walters, the Founder and CEO of Horizon Group Consulting, explains each step of PDCA: 

“ Plan:  The planning phase is the most important. That’s where management, along with the associates, identify the problems to see what really needs to be addressed — the day-to-day things that may be happening on the productivity side that management is not aware of. So they’re trying to determine a root cause. Sometimes, employees do research or high-level tracking to narrow down where an issue may originate.

Do:  The doing phase is the solution phase. Strategies are developed to try to fix those problems identified in the planning phase. Employees may implement solutions and if a solution doesn’t appear to work, it’s back to the drawing board. In contrast to Six Sigma, it’s less about measuring gains and more about whether the employees judge the solution to be working. 

Check:  The checking phase is the before and after. So after you’ve made these changes, you see how they’re doing.

Act:  The acting phase is the presentation or the documentation of the results to let everybody know, ‘Hey, here’s how we were doing it. Here’s how it is now. This is the new way, and this is what this should address going forward.’”

Nichols says that in 2000, ISO acknowledged PDCA as a foundational method. It appears again in Six Sigma as the DMAIC method (define, measure, analyze, improve, and control). Walters notes that TQM is much more people oriented, while Six Sigma is process based. He sees, for example, that the term define “takes the human element out” and the term measure focuses on data.  

Total Quality Management, Kaizen, and Six Sigma: Which One When?

While TQM’s method of using employees as a source of ideas and solutions can help companies, Six Sigma’s process and measurement focus — which promotes data-driven decisions — offers compelling benefits. Walters uses the example of producing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.   “We’d start out with two pieces of bread, add the peanut butter, add the jelly, and put the two pieces of bread together. But, maybe the edges are smashed together. Maybe the corners are damaged. Or, when our customers get it, they say the bread is soggy. Within that process, we’re not sure whether we’re putting on too much jelly or whether we’re using the wrong type of peanut butter. You just don’t know what it is, so you have these group meetings and brainstorm until your customer response is what you want, and the level of acceptance of your quote unquote quality product is where you desire it to be,” says Walters.   With Six Sigma, however, the questioning process would drill down to the details. What kind of bread were you using? What kind of peanut butter? What kind of jelly?   “That to me is the benefit because it takes the onus off the people and focuses strictly on the process,” asserts Walters. “So, if we tighten up the process, we can feel like we already have quality people. And after the process is repeating in the same manner, even if there are other performance issues, that automatically sets you back to the human side. But then you can manage the human issue properly because you don’t have to worry about your processes. Your numbers aren’t changing.”   Walters states further that most companies want to develop brand loyalty, even if their product is essentially the same as a competitor’s. “If we use TQM, we hope a product is of better quality, so you’ll come back. With TQM, you have to wait for your customers to confirm that it’s good. With Six Sigma, at the end of the day, you don’t guess if your product is better. You know it. If you properly identify your market and your product has the best fit for the niche, you know you have the best product from a process perspective. That leads to the deeper relationships,” he says.    If Six Sigma can offer definitive results for an existing process and TQM can help achieve results over time, where does Kaizen fit? Kaizen is a Japanese word meaning philosophy of improvement. It includes the 5 Ss, seiri, seiton, seiso, Seiketsu, and shitsuke , translated loosely into English as sort, set in order, shine, standardize, and sustain. Kaizen is considered more of a philosophy for how to organize your workspace and the larger workplace and how to have the right attitude toward your work and coworkers.    Kaizen events are improvement efforts that involve small teams that spend a short time, usually about a week, considering and testing improvements. The team then presents its findings to management. Management periodically reviews the solutions to make sure that they continue to benefit the team.    Like TQM, Kaizen approaches efforts from the perspective that the whole company is responsible for quality and that improvement must be continuous. It is generally less methodological than Six Sigma, although Kaizen may inform the lean aspect of Lean Six Sigma. 

The Seven Basic Tools of Total Quality Management

According to the experts, the basic tools of TQM allow anyone - even someone without statistical training - to gather data to illuminate most problems and reveal possible solutions. Here are the seven basic tools of TQM:

• Check Sheet: This is a pre-made form for gathering one type of data over time, so it’s only useful for frequently recurring data.
• Pareto Chart: The chart posits that 80 percent of problems are linked to 20 percent of causes. It helps you identify which problems fall into which categories.
• Cause and Effect Diagram or Ishikawa Diagram: This diagram allows you to visualize all possible causes of a problem or effect and then categorize them.
• Control Chart: This chart is a graphical description of how processes and results change over time.
• Histogram Bar Chart: This shows the frequency of a problem’s cause, as well as how and where results cluster.
• Scatter Diagram: This diagram plots data on the x and y axes to determine how results change as the variables change.
• Flow Chart or Stratification Diagram: This represents how different factors join in a process. 

The Key Players in Total Quality Management: Customers, Suppliers, and Employees

To achieve success with a total quality management program or any other improvement methodology, managers must understand the quality goals for their product or company. They must then communicate those goals, in addition to the benefits of TQM, to the company, as employees play a vital role by contributing their intimate, day-to-day knowledge of product creation and processes.    TQM is a philosophy that values comprehensiveness. Therefore, suppliers are a crucial part of TQM execution. Companies must vet new suppliers and regularly audit existing suppliers to guarantee that materials meet standards. Communication with suppliers about TQM goals is also essential.   Customers are the most significant part of the TQM equation. After all, they’re the reason for TQM’s existence. Aside from the obvious feedback the sales team provides, customers — product or service users — give information about what they want from the deliverable, whether that deliverable is tangible or a service.

Certifications in Total Quality Management

Since its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, TQM has been largely superseded by Six Sigma and ISO 9000. “The thing about Lean and Six Sigma is that they have a very definite set of methods to achieve these goals effectively. You go do x, y, and z,” explains Nichols. “ISO is a universal standard, and it’s clear what you have to do.Of course, what goes along with that is that you can be certified, which is outside the scope or remit of TQM,” concludes Nichols. He suggests that TQM lost traction in the UK because Europe adopted ISO in the 1990s. Today, formal TQM training is rare. Nichols suggests that companies with interest in pure TQM may pursue something like the Baldrige award. 

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The Quality Management Plan in Project Management

Project managers know all about the triple constraint: time, scope and cost. But truthfully, there should be a fourth restraint: quality. The quality of your work can make or break a project, which is why a quality management plan is so important.

If you deliver on time and under budget, but the quality doesn’t meet your stakeholders’ expectations, the project is not a success. Let’s explore the impact a quality management plan can have on a project, how to make one and look at some templates to get you started.

What Is a Quality Management Plan?

A quality management plan is a document that helps the project manager and the project team execute quality management and quality assurance actions. Quality, in the context of project management, is fulfilling the project requirements and meeting the customer’s needs.

An overall project plan will include a quality management plan, which describes the activities you will apply throughout the project’s life cycle to meet its quality objectives. You also describe these activities (and the resources you need to put them into action) in the quality management plan.

It’s foolish to expect quality without planning for it. Quality is intentional and requires skillful execution. A quality management plan is the first step to defining and codifying the steps necessary to achieve the quality expectations of the project. This is best done with project management software that can organize and share the plan with the project team.

ProjectManager is cloud-based work and project management software that has multiple project views that let you create and execute your quality management plan. Project managers can build the quality plan on Gantt charts, which link dependencies, add milestones and even filter for the critical path. Then, teams can execute the plan on kanban boards and task lists. Every work view is updated in real time for a single source of truth. Get started today for free.

Why Is a Quality Management Plan on a Project Important?

A quality management plan is an essential component to delivering a successful project for your stakeholders. But it’s not just one project that benefits from a quality management plan. Customers expect consistency, and by having a plan in place to maintain a quality production for whatever product or service you’re manufacturing, you can consistently meet their quality expectations.

Quality management is also not limited to the project team. When everyone in the organization understands the plan, efficiency increases. While it’s of paramount importance that everyone involved in the manufacturing process uses the quality management plan for guidance, having all departments familiar with the plan boosts efficiency and creates a shared goal understood by all.

When you create a quality product or service, customers are going to take notice. The market is competitive, and quality is something that makes your brand stand out. A quality management plan helps you deliver consistent quality. That, in turn, makes customers loyal to your product or service. Loyal customers lead to brand value; and that means profitability.

Of course, nobody’s perfect, which is another reason why a project needs a quality management plan. Having guidelines and principles for your business processes means that everyone knows what to do. This creates a roadmap that reduces human error. The fewer mistakes, the less time and money you have to spend on the project.

Who’s Involved in Planning, Executing and Maintaining a Quality Management Plan?

A quality management plan is created by the project manager, who can seek guidance from some team members, stakeholders and customers. There are some projects and organizations that might have specific roles for a quality assurance professional or quality expert, but most quality management plans are planned, executed and maintained by the project manager.

Regardless of who owns the quality management plan, everyone on the project team has some role to play in order to make sure that deliverables meet quality expectations:

• The Project Manager: The PM develops the quality management process in order to make sure all deliverables meet quality expectations.
• Team Members: The team is responsible for meeting the quality expectations of the plan as they execute their tasks by following the standards designed by the project manager.
• The Organization: The org standardizes quality controls across all projects and makes sure that its staff is trained with the skills needed to deliver quality products or services.
• Stakeholders: Stakeholders need to explain clearly what their quality expectations are and they are responsible for approving the delivery of that product or service.
• Customers: Customers and users should be consulted like stakeholders if the project is designed to create a product or service for customers.

How to Create a Quality Management Plan for a Project

When making a quality management plan, you first need to identify the key components. These include the project deliverables and project process. You also need to determine the quality standards you’ll measure your deliverables by, as well as the criteria you use to measure customer satisfaction.

You’ll also need to list the quality control activities, process quality standards, stakeholder expectations, quality assurance activities and create quality deliverables. Once that is done, the quality management plan follows these four steps:

1. Plan Development of Quality Management Plan

This is where you identify the quality objectives of your customers by researching and interviewing them. You’ll want to get them to express their needs clearly and objectively. Then, you’ll look at the professional standards around your product or service, such as legal, environmental, economic, code, life safety and health.

The quality management plan will have to find a balance between what the customers want and your cost, schedule and professional standards. From there, you can start to develop a plan and processes to achieve your quality goals within the constraints of your project.

Next, you’ll want to develop performance measure thresholds in order to make sure everyone is in agreement that the quality objectives have been met. Customers will have to agree with all the quality objectives and measurements of quality.

2. Execute the Quality Management Plan

Now that you have a plan, it’s time to set it into action. Execute tasks in accordance with the approved quality management plan and standards. Communication is essential during this phase, in order to respond quickly to changing dynamics in the project. Document everything and explore them in a lessons-learned meeting after the completion of the project.

3. Perform Quality Checks

In order to make sure you’re meeting quality objectives, it’s imperative to perform quality checks, such as technical reviews, management oversight and verification that quality standards are being met. Check them against your customer quality objectives. Project managers will report these findings to stakeholders in regular meetings. Continuous improvement is the goal of this process.

4. Take Corrective Action

If, during monitoring for quality in your project, you capture anomalies, you must respond in order to bring the project back to its quality baseline. Document these changes, as such quality improvements could alter the quality management plan, procedures and resources allocation.

Quality Control Template

This free quality control template is a simple yet effective quality management tool that allows you to log any quality issues with your products or project deliverables, along with information such as who found the issue, what is its status, who’s responsible for fixing it and when is it expected to be solved.

More Free Quality Management Templates

Quality management plans are complicated. You need to plan, monitor and report on progress, all while being flexible enough to make changes fast when they’re necessary. ProjectManager has dozens of free project management templates you can use for free. Here are a few related to quality management:

RACI Chart Template

The free RACI chart template for Excel is a tool that helps make sure all your stakeholders are updated and working towards the project’s common goals. This free template lets you identify the roles and responsibilities of everyone involved with the project.

Project Management Plan Template

The quality management plan is part of your larger project plan. ProjectManager’s free management plan template for Word helps you scope out the entire project, including the quality management part. Then, you can schedule and assign tasks to your team.

Risk Register Template

There are risks inherent in every project, and if those issues arise, they can impact the quality of your work. That’s why you need a mechanism to identify and track them. ProjectManager’s free risk register template for Excel has everything you need to define the risk, determine its priority and what the potential impact on the project could be. By having your response to risk set in advance, you’re more likely to resolve it before it impacts your project.

How ProjectManager Helps with Quality Management Planning

While templates are a fine tool, they pale in comparison to project management software. The biggest problem is that templates are static documents that require a lot of work to update. ProjectManager is cloud-based software that delivers real-time data for more insightful decision-making and swifter action to keep your project on track.

Get Multiple Project Views

Managers love Gantt charts, but they’re not ideal for teams. ProjectManager comes with multiple project tools that let teams work how they want. We have Gantt charts, sheet views, kanban boards, calendar views and kanban boards that visualize the workflow. All project views are updated in real time, so no matter which you’re working on, you’re seeing the most current view.

Use Automation to Control Quality

Managers can customize workflows and set triggers to automate routine busy work. This frees up team members so they can concentrate on delivering quality. You can also control task status with task approvals to make sure only quality moves forward in production. You authorize who will make sure the task meets quality expectations.

Monitor Quality in Real Time

To keep track of quality and catch any issues fast, you need real-time data. ProjectManager’s live dashboard collects real-time data and calculates the numbers for you, which display in easy-to-read graphs and charts. For more details, use the one-click reporting feature. Filter all our reports to show what you want to see, then easily share with stakeholders to keep them updated.

ProjectManager is award-winning work and project management software that helps you plan, monitor and report on every aspect of your project. Create quality management plans, assign teams, monitor their progress and report to stakeholders to manage their expectations. You also get resource and task management features. Join the teams at NASA, Seimen’s and Nestle who are delivering quality with our tool and get started today for free.

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Quality Management System (QMS): meaning & principles

Nobody ever asks if they need a sales team, or how a HR team works, when they set up a company. But the question, "what is a quality management system?" is one that businesses have to confront, often unexpectedly, as they set themselves up to scale and get to market.

When you think about how a business works, the first things that probably come to mind are the typical processes and departments: product development, sales, marketing, HR, and so on.

But each of these operational areas are driven by an overarching system that is often overlooked, ignored or misunderstood: the quality management system, or QMS.

We're going to dive into exactly what a QMS is, what it should look like, and - most critically - why your business absolutely needs one.

Table of Contents What is a quality management system? What's in a quality management system? Documents Training Events Suppliers Who needs a quality management system? Why do you need a quality management system? Lower operating costs Lower operational risk Boosted revenue Stronger team When do you need a quality management system? 9 core elements of a quality management system What is QMS certification? What does a QMS not do? 3 misconceptions The QMS makes rules to follow The QMS is just about regulatory compliance The QMS is for the quality manager to run What is QMS software? Conclusion

What is a quality management system? QMS meaning

What does QMS stand for? Quality management system.

And a quality management system is the bundle of processes and responsibilities that makes your business run how it’s supposed to, and ensures that the products and services that you provide satisfy your customers and your stakeholders.

In a nutshell, that's it. Your QMS is the formalized system that guides your business to its objectives and ensures the quality of what you do.

ISO defines quality as the:

"... degree to which a set of inherent characteristics of an object fulfils requirements."

The quality management system, then, is the mechanism which maximizes the ability of your 'objects' - products and services - to fulfil the requirements of the people that receive them from you and use them.

The stronger your quality management system is, and the more you invest in it, the stronger the rest of your business becomes.

In fact, according to Harvard Business Review :

Companies with highly developed [quality] spend, on average, $350m  less annually fixing mistakes than companies with poorly developed [quality].

It's worth noting, too, that the strength of your QMS can depend on the tools and platforms you use to manage it.

More and more quality-centric companies are turning to 'electronic' eQMS software to turn their quality systems into optimized, digital systems that live in the cloud.

We'll touch on that later.

What's in a QMS?

A good QMS is formed of some typical key ingredients as follows:

Documents structure and organize how information flows around your business, keeping everyone on the same page and working in the way they’re supposed to.

Key quality documents include your quality manual and policy, work instructions and standard operating procedures (SOPs). Document control is often viewed as the 'core' or 'baseline' of your quality management system, setting out how things should be done.

Read the 6 most common document blunders that hurt life science companies the most

An effective training program ensures everyone in your company can do their job properly. This typically happens by issuing documents such as company policies and procedures to employees, and testing if they've read and understood them.

Event management

Quality management processes like CAPA and non-conformance management make your products and services stronger, by identifying problems, weaknesses and waste, then fixing them.

These are often labelled 'event management' processes, since they involve responding to quality 'events' like complaints and defects with corrective action or preventive action to maximize product quality.

Supplier management

As businesses rely more and more on interactions with third parties for products and services, supplier management is becoming an increasingly important component of the modern QMS too.

After all, it's no good being a high-quality business if you're working with an ineffective supply chain that's dragging you down!

Download our essential guide to life science supplier management

For certain industries, other niche quality management ingredients besides these core components can come into play. Food companies, for example, need processes such as HACCP in their QMS, while medical device companies need to think about how they manage design controls .

The industry you operate in dictates exactly how your quality management will look, and what's in it.

But the commonalities of documents, training, event and supplier management will always be indispensable for any type of business.

Who needs a quality management system?

A functional QMS and quality management principles are important for any company that provides a product or service to customers. If you do any kind of business, some level of quality management is required.

But in highly regulated industries like life science or aerospace, where effective processes can be the difference between life and death, proving to a regulator that your QMS works is absolutely crucial for getting to market and selling your products.

Regulators like the FDA, EU or MHRA typically won't allow your regulated products to be marketed or used at all unless you can prove you have a functional QMS in place, and they'll conduct an audit to investigate if your quality management system works how it should.

That means digging into your document stack, asking you to prove your team are properly trained for their roles, seeing how you respond to quality events, investigating your supplier management processes, and more.

Read the 5 things every life science QMS needs

Why do you need a quality management system?

It makes sense that doing things in an ordered, consistent way that maximizes your customers' happiness is highly beneficial for your organization.

We've seen already that a quality management system, at its core, is all about making your business work how it's supposed to. Another way of saying this is that your QMS makes your business be the best it can be .

The benefits of this can be profound, including:

1. Lower operating costs

Your QMS is all about identifying wastage, weaknesses and redundancies, then fixing them.

That means leaner, stronger and more efficient processes that take less effort and cost to run.

Cutting a redundant process step, identifying a manufacturing improvement or boosting output by 10% can all be transformational moments for your business with five- or six-figure financial impacts.

2. Lower operational risk

Risk and quality management often intersect.

A robust QMS should take your operational risks, like competitors, regulatory change and process weaknesses, into account - then overcome them with proactive, well-planned processes.

The more highly regulated your company, the greater the risk you face.

A tiny product risk in the life science industry, for instance, can snowball into patient injury or death, triggering catastrophic recalls, fines, shutdowns and regulatory investigations.

A good QMS insulates your company from this risk, acting as a protective blanket that keeps you in business.

3. Boosted revenue

By minimizing costs and risk, your company's revenue will naturally increase as a result of your quality management activities.

But that's not the only thing to consider.

Aligning your colleagues around standardized, high-quality processes that keep your customers happy also boosts customer retention and spend, making them less likely to ditch your services and go elsewhere.

We can see in this chart that cutting customer churn from 20% to 5% makes your company grow 50% faster and unlock 40% more revenue over a 5-year period:

Meeting customer needs with your QMS can therefore be a vital operational weapon.

4. A stronger team

IDC's whitepaper, ' Counting the Cost of Employee Misunderstanding ', found that 89% of life science companies have experienced unplanned downtime from employee misunderstanding.

85% of those have seen reputational damage as a result - and over a third have lost business.

Misunderstanding sounds like a murky and nebulous concept to tackle, but it really comes down to whether or not your employees know how to do their jobs to the best of their ability every single day.

Your quality management system is the key to fixing this problem.

Carefully documented processes, thoughtful and effective training, and a robust culture of quality all keep your teams aligned and connected - minimizing mistakes and maximizing morale.

Read more about the benefits of a quality management system

When do you need a quality management system?

In short? As soon as humanly possible!

The QMS is the beating heart of your business and the connecting tissue ensuring all its elements work together - with customer satisfaction as the focal point.

It can be tempting to focus all your attention on your product in your company's early days, leaving 'admin' like policies and procedures for later.

This is a mistake. Committing to a quality focus from the very first days of your company, with elements like a quality policy, quality manual and clear operating procedures, will set the tone of what your organization becomes.

And companies that neglect important quality management elements like standardization and customer focus usually find that they become much harder to instil later:

"Most enterprises are organized by functions - sales, marketing, operations, maintenance, engineering, finance - that are managed independently. Functions are typically islands of competency ruled by jealous kings, populated by antagonistic armies and separated by shark-filled seas. These disconnects are a significant weakness." - John S. Mitchell, "Operational excellence: journey to creating sustainable value"

Scary things like the 'deviation spiral' can then take hold, where your teams experiment with alternative ways to do things that 'spiral' further and further away from the original intent.

Soon, it can become impossible to know what's actually happening in your company each day - and regulatory audits will become a nightmare that block your route to market.

On the flip side, a proactive approach to your QMS-building will allow you to plan and feed your customer requirements into your processes early, building a quality focus quite literally into the core of your company that will stay there as you mature.

So, where should you start?

Think of the handful of core processes that define your business and what it does. Document them and give serious thought to how your QMS could make them interrelate in a standardized, consistent and customer-centric way.

Typical places to start include:

• Product design and development
• Incident management
• Risk management
• Marketing and sales
• Customer/supplier onboarding
• Competence management

Start simple and build your way up to a repeatable and measurable process approach.

Remember: a few scattered QMS ingredients to build on are better than none at all.

FURTHER READING: How to develop and implement a quality management system (QMS)

9   core elements of a quality management system

A quality management system definition can be summarized like a pyramid. The pinnacle document that simply and elegantly defines the goals of the QMS is the quality policy. From there it cascades down into a quality manual, quality objectives, procedures, processes, work instructions, and more. 

Before developing and implementing a QMS, your organization must find their quality 'bearings'. A QMS starts with a quality policy, which acts as a guiding principle for building the rest of the system. While the quality policy is just a statement, it is the 'north star' of the QMS and will be important for establishing a culture of quality. 

1. Quality policy

A QMS is driven by several top-level documents that guide the development of the rest of the QMS. These documents will act as anchors to ensure consistency as the rest of the QMS is developed. The top level documents for any QMS is the quality policy, quality manual, and quality objectives. When you begin creating a quality management system, the first step should be to draft a quality policy. 

Before you can do anything meaningful with a new quality management system, you first need to define what quality means within your company by writing a   quality policy . A quality policy can also be your company’s mission, values, or statement of principles. Once you’ve crafted this, you’re then able to set expectations across the organization, from executives and upper-level management to supervisors and employees. The quality policy is the first step towards building a culture of quality into your organization.

A quality policy should be a simple, straightforward statement that makes it clear what the company priorities are. A quality policy can be revised down the road if necessary, but since this is a key anchoring component it is best to take some time to think it through and get it right the first time. 

Quality policy example

Let's take a look at the following excerpt as a quality policy example and make some conclusions based on the policy:

The Widget Company is committed to building quality, compliant widgets to support our customers in their endeavors. This commitment is demonstrated through quality processes that are executed by well-trained personnel to produce consistent results every time. Our management team is dedicated to continually improving and innovating to better meet customer needs.

Based on this policy, it's assumed that the Widget Company will  have a strong focus on processes that run well and personnel that are trained to know how to do their jobs well. It also identifies that management is responsible for continual improvement and innovation. This policy can then be used to develop quality objectives to ensure that the values outlined in the policy are adhered to.

Once the policy is established it is critical to publicize throughout the company. This should be publicly posted in the facility and personnel at all levels should be well aware of the policy. If applying for certification, ISO auditors may even quiz personnel to see if they know the policy, or at a minimum if they know where to look for it. 

2. Quality manual

A quality manual is an overview of the entire QMS that can be given to a customer or auditor to help them quickly understand how the QMS is structured and which QMS area, if any, the organization is exempt from or otherwise does not apply to their system

• Describe the scope of the QMS
• Detail the requirements of the QMS standard or framework
• List any elements of the QMS which are excluded from the implementation
• Reference specific quality procedures used within the organization
• Provide visual documentation of critical processes via flowchart
• Explain the organization’s quality policies and objectives

The quality manual should be almost an outline format and should not contain details of the procedures or processes. Flowcharts, tables, and other visual representations of the information are helpful and appropriate for the manual. The manual should also identify the hierarchy of quality documents. For example:

3.Quality objectives

These objectives are designed to encourage organizations to define strategic goals and a purpose for the QMS. Objectives translate an organization’s vision into practice by creating a link between customer requirements and specific, measurable, and attainable goals. Well-written objectives lend purpose to a quality management system initiative and establish a customer-centric culture in an organization. They also serve as guideposts to tell the organization what is working well and what areas may need more attention. 

Quality objectives should be realistic; don’t aim for the stars if you haven’t even made it to the moon yet. For example, if   non-conformances   have been an issue that you are now working on through quality objectives, don’t aim for perfection right out of the gate. Quality objectives should be revisited and revised periodically, so it’s okay to be realistic and then challenge yourself once things are more in control. Some example quality objectives include:

• This goal is aligned to the quality policy with its focus on personnel training. This can be measured by looking at training records for new employees and verifying that training has been completed within 30 days. This also puts emphasis on training since management will be looking at this as part of Management Review.
• This goal makes sense for a company that has struggled with nonconformances, maybe due to a change in leadership, lack of personnel, etc. Additionally, 100% is probably not an appropriate goal for something like nonconformance reports since often you are relying on suppliers for information and there may need to be replacement product manufactured prior to closure of the report.
• Achieve zero (0) major   nonconformances during ISO 13485   recertification audit.

Quality objectives should provide a clear vision for every member of the organization to understand the company's purpose and the value of a QMS. The objectives should provide a clear metric for measuring progress against strategic goals, including the timeline for achievement and a measurable parameter of improvement.

4.Organizational structure and responsibilities

The top level documents provide a basic framework and starting point for the QMS, but they do not contain enough detail to ensure quality. A QMS needs various policies, procedures, processes, documents, and records to maintain consistent quality and document evidence of that quality.

A QMS should include a clear and current model of the organization's structure and the responsibilities of all individuals within the organization. This is typically accomplished with an organizational chart, which visually shows the roles and the flow of responsibility. This can be embedded in the quality manual, but is typically managed as a stand alone document and referenced within the quality manual. For ISO 13485, this document should identify who is serving as a Management Representative (usually the Quality Manager). 

5. Document and records control and management

In a QMS, all documents must be controlled and all records must be retained. Think of documents as procedures, form templates, the quality manual, work instructions, approved supplier lists, and other documents that contribute to making the product in any small way.   Document control   means that these documents must be revision controlled so that any changes to the documents are correctly approved and evaluated for any potential effect on production or product risk. Further, these document changes must be communicated to all necessary personnel and any copies that have been distributed must be replaced with the new revision. All of these processes must be documented.

Further, an organization must have processes in place for records control and retention. Records can be thought of more like the evidence of work. So if a document is put through the revision process, all of the evidence that it was properly approved and communicated would be considered records. Key examples of records include: training records,   manufacturing batch records , complaint records, nonconformance records, etc.

Effective record-keeping is crucial to the success of the QMS, the ability to obtain certification with QMS standards, and regulatory compliance. During QMS design, organizations should create specific definitions of records within the organization and policies for document creation, retention, and editing. Document and records control is commonly managed through an electronic QMS and with   change control software   to ensure access is limited and to automate the document control process where possible.

6. Processes and procedures

The entire QMS approach to   quality control   is to establish standardized, replicable processes throughout the organization. This means processes out on the production floor just as much as the document control process taking place in the corporate offices. Standards for quality management require organizations to identify and define all organizational processes which use any resource to transform inputs into outputs. Virtually every responsibility in the organization can be tied to a process, including purchasing.

Initial efforts to define processes should create a high-level picture of how processes serve the organization and intersect with resources such as employees, machines, or technology. After identifying processes, organizations can begin to define standards and success metrics:

• Identify organizational processes
• Define process standards
• Establish methods for measuring success
• Document a standardized approach to ensuring quality output
• Drive continual improvement

It may be helpful to develop a process map that identifies how all of the processes are interconnected. This is useful not only for identifying potential bottlenecks that will have significant ripple effects, but also to help personnel see how their role and responsibilities has an effect on everything else in the company. Helping personnel see that their role is important to the bigger picture is helpful in building a   culture of quality   and personnel that know they are valued members of the team.

7. Data management and analysis

Having access to data to make data-driven decisions will allow the QMS framework to drive continuous improvement and preventative quality control activities. Data analysis should be used to identify processes or systems that are out of control as early as possible instead of waiting until major nonconformance occurs. The organization must have plans in place for collecting this data and performing statistical analysis on the data. This data may then be used to assess if the quality objectives are being met and/or other metrics that the organization has established. It is common to compile this data to create a quality dashboard to give upper management a snapshot view of how the QMS is performing. 

The types of data required to demonstrate effective QMS performance can vary significantly between organizations. However, at a minimum, it should include the following sources:

• Customer feedback
• Supplier performance
• Product and process monitoring
• Non-conformances
• Corrective and preventive actions

These data points will also feed into an organization’s risk analysis process for products as well as for risk-based decision making pertaining to the QMS. For example, high rates of nonconformance with a specific component from a supplier may necessitate updating the risk analysis documents for any products that use that component to account for the possibility of the nonconformance making it through to finished product. Additionally, that data should be reviewed as part of the supplier review process to determine if another supplier should be sourced or if changes to the supplier evaluation process are required.

8. Continuous improvement

A QMS is most valuable to an organization when the tools and processes built into the QMS are being used for   continuous improvement . This shift to innovation and improvement instead of putting out fires as they come up is where a QMS can make a huge difference in the overall trajectory of a company. Maintaining quality and process performance at consistent levels is the most basic goal of any QMS, but when fully implemented and mature, that QMS should allow for improvement of quality and processes. 

For example, continuous improvement can use kanban or similar methods to analyze a process and find ways to streamline it. This may mean reorganizing a packaging area so that production personnel can complete tasks more quickly, while also minimizing the risk for mixups on the line. 

Auditors like to see   corrective and preventive actions (CAPA)   that are opened for continuous improvement projects. It signals to them that the systems are in control enough that there are resources being devoted to improvement, but also shows a commitment to quality and improvement. 

9. Quality instruments

The control and calibration of tools used to measure quality are integral to the success of a QMS. If machines or equipment are used to validate products or processes, this equipment must be carefully controlled and calibrated according to industry standards. Depending on the instrument, this could involve periodic calibrations or calibration before every measurement. The QMS system design within an organization should dictate a clear policy for the maintenance of quality instruments based on nationally or internationally recognized standards for each piece of quality equipment. This documentation should address:

• Intervals for instrument calibration
• Recognized standards for instrument calibration
• Manufacturer instructions for adjustment
• Procedures for identifying and documenting calibration
• Controls against tampering or adjustment post-calibration
• Methods to protect instruments and equipment from damage

In addition to these requirements, the QMS should address effective documentation of calibration results, including procedures for maintaining complete records of activities and calibration results.

What is QMS certification?

Because the quality management system is all about generating outputs that 'fulfil the requirements' of your stakeholders, you can get it certified by a certifying body to prove to the world that your business has a robust and effective operation in place.

Once your QMS is implemented, your organization may therefore want to become certified to ISO 9001 , the international quality management standard. Think of this as the general, one-size-fits-all structure governing modern quality management systems.

Then there are other, more niche, industry-specific QMS standards too, such as ISO 13485 for medical device quality management. These niche ISO standards take the broad structure of ISO 9001 and layer in more detailed and rigorous requirements, making them more difficult to get certified to.

The certifications your QMS needs will depend on the industry you operate in, the services and products you provide, and how committed and quality-centric you are. Critically, some regulated industries make QMS certification a mandatory part of doing business.

The first step towards QMS certification is identifying and qualifying a registrar. A registrar is an organization that certifies compliance with the ISO standard. The certification process can take a while, so look into various registrars at least 6 months in advance to figure out any special requirements they may have and what their process is for certification.

For an initial certification, there will be a one-or-more-day on-site audit that will look at your entire QMS and ensure that it is compliant with the standard(s). Once certified you will be subject to periodic recertification audits. The frequency and recertification requirements vary by registrar. 

What does a QMS not do? 3 misconceptions

As we think about what a QMS meaning is, it's also worth taking some time to consider what it isn't .

Unfortunately, since the QMS remains a largely hidden and underappreciated element in a lot of businesses, there are a few misconceptions about what it does.

Misconception #1: The QMS makes rules to follow

Quality is often conflated with red tape, bureaucracy and finger-pointing compliance managers.

And while some businesses do  treat quality this way, it's not how your QMS should be run.

Instead of inventing rules and procedures, then forcing everyone to follow them, your QMS should be a collaborative and business-wide connecting system that's supported by everyone.

That means your laboratory team needs to contribute to your laboratory SOPs.

Your product engineers need a big say in how your product processes are documented and run.

And you shouldn't foist an elaborate training management system onto your people team without involving them.

In short: a good QMS is a living repository for the best way to do things, agreed on and committed to by everyone in your company.

It's not the company police!

Misconception #2: The QMS is just a tool for regulatory compliance

Your quality management system is all about guaranteeing the quality and integrity of the products and services you provide.

This does serve an important regulatory and compliance role, since it allows you to prove that your drugs or medical devices are safe, effective and compliant for the markets they're entering - in turn, allowing your company to certify to quality standards like ISO 9001 or ISO 13485 .

But treating your QMS purely as a 'certificate maker' and a necessary evil to make regulators like the FDA happy misses the point of what it is.

A robust, functional QMS can do so much more than give you a baseline of compliance.

Armed with the right data, your quality system opens the door to continuous quality improvement, constantly lifting your operational maturity beyond the bare minimum of compliance and strengthening your business in relation to its competitors.

So don't just think 'compliance' - think 'quality'!

As a 2019 FDA report puts it:

“Many pharmaceutical manufacturing firms have focused their efforts on compliance with cGMPs, which include standards for material systems, equipment and facilities, production, laboratory, packaging and labeling, and a quality system.  These standards, however, are foundational and set a minimum threshold that companies must achieve in order to be allowed to supply the U.S. marketplace. They do not include more advanced levels of quality management…”

If we consider the quality maturity curve, we can see how the QMS isn't just a binary tool separating compliance from non-compliance.

Rather, it's a continually evolving weapon in your company's arsenal, that can be scaled up from quality control through quality assurance to total quality management:

Watch our webinar recording: "Quality vs. compliance: going beyond standards"

Misconception #3: The QMS is for the quality manager to run

Our 2024 life science quality trends survey found lots of quality managers feeling siloed, cut-off and undervalued by their companies.

This is symptomatic of a broader image problem experienced by quality: that the QMS is the responsibility of the quality team, and no-one else.

As we've touched on already, the QMS should never be the remit of a single department. Since it touches the entire business, everyone in the company should be aware of their quality management obligations and commit to supporting the QMS every single day.

This can, however, be difficult in a manual and paper-based quality management system. Scattered filing cabinets and folders make it difficult for quality to become a visible part of the business culture, while quality essentials like training become frustrating, time-consuming and annoying for everyone else.

What is QMS software? eQMS meaning

These challenges are why more and more quality-centric organizations are turning to QMS software (also known as eQMS platforms) to knit quality into the wider company.

Centralized information and accelerated digital processes make it much simpler for all layers of a company, from laboratory to boardroom, to access and support the QMS.

The QMS - or, rather, the eQMS - then becomes what it should be: a central cog of the organization, guided but not run by the quality team.

QMS software also removes the manual admin tasks associated with modern quality work, freeing up more time for continuous improvement and value-add work.

Users of Qualio's QMS software report, on average:

• 90% reduction in quality admin
• 30% faster quality processes
• Doubled or tripled speed to market
• 6x faster external audits, with fewer or even 0 non-conformances

Explore the top 5 electronic quality management systems

Conclusion: quality management system definition

If you're asking the question, "what is a quality management system?", your company is probably in the earliest stages of its operational maturity.

That's not a bad thing. Building your QMS from scratch is a golden opportunity to turn a blank canvas into a real driver of continuous business improvement.

Careful, thoughtful planning of your quality management ingredients, and the tools you'll use to manage them like Qualio's QMS software , will define your business operation and set you up for long-term success. Access our eQMS comparison resources to start your research.

So, what is a quality management system? It's the key to hitting your operational goals. The best time to start building one is right now!

Meg has amassed over a decade of experience as a QA/RA and compliance professional, with a range of cross-functional skills and knowledge spanning from non-profits to medical device start-ups. Meg is Senior Quality Specialist at Qualio, a member of the Qualio+ expert team, and a certified auditor for both ISO 9001 and ISO 13485.

Related Articles

9 core elements of a quality management system [examples], ich q9 quality risk management: an introduction, what are the essential elements of pharmaceutical quality management systems [8 examples].

LIFE SCIENCE QUALITY TRENDS REPORT 2024

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Project Quality Plan: The Easiest Guide (With Template)

This blog is reader-supported. When you purchase something through an affiliate link on this site, I may earn some coffee money. Thanks! Learn more .

The big risk as a project manager is that you hit all the project management success criteria: being on time and on budget, but what you deliver doesn’t meet the customer’s requirements.

That can happen for a lot of reasons, but one of the main causes is that you didn’t know what good looked like before you started. A project quality management plan can help with that. In this article, we’ll talk about how to write one and why you should. Plus I have a template to share with you.

The basics: What is a quality management plan?

A quality management plan is a document that sets out how the expectations for the project will be achieved. It is part of the project management plan.

In my experience, I’ve never written a bumper project management plan. I’ve always written several different plans and then (sometimes) had a document that references them all. Sometimes it is worth doing a project management plan and then calling out references to one or two specific other documents.

For example, I rarely write a specific risk management plan because I can just reference the PMO’s standard risk management approach which is published on the intranet. But if my project included a lot of procurement, I might write a separate procurement management plan.

The quality plan talks about how you are going to make sure that the project delivers a quality result. So what does a quality result look like?

What quality looks like

It’s hard to define quality in project management. There are so many different types of projects, each with specific goals. There is no definitive answer for how to measure quality in project management. Unfortunately.

‘Quality’ means different things to different people, so you will have to ask stakeholders what they are expecting from the project and then help them translate those into quality criteria.

Sometimes it’s easy: the website search button must a result within 0.2 seconds. Each toy brick must be 1.5cm by 3cm. The new product must be ready by 25 June.

Sometimes it’s hard, especially when the output supports organizational transformation, culture change, or something else that is difficult to quantify. Give it a go anyway; you might be surprised at what you can come up with.

Here are some suggestions of what you could suggest to stakeholders as the basis for quality metrics. The two biggest ones are:

• Performance: How is the thing supposed to work and does it do what it is supposed to do?
• Conformity: Is the thing fit for purpose? Can we use it? Does it meet the specifications as set out in the requirements?

And here are some others:

• Sustainability: Does the thing support sustainability goals? Has it been created with sustainability in mind?
• Uniformity: If you are making lots of things, are they all the same?
• Reliability: Does the thing work on a reliable basis? Are the results you get from it consistent?
• Customer satisfaction : Do people like the thing? Is the user experience good? Are they recommending it to their friends and colleagues?

Where are quality requirements documented?

So where do you get an idea of what stakeholders want?

The expectations for performance levels i.e. the quality expected from the project are probably documented in the exit or completion criteria, the business case, requirements documents, use cases or a statement of work. Any of these might include quality targets.

Failing that, use the list above to talk to team members and the wider stakeholder community and get some ideas.

The contents of a quality management plan

You have your quality requirements. You know what good looks like and what your quality goals should be. Now it’s time to create a quality management plan.

The plan can include:

• Roles and responsibilities : Who will do the quality management tasks (e.g. external quality inspectors, quality manager)
• The quality assurance plan and approach
• The quality control approach and what activities are going to be scheduled for quality management
• The plan for how ‘continuous improvement’ is going to happen
• Any quality management system, tools, or processes that are going to be involved, for example, the process for dealing with corrective actions
• The quality standards and acceptance criteria that the project must stick to.

This is what I would include in my project quality document. There is no definitive list, so if you want to add in a section or delete one, just do it. Make the document relevant to your project.

As you can see, the plan mentions quality assurance and quality control. There are 3 processes in project quality management, and they are the other two (along with quality planning).

Quality assurance (QA)

Quality assurance activities are all about making sure there is a culture of quality. It sums up different ways of work to give stakeholders and the project sponsor confidence that you are doing the right things: it’s part of your overall approach to project assurance .

For example, quality assurance tasks could include:

• Writing new processes and following them
• Scheduling quality reviews and documenting the output
• Having a process for lessons learned to support ongoing organizational knowledge sharing.

The role of quality assurance in project management is proactive and process-led. It is all about planning to deliver something that meets the quality objectives.

I have never worked on a project where there is a specific quality assurance team. It has always been considered something that I would lead on, as part of the project management responsibilities.

Quality control (QC)

Quality control, on the other hand, is all about checking your work. Control tasks include:

• Testing the deliverables
• Carrying out peer reviews, internal project reviews, or quality audits
• Root cause analysis
• Failure mode and effects analysis (which is something I learned when I was doing Six Sigma training)
• Documenting the output of tests, reviews, and audits along with recommended corrective actions and a plan for how to implement these to get the deliverables up to scratch.

Quality control in project management is reactive because it happens after the deliverable is created. However, you would still have a quality control plan that sets out the schedule for audits and so on.

Some organizations will have a quality control team, so tap into them if you do have experts available to you.

Both QA and QC processes are required for certain industries, for example in healthcare and life sciences, and to ensure compliance with ISO 9000. Talk to your quality management team if you are worried about your project not being able to evidence that it has met contractual guidelines.

How to write a project quality plan

You need some inputs before you can put fingers to keyboard! Here are 3 simple steps for writing a quality plan.

1. Establish what quality looks like for this project

What does a good result look like? What metrics are you going to use? How will you track and measure what is produced?

Look at what standards exist in the organization already and then think about how that applies to your work.

Then, go a level deeper and work out the acceptance criteria (or exit criteria, depending on what you want to call them) for each aspect of the work. This gives you a complete overview of how to assess quality for each deliverable.

On an agile project , this is something you’ll do for each sprint, as the contents of each sprint are known.

2. Clarify roles and responsibilities

Will you have a dedicated quality manager for this project? If not, who is going to do all the relevant tasks? How will they fit that in? Have they been allocated those tasks on the Gantt chart or project schedule yet?

Document roles and responsibilities and make sure everyone is happy with what they are going to be doing.

3. Write it down

Use the outline template below to write your quality plan. Reference other project documents where they exist to save duplicating the effort.

Then get your plan signed off by the project sponsor or client.

We’re all for integrated project management, so once the document is complete, make sure to update any other files that reference it (or should reference it). Add any new risks to your risk log, update the stakeholder register and so on.

Quality management plan template

Here is a template you can use to create your own quality plan. Put the headings into your own organization’s document template in Word, or turn it into a set of slides in PowerPoint. I would not suggest creating this plan as an Excel file as it’s too wordy.

This outline is deliberately vague as you need to make it project-specific. There is no single checklist that I can give you because the definition of quality differs from project to project.

• Project title
• Roles and responsibilities: List the roles and what part they have to play in the quality management process.
• Tools: If you are using specific software, templates, analysis techniques (like Ishikawa or control charts) then put all that in here.
• Quality assurance approach: Outline how you will ensure high quality for the final deliverable and any process quality standards applicable to the project.
• Quality control approach: Outline how QC will work for this project
• Quality improvements: Outline how you will identify improvements and how these will be acted on.
• Quality metrics: Document the specific requirements. These might already exist in the product descriptions as part of the work breakdown structure, so don’t reinvent the wheel if you already have this information.

Finally, make sure you have all the normal version control information on there, like your name, the version number, and a history of how the document has been updated, so people can make sure they have the latest version.

Why bother with project quality?

So far, all this quality planning sounds like quite a lot of work, so what’s the purpose behind project quality management procedures and processes?

It’s obvious really: you get a better result. If you make an effort to embed quality practices in whatever you do, you are more likely to:

• Get project deliverables that are fit for purpose
• Spend less money
• Deliver results that don’t have bugs or other defects
• Meet your business objectives
• Make stakeholders happy because you have met customer requirements
• Save time because you don’t have to do rework.

What the Standard for Project Management says

The Standard for Project Management covers quality by saying we should build quality into processes and deliverables.

If you ask any customer what they want, one of the responses is going to be that they want the deliverables to be good enough. They get to define what ‘good enough’ means and then you have to make sure the project team meets those standards.

The Standard talks about maintaining:

“a focus on quality that produces deliverables that meet project objectives and align to the needs, uses and acceptance requirements set forth by relevant stakeholders.”

The Quality domain

You might not subscribe to the PMBOK® Guide 7 th Edition way of doing things, but even if you don’t, there are still a few useful takeaways in the PMI manual.

Quality falls into the Delivery Performance Domain. There isn’t much in the way of specifics in the book but what I took from it is:

• Your quality plan should link in with any organizational quality policy .
• Work procedures are part of quality management as they document the way tasks are expected to be carried out, so if you are writing new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) they had better be good.
• Most of the cost of quality falls to the supplier doing the work, whether that is internal or external.

Cost of quality, you say? What’s that? Let’s look at that next.

What is the cost of quality?

Quality costs. As you can imagine, putting those checks and balances in place takes time and costs money.

When we talk about the cost of quality (COQ), we mean how much do we spend on getting a quality result, and how much does it cost to have to do work again because we messed up the first time. In other words, what would it cost us to not deliver a quality solution.

The cost of quality includes:

• Preventing nonconformance: the effort involved in making sure the requirements meet the right quality standard
• Checking: appraising what you deliver to check it does meet requirements
• Rework: the effort involved in having to do something again and get it right the second (or third…) time

Internal failure costs are when the project team recognizes there is a mistake before it gets to the customer. External failure costs are found by the client – that’s a big no no, plus it’s embarrassing to hand something over only to be told your customer has found an error or it isn’t up to scratch.

Quality management in agile projects

Agile projects integrate quality into everything they do. I think this is the way it should be for all projects. Why make it different, when delivering a good result should be what we turn up to work to do anyway?

The waterfall approach is often to do a quality audit and assurance work periodically or when deliverables are finished. That’s not the agile way, because agile teams have a much more holistic view of building quality into every step of the journey.

Quality assessments happen as part of sprints. Defects are detected early and fixed at the next possible opportunity.

Spotting errors early means it costs less to put them right: try backing out a line of code when there are hundreds of other processes that might be dependent on it. That’s a whole lot of regression testing that could have been avoided if only the bug was resolved earlier on.

In an agile environment, quality management is the responsibility of the product owner, but really it’s everyone’s job.

FAQ about project quality management

Who is responsible for quality management on the project.

The project manager or product owner is ultimately responsible. However, the project team might include a quality manager. Everyone is responsible for following the processes and doing a good job.

Why quality is important in project management

Quality matters because people want to get the right thing at the end of the project. They want a decent result because they’ve spent time and money on the process and they have certain expectations.

What is the purpose of project quality management?

The purpose of project quality management is to ensure the project delivers the right outputs that meet customer expectations in a controlled way while minimizing the cost of quality by building a culture where quality is baked into everything the project team does.

Project manager, author, mentor

Elizabeth Harrin is a Fellow of the Association for Project Management in the UK. She holds degrees from the University of York and Roehampton University, and several project management certifications including APM PMQ. She first took her PRINCE2 Practitioner exam in 2004 and has worked extensively in project delivery for over 20 years. Elizabeth is also the founder of the Project Management Rebels community, a mentoring group for professionals. She's written several books for project managers including Managing Multiple Projects .

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Quality Management - Assignment Example

• Subject: Management
• Type: Assignment
• Level: High School
• Pages: 1 (250 words)
• Downloads: 3
• Author: predovicgeorge

Extract of sample "Quality Management"

Juran’s Quality Planning Road Map Steps al Affiliation Juran’s Quality Planning Road Map Steps Building on professional experiences of corporate managers and scores of companies, Juran presented an exhaustively and comprehensive approach to quality planning, leadership, and settings. Relying on three major economic sectors; manufacturing, support, and service, he proposed a realistic strategic plan aimed at helping companies achieve market-driven goals and objectives (Watson, & Howarth, 2012).

Juan recommended a quality planning approach that is founded on micro and macro-environment forces, popularly referred to as strategic quality planning. According to Juan, quality is one of prerequisite elements for organizational success. He identified products’ failure, waste of resources, and loss of market powers as primary reasons behind poor quality planning. In order to help realize quality planning, Juan provided a set of widespread managerial steps that are critical in defining quality.

In his view, customer identification, determining their diverse needs, designing products and services purposely to satisfy these unique needs are core to successful quality planning (Watson, & Howarth, 2012). Besides, management must have full control of resources at their disposal and enact measures for improving firm’s competitive strategies. Juan identified nine quality planning steps that are fundamental for business success. These steps include: Step 1: Customer identification – Under this stage, the management is charged with the responsibility of discovering their target groups.

Step 2: Determining the demands and needs of consumers – since demand varies, it is important for the leadership to know specific needs of their clients.Step 3: Organizing the identified customers’ needs – after specifying these needs, the planning team must systematize the needs of their customers.Step 4: Designing products and services to respond to specifics customers’ needs – this involves scheming of products and services to respond to customers’ demands. Step 5: Optimization of product specifications to satisfy the demands of customers and meet the company’s objectives.

Step 6: Develop a production process – it is the process of designing feasible production strategies. Step 7: Optimization of production process – this is where production variables and measures are determined. Step 8: Matching operational conditions with productions processes – it is the harmonization process where the identified productions and operational processes unified.Step 9: Operationalizing the process – this entail the determination of variables that aid in quality management (Watson, & Howarth, 2012).

ReferenceWatson, P. & Howarth, T. (2012). Construction Quality Management: Principles and Practice. London: Routledge.

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Quality management - group work, total quality management, quality management of clothing in the globalized context, quality management planning strategy, definitions of quality in terms of business and services provision, quality management organizations, quality management in business.

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»    »    »  , is the practice of improving the of processes, products and services. Quality is the value of something relative to its purpose. As such, quality management can be viewed as the process of increasing or standardizing the value of outputs. The following are basic examples of the quality management process. is typically based on a set of principles adopted by a firm that define how an organization will prioritize and achieve quality. For example, the well known used by Toyota to drive every process at the company. Firms that achieve high levels of use techniques such as whereby executives are expected to be fully engaged with both customers and operations such that they understand any gaps in quality. Where this doesn't occur, the quality management team is tasked with aggressively advocating for quality at the executive level. is the practice of measuring anything that management needs to know. Quality management is largely a practice of measuring, improving and measuring again. This can include measurements that improve operational processes in real time. For example, measuring quality variances at every step of the production process to identify quality problems at the workstation level. Determining the of quality problems and addressing the cause as opposed to the symptoms. Capturing and communicating knowledge so that the same quality mistakes aren't repeated. and are common root causes of quality problems. Giving teams the knowledge they need to produce quality in their role. For example, training front desk staff at a hotel in hopes of improving service quality. Designing processes and roles to give employees the authority they need to address quality issues on the spot. The classic example is a worker on an assembly line who has authority to stop an entire production line for a quality problem. is the process of testing products and services. This is a tiny part of the quality management process that is too often mistaken as the only step required to achieve quality. is the process of ensuring end-to-end quality including elements such as process design, product design and procurement. Quality management is often separated into two practices: quality assurance and quality control. is the reactive process of managing quality incidents such as a service that goes down. is the corrective process of addressing the of incidents. Engaging customers to understand quality perceptions. This avoids a process of naive quality management whereby quality is viewed as a specification as opposed to a market reality. Quality management feeds into to improve quality at the design level. Quality management often takes a approach whereby all quality problems are designed-out of processes. For example, a step in a production process. Sponsoring changes to technology that design-out quality problems. For example, that remove . Advocating for quality with company wide communication. For example, speaking at weekly all-hands meetings to raise awareness of quality issues and recognize individuals who have improved quality. Developing norms, expectations, symbols and language that are conductive to quality. For example, the norm that all employees only speak positively about customers in internal conversations in a firm that depends on customer service quality. Managing suppliers to obtain quality inputs. For example, a supplier scorecard whereby suppliers are held accountable for quality failures. Quality often requires consistent processes, practices, products and services such that standards compliance is an important element of quality management. Overview: Quality Management Examples of processes, products and services. » » » » » » Quality Management Quality Assurance vs Quality Control » Conformance Quality Operational excellence, quality culture, quality inspection, quality control process, quality system, quality testing, build quality. Business Quality Quality planning, cost of quality, imperfection, words to describe quality, words to describe sound, value opposite, work quality examples, value for money, quality assurance process, design requirements, new articles. Online Degrees Find your New Career Join for Free Agile Project Management This course is part of Google Project Management: Professional Certificate Taught in English Some content may not be translated Instructor: Google Career Certificates Top Instructor Financial aid available 474,988 already enrolled (11,887 reviews) What you'll learn Explain the Agile project management approach and philosophy, including values and principles. Discuss the pillars of Scrum and how they support Scrum values. Describe the five important Scrum events and how to set up each event for a Scrum team. Explain how to coach an Agile team and help them overcome challenges. Skills you'll gain Agile Management Problem Solving Influencing Details to know Add to your LinkedIn profile 23 quizzes, 1 assignment See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills Build your Leadership and Management expertise Learn new concepts from industry experts Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects Earn a shareable career certificate from Google Earn a career certificate Add this credential to your LinkedIn profile, resume, or CV Share it on social media and in your performance review There are 4 modules in this course This is the fifth course in the Google Project Management Certificate program. This course will explore the history, approach, and philosophy of Agile project management, including the Scrum framework. You will learn how to differentiate and blend Agile and other project management approaches. As you progress through the course, you will learn more about Scrum, exploring its pillars and values and comparing essential Scrum team roles. You will discover how to build, manage, and refine a product backlog, implement Agile’s value-driven delivery strategies, and define a value roadmap. You will also learn strategies to effectively organize the five important Scrum events for a Scrum team, introduce an Agile or Scrum approach to an organization, and coach an Agile team. Finally, you will learn how to search for and land opportunities in Agile roles. Current Google project managers will continue to instruct and provide you with the hands-on approaches, tools, and resources to meet your goals. Learners who complete this program should be equipped to apply for introductory-level jobs as project managers. No previous experience is necessary. By the end of this course, you will be able to: - Explain the Agile project management approach and philosophy, including values and principles. - Explain the pillars of Scrum and how they support Scrum values. - Identify and compare the essential roles in a Scrum team and what makes them effective. - Build and manage a Product Backlog and perform Backlog Refinement. - Describe the five important Scrum events and how to set up each event for a Scrum team. - Implement Agile’s value-driven delivery strategies and define a value roadmap. - Explain how to coach an Agile team and help them overcome challenges. - Conduct a job search for an Agile role and learn how to succeed in your interview. The fundamentals of Agile You will learn how the course is structured and explore the history, approach, and philosophy of Agile project management and Scrum theory. You will also learn why Agile is best suited to industries that are susceptible to change and how to differentiate and blend Agile approaches. What's included 11 videos 5 readings 4 quizzes 2 discussion prompts 1 plugin 11 videos • Total 56 minutes Introduction to Course 5 • 2 minutes • Preview module A brief history of Agile • 4 minutes Distinguishing Agile from Waterfall • 5 minutes The four values of the Agile Manifesto • 6 minutes The 12 principles of the Agile Manifesto • 7 minutes Adopting an Agile mindset • 4 minutes Applying Agile in a VUCA environment • 3 minutes Introduction to Scrum • 5 minutes Introduction to Kanban, XP, and Lean • 8 minutes Blending project management approaches • 5 minutes Wrap-up • 0 minutes 5 readings • Total 90 minutes Course 5 overview • 10 minutes Helpful resources to get started • 20 minutes Adopting an Agile mindset: The Agile Manifesto • 20 minutes The founding principles of Scrum • 20 minutes The Spotify model • 20 minutes 4 quizzes • Total 76 minutes Test your knowledge: The Agile approach • 8 minutes Test your knowledge: The Agile Manifesto • 10 minutes Test your knowledge: Agile frameworks • 8 minutes Module 1 Challenge • 50 minutes 2 discussion prompts • Total 20 minutes Meet and greet • 10 minutes Agile or Waterfall? • 10 minutes 1 plugin • Total 10 minutes Explore: Agile values • 10 minutes You will learn the pillars of Scrum and how they support Scrum values. You will also compare essential Scrum Team roles and examine what makes them effective. 9 videos 3 readings 2 quizzes 1 discussion prompt 1 plugin 9 videos • Total 32 minutes Introduction: Scrum 101 • 2 minutes • Preview module The three pillars of Scrum • 4 minutes The five values of Scrum • 4 minutes Essential Scrum roles • 5 minutes Traits of an effective Scrum Master • 4 minutes Pete: What makes an effective Scrum Master • 2 minutes Traits of an effective Product Owner • 3 minutes Traits of an effective Development Team • 3 minutes Wrap-up • 1 minute 3 readings • Total 60 minutes The Scrum Guide • 20 minutes Understanding Scrum Team roles • 20 minutes Characteristics of a great Scrum Team • 20 minutes 2 quizzes • Total 58 minutes Test your knowledge: Scrum roles • 8 minutes Module 2 Challenge • 50 minutes 1 discussion prompt • Total 10 minutes Applying Scrum values • 10 minutes 1 plugin • Total 30 minutes Identify: Scrum pillars and values • 30 minutes Implementing Scrum You will learn how to build and manage a Product Backlog and develop user stories and epics. You will also explore how to set up the five important Scrum events and use tools to plan and visualize sprint workflows and progress. 16 videos 12 readings 9 quizzes 1 assignment 2 plugins 16 videos • Total 65 minutes Introduction: Implementing Scrum • 1 minute • Preview module Building a Product Backlog • 5 minutes Writing user stories • 6 minutes Create a product backlog in Asana • 5 minutes Backlog refinement and effort estimation • 7 minutes Adding estimation in Asana • 3 minutes Introduction to the Sprint • 3 minutes Sprint planning • 4 minutes Create and manage Sprints in Asana • 3 minutes The Daily Scrum and Sprint Review • 5 minutes Sarah: The benefits of a Daily Standup • 2 minutes The Sprint Retrospective • 3 minutes Velocity and burndown charts • 5 minutes Utilizing Kanban boards • 3 minutes Tools for transparency and collaboration • 4 minutes 12 readings • Total 200 minutes Product Backlog: The Scrum Guide overview • 20 minutes The elements of user stories and epics • 20 minutes Activity Exemplar: Create a Product Backlog • 10 minutes Agile effort estimation techniques • 20 minutes T-shirt sizes and story points • 20 minutes Activity Exemplar: Add estimation • 10 minutes The Sprint: The Scrum Guide overview • 20 minutes Releasable Increment versus Minimum Viable Product • 20 minutes Sprint Retrospectives: Pitfalls and best practices • 10 minutes Activity Exemplar: Recap a Sprint Retrospective • 10 minutes Interpreting velocity: Dos and Don'ts • 20 minutes Optional: Agile in a nutshell • 20 minutes 9 quizzes • Total 248 minutes Test your knowledge: The Product Backlog • 10 minutes Optional Activity: Create a Product Backlog in Asana • 30 minutes Activity: Add estimation • 30 minutes Optional Activity: Adding estimation in Asana • 30 minutes Test your knowledge: The Sprint • 8 minutes Optional Activity: Create and manage Sprints in Asana • 30 minutes Activity: Recap a Sprint Retrospective • 30 minutes Activity: Create a Product Backlog • 30 minutes Module 3 Challenge • 50 minutes 1 assignment • Total 180 minutes Activity: Create a Sprint Plan and Sprint Backlog • 180 minutes 2 plugins • Total 60 minutes Identify: User stories and acceptance criteria • 30 minutes Practice: Using a Kanban board • 30 minutes Applying Agile in the organization You will learn to implement Agile’s value-driven delivery strategies and how to define a value roadmap. You will learn strategies to effectively introduce an Agile or Scrum approach to an organization and coach an Agile team. You will also investigate how Agile frameworks have evolved and how to land opportunities in Agile roles. 14 videos 12 readings 8 quizzes 2 discussion prompts 1 plugin 14 videos • Total 61 minutes Introduction: Applying Agile in the organization • 1 minute • Preview module Maximizing value-driven delivery • 6 minutes Camron: How Agile can drive value • 2 minutes Components of a value roadmap • 3 minutes Creating an effective value roadmap • 4 minutes Facilitating organizational change • 5 minutes Coaching an Agile team • 3 minutes Agile team challenges • 7 minutes Common Agile coaching challenges • 7 minutes The evolution of Agile • 5 minutes Jez: My thoughts on Agile • 2 minutes Agile project management opportunities • 5 minutes Course wrap-up • 0 minutes Creating a job search plan • 5 minutes 12 readings • Total 210 minutes Case study: Forming a value-driven task force • 40 minutes Product roadmaps: Benefits, pitfalls, and best practices • 20 minutes Responding to change over following a plan • 20 minutes Activity Exemplar: Make changes to your release plan • 10 minutes The influencer change framework • 20 minutes Coaching versus managing in Agile • 20 minutes The relationship between Agile and DevOps • 20 minutes Scaling Agile • 20 minutes Course 5 glossary • 10 minutes Getting started on Course 6 • 10 minutes Job search project plan • 10 minutes Activity Exemplar: Build a job search project plan • 10 minutes 8 quizzes • Total 172 minutes Reflection: Delivering value • 19 minutes Activity: Make changes to your release plan • 30 minutes Test your knowledge: Agile coaching • 8 minutes Reflection: Coaching versus managing • 19 minutes Test your knowledge: Agile challenges • 8 minutes Test your knowledge: Frameworks for scaling Agile • 8 minutes Activity: Build a job search project plan • 30 minutes Module 4 Challenge • 50 minutes Sources of influence • 10 minutes Your learning journey • 10 minutes Respond: Agile interview questions • 30 minutes Instructor ratings We asked all learners to give feedback on our instructors based on the quality of their teaching style. Grow with Google is an initiative that draws on Google's decades-long history of building products, platforms, and services that help people and businesses grow. We aim to help everyone – those who make up the workforce of today and the students who will drive the workforce of tomorrow – access the best of Google’s training and tools to grow their skills, careers, and businesses. Recommended if you're interested in Leadership and Management Capstone: Applying Project Management in the Real World Google Project Management: Professional Certificate Project Execution: Running the Project Agile with Atlassian Jira Why people choose coursera for their career. Learner reviews Showing 3 of 11887 11,887 reviews Reviewed on Jul 17, 2022 Very, very informative. I took a lot of notes but I'll be returning to review this course material for future projects where I may need to apply what was confirmed as good practice in this course. Reviewed on Jun 1, 2021 Overall the course is going to be very useful in my day to day job.” “Really well done; made a dry subject really interesting, and clearly has a passion for traffic management that shone through! Reviewed on Apr 15, 2024 This was my favorite course by far! The information was fascinating, and I learned so much! This course was a little bit less "Common Sense" than other courses to me. It's pretty dense in a good way. New to Leadership and Management? Start here. Open new doors with Coursera Plus Unlimited access to 7,000+ world-class courses, hands-on projects, and job-ready certificate programs - all included in your subscription Advance your career with an online degree Earn a degree from world-class universities - 100% online Join over 3,400 global companies that choose Coursera for Business Upskill your employees to excel in the digital economy Frequently asked questions What is a project manager. A project manager is someone who helps manage projects for organizations in an orderly and  efficient fashion. Project managers oversee plans, budgets, and resources, and they use data to make well-informed decisions. Companies rely on project managers to build workflow processes, launch new projects, and deliver cost savings. Why start a career in project management? Project managers are in high demand. In fact, a study Opens in a new tab by the Project Management Institute found that, by the year 2027, employers will need 87.7 million people to fill project management-related roles. As the workplace continues to grow and evolve, project managers serve as a pivotal piece of an organization’s ability to adapt and remain agile. Project managers are natural problem-solvers. In addition to setting the plan and guiding teammates through the project, they are tasked with managing changes and risks. Each day is dynamic and different for a project manager because they are at the center of the project, building relationships, prioritizing tasks, and delivering results! Using various tools and templates, as well as a unique skill set, the project manager brings order to chaos. Which jobs will this certificate help me prepare for One of the most exciting parts about joining the field of project management is the large number of job opportunities available. In fact, the Project Management Institute estimates Opens in a new tab that employers will need to fill nearly 2.2 million new project-oriented roles each year through 2027.  The Google Project Management Certificate helps you develop essential project management skill sets and business acumen. By learning and practicing the project management approaches included in this program, you’ll prepare yourself for introductory-level project manager roles across a variety of industries. Some common titles include Program Manager, Junior Project Manager, Project Coordinator, Scrum Master, and more. Project management is a skill that lends itself to many different types of roles in numerous industries with many opportunities for career growth.  What tools and platforms are taught in the curriculum? Spreadsheets (e.g., Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, etc.), word processing applications (e.g., Google Docs, Microsoft Word, etc.), and presentation applications (e.g., Google Slides, Microsoft PowerPoint, Keynote, etc.) will be used. Additionally, learners will have the option to use Asana and to learn about other common work management tools. Do I need to take the course in a certain order? We highly recommend completing the courses in the order presented because the content in each course builds on information from earlier lessons. This is the fifth of six courses in the Google Project Management Certificate. Will completing this certificate help prepare me for Project Management Institute certifications? Google is an approved member of the Project Management Institute’s Opens in a new tab Authorized Training Partner Program, which ensures practitioners have access to consistent and high-quality training experiences. Those who complete the Google Project Management Certificate will qualify for over 100 hours of project management education that apply directly to requirements for globally-recognized PMI credentials, like the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® certification Opens in a new tab . When will I have access to the lectures and assignments? Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option: The course may not offer an audit option. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience. What will I get if I subscribe to this Certificate? When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Certificate, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free. What is the refund policy? If you subscribed, you get a 7-day free trial during which you can cancel at no penalty. After that, we don’t give refunds, but you can cancel your subscription at any time. See our full refund policy Opens in a new tab . More questions 149 IMAGES Quality Management Plan Quality Management Complete Qms Management Review Template (DOC) Quality management assignment Quality management assignment Quality Control Template VIDEO Quality management Assignment 2 Business Management Assignment File 2024 Project Quality Management Assignment QUALITY MANAGEMENT-AMIT SHARMA-MODELING PROCESS QUALITY (L 1) CS615 Software Project Management Assignment 2 Fall 2023 Virtual University of Pakistan NMIMS -Dec 2023 Assignment-Total Quality Management SEM3- COMMENTS Total Quality Management (TQM): Definition, Principles & Examples Total Quality Management Definition. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management technique based on the idea that all employees continuously improve their ability to provide on-demand products and services that customers will find of particular value. TQM relies on data-driven decision-making, teamwork, and supplier partnerships to achieve ... Total Quality Management Elements, Implementation, Examples Total quality management (TQM) ensures all parts of an organization continuously improve quality. It involves everyone in an organization focusing on meeting customer needs and enhancing organizational effectiveness. In this article, learn about TQM's history, elements, implementation, and a few examples. Vijay Kanade AI Researcher. Quality Management Plan Template & Sample Project Example In this Quality Management Plan sample, you need to define: The timing for reviews, which may be conducted at the end of a phase or every phase. Topics of each review (s) A review of project performance and comparison with the defined project target outcomes. A review of the methodologies needed to produce the outputs. Quality management Introduction. Quality management activities in organizations are undertaken to ensure that quality in its products is achieved and maintained within an unacceptable budget 1.It is an activity that is closely dependent on the feedback from the organization's clients, thus the quality management concept involves establishing channels for relaying customer feedback for which it requires that ... How To Develop A Quality Management Plan In 8 Easy Steps 8. Configure a tool of choice to tie together the quality management process. It is important to make sure everything in this process runs smoothly to benefit the project and the team. Configure your existing project management tools to support quality management. Automation is valuable here. QUALITY MANAGEMENT BJMQ 3013 Quality Management Assignment 1. Mandatory assignments 100% (1) 8. Explain how improving quality can lead to reduced costs. Mandatory assignments 100% (1) Lecture notes. Date Rating. year. Ratings. Individual Assignment (15m) A232. 1 page 2024/2025 None. 2024/2025 None. Save. Practice materials. Date Rating. year. PDF Sample Quality Management Plan Sample Quality Management Plan Act If performance measures thresholds are exceeded, take specific corrective actions to fix the systemic cause of any non-conformance, deficiency, or other unwanted effect. Document quality improvements that could include appropriate revisions to the quality management plan, alteration of quality Total Quality Management (TQM): What is TQM? Quality Glossary Definition: Total quality management. A core definition of total quality management (TQM) describes a management approach to long-term success through customer satisfaction. In a TQM effort, all members of an organization participate in improving processes, products, services, and the culture in which they work. Example of a Quality Management System (With Definition and Types) Here is an example of a quality management system: Clothing World is a clothing production company that wants to use a quality management system to improve efficiency and ensure high-quality production. The leaders at Clothing World meet to discuss the company's current processes, goals and visions. They discuss the seven quality management ... All About Total Quality Management (TQM) Quality management began in manufacturing, and TQM, like it's subsequent methodologies, adapted well to finance, healthcare, and other fields. Some of the landmark companies to adopt TQM include Toyota, Ford, and Philips Semiconductors. Worldwide, countries such as Germany, France, the UK, and Turkey established TQM standards. ISO An effective quality management system (QMS) provides the means to consistently meet consumer expectations and deliver products and services with minimal waste. ... Any real-world example of a QMS will aptly demonstrate this: Companies who have built a successful quality system are more likely to achieve their business goals, driving higher ... Deming's 14 Points: Total Quality Management Principles W. Edwards Deming's 14 Points. Create constancy of purpose for improving products and services. Adopt the new philosophy. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. End the practice of awarding business on price alone; instead, minimize total cost by working with a single supplier. Improve constantly and forever every process for ... The Quality Management Plan in Project Management A quality management plan is the first step to defining and codifying the steps necessary to achieve the quality expectations of the project. This is best done with project management software that can organize and share the plan with the project team. ProjectManager is cloud-based work and project management software that has multiple project ... PDF Quality management principles One of the definitions of a " principle " is that it is a basic belief, theory or rule that has a major influence on the way in which something is done. " Quality management principles " are a set of fundamental beliefs, norms, rules and values that are accepted as true and can be used as a basis for quality management. 9 core elements of a quality management system [Examples] 5. Document and records control and management. In a QMS, all documents must be controlled and all records must be retained. Think of documents as procedures, form templates, the quality manual, work instructions, approved supplier lists, and other documents that contribute to making the product in any small way. BJMQ 3013 : Quality Management INDIVIDUAL ASSGN1 15% GUIDELINES G.docx. BJMQ3013 Quality Management (GROUP G) Individual Assignment 1 (15%) Question "How would you build a culture of quality in an organization, i.e., manufacturing or services" The aims of this assignment are: (1) To stimulate students' understanding on the co. BJMQ 3013. Northern University of Malaysia. 7 Basic Quality Tools: Quality Management Tools 7 Basic Quality Tool Templates. These templates will help you get started using the seven basic quality tools. Just download the spreadsheets and begin entering your own data. Cause-and-effect diagram template (Excel) Check sheet template (Excel) Control chart template (Excel) Histogram template (Excel) Project Quality Plan: The Easiest Guide (With Template) Quality control (QC) How to write a project quality plan. 1. Establish what quality looks like for this project. 2. Clarify roles and responsibilities. 3. Write it down. Quality management plan template. Quality Management Definition, Components & Examples Quality management systems examples are Six Sigma, Total Quality Management (or TQM), and ISO 9001. ISO 9001 is more prescriptive and helps improve the quality of business processes. What Is a Quality Management System (QMS)? A quality management system (QMS) is defined as a formalized system that documents processes, procedures, and responsibilities for achieving quality policies and objectives. A QMS helps coordinate and direct an organization's activities to meet customer and regulatory requirements and improve its effectiveness and efficiency on a continuous ... Quality Management Juan identified nine quality planning steps that are fundamental for business success. These steps include: Step 1: Customer identification - Under this stage, the management is charged with the responsibility of discovering their target groups. Step 2: Determining the demands and needs of consumers - since demand varies, it is important ... 19 Examples of Quality Management Quality management is the practice of improving the quality of processes, products and services. Quality is the value of something relative to its purpose. As such, quality management can be viewed as the process of increasing or standardizing the value of outputs. The following are basic examples of the quality management process. Agile Project Management Course by Google Authorized Training Partner Program, which ensures practitioners have access to consistent and high-quality training experiences. Those who complete the Google Project Management Certificate will qualify for over 100 hours of project management education that apply directly to requirements for globally-recognized PMI credentials, like the ... Case Studies Using Exploratory Data Analysis to Improve the Fresh Foods Ordering Process in Retail Stores. This case study presents a real-world example of how the thought processes of data scientists can contribute to quality practice. See how explorative data analysis and basic statistics helped a grocery chain reduce inefficiencies in its retail ... assignment essay homework paper phd report review speech thesis