Recommended learning hours: 50

Unit aim: To be able to implement quality management principles across the organisation in order to achieve stakeholder satisfaction and continuous performance improvement.

Assessment type: Examination

Learning outcomes

1. Understand how quality principles can improve business performance
2. Understand the use of the 'Plan, Do, Check, Act' (PDCA) cycle within management systems
3. Understand process design and improvement
4. Understand the quality management function within an organisation
5. Be able to assess and report on quality costs.

Every successful candidate can at the end of this unit:

1. Assess the extent to which a management system can deliver stakeholder outcomes
2. Analyse the effectiveness of the application of the quality management principles in an organisation
3. Make recommendations for improvement, based on this analysis
4. Advise how the PDCA cycle can be applied at different levels of an organisation
5. Illustrate how PDCA can contribute to the process of continuous performance improvement
6. Explain different types of business processes and their interactions
7. Evaluate a business process and recommend changes to improve performance and reduce risk
8. Explain the role of different quality activities within an organisation
9. Evaluate the structure for quality within an organisation for appropriateness and make recommendations
10. Evaluate alternative approaches to apportioning quality costs
11. Make recommendations for implementing a quality costing programme in an organisation
12. Prepare a management report highlighting areas of quality cost and recommend appropriate actions

Indicative content:

• Key components of quality management
  • Overview of quality planning
  • Overview of quality control
  • Overview of quality improvement.
• Principles of quality
  • Quality management principles underpinning management systems
  • Business benefits – reduce waste, efficiency and effectiveness
  • The typical identities of stakeholders, customers and interested parties
  • Customer and stakeholder needs identified as stated (specified) needs and unstated or hidden needs.
• The PDCA cycle
  • The role of each element of PDCA in quality management and the business performance improvement process.
• Process design
  • Examples of core business processes and support processes
  • Management of key business processes, support processes and the development of a complete management system to deliver customer and stakeholder needs.
• Quality management function
  • Examples of different arrangements for quality and their application to organisations
  • Case studies of quality management structures
  • Overview of process ownership within management systems from initial primary suppliers to ultimate end users
  • Organisation structure and quality roles in the organisation.
• Quality-related costs
  • The basic Failure, Appraisal, Prevention (FAP) cost optimisation argument and the impact of competition
  • Other quality costing models.