PMP® Exam Quality Primer: The Quality Gurus – Joseph M. Juran
PMP® Exam Quality Primer: The Quality Gurus – Joseph M. Juran (#2 in the series PMP® Exam Quality Primer)
By Samuel T. Brown, III, PMP, Global Knowledge Course Director and Instructor
Joseph M. Juran
Joseph M. Juran ranks close to Deming in terms of significant contributions to the quality movement. Juran has been most recognized as the person who added the human dimension to quality, broadening it from its statistical origins. Juran is best known for his Three Basic Steps to Progress, his Ten Steps to Quality Improvement, and the Juran Trilogy.
Juran’s Three Basic Steps to Progress
The Three Basic Steps to Progress are broad steps that Juran feels companies must take if they are to achieve world-class quality. The Three Basic Steps are as follows:
- Achieve structured improvements on a continual basis with dedication and a sense of urgency.
- Establish an extensive training program.
- Establish commitment and leadership on the part of higher management.
Juran’s Ten Steps to Quality
- Build awareness of both the need for improvement and opportunities for improvement.
- Set goals for improvement.
- Organize to meet the goals that have been set.
- Provide training.
- Implement projects aimed at solving problems.
- Report progress.
- Give recognition.
- Communicate results.
- Keep score.
- Maintain momentum by building improvement into the company’s regular systems.
The Juran Trilogy
The Juran Trilogy summarizes the three primary functions of managers: quality planning, quality control, and quality improvement. Each primary function has several steps.
1. Quality planning:
- Determine who the customers are.
- Identity customer needs.
- Develop products with features that respond to customer needs.
- Develop systems and processes that allow the organization to produce these features.
- Deploy the plans to operational levels.
2. Quality control:
- Assess actual quality performance.
- Compare performance with goals.
- Act on differences between performance and goals.
3. Quality improvement: The improvement of quality should be ongoing and continual.
- Develop the infrastructure necessary to make annual quality improvements.
- Identify specific areas in need of improvement, and implement improvement projects.
- Establish a project team with responsibility for completing each improvement project.
- Provide teams with what they need to be able to diagnose problems to determine root causes, develop solutions, and establish controls that will maintain gains made.
About the Author
Samuel Brown, PMP, is a course developer and instructor for Global Knowledge with 25 years experience teaching. In addition, he has provided project management consulting services for a variety of clients including GE, Glaxo Smith-Klein, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Michelin Tire, and IBM.
This article was originally published in Global Knowledge’s Business Brief e-newsletter. Global Knowledge delivers comprehensive hands-on project management, business process, and professional skills training. Visit our online Knowledge Center at www.globalknowledge.com/business for free white papers, webinars, and more.
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