implement quality management system research paper

QUALITY MANAGEMENT COURSE NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY, CPS

Applied Research Paper Quality Management System for improving

quality of education

Reekita Shah Alias Gala

4/2/2016

INTEGRATED QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM 2

Abstract

This thesis aims to improve the quality of education by improving the overall performance of

organizations business operations and project management environment. For recommending

corrective actions, an action research was performed by participating in an improvement project

of a service sector Institute conducting media courses. In order to make improvements we

perform surveys to collect data and defined organization and project cultural environment. We

have used a problem solving approach in this paper to provide alternative solutions and best

course of action to implement in the institute. Root cause analysis was use to identify the real

problem for poor quality of education. Based on the problem we distinguished four areas for

objective criteria. The objective criteria, has been very useful for developing alternative

solutions. Based on the evaluation in the literature review of the alternative solutions, we

developed a solution for recommending the best action plan and defined how to implement the

plan. Some of the advantages of ISO and QMS are identify for validating the hypothesis.

Finally, it is conclude that quality management system along with other standard and

methodologies ensures improvement in the organizational business operations and thereby,

improves the quality of education.


Acknowledgement

We would like to express our gratitude towards our Dean at the xyz institution of media courses

for all his help for online survey. We would also like to thank the professor Joseph Griffin who

has guided through this research. We also want to thank our participants of the survey for

providing a feedback on short notice. Finally, we would like to thank all the employees and

faculties for supporting our work and for being available for participating in interviews and

survey.


Table of Contents

Executive Summary........................................................................................................................5

Introduction.....................................................................................................................................6

Challenges for Establishing Globally.............................................................................................7

Environment....................................................................................................................................8

Root Cause Analysis.......................................................................................................................8

The Results of Root Cause Analysis...............................................................................................9

Objectives.......................................................................................................................................9

Alternative Solutions....................................................................................................................10

Theoretical Aspect Introduction...................................................................................................13

Focus of the Research...................................................................................................................13

Literature Review..........................................................................................................................14

Solution development...................................................................................................................18

A Suggested Proposal to Implement Quality Management System ISO 9001.............................18

Phases of the Application of ISO 9001 Quality Management System.........................................19

Elements for Implementing Quality Management System...........................................................20

Advantages of Implementing Quality Management System........................................................21

Basic Outline of ISO 9001 Requirements.....................................................................................22

Advantages of ISO 9001 Series....................................................................................................23

Methodologies (Six Sigma and Theory of Constraints)...............................................................24

Quality Assurance.........................................................................................................................25

Conclusion....................................................................................................................................26

References.....................................................................................................................................27

Appendix A- Additional Research on Background of Indian Education System.........................29

Appendix B- Organizational Culture and Project Environment...................................................30

Appendix C- Quality in Institute for Educational Services-(Symptoms for the Real Problem)...31

Appendix D- ISO 9001 in a Nutshell......................................................................................32-33


Integrated Quality Management System for Improving Educational Quality

Executive Summary

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to recommend solutions for improving the quality of

the business operations, which has an overall negative impact on the quality of education.

Objective: The objective of this research is in relation to Process, Performance, Time and Cost.

Process: The project management and business process must comply with an international

standard like ISO, for smooth business operations; the process must comply with ether

methodologies like the Six Sigma methodology or the Theory of Constraints, or both combined

for continuous improvement process.

Performance: The Performance must be evaluating of each staff member, student and faculty

with the help of data collection process by surveys and questionnaires; the performance of staff

members, students and faculties must comply with the quality requirements defined by the

project management plan for improving the quality of the education and business operations.

Time/ Duration: The time and duration of each staff member, students and faculties should be

recorded in a excel software for quality of information; the schedule of the resources should be

verified in the excel software before delegating work for managing projects within the

organization.

Cost/ Budget: The budget of the project should include contingency as well as management

funds; the 10% of the management funds should be reserved from the net profit of the

organization for any unknown- unknown risks.

Problem: The results indicated that the root cause of the symptoms created by the problem was

the business operations as it lacked of standardized process, which was affecting the

performance of the team members on the project and staff members working in the

organization. Due to this reason, the project work was never complete on time and increased the

cost of the project. All these factors were ultimately responsible for poor quality of education.

Impact: The problem has a negative and poor impact on project management activities

performed within the business operations to deliver quality deliverables for improved quality

education.

Recommended Solutions: Implement quality management system and certify by ISO 9001:

2000. Make use of Six Sigma and theory of constraints as tools while implementing the process.

Hypothesis: "there is a need for integrated quality management system with international

standards organizations certification and methodologies to improve the quality of business

operations for improving the overall impact on quality of education ".

Conclusion: Implementing the recommended solutions will improve the business process and

thereby improve the quality of education.


Introduction

ASQ defines quality as "a subjective term for which each person has his or her own definition.

In technical usage, quality can have two meanings: 1) the characteristics of a product or services

that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs and 2) a product or service free of

deficiencies." Quality is one of the major factors for the success or failure of a project in an

organization. Today many private as well as public organizations realize the secret benefits of

quality improvements. Educational Organizations are indulging in quality improvement process

for various important reasons. Some of them want to improve quality of education to fulfill

professional responsibility, to demonstrate accountability and moral values and to compete in

the education market. These four dimensions are the unavoidable when we intend to improve the

quality of education, as institutes operate within these four dimensions. The two approaches

used for quality improvements are quality assurance and quality enhancement.

A project manager is always in a complex situation to manage quality of education while

managing projects, as many people consider education as production of quality students.

However, we fail to understand that quality assurance of production needs to meet two criteria

like the supply needs to be assured for quality on the basis on predefined standards and

processes and secondly, the source of supply needs to be specified and controlled. In the case of

students, it is impossible to produce students as per a specified standard due to which quality of

a student cannot be measure. Therefore, for this research; various courses conducted in the

institute and any other initiatives taken for the business within the institute that has a definite

start and end date, is considered as a project. The Education is been considered as a service

provider for training, guiding, counseling, assessing the students and parents and the customers

or students or client (means the same) are the relevant stakeholders along with other


stakeholders. For the purpose of defining quality, collecting data for quality assurance and

controlling quality on the projects the customers are further divide into five categories internal,

primary internal, external, secondary external and territorial external. It is very important for a

project manager to understand the work environment for managing project and project

stakeholders for delivering the deliverables as per their quality requirements. Considering the

quality of education as a service one can describe it as follows:

It has no material character

There is a close association between a provided service and a person who provides it

The lecturer has proprietary rights to the realized service (J. Lancucki, 1997)

Challenges for Establishing Globally

Many education providers are leveraging the opportunity of access to internet for expanding

their businesses in international markets by offering online courses and various services to

students working or taking courses from other countries. However, they are facing challenges to

match the quality standards accepted globally for providing online as well as on campus

education.

On the other hand, customers or students are well educated and informed about quality

products and services, which raise their concerns regarding the reliability, consistency,

performance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics, conformance and perceived quality of the

products or services provided virtually as well as in classrooms by the education sector. Due to

these factors, there are many projects initiated for continuous improvements within the

organization.


Environment

(Refer to Appendix B for Organizational Culture and Project Environment)

Understanding where and how the project fits in the organizational environment is a very

necessary step for a project manager for some of the reasons mention below:

To recommend corrective actions for improving the quality of the overall performance

in the organization which will have a positive impact on the quality of project activities

and their deliverables

To align the project with the organizational environment and needs

To understand the project stakeholders and their requirements for delivering quality

services or products

To manage project work effectively within the organizational environment

To manage project constraints as per the shortcomings of the organization

To understand the role of the stakeholder in managing quality on a project

To delegate roles and responsibilities on the projects for managing quality requirements,

activities and deliverables

Root Cause Analysis of the Symptoms Created by the Problems and Objectives

(Refer Appendix C for Symptoms)

Based on the Problem Solving approach adapted by Parnes et al. (1977) the symptoms were

recognized, data was collected for analysis to provide insight into the nature of the the

problem that is creating the symptoms. We had performed small sample surveys with few

questionnaires in the form of checklists to save time. The data was collect from 50 students

from all courses, 10 Staff members and 15 faculty members of different courses conducted by

the institute. The survey was on the basis, of the deviation between actual and desired


performance and the factors that are affecting the identified problem. Some of the symptoms of

the problems and Impact are mention in Appendix B of this document. Furthermore, the data

was use for cause-and- effect analysis to understand the root cause of the problem. Based on the

analysis, objectives were identifying, in order to evaluate solutions for recommending

corrective actions for improving the quality of the education.

The Results of Root Cause Analysis

The results indicated that the root cause of the symptoms created by the problem was the

business operations as it lacked of standardized process, which was affecting the performance

of the team members on the project and of the staff members working in the organization. Due

to this reason, the project work was never complete on time and increased the cost of the

project. All these factors were ultimately responsible for poor quality of education.

Objectives

Process: The project management and business process must comply with an international

standard like ISO, for smooth business operations.

The process must comply with ether methodologies like the Six Sigma methodology or the

Theory of Constraints, or both combined for continuous improvement process.

Performance: The Performance must be evaluating of each staff member, student and faculty

with the help of data collection process by surveys and questionnaires.


The performance of staff members, students and faculties must comply with the quality

requirements defined by the project management plan for improving the quality of the

education and business operations.

Time/ Duration: The time and duration of each staff member, students and faculties should be

recorded in a excel software for quality of information.

The schedule of the resources should be verified in the excel software before delegating work

for managing projects within the organization.

Cost/ Budget: The budget of the project should include contingency as well as management

funds.

The 10% of the management funds should be reserved from the net profit of the organization

for any unknown- unknown risks.

Alternative Solutions

Sower (2011), Based on the objectives, some of the alternative solutions were suggest for

business operations to improve its impact on the quality of education. The alternative solutions

suggested are to implement Quality Management System, as it will solve the problem of

business operations. This system provides a framework through which, the quality control

program can be identified, designed, developed, implemented and enhanced to improve the

overall performance of the organization. Sower (2011), An ISO certificate can be consider for

providing external validation of the conformance of the organization's quality system to the

standard. Six Sigma Methodology and the Theory of Constraints can be use as a tool for

improving the capability of the business processes and project management processes.


Integrated Quality Management System

In order to improve quality of education that meets international standards for establishing in

global market and to satisfy the customer expectations and concerns, the education providers

should integrate quality management system into their business operations and project

management work by including fundamental activities related to planning, performance,

measurement and improvement. This system will provide with a framework through which

quality control program can be identify, designed, developed, implemented and enhanced for

improving overall performance of the organization, training procedures and global project

management processes. This system will ensure international standards in education, business

operations and project management resulting in customer satisfaction, quality education for the

students and quality products and services to establish in global market.

ISO

Implementation of the ISO 9001 is defined as a set of quality standards that are determined as

being necessary for manufacturers and service organizations to be effective competitors

(Raisinghani et al. 2005). ISO 9001 is dedicated to quality management system for quality

improvements that can be beneficial for the management to measure performance and to

improve quality of education. It is use for providing external validation of the conformance of

the organization's quality system to the standard. It adopts PDCA methodology and emphasis on

the eight principals: customer focus, leadership, employee involvement, process approach to

activities and resources, system approach to management, continuous improvement, and

strategic supplier and customer partnerships (ISO 9001:2000).


Six Sigma Methodologies

Six Sigma Methodology is use to discover known and unknown risks and problems. It involves

the process of research and data collection for taking appropriate actions to reduce the number

of errors and reworks to reduce cost and time to create opportunities. This process translates

knowledge and awareness into opportunities for expanding business. Six Sigma is use by project

leaders as a methodology to achieve quality improvement by reducing the defects in products,

services and processes (Mitra, A., 2004).

Theory of Constraints

Theory of Constraints (TOC) is a management philosophy. It primarily focuses on the weakest

rings in the chain to improve the performance of the systems. This theory is applicable to any

type of organization weather in service or production. Its main motive is for the organization to

understand its own structure in terms of processes to sustain in a global market. It is helpful for

managers for solving problems, as TOC is a problem structuring and solving methodology.

Other Approaches

There are also other quality systems, such as Zero Defects, Total Quality Management, and a

national quality award named Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award or mbnqa (Sower,

2011). These awards are only for the organizations producing highest level of quality products

or services. All the various systems have one common focused motive of customer satisfaction;

the two criteria's for customer satisfaction are perceiving quality of the customer and quality

requirements.


Theoretical Aspect Introduction

The theoretical aspect of the research is focus in literature review, which will validate the

hypothesis of, "there is a need for integrated quality management system with international

standards organizations certification and methodologies to improve the quality of business

operations for improving the overall impact on quality of education ".

For the purpose of research, to improve quality of the business operations which has a overall

negative impact on the quality of education we will be focusing on quality management systems,

ISO, six sigma methodology and theory of constraints to achieve the objectives.

Objectives: Process, Performance, Time and Cost (Refer to Root Cause Analysis)

Focus of the Research

While researching the impacts of the suggested solutions, the focus will be on number of

questions as follows:

What are the various procedures for improving the quality of education? How will it be

implementing in projects within the organization work? How it will improve the

organizations operational work? How will it achieve customer satisfaction for

establishing in global market? Will it improve sales, and increase the profits? What will

be the cost and duration for implementing? What are the required documentations for

receiving the certification? Is there a perception of quality in students mind?

Rejection or Approval of Hypothesis

The results of the research will determine to accept or reject the hypothesis.


Literature Review

In past decades there have been many debates regarding the quality of education. Many believed

it is not possible to measure quality in education. On the other hand, some believed quality is a

necessity not an option in education. Most studies are focus on overall impacts of quality on

education, some are focus on total quality management for customer satisfaction and some are

on basis of ISO series.

ISO 9001 Series

ISO is a series of international guidelines and standards. They are design for the purpose of

evaluation and for certifying organizations that have implement quality system. The focus of

this International Standard is to improve the processes of an organization in order to enhance

performance.

Alalfy, H. R & E., A. S. R. (2015). Standards in the ISO-9000 family include:

ISO-9001:2008 - Sets out the requirements of a quality management system.

ISO-9000:2005 - Covers the basic concepts and language.

ISO-9004:2009 - Focuses on how to make a quality management system more efficient

and effective

ISO-9011:2011 - Sets out guidance on internal and external audits of quality

management systems.


Implement in Projects within the Organization Work: Laila El Abbadi, Aboubakr

Bouayad, and Mohamed Lamrini, In 2000, ISO revised and combined ISO standards 9001,

9002, and 9003 into one standard, ISO 9001. The resulting standard provided a set of generic

requirements for a QMS applicable to any type of organization or projects, regardless of activity,

size, or if it is public or private.

Improve the Organizations Operational Work: For ISO 9001:2000 aggregation

certificate an independent auditor has to certify the organization. The criteria for audit process

are to meet the following requirements of the standard: quality management system,

management commitment to quality, records keeping, resource management, production, and

measurement, analysis and improvement.

Various Procedures for Improving the Quality of Education and Required

Documents: Andres Sousa-Poza, Mert Altinkilinc and Cory Searcy (2009), According to the

requirements of ISO 9001, an organization must develop only six documented procedures: (a)

control of documents (b) control of quality records (c) internal audits (d) control of non-

conformities (e) corrective action (f) preventative action. Along with the documented

procedures, a quality manual and several records are also required for the application process.

The development of other procedures, work instructions, and other documents are largely at the

discretion of the organization from the very beginning of the process. (Appendix- D).

Achieving Customer Satisfaction for Establishing in Global Market: Franka Piskar,

Survey results in Slovenian companies shows some positive effect of the quality standard ISO

9001 on more successful satisfaction of customers' needs and demands.


Improve Sales, and Increase the Profits: J. Michalska et. al. (2008), ISO 9001

standard has the general and universal characteristics. It does not specifically relate to any

company, sector, brand, product or services. This application of this certification is by the

service industries, non- profit organizations, production sector and by any organization intended

to make profits. ISO 9001 standard is the processes oriented for the basis of the quality

management system. The institutes, which implement the quality management system according

to ISO 9001 standard, stay in eyes of their customers as credible, reliable and well organized.

Thereby increase in reputation and institute rankings for profitability.

Perception of Quality: Sik Sumaedi 1 , I Gede Mahatma Yuda Bakti( 2011), A test

was performed to validate the hypothesis to find whether there is any significant difference in

the mean perception scores of students between the ISO 9001 certified and non ISO 9001

institute. The results of the tests indicated that, there is a significant difference in the student's

perception of quality between the ISO 9001 certified and non ISO 9001 institutes.

Cost and Time for Implementation of Certificate: ISO 9001 has two kinds of costs:

Cost of certificate and cost of getting it ready. For small business with fewer risks, the cost

estimate is $3500-$4500. In addition, the duration for implementation is estimate to be 6 to 8

months for small organizations.

Six Sigma Methodology: Pavel Adina-Petrua, Sârbu Roxana,(2014), The revised ISO

9000:2005 and ISO 9001:2008 relies on eight principles: customer focus, leadership,

involvement of people, process approach, system approach to management, continuous

improvement, factual approach to decision making, mutually beneficial supplier relationships.

The following are some of the common processes in the educational institutions that can be


improve by applying the Six Sigma methodologies: academic achievement, the process of

admission, teaching and academic programs, study program and process, institutional

effectiveness, student learning performance, evaluation of the instructional delivery, the

accreditation process. The complex character of Six Sigma is defined by the existence of a

customer orientation, a management infrastructure (the different levels of belts), a process based

perspective, a system approach and quality improvement. This proves its compatibility with ISO

9000, a quality management system and integrating Six Sigma in the quality culture of any

higher education institution could be a success.

However, ISO 9000 cannot guarantee consistency of standards between institutions, which is an

important factor for consideration while applying for improving quality of education.

Theory of Constraints: The Five-Step Continuous Improvement Process is based on finding

the constraints in the system (Goldratt, 1984, p. 297). 1. Identify the system's bottlenecks. 2.

Decide how to exploit (get the most from) the bottlenecks. 3. Subordinate everything else to the

above decision (make the bottleneck the drummer). 4. Elevate the systems bottlenecks (find a

way around the bottlenecks). 5. If, in a previous step, a bottleneck has been broken go back to

step 1. Zeynep Tuğçe Şimşita , Noyan Sebla Günayb , Özalp Vayvayc (2014) , They conclude

the newer applications of TOC involve fairly use of the Thinking Processes, especially in

service sector it is commonly used for TOC implementations. It is observed that, critical chain

project management applications is being more noticed recently and it is one of the growing

area.


Solution Development

Based on the alternative solutions generated by brainstorming technique, these solutions were

evaluated for recommending the best course of action taking into consideration of the objective

criteria. As per the analysis, the best course of action is to implement an integrated quality

management system with ISO 9001:2000 for overall performance improvements of the

organization and projects management and thereby, it will improve the quality of education. In

addition, the use of six sigma methodology can be beneficial as a tool while managing projects

for saving cost and improving processes. The theory of constraints should be use for managing

constraints on the project to align with the organizational environment and requirements. This

plan ensures quality standards that meets the requirements to be establish in global market as it

improves the overall quality of education and business operations.

Plan Implementation

A Suggested Proposal to Implement Quality Management System ISO 9001

The suggested proposal is intended to provide guidance and assistance to the management of the

XYZ media Institute in India, Mumbai for the application of the quality management system

ISO-9001

The Fundamentals of the Suggested Proposal

The Management and Leaders realize the value of the application ISO 9001 and

understand its importance to the institute.

Make a integrated quality and project management plan with compliance to the institute's

environment for the application of the certificate and QMS


All the staff members are hired on the basis of their qualification and trained as per the

institutes work environment

Review financial documents and resources for the application of the certificate.

Implement team building activities and work as a team as per the highest level of skills

and competences for the application of the certification.

Include staff members for decision- making process as per the requirement of the

application of certification.

Perform research in Indian education market for who has implemented ISO and how are

they benefiting from it.

The certificate of such a system confirms that, the given Institute is organize and

managed as per international standards

Phases of the Application of ISO 9001 Quality Management System

Figure 1: Hany R. Alalfy et al. (2015)

A Suggested Proposal to implementation Quality Management System ISO-9001


Elements for Implementing Quality Management System

QMS is applicable to project management process and business operations. While

implementing a project QMS will be part of quality management planning for delivering quality

services or products. This process will be use for overall project management activities to

control quality. To implement QMS in the institute and to projects we need to include

fundamental activities in the four processes. The primary evidence that a quality management

system has been design is its quality manual including, the evidence of a process has been

define, the procedures are approved and the procedures are under control by ISO 9001.

Influenced by Sower(2011).

Planning Performance Measurement Improvement

This activities needs

to focus on making a

plan including roles,

responsibility,

accountability and

ownership of the

activities. It should

also include

information on

project and

organizations

stakeholders, their

expectations and

quality requirements.

All the activities

should be executing

according to the plan.

Performance should

be evaluating and the

repots should be

stored in a

computerized

software for backup

and Google Doc for

sharing with the

executives. The

records should be

measuring against

actual versus planned

performance.

Customer feedback is

an essential

component for

measuring process.

The results of the

activities should be

comparing to the

defined standards of

the organization. The

tools that should be

use for measuring are

audit, inspection,

evaluation and

review.

The process should

be evaluating

continuously to

identify problems and

enhance opportunities

for improvements in

the organization.


Advantages of Implementing Quality Management System

Some of the advantages of the implementing quality management system are as follows:

It assures the system management for the resources and knowledge

It starts constant improvement process in the institute from the time it is implemented

It assures the efficient flow of information related to each task and their realization

It will improve the business operations and management

It is quick and effective for problem solving

It helps us to avoid mistakes rather than repeating them

The change of approach assures the quality of education

It improves the process of planning and budgeting

It increases the productivity and effectiveness of the organization

It involves staff members by motivating.

It increases the growth of responsibility and commitment of the staff member.


Basic Outline of ISO 9001 Requirements

(Refer to Appendix D for detailed information)

Influenced by Sower(2011)

1 Quality Management System

1.1 General Requirements

1.2 Documentation Requirement

2 Management Responsibilities

2.1 Management Commitment

2.2 Customer focus

2.3 Quality Policy

2.4 Planning

2.5 Responsibility, authority and communications

2.6 Management review

3 Resource Management

3.1 Provision of resources

3.2 Human Resources

3.3 Infrastructure

3.4 Work environment

4 Product or Service Realization

4.1 Planning of service/product realization

4.2 Customer-related process

4.3 Design and development

4.4 Purchasing

4.5 Production and service provision


4.6 Control of monitoring and measuring devices

5 Measuring, Analysis and Improvement

5.1 General

5.2 Monitoring and measurement

5.3 Control of nonconforming product/service

5.4 Analysis of data

5.5 Improvement

Advantages of ISO 9001 Series

Some of the benefits of developing an ISO 9001 quality system for an Institute include

(Hesham, 2003):-

Provides confidence to the students, industry, government and society, as well as the

Institute and faculty management that the requirements for quality are continuously met

Customer requirements are taken into consideration for quality

Adequate documentation of program, design, activities and output

Teaching, learning and research process control

Effective marketing tools

It is beneficial for accreditation in global markets


Methodologies

Six Sigma methodology will be use as a tool for statistical analysis to investigate and resolve

problems and optimize processes to improve quality and cost. It will be applicable within

quality management systems to improve the capability of the business process and to manage

projects when necessary.

Theory of Constraints This theory will be use to manage constraints on the projects to align

with the organizational environment. As Time and Resources are the major constraint for

managing projects in the institute; Due to multiple projects are initiated at one time with close

deadlines the resources are divided as per the requirements of the project and as project

management work is, perform within the organizational work the resources are over allocated.


Quality Assurance

K. Lisiecka (2000), to implement this suggested solution there are few activities which needs to

be follow to assure quality of the organization as well as education. The activities are as follows:

External Activities: Obtain a Certification

from ISO 9001: 2000

Validation

Accreditation

Internal Activities: For Certification

Evaluation based on accounts,

statements and reviews

Questionnaires of the students

Evaluation of the employees

Monitoring of the quality of the

process

What we Obtain

Attestation of the assurance of the

effectiveness of didactic services

Compatibility of the services

Confirmation of the information for

environmental raking

Assurance of quality education

What we Obtain

Improvement, statutory and legal

requirements fulfillment

Possibility to ask for certification

Information for marketing the quality

of education

Improvement of the didactic process


Conclusion

The research indicates that the project manager should be aware of the organizations cultural

environment in order to manage projects that align with the organization. It is necessary for an

organization to maintain standards, policies, rules and regulations for smooth operations of the

business and for quality assurance purposes. If the quality of the organization performance is

poor then it will have a poor impact on the quality of its services, products and project

management activities. Education sector must consider the application of quality management

system for improving overall performance of the organization. Application of this system

provides a framework for quality control process, which is an important aspect for improving

quality of the organization and thereby improving the quality of education. ISO 9001 series can

be consider to be use in education sector for quality assurance purpose and to expand the

business in international market as it confirms that proper quality management system is in

place for project management and business operations. The different methodologies like six

sigma and theory of constraints are good tools to use while implementing the processes. It can

help to save and control cost, time, and resources as well as improve overall performance on the

project and the organization.

Based on the research, the hypothesis is accepted as the alternative solutions indicated that,

the application of the recommended alternate solutions would ensure improved quality of the

overall organizational performance, project management activities and deliverables, products

and services, thereby improve the quality of the education.


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Appendix A- Additional Research on Background of Indian Education System

Major Concerns of Students Regarding the Education System in India

In India, education systems are facing many issues in their Universities, Institutes, Academies,

Schools and Colleges. The students keep complaining about poor infrastructure, management,

quality of training material, quality of faculties, safety and security. Many education providers

lack in providing basic facilities like drinking water, a fully functional common washroom, or

have separate washrooms for girls or boys. Moreover, Hygiene is a major concern on the

campuses due to large amount of population and lack of standard rules and regulations. The

faculties do have a standard curriculum for courses due to which they follow their own

curriculum. In today's competitive market, India has only four universities that are highly ranked

out of 400 universities in global market. Moreover, many students fail to understand how to

imply the information gained in the classroom into practical life as the education is focus more

on giving information rather than sharing and making the students understand the practicality of

the information for better knowledge. In addition, the universities find it difficult to find or hire

a faculty who is already working in the industry; as there is a vast gap of practical knowledge

and the quality of information delivered to the students. The education system focuses more on

theoretical knowledge rather than practical knowledge. Due to all the various reasons mention

above many organizations, pay large amount of money for training their staff even after hiring

highly educated candidate. This indicates that improving Quality Management in education

should be a priority (Sahney et al. 2008).


Appendix B-Organizational Culture and Project Environment

Organizational Background and Culture

This is a balanced matrix organization providing educational service to students of all age

groups under service industry in Mumbai, India. It is a private institute training various

vocational courses related to media through virtual as well as on-ground class. There are 30* to

40* staff members and 200* students on ground and 100* students online registered every

month for various courses. The classes are schedule at various timings and batches to manage

the number of students. The staff members and higher management are supportive and

approachable.

Project Management in Cooperate Environment

The project group or stakeholders that needs to be managed during a project consists of

consultants, specialists, contractors, marketing team members, staff of advisors, owner and the

project team members. There are multiple projects initiated every year to start new courses

virtually or on-campus, marketing, changes to interior designs, opening new branches and

various other projects related to education and business, improvement projects related to

education for instances designing a curriculum, brochure, training materials, ID cards.

The functional manager and the project manager are equally responsible for project

delivery and the owner takes all major decisions. The project tasks are being assigning to

available member in the team. There are no particular roles and responsibilities of project team

members. The sponsor approves the project funds. The project manager and functional manager

plan on how to make use of available funds for project management.


Appendix C- Quality in Institute for Educational Services-(Symptoms for the Real

Problem)

The major concerns related to the quality in educational institute and for recommending

corrective actions are mention below:

Lack of effective organization process of the education

Lack of effective project management planning and implementing

There are number of educational courses offered in the institute

Stakeholders needs are not taken into consideration

The faculties competences are not assured before hiring

Quality of the lectures, notes, personnel are not verified and audit

The classroom infrastructure is not suitable for certain courses

Resources are not available for completing educational projects and for conducting lectures.

Projects are not complete on time and ultimately the cost of the project is increased.

There are no standard rules, policies and processes.

There is no information system to collect information and records.

Feedback is not collect regularly from the faculty and the students to evaluate performance.

Poor quality management

Impact: All these problems have a negative and poor impact on quality of business

operations, which ultimately affects the project management activities performed to deliver

quality deliverables for better education of the students.


APPENDIX-D

ISO 9001 IN NUTSHELL

"A simple overview of the ISO 9001 Standard

4.0 Overall Requirements for the System

4.1 Set up your quality management system: develop, use and improve it.

4.2 Document your system to say how it should work

4.2.1 Write documents including a quality policy, objectives, manual, procedures and records;

decide what procedures you need for your system; must include those listed below

4.2.2 Have a quality manual

4.2.3 Control your documents to make sure they are accurate and suitable, including a procedure

4.2.4 Manage your records (which show your system works as you say it does) suitably,

including a procedure.

5.0 Requirements for Management

5.1 Demonstrate your commitment to the quality management system by

-communicating to personnel how important quality is

- setting a quality policy and objectives for your system.

- providing adequate resources (people, plant, equipment, IT etc).

- ensuring there is adequate planning

- reviewing how the system performs.

5.2 Focus on customers

-identify their requirements and aim to enhance their satisfaction.

5.3 Write a quality policy. Use it.

-Commit to meeting requirements of the quality system and ISO 9001, including continual

improvement.

-Make sure you communicate this policy and that it's understood.

5.4 Plan for quality

5.4.1 Set objectives (aims/goals) that you can measure.

5.4.2 Have suitable plans to achieve these objectives

5.5 Define and communicate 'who does what'

5.5.1 Identify who has what responsibility and authority

5.5.2 Give a senior manager responsibility for the quality system overall

5.5.3 Have effective methods of internal communication.

5.6 Review your quality management system (management review) at regular intervals

5.6.1 Review the system and performance.

5.6.2 Include consideration of: customer feedback, performance, nonconformity, audits, actions

raised, changes and any need to improve

5.6.3 Keep records of outcomes from your reviews; include decisions and actions.

6.0 Resource Requirements

6.1 Decide what resources are need for the system, and to enhance customer satisfaction. Provide them.

6.2 Make sure people are competent:

6.2.1 Include this for anyone whose work affects whether your services/products meet

requirements

6.2.2 Decide what competencies are needed; provide and maintain them

6.3 Infrastructure: Decide what you need (to meet requirements).Provide it and maintain it.

6.4 Work environment: provide what you need so that your services/products meet requirements.

7.0 Requirements for Products or Services


7.1 Plan

-Plan and develop the processes needed for your products/services.

7.2 Have effective 'customer-related' processes:

7.2.1 Know what requirements apply to your products/services

7.2.2 Make sure you can meet them (or don't take the order)

7.2.3 Have effective ways to communicate with your customers.

7.3 Have effective processes for designing & developing products/services

7.3.1 Plan design/development

7.3.2 Define what inputs are needed to design/create/develop

7.3.3 Do the 'design' /plan in some form that enables you to verify the output (see 7.3.5)

7.3.4 Review the design/plan at suitable stages

7.3.5 Make sure the result meets the agreed & defined requirements (verification)

7.3.6 Validate design (where practicable).

7.3.7 If changes happen during design, manage them.

7.4 Control what you buy, outsource or subcontract (goods, materials or services) if it affects your

services or products

7.4.1 Make sure what you buy meets the requirements you specified; assess and monitor your

suppliers/supply chain.

7.4.2 Describe what you plan to purchase.

7.4.3 Make sure it meets requirements.

7.5 Manage your operations

7.5.1 Have effective ways to control what you do (providing products/ services)

7.5.2 Validate production/service provision (if required).

7.5.3 Identify and track services/products (when appropriate)

7.5.4 Take care of any property supplied by your customers, including IP and confidential

information

7.5.5 Care for products/components during storage/delivery, etc.to make sure they stay in good

condition

7.6 Control measuring and monitoring equipment

-When measuring, make sure your results are valid. Identify what equipment and processes you

need for this. Choose suitable equipment or instruments. Make sure the results are and stay accurate.

8.0 Requirements for Analysis and Improvement

8.1 Have processes suitable to ensure your services/products meet all relevant requirements (customer,

yours, contractual, legal, etc). include improvement.

8.2 Monitor and measure processes and services/products (as necessary) to check you got the results you

wanted:

8.2.1 Monitor customer perception of satisfaction.

8.2.2 Plan and implement a suitable program of internal system audits, including a procedure

8.2.3 Have suitable methods to monitor / measure your processes

8.2.4 Monitor and measure products/services at suitable stages. Release the final only when all

requirements are met

8.3 Control nonconformity (services/products not meeting requirements) in suitable ways, including a

written procedure.

8.4 Collect and analyze information

8.4.1 Decide what information is needed to tell you how your system is working and

for improvement.

8.4.2 Collect, analyze and use it.

8.5 Continually improve.

8.5.1 Improve your system.

8.5.2 Have a systematic approach to fix nonconformity and stop it recurring, including a procedure.


8.5.3 Have a systematic approach to prevent potential nonconformity or failures happening, including a

procedure".

Reference: International Standards Organization (ISO) ISO 9001,consult on requirements. Retrieved

from: " http://www.iso9001consultant.com.au/9001_nutshell.html"