Importance of Project Quality Management: Framework & Innovation

This report highlights the importance of quality management in projects, identifying quality issues and their causes, and recommending an effective quality framework with innovative technologies. A case study of the Deepwater Horizon disaster illustrates the consequences of quality management fai...Read More

Running head: IMPORTANCE OF PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Importance of Project Quality Management
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1IMPORTANCE OF PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Executive summary
This report is prepared to focus on the importance of quality management in any project.
Based on it the different quality issues are identified along with the cause for such issues. A
recommendation on effective quality framework is thus developed and new innovation
technologies are introduced in order to manage the quality issues in the upcoming project
plans. In the final part of the report the gap in literature review is established and in order to
bridge the strategical framework is thus developed.

2IMPORTANCE OF PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Background:...........................................................................................................................3
Project case study:..................................................................................................................3
Project management quality framework:...................................................................................4
Literature Review:......................................................................................................................5
Evaluation of project quality issues:......................................................................................5
Research methodologies for establishing report aims and objectives:.......................................6
Aim of the project:.................................................................................................................6
Objectives of the project:.......................................................................................................6
Development of strategies to encourage innovation and continuous improvement in project
teams:.........................................................................................................................................7
Key factors impacting on project quality:..............................................................................8
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................8
References:...............................................................................................................................10

3IMPORTANCE OF PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Introduction:
Background:
Among the various aspects of managing a project, ensuring its quality is of the major
importance. A project quality is ensured by validating its requirements by continuously
analyzing the quality of the products depending on the quality standard that is established at
the beginning of the project planning (Fields et al., 2014). Several activities are included
while assuring the quality of a project. In meeting the expectation of the trade this method
needs to be followed accordingly with proper care and monitoring. The following report is
developed to focus on the quality issues that are faced while managing a project and based on
the identified issues certain tools and techniques are also reflected in the report.
Project case study:
The Deep Water Horizon Disaster that took place in the year 2010 was the greatest
example of quality management failure. It is recorded as one of the most catastrophic quality
failure that is experienced by any project (Starbird et al., 2015). The oil spill disaster is also
commonly known as the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The Deep Water Horizon was owned by a
well-known offshore oil drilling corporation and was rented by the BP oil company. The oil
well was positioned over the sea bed covering an area of about 4,993 feet below the surface.
The disaster took place on the night of 20th April when a heave of natural gas detonated
through the concrete surface that was connected by the contractor named Halliburton for a
determination of sealing the well so that it can be used later.
Issue that was found with the project:
The report that was published reflecting the cause of the explosion stated that due to
the use of weak cement around the oil well, the main disaster took place (Mills & Koliba,
2015). The contractors failed to properly test the quality of the material used in the

4IMPORTANCE OF PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT
development of the well in order to save money and time for the project. Another issue that
was noticed included failure in detecting the technical problems present in the project as
result of which the technicians failed to convey the problem related to the fluid pressure.
From all the reported quality issues it is seen that the main issue that caused the explosion is
the ignorance from the leading administration who was in charge of the whole project.
Hence this case study of the project management failure shows the importance of
quality first attitude of the project manager and other team members to assure the quality of
the requirements that is intended for the project.
Project management quality framework:
A project management quality framework assures the quality of a project
requirements aligning with the requirements of the project plan. The quality management
framework helps in providing the management a structural support for determining quality
issues with proper planning and design (Baškarada & Koronios, 2014). Each and every
project is unique in its own way so it is necessary to determine necessary tools that helps in
managing the quality of the project (Todorović et al., 2015). Physical and human resources
plays avital role in maintaining the overall framework of a project and so it is important that
well coordination should be maintained among the team members (Kerzner & Kerzner,
2017). The overall project quality framework consists of certain set of processes:
1. Planning the quality of the project: The first important step of project quality
management is planning the quality that is to be delivered at the end of the project. The whole
process of planning is carried out by recognizing the essential requirements maintaining the
standard of the quality framework management.
2. Assuring the quality of the project: The next important process of project quality
organization is assuring the quality of the project requirements. This process includes

5IMPORTANCE OF PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT
ensuring the approaches and methods that are carried out while developing the project.
Project quality assurance depends on the quality performance of the team as expected. The
whole process of assurance of quality depends on certain quality frameworks that are
established for different project plans.
3. Controlling the quality of the project: The last and the most vital stage of project quality
framework is the controlling of the whole project quality and maintaining the consistency of
the requirements quality all through the project execution (Flick, 2018). It includes certain
steps such a tracking and testing the quality of the products and regularly monitoring the
requirements in order to reach the ultimate goal of the project successfully without having
any quality issues.
Literature Review:
Evaluation of project quality issues:
Based on the different quality issues that are faced while analyzing the cause of the
Deep water horizon disaster, checking quality of the requirement that is used in the project
serves as the main reason. As the project leads and the contractor of the project used weak
quality cement for sealing the bottom of the oil well, the explosion took place. For any
project it is necessary to look after the quality of the requirements that are used in the project
with utmost care as ignoring those may lead to disaster as reported in the case study
(Vengosh et al., 2014). Poor quality of the requirements used leads to lower in end user
satisfaction and in some cases its ignorance may also cause huge disasters causing life threat
as happened in the BP’s Deep water horizon disaster. Quality management helps a company
to improve its efficiency and performance. Thus it is required to ensure the quality of the
tools and products used in the development of the project in each and every step.

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Another issue that was reflected in the case study report is the failure in the technical
services that were included in the project (Varajão et al., 2014). A series of system failures
were noticed in the explosion that reflects the lack of quality check in the technical parts.
Decrease in technological efficiency is one of the major area that needs special quality check.
Due to the technical errors that were reported in the project report, the technicians were
unable to determine the water pressure and also failed to communicate it with others in the
team. It is necessary that separate department of IT should be setup within a project team
with proper quality check framework that needs to be followed strictly by each of the project
members.
Gap in the literature review:
From the literature review, the gap in the literature review is thus found out that there
is a lack of proper quality management framework in the overall process of the quality
management which needs to be planned out properly for each and every department of a
project team.
Research methodologies for establishing report aims and objectives:
Aim of the project:
The main goal of the project is to identify and control the quality issues that are found
in different departments of off shore oil drilling projects. The outcome that is desired is
obtained by using certain research methodologies that includes both the qualitative and
quantitative approach.
Objectives of the project:
The main motive of this mission is to identify the critical quality issues that are
frequently faced while execution of a project. The information collected in order to analyse
the quality issues are based on two methods of researches. The data thus collected are

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provided with detailed summary based on the case study of the project. The research
methodologies that are used for the analysis of the project information are:
1. Qualitative research method: Qualitative research method is a scientific way of
collecting data other than numerical data using various characteristics, symbols, metaphors
and definitions (Chowdhury, 2015). The qualitative approach includes research methods that
are established in different academic fields. Qualitative research methods are exploratory
research method that is used to gain the reasons opinions, that are required for the project. It
helps in gaining hypothesis related to the project.
2. Quantitative research method: The quantitative research methodology is based on
collecting numeric data comparing the values from past researches. The quantitative approach
provides future aspects that can be used for further implementation in the future (McCusker
& Gunaydin, 2015). This research is carried out based on the data composed from the
mathematical models. The relation between the expressions obtained mathematically and
empirically are thus used for further reaches based on this project.
Development of strategies to encourage innovation and continuous
improvement in project teams:
As competition is gradually increasing, organisations are trying to incorporate new
innovation technologies in their project plans for improved quality in products and services.
Innovation strategies should be included in the development of strategies in project quality
management as they can bring in new innovative way to manage quality of requirements
(Wang, 2014). The importance of innovation in quality management has served a motivation
factor for the team members. By implementing innovation means using agile method to
develop strategies. For example, use of artefacts in project plan will simplify the whole
process of project planning (De Lucia et al., 2014). Achieving short term sprint goals will be

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much easier while implementing innovation in development strategies of a project.
Impediments can also be used in project quality framework management to achieve the
desired quality of the project outcome. Innovation in project management will help in doing
the detailed developing and planning of the project documents and creating work break down
structures in a flawless way. Thus it is identified that in order to bridge the gap between the
literature review project managers need to implement and develop strategies that encourage
team members to drive innovation in the overall project quality management in order to
overcome any project quality issues in future.
Key factors impacting on project quality:
1. Contractors experience in industry
2. Availability of quality equipment and spare parts (Safiullin et al., 2017).
3. Skill and knowledge of the project managers.
4. Explicit planning and design of project
5. Contractors profitability (Xiong et al., 2014).
6. Health and safety issues
7. Team member’s performance
8. Technical defects causing inconvenience
9. Mechanical defects
10. Attitude towards profitability rather than quality.
Conclusion:
Thus it can be concluded that project managers play a vital role in marinating the
quality structure of any project based on certain predefined structures that are planned out

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before the starting of the project. Quality plans in any project should follow certain
benchmarks to identify the progress of the project against the expected goal that is to be
attained at the end of every project. Like any other planning, quality planning of a project
should specify certain measurable metrics and time bound constraints. Thus it is required to
develop strategies that help in bringing innovation among the team members and motivate
them in producing more quality products. Also the project manager and the contractors
should pay more attention on each and every defect that is detected during the testing of the
product and should be conveyed immediately in order to resolve the issues. A proper quality
plan should include the detailed responsibility of each members of the team including the
stake holders as they have the authority to confirm the standards used in the planning process.
Proper controlling activity and regular monitoring should also be carried out in order to
ensure better quality product and to avoid any further quality issues in future projects.

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References:
Baškarada, S., & Koronios, A. (2014). A critical success factor framework for information
quality management. Information Systems Management, 31(4), 276-295.
Chowdhury, I. A. (2015). Issue of quality in a qualitative research: An overview. Innovative
Issues and Approaches in Social Sciences, 8(1), 142-162.
De Lucia, A., Fasano, F., Oliveto, R., & Tortora, G. (2014, September). Enhancing an
artefact management system with traceability recovery features. In 20th IEEE
International Conference on Software Maintenance, 2004. Proceedings. (pp. 306-
315). IEEE.
Fields, P., Hague, D. R., Koby, G. S., Lommel, A., & Melby, A. (2014). What is quality? A
management discipline and the translation industry get acquainted. Tradumàtica, (12),
0404-412.
Flick, U. (2018). An introduction to qualitative research. Sage Publications Limited.
Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
McCusker, K., & Gunaydin, S. (2015). Research using qualitative, quantitative or mixed
methods and choice based on the research. Perfusion, 30(7), 537-542.
Mills, R. W., & Koliba, C. J. (2015). The challenge of accountability in complex regulatory
networks: The case of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Regulation &
Governance, 9(1), 77-91.

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Safiullin, L. N., Gafurov, I. R., Bagautdinova, N. G., & Safiullin, N. Z. (2017). Influence of
quality of the goods on satisfactions of consumers. GSTF Journal on Business Review
(GBR), 2(2).
Starbird, K., Dailey, D., Walker, A. H., Leschine, T. M., Pavia, R., & Bostrom, A. (2015).
Social media, public participation, and the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil
spill. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal, 21(3), 605-
630.
Todorović, M. L., Petrović, D. Č., Mihić, M. M., Obradović, V. L., & Bushuyev, S. D.
(2015). Project success analysis framework: A knowledge-based approach in project
management. International Journal of Project Management, 33(4), 772-783.
Varajão, J., Dominguez, C., Ribeiro, P. M. G. D. A., & Paiva, A. (2014). Failures in software
project management–are we alone? A comparison with construction industry. Journal
of Modern Project Management, 2(1), 22-27.
Vengosh, A., Jackson, R. B., Warner, N., Darrah, T. H., & Kondash, A. (2014). A critical
review of the risks to water resources from unconventional shale gas development and
hydraulic fracturing in the United States. Environmental science &
technology, 48(15), 8334-8348.
Wang, C. H. (2014). A longitudinal study of innovation competence and quality management
on firm performance. Innovation, 16(3), 392-403.
Xiong, B., Skitmore, M., Xia, B., Masrom, M. A., Ye, K., & Bridge, A. (2014). Examining
the influence of participant performance factors on contractor satisfaction: A
structural equation model. International Journal of Project Management, 32(3), 482-
491.