====== PQM ======

===== PROCESS QUALITY MANAGEMENT =====

==== Applications ====
Helping a project team define its mission, build consensus, and develop a specific plan of action.
Focusing attention on the tasks that are most important to accomplishing a company's or a task force's mission.
Bringing structure and momentum to a group facing a difficult mission, lack of consensus, or disagreement over priorities and direction.
==== Procedures ====
  - Put together a project team and appoint a discussion leader.
  - Assemble the team for a two-day meeting.
  - Write a mission statement.
  - Brainstorm a list of success factors.
  - Prepare a formal list of critical success factors.
  - Identify the business process(es) necessary for each critical success factor and assign responsibility for each.
  - Fill out a project chart and priority graph.
  - Follow the progress of team members.
==== Cross-Reference ====
Product Development and Innovation (writing an R&D plan) and Manufacturing and Operations (introducing new equipment or methodologies).

IBM developed PQM to solve a problem experienced by both IBM's managers and many of its customers: How to get a group to agree on goals and accomplish a complex project effectively. Today the method is used by many IBM customers to coordinate and focus group projects. The cornerstone of the method is a two-day session in which all team members participate in defining the task and delegating responsibility.

===== INSTRUCTIONS =====

1.    Build a team. The team should consist of up to 12 people essential to the project. The team might be a board of directors, a group of vice-presidents, a division manager and his or her top managers, or others depending on the project. The team's leader should select its members and also appoint a discussion leader, a neutral person whose interests do not depend on the outcome of the group's work.

2.    Assemble for a two-day meeting. Every member and the discussion leader must attend, but nonessential participants or observers are not permitted. It is best to meet away from the office to avoid interruptions.

3.    Write a mission statement. Write a clear, concise statement of the team's mission that everyone agrees with. This can be difficult when the team has an open-ended assignment like "Develop a strategic plan for our European operations." It is simpler but still requires discussion when the task is more concrete, as in "Introduce JIT inventory control at all plants."

Note: The team leader must try hard not to dominate the proceedings-let the discussion leader lead!

4.    Brainstorm for ten minutes. Members list all the factors that may affect the group's ability to accomplish its mission. The discussion leader writes down one-word descriptions of all factors mentioned. Everyone is expected to contribute and no criticism or argument is allowed.

5.    Identify critical success factors. These are the specific tasks the team has to accomplish to succeed in its mission. The brainstorming list is a helpful reference in this stage. The discussion leader writes each factor down, usually in the form "We need to ..." or "We must. ... "

===== PROJECT CHART =====

Mission: Introduce JIT Inventory Control
{{ :pqm1.jpg |}}

There are four requirements for the list of critical success factors (CSF's):

  * Each team member agrees on each item.
  * Each item is truly necessary to the team mission.
  * Together the factors are sufficient to accomplish the mission.
  * Each item on the list must stand alone - no "and" constructions allowed.


6.    Identify the business processes for each CSF. For each CSF, make a list of the work necessary and sufficient to accomplish it. Work descriptions should be specific and action-oriented (i.e., "Survey customers to find out what product features need improvement"). Assign each work description (called a business process in PQM) to a member of the team, but do not give anyone more than four.

7.    Fill out a project chart and a priority graph. Rank the business processes by importance to the project's success using a project chart (see example). First, decide which business processes are most important to each critical success factor. Make sure at this point that identified processes are both necessary and sufficient for each CSF. Second, count the number of processes essential to each factor. Third, evaluate each business process to see how well the organization currently performs it using a scale of:



A = excellent
B = good
C = fair
D = bad
E = not currently performed

{{ :problemlosning2.jpg |}}


Now you have ranked each process by its importance and by how well it is currently performed in your organization. Plot the business processes on the priority graph, which has priority and quality as its axes.

As in the exhibit, divide the priority graph into zones. Where you draw the priority zones is up to the group, but in general top priority is assigned to the processes that affect many CSF's and are not currently performed well. Caution: If you make your top priority zone too big, too many processes will be prioritized and none will be done quickly!

8.    Follow-up. The team leaves the PQM session with business processes assigned and ranked by priority. Follow-up by the leader should focus on whether team members are improving the assigned business processes and whether changes in the company or its environment necessitate another PQM session to modify the mission, the critical success factors, or the business processes list.





Maurice Hardaker and Bryan K. Ward. "How to Make a Team Work."

Harvard Business Review (November-December 1987): 112-120