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PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT

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 PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Jenish Chauhan1, Sushil Subedi2, Ashok Thakulla3, Saurav Raj Khanal4
1.jenishchauhan785@hmail.com 2. subedisushant2057@gmail.com ,
2.thakullaashok77@gmail.com 4. sauravrajkhanal234@gmail.com
Department of Geomatics Engineering, Kathmandu University.

ABSTRACT
Quality management means creating and following policies and procedures to ensure that a
project meets the defined needs it was intended to meet from the customer’s perspective. Quality
means conformance to specifications and fitness for use – i.e. just what you need and not more.
Quality, cost and time have been recognized as the main factors concerning the client. For the
implementation of quality management in survey projects, the concepts of quality planning
(identification of quality standards), quality assurance (evaluation of overall project performance)
and quality control (monitoring of specific project results) in the quality management processes
should be defined by project quality management framework. There are several principles of
quality management that the International Standard for Quality Management and are used by top
management to guide an organization’s processes towards improved performance. Several tools
and techniques are identified as part of the implementation process, like benefit-cost analysis,
benchmarking, flow-charting, design of experiments, cost of quality, quality audits, inspection,
control charts, pareto diagrams, statistical sampling, flow-charting and trend analysis. The
quality of project is defined by three parameters: quality of materials used, quality of work and
the quality of workmanship. The parameter includes the use of material according to specification,
quality working mechanics and quality manpower. Quality management enables a companies to
continuously improve its products, processes, and systems. Quality management is one of the
important means of improving the quality of survey project. It emphasizes continuous improvement
in the quality of the project and organizational objectives. To ensure the continually improvement
of Quality Management System, it is essential that the top management to give their full support
and commitment especially to the development and implementation of survey Project.

KEY WORDS
Analysis, Audit, Durability, Quality, Quality management system, Innovation, sustainability

BACKGROUND
Quality management is the act of overseeing all activities and tasks needed to maintain a desired
level of excellence. Quality management includes the determination of a quality policy, creating
and implementing quality planning and assurance, and quality control and quality improvement.
(www.investopedia.com, 2022) The overall purpose of project quality management aims to
provide a broad framework for identifying quality standards and requirements, implementing
quality assurance and control activities, and taking corrective actions for project improvement.
Such a framework helps ensure successful project execution, in line with the customer’s needs,
product specifications and quality expectations.

The people involved in managing the framework (key stakeholders, the project manager and the
team) take care of managing documents, templates, schedules, plans and other quality management
tools to make sure that the project deliverables are produced according to the implementation
methodology and the expected quality levels.

1 INTRODUCTION
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines quality as “the degree to which
a set of inherent characteristics fulfils requirements”. (slideplayer.com, 2022) Quality management
means creating and following policies and procedures to ensure that a project meets the defined
needs it was intended to meet from the customer’s perspective. Quality means conformance to
specifications and fitness for use – i.e. just what you need and not more. Other experts define
quality based on:
❖ Conformance to requirements: The project’s processes and products meet written
specifications.
❖ Fitness for use: A product can be used as it was intended.
Quality is one of the main factors in the success of survey projects. Quality of survey projects, as
well as project success, can be regarded as the fulfillment of expectations (i.e. the satisfaction) of
the project participants. Quality, cost and time have been recognized as the main factors concerning
the client. However, for the majority of projects, the cost and time parameters are the main pre
occupying factors for survey project. The quality of project is linked with client’s satisfaction and
the implementation of a quality management system is a key tool in consistently and reliably
managing the goal of client satisfaction. Quality management system (QMS) could be
implemented either at the organization level or at the project level itself.
For the implementation of quality management in survey projects, the concepts of quality planning
(identification of quality standards), quality assurance (evaluation of overall project performance)
and quality control (monitoring of specific project results) in the quality management processes
were defined by Project Management Institute (2000).(Chin-Keng, 2011) Several tools and
techniques were identified as part of the implementation process, like benefit-cost analysis,
benchmarking, flow-charting, design of experiments, cost of quality, quality audits, inspection,
control charts, pareto diagrams, statistical sampling, flow-charting and trend analysis.
Quality management system (QMS) is defined as “all activities of the overall management function
that determine the quality policy, objectives and responsibilities, and implement them by means
such as quality planning, quality control, quality assurance and quality improvement within the
quality system”.(Mane & Patil, 2015) To ensure the continually improvement of Quality
Management System, it is essential that the top management to give their full support and
commitment especially to the development and implementation of survey Project.
 Fig 1-Project Quality Overview

2 OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this research paper are listed below:
❖ To explore importance of quality management.
❖ To explore importance, process, types, benefits and approaches of quality management.
❖ To understand the major issues, challenges and opportunity regarding quality management.

3 NEED OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Quality planning has always been successful in showing the best project results. It determines how
a project should be measured and what steps should be taken to boost any organization. Project
quality management is most important in establishing the standards so that your customers remain
gratified by your work. A project manager in quality planning plays a key role as he’s liable for
arranging top-class deliverables and run the project. The entire project management is a circle
involving everyone. From the benchmarks to all the stakeholders, everyone is answerable for
assuring the quality of a project. Whenever a project starts, it is highly dependent on excellent
standards. Here the stakeholders play their part. So, project quality management somehow pushes
the entire team and makes them active on work. The combined effort of everyone helps to lessen
the budget and reduce the risk of unsatisfied clients. One can keep a quality control check on
everything to avoid any unwanted stress. There is immense importance of quality scheduling in
project management. A company can reduce its set budget when all the cost analysis is done and
worked on. The PMs can help the team progress and reach the bottom line with the project
essentials. (globalknowledge.com, 2022) For example, the quality budget planning for
constructing a sturdy building is different from the one with a single-story floor construction. By
arranging several meetings and discussing the project quality, one can override the budget.
Project managers will always aim to keep costs modest while still delivering quality. If, as
mentioned above, you can streamline processes and increase productivity levels, it’s possible that
the business will generate higher profits. Higher profits can be guaranteed by raising prices due to
increased levels of quality or reducing operational costs by eliminating unnecessary processes.
However, some other Needs are:
➢ Quality means conformance to specifications and fitness for use – i.e. just what you need
and not more.
➢ Projects or products with unnecessary features can be too expensive to meet the business
need.
➢ Prevention is much cheaper than inspection, build quality in early to minimize
costs/maximize quality.

4 Principles of Quality Management

There are several principles of quality management that the International Standard for Quality
Management adopts. These principles are used by top management to guide an organization’s
processes towards improved performance.(Hellingsworth et al., 2020) They include:
 Figure 2: Principles of quality management

Customer Focus
The primary focus of any organization should be to meet and exceed the customers’ expectations
and needs. When an organization can understand the customers’ current and future needs and cater
to them, that results in customer loyalty, which in turn increases revenue. The business is also able
to identify new customer opportunities and satisfy them. When business processes are more
efficient, quality is higher and more customers can be satisfied.
Leadership
Good leadership results in an organization’s success. Great leadership establishes unity and
purpose among the workforce and shareholders. Creating a thriving company culture provides an
internal environment that allows employees to fully realize their potential and get actively involved
in achieving company objectives.
Leaders should involve the employees in setting clear organizational goals and objectives. This
motivates employees, who may significantly improve their productivity and loyalty.
Engagement of People
Staff involvement is another fundamental principle. The management engages staff in creating and
delivering value whether they are full-time, part-time, outsourced, or in-house. An organization
should encourage the employees to constantly improve their skills and maintain consistency.
The principle also involves empowering the employees, involving them in decision making, and
recognizing their achievements. When people are valued, they work to their best potential because
it boosts their confidence and motivation. When employees are wholly involved, it makes them
feel empowered and accountable for their actions.
Process Approach
The performance of an organization is crucial according to the process approach principle. The
approach principle emphasizes achieving efficiency and effectiveness in the organizational
processes. The approach entails an understanding that good processes result in improved
consistency, quicker activities, reduced costs, waste removal, and continuous improvement.

An organization is enhanced when leaders can manage and control the inputs and the outputs of
an organization, as well as the processes used to produce the outputs.
Continuous Improvement
Every organization should come up with an objective to be actively involved in continuous
improvement. Businesses that improve continually experience improved performance,
organizational flexibility, and increased ability to embrace new opportunities. Project should be
able to create new processes continually and adapt to new market situations.

Evidence-based Decision Making

Project should adopt a factual approach to decision-making. Businesses that make decisions based
on verified and analyzed data have an improved understanding of the marketplace. They are able
to perform tasks that produce desired results and justify their past decisions. Factual decision-
making is vital to help understand the cause-and-effect relationships of different things and explain
potential unintended results and consequences.
Relationship Management
Relationship management is about creating mutually beneficial relations with managers, staffs and
workers. Different interested parties can impact a company’s performance. The organization
should manage the supply chain process well and promote the relationship between the
organization and its suppliers to optimize their impact on the company’s performance. When an
organization manages its relationship with interested parties well, it is more likely to achieve
sustained business collaboration and success.

5 METHODOLOGY
Project Quality Management Framework:
The project quality management framework includes the following 3 components:
 Figure 3: methodologies of good management

Plan Quality
The process of identifying quality requirements and/or standards for the project and product,
and documenting how the project will demonstrate compliance. The first component is about
creating a detailed plan that specifies activities for identifying quality requirements and
standards for the project/product, and documenting how the project fits into the expected
quality levels.

5.1.1 Quality Management Theories

➢ Gold Plating: refers to giving the costumers extra
➢ Prevention Over Inspection: Work to find problems OR Prevent them in the first place
Quality must be planned in and not inspected in.
 ➢ Marginal Analysis: refers to looking for the point where benefits or revenue to be received
from improving quality equals the incremental cost to achieve that quality.
➢ Continuous Improvement: Continuously looking for small improvement in quality.
➢ Just in Time: inventory is zero.
➢ Total Quality Management: encourages companies and their employees to focus on
findings ways to continuously improve the quality of their business practices and products.
➢ Responsibility for Quality: entire organization has responsibilities relating to quality.
5.1.2 Tools and Technique
➢ Cost and Benefit Analysis: Weighs the benefit versus the costs of meeting quality
requirements.
➢ Cost of Quality
➢ Control Charts: used to determine whether or not a process is stable or has predictable
performance.
➢ Benchmarking: involves comparing actual or planned projects practices to those of
comparable projects to identify best practices, generate ideas for improvement and provide
a basis for measuring performance.
➢ Design of Experiments. A statistical method for identifying which factors may influence
specific variables of a product or process under development or in production.
➢ Statistical Sampling: choosing part of a population of interest for inspection.
➢ Flowcharting: graphical representation of a process showing the relationships among
process steps.
Perform Quality Assurance:
The process of auditing the quality requirements and the results from quality control
measurements to ensure appropriate quality standards and operational definitions are
used. These activities are intended for ensuring that appropriate guidelines, approaches,
requirements and procedures for managing project quality are implemented as planned and
that the quality team works within expected performance levels. The quality assurance
activities are managed under the rules and standards documented in a quality assurance plan
template approved by the project manager. This document makes a foundation for ensuring
that the team strictly adheres to the implementation framework.
Perform Quality Control:
The process of monitoring and recording results of executing the quality activities to assess
performance and recommend necessary changes. These activities are designated to ensuring
that project quality is measured and monitored against the quality baseline and that any
defects, deviations and failures are identified and effective decisions are made for
implementing resolutions. Quality control includes issue tracking & testing activities. It
becomes vital to successful risk management. The key goal of planning quality control
activities is to ensure that the project results comply with the customer’s needs and quality
expectations.
6 Quality Parameters
The Quality Parameters of Survey Project are described below:
Quality of work
Quality work is the service/task one completes successfully within the estimated time, with the
end output satisfying the expectations of everyone involved, including oneself.

Figure 4: ways to produce quality work.

Following are some of the ways to produce quality work.

➢ Hold yourself to the highest standard
Quality work starts from commitment and determination to do the job to the best of your
abilities. When you hold yourself to the highest standard, you will get the motivation to
compete with yourself and raise the bar. This constant quest for perfection can help
you produce quality work consistently. Further, when you make yourself accountable for
the quality of your work, you will gain the ability to work unsupervised without the
 necessity to be guided by someone constantly, which is an essential quality in the post-
pandemic world.

➢ Walk the extra mile

You can ensure the quality of the work you do as an individual. But when your work
contributes only a part to a bigger task or goal that your team/organization has undertaken,
you have to take up additional responsibilities, help your colleagues to do their part better
and inspire the team to produce quality work together. When you take up additional tasks
and do more work than what is assigned to you, you can improve the overall quality of
your team’s output.
➢ Recognize mistakes and take corrective action
Quality of work is ensured when you constantly put your work under rigorous scrutiny.
Analyzing your own work, identifying mistakes and correcting them at the early stage are
important to producing quality work. In contrast, if mistakes remain undetected or swept
under the carpet, then they will come back to you and massively impact your productivity.
➢ Work with your team
Team work ensures quality. You cannot meet the organizational goals and targets single-
handedly; for that, you need your team. Moreover, at times, you may need some expertise
outside your skillset to complete a task; you may need a helping hand to complete a
complicated task; or you may even be packed with too much workload that you may need
to delegate some of your own work to someone else in order to meet the deadline. So, it is
extremely important to develop cohesiveness with your team and motivate them to
constantly meet your quality standards. This will help you do quality work and increase
productivity.
➢ Stay focused and follow your schedule
You can produce quality work when you stay focused on your work, avoiding distractions
and digressions. If you lose focus, then there are more chances of making mistakes. So,
you have to focus on the work in hand and stick to your plan and schedule. When you delay
your work and do not stick to your plan of the day, you may miss your deadlines. This will
reduce the amount of time you have to do your work. When you do not have enough time,
the quality of work takes a hit. So, it is crucial to plan the day, make a schedule, stay
focused and meet all the deadlines, if you strive to do quality work.
Quality of materials
Quality materials are essential for quality results; hand in hand with quality control, quality
materials provide a sturdy and durable construction. As an investment, quality building materials
work in conjunction with other aspects of a building. When building walls, high-quality materials
provide the ideal environment for insulation, electrical components, and plumbing.
 ➢ Durability
Choosing materials of high-quality that are able to be utilized to their utmost performance
ensures their durability and a lesser chance of them having to be replaced. In addition, their
performance will be better than other materials, guaranteeing that they last decades.
Low-quality materials are prone to cracks and breaks but a construction project containing
high-quality materials is sure to have a long life expectancy. Quality materials also ensure
a lower need for maintenance and that your property always looks its best.
➢ Cost Efficiency
Both short and long term, quality materials in construction ensure that you save on costs.
Other materials of lesser quality require more frequent maintenance, which results in an
expensive endeavor. Replacing or repairing broken areas of a wall can be a costly and
difficult process, and choosing quality materials from the beginning can avoid bigger
problems at a later time.
Constructed with quality materials, our property has a higher value in the market should
you ever decide to sell.
➢ Safety
Quality materials have higher endurance and resistance to both time and weather
conditions, which provides you with a higher assurance of safety. Through the proper
construction of walls, the entire design’s integrity is increased.
A professional team of bricklayers is aware of every building regulation and legislation,
ensuring they are adhered to and that they provide you with a safe solution. Reliable and
efficient, at Heritage Builders we have many years of experience in safely constructing a
wall, as well as carrying out commercial and house extensions, guaranteeing you the best
possible experience.
➢ Sustainability
Regarding sustainability, the right materials need to be taken into account in order to
provide a sustainable future. Considerations and worries over the environment have risen
in the past decades, prompting materials to become more environmentally friendly.
Working towards a green future, constructing walls with quality materials ensure proper
insulation. Insulation is a big influencer in the well-functioning of a home and helps
preserve heat. Building the foundations of a property’s walls to account for every aspect is
vital.
Quality of workmanship
They must be flexible, willing to change and can adapt to different roles. They should be supportive
and respectful of their colleagues. Engaged employees improve the morale of others and are more
likely to go above and beyond for both their team and customers.
Employees who take responsibility for their actions, are dependable, arrive on time, do what they
say, and don't let the others in their team down, are highly valued employees. Conflict resolut
7 Benefits of Quality Management
Some of the benefits of Quality Management are:
➢ It helps an organization achieve greater consistency in tasks and activities that are involved
in the production of products and services.
➢ It increases efficiency in processes, reduces wastage, and improves the use of time and
other resources.
➢ It helps improve customer satisfaction.
➢ It enables projects and managers market their business effectively and exploit new markets.
➢ It makes it easier for companies to integrate new employees, and thus helps businesses
manage growth more seamlessly.
➢ It enables a companies to continuously improve its products, processes, and systems.

8 Quality Management Issues and Challenges

Quality management is one of the important means of improving the quality of survey project. It
emphasizes continuous improvement in the quality of the project and organizational objectives.
Some emerging issues and challenges in project quality management are as follows:
➢ Redesign Organizational Structure
In hierarchy level’s organizational structure, it needs to fulfill many stages for completing
any work. It brings delays in performance and problems in quality work. From the
emerging issues of quality management, the redesign of organizational structure is by
cutting many hierarchal levels. (tyonote.com, 2022) Emphasis should be given to flattened
the structure of the organization so that better control and coordination can be maintained
in the performance. It is essential to ensure quality products and services.

➢ Workforce Diversity
Workforce diversity is increasing in organizations today because of changing population
dimensions. There are several dimensions of diversification, however, the important ones
are age, gender, and ethnicity. The overall age of the workforce is increasing. More women
are also get involved in the workplace. The emerging issue of quality management is to use
a diversified workforce to improve quality and productivity.
➢ Innovation and Change
The innovation of new knowledge to fulfill the expectations of stakeholders is increasing
today. Change can occur in the character and role of stakeholders like competitors,
customers, employees, suppliers, and lenders. The emerging issue in quality management
is to fulfill changing needs of stakeholders. (opentextbc.ca, 2022) Emphasis should be
given to improving the quality of products and services to fulfill changing needs of
customers.
➢ Employee Motivation
Employees are the main ingredient of the internal environment of an organization. When
managers and employees embrace the same values and have the same goals, it becomes
convenient to achieve organizational objectives. From the emerging issues of quality,
management has to encourage and stimulate employees for quality service. The motivation
of employees having different abilities, attitudes, beliefs, cultures, perceptions is essential
for management to meet objectives.
➢ Knowledge Management
In this competitive environment, knowledge has become power. Society expects new ideas,
new things, and creativity in the product or service of an organization. To fulfill such social
expectations, the manager has to accumulate knowledge and ideas from all members
involved in the organization. A model manager must be flexible to manage knowledge and
also consider the situational factor.
➢ Technological Development
Today, technology becomes one of the important issues in quality management. It tends to
increase the aspirations and expectations of investors, competitors, employees, and other
stakeholders of the organization. It develops the concept of a competitive environment
among the manufacturers and suppliers. The most important issue today for managers is to
identify and predict the ever-developing new technology. It is the responsibility of the
managers to keep pace with the changes in technology and grab the opportunity to make
the project a success.
➢ Benchmarking
One of the important issues and challenges in quality management is benchmarking.
Benchmarking is the process of getting knowledge from the same type of organization
having a leader in performance. It facilitates the realization of the areas of defects and the
scope of improvement. There may be many factors that contributed to better performance
like quality and cost, time of delivery, service, etc. The emerging issue of quality
management is to identify the factor to be taken for benchmarking. This is a must for
improving the quality of service.
➢ Assessment of Total Quality Management (TQM)
The emerging issue of present management is that the top-level must assure total quality
management. For this purpose, top-level managers should focus on employee
empowerment, research, and development, new technology in the market, development of
employees’ efficiency, etc.
9 CONCLUSION
Project quality management is not a stand-alone or distinct procedure that evaluates the level of
output quality at the end of an activity. Instead, it is an ongoing process that begins and ends with
the project. Every stage of the project management process, from the beginning through the
project's closure phase, includes it. The goal of quality management is to increase stakeholder
satisfaction through ongoing process improvements that involve eliminating pointless steps.
Making decisions and fixing problems fall into the same group. A best practice for benchmarking
must demonstrate that it can produce high-quality project management outcomes quickly and
effectively. Quality management in projects is one of the most important areas of ensuring the
effective achievement of project objectives.
Quality management in projects is one of the most important areas of ensuring the effective
achievement of project objectives. Quality management in projects is vital to ensure consistency
in its processes, as well as in its products and services. In business too, customer satisfaction is
key. As a customer’s main concern is the quality of the products or services they purchase, the
supplier’s main goal should always be to ensure that what they produce is of consistent and fine
quality. In addition, the way in which the project manager copes with the quality largely depends
on the knowledge, skills and competences possessed by him/her and the whole team. Quality
management arrangements can significantly enhance project resiliency by avoiding the occurrence
of project crises or limiting their consequences. Surveying is a domain with high quality potential.
Hence, proper management of quality is necessary to achieve necessary milestones.

10 RECOMMENDATION
Project management consultant must have the quality planning which involves identifying the
quality standards that are relevant to the project and determining how to satisfy them. This action
must be performed regularly. For example, the changes in the product of the project required to
meet identified quality standards may require a detailed risk analysis of an identified problem.
Besides that, project management consultant must execute the quality assurance that was planned
and all the systematic implemented under the quality system to guarantee the project will satisfy
the relevant quality standards. The quality assurance must be performed throughout the project.
Lastly, under project quality management the consultant must supervise the quality control of the
project. Quality control involves monitoring specific project results to determine if they comply
with relevant quality standards, and identifying ways to eliminate causes of unsatisfactory results.
It is also must be performed throughout the project. Project results consist of both product results
such as deliverables, and project management results, such as cost and schedule performance.
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