Purpose

With the advent of the national and international passion for quality (as evidenced by such efforts as the Malcolm Baldrige award) [5], project managers have been under pressure to ensure that their projects serve the same quality standards demanded by their organizations for more conventional efforts. As such, quality policy statements have come into vogue, delineating what is important to the organization from a quality perspective and the degree(s) to which the project will serve those objectives.

Application

The quality policy is used to express the intangible nature of quality to the team, the customer, and management in such a way that those parties can understand the extent to which the organization will go in meeting project goals and objectives. It is normally used to establish boundaries as to what is or is not acceptable and may also provide guidance on how unacceptable projects or components may be brought into alignment with the policy. In some instances, it will be used to emphasize how the work will be accomplished as well as the nature of the deliverables themselves.

Content

A quality policy incorporates the elements discussed in the following subsections.

1.0 Purpose/Rationale/Background

In an effort to establish the rationale for a given quality perspective, the quality policy normally includes a background statement, defining how or why a certain degree of quality was deemed appropriate.

2.0 Quality Policy Statement

This may be a one-line general policy statement or a detailed analysis of what constitutes quality on projects in general or on a given project in particular. As an example, the Goddard Space Flight Center quality policy has both. Their one-line statement, “GSFC is committed to meeting or exceeding our customers’ requirements” [6], provides very limited, general guidance, while their multivolume quality management system provides depth on what “meeting or exceeding” means.

In the ideal, the quality policy statement will provide some insight that specifically directs the types of behaviors involved.

3.0 Support

This should be a statement as to who serves as the arbiter of “quality” under the policy and who is the author or owner of the policy.

Approaches

In the ideal project environment, the quality policy will incorporate both a general statement about anticipated level of quality, as well as how that level of quality will be achieved. The U.S. Army’s Department of Laboratory Sciences (serving in the European theater) has a quality policy that both references specific compliance standards they follow as well as guidance on how to follow them.

Wewant to create an environment and provide resources that encourage the highest ethical and professional practices suited to the following objectives:

Produce quality analytical data by

•   maintaining  competent  well-trained  staff  through  external  and  internal  training opportunities,

•   monitoring laboratory performance through data review and validation, equipment maintenance and verification, and the QC and PT programs, and •   the continuous review of the QMS to identify areas for improvement with QSR and MRT meetings, internal and external audits, and corrective and preventive actions.
•  Provide excellent service to our customers by

•   partnering with our contractors and vendors to provide the best supplies and laboratory information available,

•   carefully planning our work and services to meet specified requirements, Data Quality Objectives (DQOs), and/or Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for projects, products, or contracts,

•   seeking  feedback  from  our  customers on how we can improve our service to them through customer surveys, meetings, or telephone consults, and providing feedback and follow-up to them, and assisting each other to go above and beyond in all aspects of our work in order to delight the customer.

All DLS personnel are required to be thoroughly familiar with the necessary QMS documentation and fully implement the quality policies and procedures in every aspect of their work. This policy shall be reviewed by the MRT on an annual basis, or as required for continuing suitability. The Quality Policy statement is issued under the authority of the DLS laboratory and technical director (chief executive).

The DLS quality policy statement is noteworthy for the level of depth and approaches that it specifies may be used and for establishing some of the basic procedures that may support the policy.

Considerations

Quality policies and policy statements may be implemented at the project or organizational level. It may not be necessary for the project manager to generate or create a separate quality policy statement for each project. However, if the project is venturing into new territory for the organization, some direction on the level of quality or general performance may be appropriate. In instances where a clear organizational quality policy already exists, it is perfectly sufficient and reasonable to simply reiterate it in the context of the project to reinforce it with the project team.