Foundations of Quality
Quality management refers to the processes an organization adopts to ensure that its products or services are consistent in meeting clients’ expectations. Quality management entails four main components. They include planning, assurance, control, and enhancement (University of Cambridge, 2016). Besides concentrating on the products and services, the new concept of quality management explores different ways of accomplishing it. Clients’ behaviors, preferences, and willingness to pay for products and services determine quality (University of Cambridge, 2016). In this context, quality can be defined as the suitability to accomplish the intended purpose. Therefore, quality management applies the concepts of quality assurance and control of processes and product improvement to attain greater quality consistency.
Compare and Contrast Two Quality Philosophies.
Kenneth H. Rose defines quality as a significant component of the success of a project. The guide on Project Quality Management offers a systematic guide for the project management process and the tools that facilitate the process to be applied in different contexts. Rose proposes the wheel of quality that expounds on three aspects of quality, what a company does, how it does its activities, and why it is doing a particular action (Rose, 2005). These concepts build on the process of quality assurance, which includes the application of planned and systemic quality activities to ensure the project utilizes all activities required to achieve its obligations. Quality assurance encompasses a combined set of actions upon which the project team is supposed to perform to accomplish the process’s objective (Cordero, 2014). The author also advocates for quality improvement to create beneficial change by ensuring customer satisfaction and organizational competitiveness. It involves following all the procedures of planning a change that will produce positive outcomes, performing the enhancement on a small scale, and acting to implement
In contrast, David A. Garvin defines a product’s quality as an outcome of philosophy, marketing, economics, and operations management. As such, product quality becomes an important competitive issue. Garvin proposes five models for determining the quality of products and services. They encompass transcendence, user-based approach, product-based approach, manufacturing-based, and value-based approach (Levin, 2014). The author proposes eight dimensions framework covering numerous concepts for enhancing product quality. They comprise measurable product attributes while others reflect personal preferences. Others are objective and timeless while others shift with fluctuating fashion; however, others are inherent characteristics of goods while some are ascribed traits. The eight dimensions include reliability, aesthetics performance, feature, perceived quality, conformance, serviceability, and durability (Garvin, 1984). The diversity of these concepts define the distinction among the traditional approaches to quality. The product-based course emphasizes the performance, features, and durability of a product. The user-based model concentrates on the aesthetics and perceived quality. Lastly, the manufacturing-based approach emphasizes conformity and reliability enhancements.
The convergence of these philosophies lies in enhancing the manufacturing process, products, and user-based approaches. Both Rose and Garvin hold the perception that quality is innate fineness. This aspect can only be determined through experience. Hence, enhancing the outcomes of a product on the end-user, the manufacturing process, and the product’s value can go a long way to influence brand consumers’ perceptions. Both philosophies emphasize the need to attain and enhance customer experience and satisfaction by producing deliverables that meet all stakeholders’ standard requirements (Rose, 2005). As a result, organizations must invest in developing the process and its people by consulting with stakeholders to build transparent interactions with clients (Garvin, 1984). Another convergence of both philosophies is the stress for the need for continuous improvement. Implementing this concept implies regularly monitoring and recording any emerging issues to influence future project management decisions.
Application of Philosophies in Practice
Mr. Rose’s proposition on project quality management is critical in inspiring manufacturing firms’ quality management. The excerpts provide crucial guidelines to enhance quality management across the project management scope. For instance, the Wheel of Quality depicts the integration of all the concepts of contemporary quality (Rose, 2005). He also provides a vast volume of information that is essential to understand and enhance quality management. Further, he gives a guideline for integrating the various steps of quality enhancement in the project implementation (Rose, 2005). Experienced project managers understand the significance of following a rigorous process of different projects. Mr. Rose provides project managers with a different approach to consider besides explaining the techniques and tools for expanding the project toolkit to drive a project to another level.
David A. Garvin proposes a new approach for thinking strategic quality administration. This approach involves evaluating consumers’ perceptions of different things and creating a conceptual bridge to consumers’ standpoints. Garvin helps to express the descriptions and scopes of quality (Garvin, 1984). For instance, he defines the eight quality dimensions and five descriptions of quality, which go a long way to influence business managers thinking about strategic quality management. A few these dimensions are commonly augmenting, while some are not. For instance, a product or service could rank favorably in one dimension and lower in another approach. However, this interplay of dimensions facilitates strategic quality management and better decision making about the dimensions on which products and services will compete.
The Most Suitable Philosophy
Between the two philosophies proposed by David Garvin and Kenneth rose on quality management, the latter seems a more suitable approach to enhance organizational activities and performance. Kenneth Rose’s philosophy explores beyond the main elements of quality such as inspection, statistics, and reworking a project to incorporate more recent concepts of quality such as, customer focus, diversity, and constant improvement (Fields et al., 2014). This approach is pegged on training, which forms the foundation of quality. Besides, it emphasizes the role of leadership as the unifying factor of quality. Nonetheless, it recognizes that every part of the organization is responsible for improving a brand’s quality. In this context, the primary responsibility of managers is the project and product quality. Rose’s philosophy is also suitable because it defines project teams’ responsibility to enhance the quality aspects of their parts in the project. Lastly, it stipulates individual team members’ commitment to improving the project’s quality in all their undertakings.
Significance of Rose’s Philosophy on Personal life
Mr. Kenneth Rose provides an in-depth analysis of quality, especially in the context of project management. Besides, he moves beyond the typical description and advice for manufactured goods to provide a framework for project managers to enhance the organization’s productivity in managing quality for the advantage of the project’s outcomes in any domain (Rose, 2005). This philosophy offers a user-friendly guide comprising tools and techniques to augment the process with more hands-on procedures with proven efficacy. These insights are incredibly helpful because they emphasize the need for the continuous advancement of the three aspects of quality: what a company does, how it does its activities, and why it is doing a particular action (Fields et al., 2014). These organizational approaches can be transferred to impact project participants’ personal lives and traits to enhance personal growth.
Recommendations for Integrating Project Quality Management
The primary function of project managers is overseeing the implementation of the quality management plan. In this context, the emphasis is delivering products and services that meet customers and stakeholders’ expectations. However, implementing quality management requires managers to understand the many concepts of quality management and their interaction. One takeaway for organizations assuming Rose’s philosophy is that customer satisfaction is the basis of quality (Rose, 2005). The primary focus for organizations enhancements is to provide services that meet and exceed consumers’ expectations. Failure to address all aspects of customers and stakeholders’ expectations is predictive of unsatisfactory outcomes. Another takeaway is the adoption of advanced project management programs (Cordero, 2014). In this context, project managers need to familiarize themselves with advanced and more recent developments that enhance project quality management. For instance, using the ProjectManager.com resource can help managers view and manage all aspects of a project. This development’s various features address the deliverables’ quality before they go too far from the intended target.
Conclusion
Quality management is a vital aspect of the implementation of a project and the outcomes of the course. Philosophers Kenneth Rose and David A Garvin propose two valuable quality, enhancement models. Kenneth Rose provides useful insights into project quality management, emphasizing quality control, quality assurance, quality in management tools, and guidance in practice. On the other side, David Garner proposes five approaches to defining quality that provides empirical relationships between quality and some vital variables, including transcendence, user-based, manufacture-based, value-based, and product-based approaches. Therefore, managers must familiarize themselves with the different concepts that define quality and their interactions for sustainable organizational development.
References
Cordero, V. (2014). Project Quality Management; Why, What, and How, Second Edition. J. Ross Publishing. https://www.jrosspub.com/project-quality-management-secondedition.html
Fields, P., Hague, D. R., Koby, G. S., Lommel, A., & Melby, A. (2014). What is quality? A management discipline and the translation industry get acquainted. Tradumàtica: tecnologies de la traducció, (12), 404. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/tradumatica.75
Garvin, D. A. (1984). What does ‘Product quality’ really mean? thecasecentre.org. https://www.thecasecentre.org/main/products/view?id=6691
Levin, G. (2014). Project quality management: Why, what and how, second edition. Project Management Journal, 45(5), e3-e3. https://doi.org/10.1002/pmj.21451
Rose, K. (2005). Project quality management: Why, what and how. J. Ross Publishing.
University of Cambridge. (2016). Quality framework. Institute for Manufacturing. https://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/research/dstools/quality-framework/