Course syllabus

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Quality Management - IEK313 (7,5 credits)

LP3 VT25. Course is offered by the department of Technology Management and Economics.

Aim

The aim of the course is to help the students to acquire knowledge about initiatives to improve quality and to better understand the area of Quality Management. The course also aims to help the students to develop skills connected to the subject.

Learning outcome

  • Describe quality management, and its principles and the content of the principles
  • Describe the reasons for organizations to improve and barriers to improvements
  • Describe how successful organizations work, and being able to apply different ways to assess organizations
  • Describe how and when different principles and methodologies of quality management can be used in practice
  • Describe how quality management can be applied for organizations
  • Apply different principles and methodologies practically to improve organizations, processes, services and products

Content

The course provides an overview of the quality management field and practical training. The course includes lectures, seminars, exercises, and group work. Guest lecturers provide insights into how quality management initiatives are carried out in practice. Topics covered in the course:

  • Key principles of quality management
  • Purpose-driven organizations and customer focus
  • Process management and process improvements
  • Six Sigma, Lean Production, Agile
  • Management, leadership, and motivation
  • Improvements
  • Quality management in practice
  • Management systems, and assessment and audit
  • Standards like ISO 9001 and excellence models
  • Successful and high-performing organizations
  • Management Innovations and trends

Note! Changes since previous course sessions: new textbook and articles, new examiner, some new teachers. Consequently, previous exams are not fully representative.

Organisation

Students are encouraged to explore other content related to the course online. Some activities are compulsory (see Schedule). The course webpage on Canvas is used as the main communication tool. 

Schedule

Note! The schedule in TimeEdit and due dates in Canvas may not be accurate. Please follow the schedule and due dates in the CoursePM which can be found here in Canvas under Modules: General course information

Note! Students are expected to read material and make themselves familiar with key concepts prior to the particular lecture and prepare for discussions of theoretical concepts and their applicability in different contexts.

Link to TimeEdit: TimeEdit

Course literature

Course book: Gremyr, I., Bergquist, B., & Elg, M. (2020). Quality management: an introduction. Studentlitteratur

(The book is available at Store/Campus Johanneberg and on bookstores online). Read connecting chapters to each module (see schedule).

The book is supposed to give the student an overview of quality management principles and how quality management is applied in practice. Note that the book does not completely cover all the content in the modules. Instead, the book is to be used as a complement to the content of the lectures and the papers that are part of the course literature. 

Module 1: Introduction and overview

  1. Course book: Chapter 1 and 4.
  2. Aragon, A., Makarova, E., Ragani, A., and Rutten, P. (2017). The evolution of quality: Higher quality output, lower cost of quality. In The great re-make: Manufacturing for modern times, McKinsey&Company
  3. SIQ (2022). The SIQ Management Model
  4. ISO (2015). ISO 9001:2015, Quality Management Systems- Requirements. http://proxy.lib.chalmers.se/login?url=https://enav.sis.se/Standard/?std=STD-8016642 

Module 2: Customer and Stakeholder focus

  1. Course book: Part I on Customer and Stakeholder focus
  2. Bergman, B., Hellström, A., Lifvergren, S., & Gustavsson, S. M. (2015). An emerging science of improvement in health care. Quality Engineering, 27(1), 17-34.
  3. Grönroos, C. (2015). Service Management and Marketing: Managing the Service Profit Logic, 4th edition. p. 12-15, 95-99. 

Module 3: Teamwork and organisational aspects of quality management

  1. Course book: Part III Teamwork and Organisational Aspects of Quality Management
  2. Martin, J., Elg, M., Gremyr, I., & Wallo, A. (2021). Towards a quality management competence framework: exploring needed competencies in quality management. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 32(3-4), 359-378.
  3. Martin, J., Dang, Q. H., & Gremyr, I. (2023). The influence of digitalisation on the role of quality professionals and their practices. Cogent Business & Management, 10(1).

Module 4: Models and methods for continuous improvements

  1. Course book: Part I on Customer and Stakeholder focus, and Chapter 5
  2. Raharjo, H., Brombacher, A. C., & Xie, M. (2008). Dealing with subjectivity in early product design phase: A systematic approach to exploit Quality Function Deployment potentials. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 55(1), 253-278.
  3. Thomke, S. (2020). Building a Culture of Experimentation: It takes more than good tools. It takes a complete change of attitude, Harvard Business Review, 98(2), 40-48.

Questions

Questions and Answers via Canvas will be used to increase transparency. Please post questions in the discussion section in Canvas and not through e-mails. For questions where an open forum is not appropriate, please contact the course assistant via e-mail.

Examination

For the course, the following course elements are included in the examination (the bonus points are only allowed to be used on the regular exam and two following re-exams and it is not possible to get bonus points through any substitute assignments):

1.    Interactive Assessments (pass/no pass). (Compulsory)

Instructions will be available on Canvas. Sign up for one of the two occasions. During the workshop of the interactive assessment each student will formulate questions about Quality Management. We will then form groups and each group will provide answers to some selected questions. Each group will present their answer for the other groups.

2.    Field trip. (compulsory)

Schedule with time and address will be available on Canvas.

3.    “Closed book” digital Exam (Grading scale: no pass, 3, 4 or 5)

Note! Please remember to register for the exam. Campus Johanneberg. Through Inspera. Bring your own computer.

See: https://www.chalmers.se/en/education/your-studies/examinations-and-other-summative-assessments/during-and-after-the-examination-session/#digital-examinations-on-campus

In total 50 points are awarded; 20 points for a 3, 30 points for a 4, and 40 points for a 5. Bonus points cannot be used to pass the exam but only to reach higher grades. The bonus points can only be used in the original exam and the following two re-exams.

Course Evaluation

In order to improve the course, the course evaluation group is to be formed with the aim of developing the goals, contents and pedagogy of the course, focusing on student learning. The process shall encourage a dialogue between teacher and students on how the education can be improved, i.e. current and future courses. The course evaluation meetings with the course evaluation group and the examiner and teaching assistant will be held on 3 occasions. 

Contact details

Examiner: Andreas Hellström, andreas.hellstrom@chalmers.se

Course/Teaching Assistant: Sofie Peters, sofie.peters@chalmers.se

Teachers: Andreas Hellström (AH), Sofie Peters (SP), Daniel Gyllenhammar (DG), Ida Gremyr (IG), Hendry Raharjo (HR), Jason Martin (JM)

Guest Teachers: Marcus Assarlind, Emerson (MA), Anders Fundin, SIQ (AF), Jan Lenning (JL)

 

Course summary:

Date Details Due