MASTERS in PROJECT MANAGEMENT

MANAGING QUALITY IN PROJECTS

PRACTICE QUESTIONS
Question 1

From a customer’s point of view: “A product with the highest price does not
necessarily have the highest quality”.

Discuss this statement giving at least five examples.

Question 2

“ You cannot inspect quality into a product (goods or services), you have to build it
into the product ”.

Discuss this statement and explain with details.

Question 3

For a project; the cost of lack of quality is much higher than the cost of having
quality.

Discuss this statement and identify the costs being talked about in the statement.

Question 4

Most of quality problems encountered at operational level do not have their roots at
that level. Their roots are entrenched deep at the highest level.

Agree or disagree – in any case, explain.

 GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS – EXERCISE 2

QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES

Question 1
Of the eight quality management principles, which one appears to be the most
difficult to implement in an organization and why.
What recommendations you will give to an organization for it to be able to effectively
implement the principle.

Question 2
What are the most likely challenges an organization will face in implementing the
principle of “Factual approach to decision making”.

Recommend the key things that need to be in place for an organization to effectively
implement this principle.

Question 3
From an organization you know – examine how the principles of leadership and
involvement of people have been implemented and how the approach used in the
implementation has positively or negatively impacted on the organization.

Give recommendations that will bring in more improvements in the implementation.

Question 4

Why is it important for an organization to be aware of the external driving factors

that are likely to affect the market for its products?

List some of these factors, including the quality management principle that will
enable the organization be aware of the factor.
 GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS – EXERCISE 3
QUALITY COSTS
CASE 1
Assistant Commissioner of Police Omari Juma was recently appointed to take charge
of the public security department at the police headquarters in city of Kilevini. One
of his main tasks was to ensure significant improvement in public security is achieved
for the benefit of Kilevini city residents.
In his strategy, ACP Juma decided to start with the following actions:

(i) Recruitment and training of more police officers in order to increase the
number of police officers under his department, which was known to be
low.

(ii) Training local residents on security issues and involving them in local patrols
of their areas at night, under the leadership of one or two police officers.

(iii) Increasing the number of day and night patrols by police in areas that are
notorious for security breaching incidents.
His efforts have clearly paid off because recent records show that the crime rate has
gone down in Kilevini city. Records show that:

(i) The police have managed to foil more than fifteen robbery attempts on
several business premises during night patrols.

(ii) Only two murder incidents have been reported over the last two months
where a police officer was killed in each incident.

Question:

You as the quality expert in the police force at Kilevini – identify and properly
categorize the quality costs associated with the case above. Give as many details of
the costs as possible.
CASE 2
The Vichakani City Council recently decided to form a public health unit as part of its
functional units. The unit was established following a series of public health

problems in the city, where outbreak of diseases such as cholera was rampant. In the
recent case of cholera outbreak, the city council had to shut down the local market
and schools for two weeks. One school was used as a health centre where people
suffering from cholera were treated. The Vichakani City Council footed the bill for
treatment of all people who were treated at this centre.

Now the new public health unit has been quite busy with public health campaigns
which include:

(i) Running sensitization seminars on public health issues, mainly targeting

informal food outlets in the streets of Vichakani city.

(ii) Carrying out inspections on restaurants and butcheries to ensure proper

maintenance of hygiene is observed.

Two restaurants have so far been closed and owners have already been taken to
court.

Question:
You as the quality expert for Vichakani City Council, analyse the quality costs that
your council has incurred in the stated case, properly categorizing them as necessary.
CASE 3:

The Korongoni Urban Water and Sewerage Authority (KUWSA) has embarked on a
major campaign to improve its services to Korongoni city residents. This follows a
series of complaints from city residents over the poor services they have been getting
from KUWSA so far.

In the most recent case, sewage water leaking from KUWSA pipes mixed with water
running in pipes for clean water that is being supplied to residential compounds. This
caused a serious outbreak of typhoid fever in the area and several people lost their
lives. Some residents decided to sue KUWSA for negligence and KUWSA ended up
paying heavy fines and compensations.

Cases of water losses due to broken pipes are common, and these are contributing to
the serious shortage of water in the city. KUWSA officials have been claiming that
they have a shortage of qualified technicians to patrol and fix leakages in these water
pipes. Independent studies have confirmed that this claim is true.

Question:

As the Quality Manager of KUWSA, suggest actions that will improve the service
delivery of your organization. In the process, identify and categorize the quality costs
that your organization has incurred and will incur as a result of implementing your
suggested actions.
 GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS – EXERCISE 4

QUESTION 1

Discuss, decide and justify your decision on which one of the three approaches below
you will recommend for a public sector organization or an organization that has a
market monopoly.

(i) Setting up and implementing a quality management system based on the

eight quality management principles, but without following the approaches
used in any of the currently known quality management systems such as
TQM, ISO 9001 systems, Kaizen etc.

(ii) Setting up and implementing a quality management system based on one of

the currently known and practiced quality management systems, but not
seek for a certification of the system by a third party certification firm.

(iii) Setting up and implementing a quality management system based on the

currently known and practiced quality management systems and ensuring

the system is certified by a third party certification firm.

QUESTION 2
Organizations need to be aware and balance their investment in terms of costs they
incur in their quest to achieve quality objectives. This is due to the fact that some of
these investment costs in quality may not bring the desired returns to the
organization.
Discuss this statement - specifically describing cases where investment costs in
quality may not bring the desired return.
QUESTION 3
ISO 9001:2008 standard is a generic standard which outlines requirements for a
quality management system. These requirements can be implemented by any

organization regardless of the business involved. The famous phrase “the standard
tells you what to do but does not tell you how to do it ” summarizes the view above.
However some critics claim that this flexibility on the standard is actually a weakness
on the ISO standard for quality management.
Discuss this view as a group and come up with a common stand on whether you think
this is a weakness or strength – backing up your decision with supporting concepts.
 GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS – EXERCISE 5

QUALITY MANAGEMENT TOOLS

From your work experience: Select one management or process problem which could
be analysed and solved using the discussed quality management tools.

Using the selected case:

(a)Use the Ishikawa diagram to identify the various causes of the problem, based
on the seven potential sources of causes of problems.

(b)From the Ishikawa diagram – and using your judgement through experience –
select five main causes of the problem and plot a first level Pareto chart for this
problem.

(c) Plot a second level Pareto chart for the most significant reason from the first
level Pareto chart in (b)
 GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS – EXERCISE 6

QMS REQUIREMENTS
Consider the three institutions below:

(1) A police force department tasked with the responsibility of ensuring public
safety for all residents in the city.

(2) A health unit in the City Council with the responsibility of ensuring proper
hygiene is maintained across the city in order to avoid diseases outbreak.

(3) A water and Sewerage authority with the responsibility of ensuring good

services are provided to city residents in terms of availability and

cleanliness of water, and reliability of the sewerage system.

Using your knowledge of QMS requirements based on the ISO 9001: 2008 standard;

(a) Develop a quality policy statement for the institution

(b) Formulate at least four quality objectives for the institution

(c) For each objective - explain how you will monitor your institution’s
performance against that objective, mentioning the records that will facilitate
your monitoring process.
 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS – EXERCISE 7

Question 1
Top management can demonstrate commitment in the establishment,
implementation and continual improvement of the QMS by providing resources
required for running the system. However this is not the only way that top

management is expected to contribute in ensuring the QMS is effectively

implemented.

Identify and discuss the other ways the top management is expected to contribute in
the implementation of the QMS.

In each case, state the clause from the standard that tasks the top management with
that responsibility.

Question 2
Quality Management cannot be separated from the day to day general management
of an organization. Based on this view, identify and explain which aspects you will
concentrate on when setting up quality management activities in the following areas:

(a)Security department
(b)Transport department
(c) Human Resources department
(d)Finance department

Set up one quality objective for each department above.

Question 3

Control of records is one of the key requirements in the implementation of a Quality

Management System. The ISO 9001:2008 standard has even put a requirement that
the organization must establish and document a procedure for control of records.

Identify and give examples of quality management related problems that the
organization will face if there is no proper record keeping in the following
departments.

(a)Human resources
(b)Finance department
(c) Goods dispatch/delivery department

Failure to maintain proper record keeping will also affect the organization’s
implementation of the quality management principles. Identify and discuss which
principle will suffer the most – including examples in your discussion.
 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS – EXERCISE 8

Question 1

Clause 7.3 (7.3.1 to 7.3.7) of the ISO 9001:2008 standard outlines requirements for
Design and development – a process that appears to be more manufacturing based.
However some of the requirements outlined in this clause can also be applied in an
organization that deals with service provision (e.g. Hotel, Airline, Hospital, School
etc.).

Select one example of a service that is being provided or can be provided by a service
based organization, and discuss how the requirements outlined in clause 7.3 can be
applied in part or in full in that service.

Question 2
Organizations can exclude some of the ISO 9001:2008 standard requirements when
implementing their ISO 9001 based Quality Management System. However the
standard has a restriction that exclusion of requirements can be done for
requirements in clause 7 only.

(a)Discuss and give reasons that support the decision to restrict exclusions to
clause 7 only.
(b)What weaknesses will arise in the QMS if organizations were also allowed to
exclude requirements in clause 6 of the standard? In your explanation identify
the weakness and the clause that will cause that weakness – if excluded.
Question 3

Safari Ltd is a transport company specializing in transporting containers of goods

from Dar es salaam port in Tanzania to Ndola City in Zambia. More than 90 % of
Safari Ltd employees are drivers, some coming from Tanzania and some from Zambia.
The board of Safari Ltd has decided to establish a Quality Management System based
on the requirements of the ISO 9001:2008 standard, and they have tasked the
management of Safari Ltd to start the process of establishing the system.

You as the management of Safari Ltd:

(a) Establish five quality objectives for your company and explain how you will
monitor them.
(b)Formulate a quality policy statement for your organization
(c) Identify and explain the strategies you will employ in order to ensure that
all of your employees are aware of the quality policy and its objectives, and
understand it.
 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS – EXERCISE 9
Question 1

Your company (Trucks Ltd) deals with cross border transportation in the East Africa
region, covering the route from Mombasa to Kampala and Kigali. In the last few years
your company has received many complaints about the poor service that your
customers have been getting from the organization. Most of these complaints are on
the aspect of long delays in getting their goods after loading on your truck in
Mombasa.

You as the QA manager of the company, you have been asked to work on this
problem and come up with a solution. ‘

Using your knowledge in quality management:

(a) Identify the causes that are leading to the problem of delayed deliveries.
(b) Identify the corrective actions that you will take to mitigate those causes and
how you will check their effectiveness after implementation.
(c) Identify preventive actions that you will put in place

Question 2

The ISO 9001:2008 standard has clearly stated the level from which the
organization’s Management Representative should be appointed from (5.5.2).
However the standard does not stipulate any level from which internal auditors
should be appointed from. In fact, the standard does not say anything about internal
auditors.
(a) If you were to appoint internal auditors for your organization would you
consider their levels in the organization structure?
Whichever answer you give (Yes or No), give reasons and explain.
(b)Would you consider appointing internal auditors from the top management ?
Whichever answer you give (Yes or No), give reasons and explain.
Question 3
If you were part of the team reviewing the current ISO 9001:2008 standard.
Pick two (out of the five) clauses and suggest two requirements you would add in
each of the two clauses you have chosen.