International Standards of Quality Management in Construction

Construction quality management is an important element of management and project delivery. The consideration of quality standards can be beneficial for organizations to overcome the issues like rework, improvement in cost and delay in the completion of construction project. The report will focus on quality standards of QiC building construction organization and provide the information related to lacking in quality management. The report will provide information about international standards of quality management in construction such as clause 7 and 6. Moreover, the report will analyze the support of top management in the development and implementation of quality management system.

A) Document control procedure clause 7

The international standard of the quality management system for construction involves clause 7. According to this clause, the communication of information and documentation is essential for understanding the process and supply of the resources. The consideration of both internal and external communication and documentation is essential for evaluating the support that required for managing the operations. For QiC management, it is important to apply this clause to conducting the audits, creating awareness and increasing the communication with the team members. The document control procedure as per the clause 7, the QiC management needs to focus on the requirements of resources to establish the quality measures as per the role and responsibilities of the individual in the construction process. Moreover, the clause suggests maintaining the document for training and applicable actions that can be taken by the organization for maintaining the quality of the construction operations. The documentation of performance and specific discipline will improve the quality and effectiveness of the QiC construction.

B) Control of record clause 7 

According to clause 7 of ISO 9000 quality management system for construction, the QiC management needs to keep the control over the following documents for improving the control.

Table 1: Control record

C) Process diagram

The QiC management could use the above process diagram for developing the quality management system that will be beneficial for encouraging the quality of construction projects. The process will improve understanding related to customer needs and help to manage the resources and material according to requirements. Moreover, the process diagram will also help to understand the scope and objectives of the project according to international standard clause 4.   

D) Risk and opportunities according to clause 6

The international clause 6 of quality management in construction involves the process of addressing the risk and opportunities in the project. According to this clause, QiC management needs to develop the plan and keep the record of the risks in the project like process breakdown, defects and lack of resources as well as the delay in the supply of the raw material that influences the quality outcome for the particular project. Apart from that, the clause provides the emphasis on the opportunities of the construction project that include the improvement in the production, establishment of high quality working environment and minimization of waste. The proper consideration of clause 6 opportunities will be beneficial for the QiC management to manage the risks and implementation of risk reduction measures. As per the flowchart, the proper analysis and establishment of scope will help to improve the knowledge about the potential risks and opportunities in the project as well as the development of the plan.

Clause 7: Communication and Documentation

The objectives of clause 6 for identifying opportunities and risks involve the establishment of quality process, performance review of human resources, proper follow-up of the suppliers and standards of raw material to maintain the reliability and validity in the project. Furthermore, the clause suggests for the planning of the changes that might affect the outcome. The review of documents and quality management process to meet the outcome will be beneficial for QiC to improve the quality initiatives and measurements.

E) Importance of management support 

According to the given case scenario of the QiC, the management is facing issues related to supervision and delivery of the raw material which affects the quality of the construction project in a negative manner. The project manager of the company is looking to develop and implement the quality management system according to international standards. There are some challenges in the planning and implementation of this system such as lack of support from the top management of the QiC. The workers are lacking in knowledge about the use of international standards and utilization of the resources. The training and development initiatives are required from the top management of the QiC. The involvement and support of top management are essential for decision making and determination of the process for analyzing and implementing the quality management system. However, the top management of QiC is taking part in the planning and implementation of a quality management system according to international standards but lacking in consideration of clauses. The major issues that affect the organizational performance and quality involve the gap in communication with the supplier, technical deficiencies and human errors.

If the top management not involved in development and implementation of the quality management system according to international level will affect the documentation process, improvement in the existing functions and supervision of the operations related to ongoing projects of construction. Moreover, the lack of support from top management also affects the engagement of resources and optimum utilization of raw material and other tools. For example, the QiC was lacking in the delivery of steel components as the top management was not concerned about the specification of quality measures and supervision of the site of the construction. These are some major consequences as top management of organization does not take part in the quality management decision making and training to the staff members.

Of all the quality gurus, the studies of Dr. Edwards Deming and Philip Crosby were found to be most readable and appropriate to be used for overcoming the issues of QiC effectively. It has been found that the gurus had provided with specific quality management ideas and strategies to be implemented in the business and establish higher levels of quality standards.  The organization could make use of the 14 point being stated by Dr. Edwards Deming for total quality management and meet the desired goals. The work of quality guru would provide the management of QiC with the idea to establish the continual enhancement by redefining the purposes of the company. It is very important that the company survive, competes and replenish its resources consistently in order to acquire growth and augmentation within its operations.

Clause 6: Addressing Risk and Opportunities

According to Deming, QiC must stop the dependencies over inspections to attain quality products. The management must ensure to enhance the process for production, planning and other services on a consistent basis so that to maintain the quality standards within the business. It even requires initiating on the job training to the employees to eradicate the problem of inadequate knowledge about product quality which resulted in the delivery of unsatisfactory standards in products despite having inspections and testing at the workplace. The management of QiC must also establish an enthusiastic program of education and self-improvement for the employees this would make them work with more efficiently and ensure to meet the set standards of quality within the products.

Based on the work of Philip Crosby, it has been identified that QiC must also focus upon the quality leadership to overcome the problems and establish effective quality management system within its business framework. Unlike Deming who mainly focused to reduce the defects, Crosby states to focus upon the prevention of the defects.  The management of QiC must adopt a practice where each and every individual or organization takes a responsibility for acquiring effective quality at the workplace. The quality guru had initiated with the Zero defect program which mainly focuses upon doing it right the first time with the maximum acceptable output.  As per the contributions made by Crosby in quality management, QiC could implement the ideas such as prevention of the defects instead of inspection after the production would also help in achieving quality standards within the business. It is important for the managers of QiC to exhibit that the higher performance standards could lead the operations towards perfection and to Zero defects.

The quality guru believes that the goals of organizations must be Zero defects which would highly contribute to enhancing the quality standards eventually.  By bringing these concepts into considerations, the management of QiC would be able to establish effective quality measure and would eradicate the problems faced within the framework.  With the execution of an effective quality management system, QiC would be able to overcome the issues of untimely delivery, unsatisfactory products, lack of knowledge among employees and many more. The organization would be able to cope up with the issues and meet the set quality goals effectively.

Conclusion

From the above study, it has been considered that the quality management system is having a significant impact on the approach of the organization in the construction industry. The report has provided information about the international standards clause that used for managing the quality of the construction project. The report has developed and presented the process diagram that can be useful for QiC for managing the quality system. The consideration of these clauses will be beneficial for the organization to overcome the issues related to the supervision, delay in the supply and training and development of the staff members.

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