Coleman R. Rich, chair of the Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship, and Matthew Valle, professor of management, have published an article in Business Education Innovation Journal.
The article, “Quality Control Tools for Project Management: A Classroom Exercise” appears in Volume 4, Number 2 of the December 2012 issue of Business Education Innovation Journal (pp. 87-93).
Business organizations, and particularly U.S. business organizations, have been faulted for managing to results by focusing primarily on end-result performance metrics such as net margins, sales revenue, return on investment, and so on. The rise in the use of project management tools, methods and processes is an organizational attempt to respond strategically to the increased complexity and pace of global business demands, yet the move to such methodologies has the potential to exacerbate the focus on end-result measures of organizational performance. The over-reliance on outcome metrics in project work (e.g., time, cost, scope) as the primary means of measuring organizational performance may drive excessive short-term thinking, increase internal conflict, and cause individuals and organizations to emphasize ineffective quality control processes and mechanisms.
In order to properly educate project management students about the benefits associated with a sustained focus on quality and continuous improvement, instructors should help students build the perspective that quality processes are an integral part of all organizational work, including work that is temporary in nature (e.g., projects). This paper presents an innovative in-class exercise to demonstrate the application and value of quality control tools for use by project managers.
Rich teaches courses in Operations and Supply Chain Management. His work experience includes positions in textile manufacturing as an Industrial Engineer, Operations Manager and as a Divisional Sales and Marketing Manager. Valle teaches courses in Project Management at the undergraduate, graduate and executive education levels. His work experience includes participation in several high value Department of Defense acquisition and weapons systems upgrade projects. He is certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP) and holds the CAPM certification as well.