Total Quality Management: Project Organisation and Information Management

Total Quality Management: Project Organisation and Information Management

Abstract

Table of content

Introduction

The success of any project in an organization greatly depends on how the project is coordinated. Organization and coordination of projects require a high level of information management. In any project, there are several stakeholders such as project team, project owners, project managers, resource manager, project testers, and any relevant individual or group that a project impacts benefits or either before and after or both. These stakeholders require relevant knowledge and information to play their roles in their projects. Information management is, therefore, a key aspect of any project as it links all the stakeholders. Every stakeholder requires details regarding their roles to avoid confusion and ensure a project is completed successfully. Project organization is, therefore, about the management of information among project stakeholders to ensure projects run smoothly until their completion.

Total Quality Management

The concept of total quality management in project organizations crucial in ensuring effective information management. Total quality management is an essential tool used in projects to ensure a high level of standards in project processes and operations are maintained. Sticking to project timelines, budget, and quality standards are crucial in any project because the final product of any project should be appealing in addition to meeting the stakeholder expectations. A project organization is made possible through the principles of total quality management.

Elements of Total Quality Management

Total quality management is a system with several elements that ensure projects are well organized and worked on successfully. One of the elements of total quality management is communication. Communication is an essential element that plays the role of information sharing and knowledge acquisition. Every project stakeholder requires knowledge and information regarding their roles. Lack of clear information on one’s roles can lead to project delays, poor management of resources as well as conflict. It is at this poting where information management is required to ensure a smooth flow of information among stakeholders. Information management can be done either manually or using information management systems. Depending on organization choice for managing project information, the ultimate goal of information management is to ensure effective communication and knowledge sharing among project stakeholders.

Teamwork

Another element of total quality management is teamwork. Teamwork entails working together to achieve set goals. Teamwork is one of the critical aspects of the project organization. Most of the project activities require teamwork to ensure the set goals are achieved. As part of the project organization, project teams are assigned roles in groups, and these groups require information regarding their roles. Information management helps project teams to achieve their roles within the given timeframe.

Leadership

Leadership is also a key element of total quality management.s Every project requires leaders at various levels. As part of the project organization, team leaders are required to supervise and coordinate project teams to achieve their goals. The overall leader of any project is responsible for ensuring all the project activities are running smoothly in addition to facilitating the provision of the requires resources for project tasks to be completed. Project leaders are also responsible for ensuring any deviation that occurs is promptly addressed with the involvement of the relevant stakeholders. They are also ultimately responsible for projecting owners as far as project quality, resource utilization, and project timeframe are concerned.

Ethics

Ethics entails the standards or write or the wrong when making acting or making a decision. Total quality management cannot be achieved if project teams do not adhere to ethical standards. Project organization requires a high level of information management for accuracy purposes. Ethics is required to ensure that information is shared with the right parties with the accuracy it deserves. Unethical project team members can lead to project failure due to resource misappropriation, lack of transparency, and integrity. For ethical information management to be achieved, the elements of trust and integrity must be incorporated.

Training

Traning project team teams are crucial in achieving the goals of a project. Every project team members require to know their roles and how to play them to ensure an entire project is completed. Training is essential in total quality management, especially during the preliminary period of a project. Training could be on safety matters, operating equipment used in projects as well as handling tools required in a project. Effective training leads to unexceptional project completion. It also improves the confidence and morale of project team members, and this reduces the rate of committing errors. Training requires a high level of information management, especially after a project has commenced. The preliminary project training is not enough for an entire project, due to project dynamics as a result of anticipated changes, training may continuously be required, and this requires effective communication regarding the training. Continuous training is also required to emphasize o certain aspects ensure that project goals are attained.

Project Organisation and Information Management

There is a very close relationship between the project organization and information management. A project organization is facilitated by information management. In other words, the coordination of any project requires effective communication among the stakeholders. Often project team leaders are tasked with managing information to ensure every stakeholder has knowledge of how they are supposed to play their roles. This section will, therefore, focus on how the two concepts relate concerning total quality management in a project.

Project Organization

Project organization is a system or a structure the outlines the major activities of a project, project stakeholder and their roles, project implantation, and project resource management. A poorly organized project will always lead to undesired project outcomes. The primary purpose of organizing a project is to provide a structure, reference, or a guide that ensures every aspect of a project is successfully executed at the right time and by the right stakeholder. Besides, project organization prevents issues of confusion, and conflicts are prevented because everyone knows their roles as well as when to play them. It also provides a beneficial relationship between project stakeholders because the project requires coordination of various activities performed by different parties. Project organization best presented using a chart that shows the roles of every project team member. Project charts will be clearly demonstrated when discussing the relationship between the project organization and information management later in this paper.

Information Management

Information management refers to the process of collecting, storing, processing, and disseminating information to the relevant parties. It can be achieved using manual approaches or even manual approaches. However, most of the organization have adopted modern technological ways of managing information to save on time, resources, and enhance efficiency. The advent of computers and communication technologies has completely revolutionized information management. Today, projects can employe information management systems to ensure effective coordination of project activities among project stakeholders.

In particular, there are project information management systems that have been specifically designed for managing information flow in projects. PIMS ensures value creation through effective information management, which leads to the achievement of project goals. One of the specific role played by PIMS is the provision of relevant information for decision making. Also, PIMS improves the level of coordination among project stakeholders through timely and accurate information sharing. Besides, PIMS facilitates the demonstration of results during project evaluation. Als, PIMS empowers project team members because they get to learn how and when to execute their roles as well as the expected outcomes. Most importantly, it provides more opportunities to project team members to learn from their experience.

The Relationship Between Project Organisation and Information Management

Project organization is half complete without information management. Once a project structure has been outlined, the coordination of these structural elements is facilitated through information management. The best way to play this relationship is by using an organizational project chart, as shown below.

The above flow chart is a simple project organization that shows a hierarchical level of project teams. At the to of the hierarchy is the overall project coordinator. The role of the overall coordinator is to provide overall supervision of a project. Below overall project coordinators are the training coordinator and an accounting officer. The training coordinator ensures that project team members receive relevant training regarding a project. The accounting officer plays the role of recording transactions, initiating payments, and purchases. Below the training coordinator and the accounting officer are field coordinators.

As depicted from the flow chart, effective coordination is required to ensure every project team member plays their roles. The coordination is only possible through effective information management. The role of information management is to ensure information is recorded as required, stored for references, processed to meet particular needs, and disseminated to the relevant stakeholders for decision making. Information management entails four major elements which include effective communication, the flow of information, cooperation among project team members as well as coordination.

Communication is the most crucial element of information management. It refers to the process of sharing information from one party to another. Project team members require knowledge and information to perform their functions effectively. Information can flow either horizontally, diagonally, from top to bottom and from bottom to top. Horizontal communication entails communication among project team members who are at the same level in the project organizational hierarchy. Project team members of the same level can communicate to share ideas through consultations. Diagonal information sharing involves project team members (project supervisors) from different departments, units, or line of duty. Diagonal information sharing ensures close coordination between departments and project units to ensure the project is completed successfully. Top-down information sharing involves information flow from senior project management to supervisors and from supervisors to junior project team members. This type of information sharing serves the role of implementing changes or communicating essential information regarding a project. Bottom-up communication involves junior project managers passing information such as feedback to supervisors who, in turn, relay the information to senior project managers.

Information flow refers to a system that outlines communication channels and protocols. For example, from the char above, an effective flow of information is required to ensure field coordinators perform their roles with the supervision of their coordinators. Any communication from the top project managers requires following a specific procedure and channel to reach the field coordinators. For instance, the overall project manager cannot directly approach junior project team members to initiate specific changes. The information must flow logically from the top project managers to the middle-level project managers. The middle-level manager or supervisors relay the information to the junior project team members.

Cooperation among project team members is key to achieving project goals. It is one of the critical aspects the facilitate effective information management in the project organization. Cooperation does not necessarily mean performing project tasks alone but the level of commitment and flexibility and discipline portrayed by project team embers. I could be portrayed by keeping time, taking instructions carefully, and acting in the best interest of the project owners. Regardless of how effective a project organization is, lack of cooperation between project team members can frustrate an entire project leading to project failure, which should not be the case. Through cooperation, information flows smoothly among all the project stakeholders.

Coordination is also another crucial element of information management. Without effective coordination of project activities, information cannot flow effectively. Project organization greatly requires a high level of coordination among project teams to ensure tasks are completed at the right time. Besides, coordination ensures project resources such as materials and funds are available for the specified project tasks. Coordination also ensures project team embers work as a system where interdependence among the members ensures the realization of the project goals. The role of project coordination is performed by project leaders such as project managers, project coordinators, as well as supervisors.

Therefore, project organization and information management play a key role in ensuring that the goals of a project are attained. In a project organization, information management serves to ensure an entire organizational structure is successful through effective information flow and knowledge sharing. The role of total quality management regarding project organization and is to ensure information flows from the relevant senders to the intended receivers. Total quality management ensures the flow of information adheres to the set procedures in addition to maintaining the quality of information between relevant project stakeholders.

The Importance of Knowledge and Organisational Learning

The success of any project is largely contributed by the level of knowledge among project team members as well as organizational learning. Knowledge refers to having experience and the knowhow to do a particular task. Knowledge is only useful when it is shared. Organizational learning, on the other hand, entails the process in which knowledge is shared among organization members. Thus, organizational learning is facilitated by sharing information and knowledge regarding a particular discipline. Total quality management ensures that both knowledge and organizational learning result in an effective project organization. This section will address the importance of knowledge and organizational sharing regarding total quality management.

Firm-Level

Every organization should have significant knowledge in its project. Organizations that own specific projects must train ts employees on how to handle, deal, or operate organizational projects. The preliminary knowledge of organizational projected is acquired from experts or even from benching with other organizations that have the same project. Project organizations should always include the aspect of training because it provides project team embers with crucial skills and knowledge for accomplishing their tasks. Once different organizational members have acquired knowledge, the knowledge is supposed to be shared to enlighten others fo the overall success of a project. At frim level, knowledge and organizational learning serve a crucial role in ensuring that project goals are achieved.

At the firm level, organizations require knowledge regarding their projects as they are among the primary users of their projects. Once certain members of an organization learn vital information or experience from their project, they are required to share with the relevant members of the organization, which is a process known as organizational learning. From one or a few members who know specific project functions, the rest of the organizational members learn the same knowledge through sharing with others. Junior project team embers often learn more about their project, and this helps them gain experience even know before the owners of the project learn most of the functional roles of their projects. Through cooperation and solving project problems, team members gain more knowledge and when they share ideas. Organizational learning is divided into two major categories, which include inter-organizational learning and local or internal organizational learning.

In intergovernmental learning, an organization sends its members to another similar organization that has already implemented the same project—benchmarking between two organizations regarding a specific project facilitates organizational learning, which is essential in carrying out the roles of the new project. Internal or local sharing of knowledge and organizational learning are base experience and knowledge acquisition and sharing such knowledge among project team members.

Firm or organization learning plays several roles in ensuring that the goals of a project are achieved. Firstly, it leads to low rates of turnover among project members. When project team members know what they are required to do, they work with much confidence, and this leads to successful project completion. Besides, knowledge and organizational learning at the firm level leads to excellent project outcomes. Times, knowledge sharing at a firm-level may even result to project outcomes that are beyond expectations. Knowledge and organizational learning at the firm level lead to improved adaptability, where changes and project deviations are quickly fixed because project team members have learned problem-solving skills.

Collective Level

At a collective level, groups of project team members work together sharing knowledge and experiences to solve problems and play their roles well. Knowledge and organizational learning at a collective level is the most effective way of learning and sharing information because every group members benefits directly from the knowledge and experience. In a project organization, groups are developed to ensure that specific roles and functions are executed. Knowledge spreads quite faster at the collective level as compared to the firm and individual level because, at a group level, the participation of almost every group member leads to the acquisition of more knowledge from several brains. At a collective level, however, knowledge and organizational learning require a high level of cooperation among project team members. Besides, knowledge and organization level learning at a group level requires every member to pay attention or participate fully in the process of learning because the success of any group depends on the level of contribution among its members.

Individual Level

Knowledge is also gained at an individual level during project execution. When a project team member is assigned a tak to perform alone, they may end up experiencing new things that could lead to knowledge discovery. At an individual level, one may always face challenges in acquiring knowledge and information due to a lack of morale or motivation. Knowledge gained at an individual level may not be shared at times where the project team members who discover specific knowledge decide to turn the acquired knowledge into their projects. Nonetheless, individual knowledge and organization learning also contribute to project success, especially if project team members are motivated and compensated adequately.

Organizing and Implementing Information Systems in Project Settings

As indicated earlier, information management in the project organization is best done using project information management systems (PIMS). PIMS is one of the critical tools used in total quality management in the most project organization. It mostly preferred because it is computer-based, which means it manages project information with ease. Eight steps should be followed to organize and implement information systems in project settings. These steps are discussed below.

Defining Outcomes

When planning to implement PIMS, it is essential to establish what it should achieve. One should also determine ist benefits as opposed to traditional means of managing information. At this point also, one should develop evaluation criteria for the PIMS.

Forming a Team

Almost all the steps involved in the implementation of PIMS requires a team. Forming a team enables one to make the right choices, test, and implement the PIMS. When forming such teams, one needs to ensure that their team members possess the relevant skills.

Defining what the System Should Do

At this stage, one needs to determine al the possible functions of PIMS critically. Reporting standards should be developed in addition to determining all the technical requirements of the PIMS. Besides, one should also find out whether PIMS will be compatible with the organizational processes and existing systems

Finding and Ideal Solution

This is one f the most stages of implementing PIMS. A lot of consultation and research are required to come up with the best solution for the existing problems. The required system should be based on other issues such as cost, performance, and ease of use. One should conduct thorough research to identify the best PIMS that suits the operations.

Selection of the Ideal vendor

The selection of the ideal seller is also another crucial stage. No one would wish to spend many funds on a system that is not effective or one that does not meet their needs. It requires market research to find out different offers provided by different vendors. At this stage, one should keep consulting the initially formed team to assist in the process of selecting the best systems.

Estimation of the costs of Operations and Implementation

Determining operation and maintenance costs helps one prepare financially as far as running the system is concerned. These costs are determined by conducting a pilot study. Once such costs have been established, they can be in form pirated in the organizational budget. Determination of the operational and maintenance costs can also help the project owners to establish of the PIMS is sustainable or not.

Developing Implementation Plan

An implementation outlines how PIMS would be operated, who is responsible for operating it, and policies governing the use of the system, such as security controls and maintenance policies. It facilitates the prudent utilization of PIMS for the benefit of an organization.

Managing The Risks of the Project

Once PIMS has been implemented, the final step in managing any risks associated with the systems. Some of the risks associated with PIMS include system upgrade risks, the cost of illegal access to data, and the breakdown of computers. Managing these risks ensures effective utilization of the system.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the project organization is a fundamental step that every project should undertake. It is facilitated by information management, which can be achieved technologically or using traditional means. The role of total quality management is ensuring project organization, as well as indroamtion management, is done effectively to achieve the ultimate goals of a project. Information management is only made possible one project organizational structure has been created. Project organizational structures should always be displayed using a chart to develop mechanisms and strategies for coordinating project activities as well as managing information flow to ensure the goals of a project are achieved. Successful project management employs the concept of total quality management in the critical phases or activities of the project, such as information management and project organization.

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