CQP Intermediate Level

Quality Control, Assurance and Performance Management flashcards

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How does quality control differ from quality assurance?

Quality control fulfils requirements: it is detective, works on the product or output, happens during and after production, and asks whether this item conforms. Its cost is appraisal. Quality assurance provides confidence that requirements will be fulfilled: it is preventive, works on the process and system, happens before and throughout, and asks whether the process can produce conforming items. Its cost is prevention.

What are first, second and third party audits, and who does each benefit?

First party: the organisation audits itself (the clause 9.2 internal audit). Benefits the organisation. Second party: a customer audits its supplier, for example an export buyer auditing a flower farm. Benefits the customer. Third party: an independent certification body, such as a KENAS-accredited one auditing to KS ISO 9001. Benefits the market. A regulatory audit (KEBS, NEMA, Pharmacy and Poisons Board) verifies compliance under statutory powers.

What happens at each stage of PDCA applied to improvement, and which two points earn the marks?

Plan: define the problem with data, find the root cause, plan the countermeasure and predict the result. Do: implement on a small scale first and collect data. Check: compare the actual result with the prediction. Act: if it worked, standardise it; if not, return to Plan. The marks: the prediction makes Check meaningful, and standardising at Act holds the gain. Act is the stage organisations omit.

What is total quality management, and how does it differ from KS ISO 9001?

TQM is a management approach centred on quality, based on the participation of all members of an organisation, aiming at long-term success through customer satisfaction and benefits to members and society. ISO 9001 is a set of auditable requirements for a system; TQM is a philosophy with no certifiable specification. A firm can be certified and not practise TQM, and practise TQM without certification.

How does performance management differ from performance appraisal?

Performance management is a continuous process of identifying, measuring and developing the performance of individuals and teams and aligning it with the organisation's strategic goals. Performance appraisal is the periodic evaluation of an individual's performance: one event within that process, not a synonym for it. An annual form alone omits what changes performance: agreeing expectations at the start and feedback during the period.

How do correction and corrective action apply to a missed performance target?

Correction: requiring the individual to make up the shortfall next period. Corrective action: establishing why it was missed (was the objective achievable, were resources provided, did the competence exist) and removing that cause. Systems that only correct produce the same shortfall every period, exactly as quality systems that only correct produce the same defect.

What was Deming's objection to performance appraisal?

He listed evaluation by performance, merit rating or annual review among his seven deadly diseases. Appraisal attributes to the person variation that belongs to the system, ranks people on differences that are statistically indistinguishable, destroys teamwork by making colleagues competitors, and encourages short-term achievement of what is measured.

How does a key risk indicator differ from a key performance indicator?

A key performance indicator reports achievement. A key risk indicator gives early warning that achievement is becoming less likely. Example for a water utility: against non-revenue water (KPI), the proportion of accounts billed on estimated rather than actual readings (KRI), which predicts a rise before it shows in the billing data.

What does SMART stand for, and what is the commonest failure in applying it?

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound. SMARTER adds Evaluated and Reviewed. The commonest failure is measurability without a baseline: 'achieve 95 per cent satisfaction' cannot be read as improvement, maintenance or retreat unless the current figure is known.

What must be in place for people empowerment to be real?

Authority: a defined right to act, such as stopping a process or holding a batch. Competence: the skill to judge correctly (clause 7.2). Information: the specification, the trend and the customer's requirement. Psychological safety: reporting a problem attracts investigation, not blame (Deming's 'drive out fear'). Accountability: the empowered person accounts for the decision. Stop-the-line authority is the strongest single test.

What are Ishikawa's seven basic quality control tools?