Units
Managing Project Quality
Unit code: BEB111
Contact hours: 3 per week
Credit points: 12
Information about fees and unit costs
This unit is one of four within the BEE minor in Project Collaboration and is designed to provide you with appropriate knowledge and skills needed for your involvement in delivering projects in professional organisations in the public and private sectors, by ensuring that the achieved project quality outcomes accord with client requirements and satisfy customer expectations.
Availability
| Semester | Available |
|---|---|
| 2013 Semester 1 | Yes |
Sample subject outline - Semester 1 2013
Note: Subject outlines often change before the semester begins. Below is a sample outline.
Rationale
Project Quality Management ensures there is a plan for managing, assuring, and controlling the project's quality. Quality is integral to all aspects of successful project delivery and is important in ensuring that the end quality of all project deliverables will be fit for purpose and satisfy both internal and external customers. This unit provides students with the necessary knowledge and skills to develop a project quality management plan, perform quality improvement activities, and expand outcomes into process improvements and organisational change.
Aims
The aim of this unit is to help you examine and understand the development and implementation of strategies required to manage quality within projects. Using a problem-solving approach, it will teach you how to determine quality requirements, develop a quality plan, implement quality assurance processes and use systematic review and evaluation procedures to make quality improvements in current and future projects.
Objectives
1. Higher-order analysis and critical thinking pertinent to a particular discipline area.
2. Defining and solving problems in a discipline area.
3. High level communication and negotiation skills in a range of contexts.
Content
This unit covers the following:
History of Quality, What is Quality, Strategic Policy and Management Commitment, The Principles of Quality Planning, Assurance and Control, Quality System Management, Customer and Stakeholders, Supply chain and Contract Management, Interrelationship of processes, Quality tools - Reducing variation and improving processes. Auditing and Monitoring Effectiveness, Risk and Quality, Integration of Systems.
Approaches to Teaching and Learning
Teaching and learning will take a "combining theory with practice" approach, involving normally 3 hours contact per week. The unit objectives will be pursued via the means of an amalgamation of lectures, interactive class discussions, case studies, readings and submission. You will be expected to offer a high level of participation and self-determination in regard to learning outcomes. Lectures will take the form of facilitation rather that a one-way delivery of information. Project Managers are required to work both individually and as prime team members. In line with contemporary quality management education, team-based assessment will be a major feature of this unit. Teams for the assignments should consist of no more than three to four members and should be nominated in Week 5.
Assessment
There will be three assessments in this unit comprising a short individual case study, a group written report and a closed-book examination.Continuous formative feedback will be offered by teaching staff during the lectures and relative to the first two assessments and summative feedback by means of returned annotated CRAs will be conducted throughout the semester based on the marks achieved in these assessments so that you are aware of your progress in the unit and are well prepared for the final examination.
Assessment name:
Short Case Study Exercise
Description:
Formative and Summative assessment.
This assessment will involve the review and critique of a short quality plan of an imaginary company against the ISO 9001:2008 standard, identification of major stakeholders and their requirements and suggestion for improvements of the company's operating and management procedures for better customer outcomes.
Relates to objectives:
1. Higher-order analysis and critical thinking pertinent to a particular discipline area.
Weight:
20%
Internal or external:
Internal
Group or individual:
Individual
Due date:
Week 5
Assessment name:
Written Professional Report
Description:
Formative and Summative assessment.
This assessment will involve the preparation of an audit plan and checklist related to a specific section of ISO9001:2008 for the imaginary company introduced in Assessment 1 of the unit. An audit report template will also be required to be produced as well as a brief Group Evaluation Report.
Relates to objectives:
2. Defining and solving problems in a discipline area.
3. High level communication and negotiation skills in a range of contexts.
Weight:
30%
Internal or external:
Internal
Group or individual:
Group
Due date:
Week 10
Assessment name:
Examination (Theory)
Description:
Summative assessment.
This assessment will be in the form of a closed-book examination at the end of semester to test the understanding of the theoretical concepts related to quality management in projects and the ability to apply these concepts in a real-world context.
Relates to objectives:
1. Higher-order analysis and critical thinking pertinent to a particular discipline area.
2. Defining and solving problems in a discipline area.
Weight:
50%
Internal or external:
Internal
Group or individual:
Individual
Due date:
End of Semester
Academic Honesty
QUT is committed to maintaining high academic standards to protect the value of its qualifications. To assist you in assuring the academic integrity of your assessment you are encouraged to make use of the support materials and services available to help you consider and check your assessment items. Important information about the university's approach to academic integrity of assessment is on your unit Blackboard site.
A breach of academic integrity is regarded as Student Misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties.
Resource materials
Required text (should be purchased):
Rose, K.H., 2995, Project Quality Management: Why, What and How, J. Ross Publishing, Inc., FL
Recommended reading (not required to be purchased):
Oakland, J. S., 2003, Total Quality Management: text with cases, 3rd edn., Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.
PMI 2004, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, 3rd edn., Project management Institute, Newtown Square, PA.
Other Resources
Relevant readings and other resources related to lectures/tutorials will be uploaded onto the unit Blackboard website either under the Course Materials Database (CMD) or under Learning Resources prior to the lectures being conducted.
Some Australian Standards are required for this unit. Details will be included in relevant Learning Resources on the unit website. You can download these Standards free of charge through a link in the QUT Library website (this is possible where Standards are being used for educational purposes). You are also required to use the following:
The BEB111 website on QUT's Blackboard:
QUT Library Databases:
QUT cite/write: You can access QUT cite/write online at www.citewrite.qut.edu.au
Assignment Minder (AM):
You will submit all assessment through AM and information on this service is available online at:
Other items selected by the unit coordinator will be made available online to you, or will be distributed at specific lectures, for your use throughout the semester.
Risk assessment statement
You will undertake lectures, tutorials in the traditional classrooms and lecture theatres at QUT Gardens Point Campus. As such, there are no extraordinary workplace health and safety issues or risks associated with any components of the unit.
Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of semester.
Last modified: 19-Oct-2012
