An Effective Quality Management Tool
Fishbone diagram, which is also referred to as Ishikawa, is one of the essential quality management tools (Schwalbe, 2013). It can be applicable in a variety of settings. It enables a project manager, a team or any employee to identify major causes of the problem. It is noteworthy that the teamwork will be the most appropriate when using the fishbone diagram. When using this technique, it is important to identify the problem, which is an effect.
The problem is written in the right corner (of a whiteboard or even a piece of paper), and a horizontal line is drawn. The procedure involves brainstorming of possible categories of the causes. Since it may be difficult to identify such categories at times, it is possible to use the following: methods, equipment, manpower, materials, measurement and environment. The branches are drawn and labelled with the headings mentioned above. The picture resembles a fishbone. After that, the team brainstorms all causes. The major questions to be answered in this case is “Why?”. The causes are added to the chart. It is essential to make sure that all categories are fully considered.
An Example of Quality Leadership
Analysis of Jobs’s approaches and ideas may seem ubiquitous, but he is the best figure to consider when it comes to quality management. Steve Jobs managed to found the company that is still one of the leaders in the sphere of software, consumer electronics and services. Isaacson (2012) stresses that one of the primary elements of Jobs’ approach was the focus. The transformational leader was focused on a limited number of products or goals.
He insisted on his employees’ focus as well. When it comes to quality leadership, being focused is essential as any detail can lead to malfunctions or poor quality that will lead to customers’ dissatisfaction. Steve Jobs understood that, and he made his employees focus on quality and innovation. The products could not be simply “adequate” but they had to be “great” (Isaacson, 2012, p. 95). Therefore, it is possible to employ this approach when the quality leadership is involved.
Ethical Dilemmas
It is possible to note that the project manager may face a variety of ethical dilemmas. One of these ethical issues arises at the stage of planning. Thus, some members of the team (or project managers) may invest insufficient care as compared to the stage of implementation (Alkenani, 2013-2014). In other words, at the stage of planning, employees may be less focused and may put insufficient consideration, which inevitably leads to flaws in the plan and, as a result, problems during its implementation. Apart from that, ethical issues arise when project manager’s values differ from those of the company as well as the entire industry.
For example, the use of illegal copies of some software results in numerous ethical or even legal issues. Clearly, privacy violation is a common ethical issue project managers may face. Hence, the project manager has to decide whether he/she can violate the employee’s privacy (checking employee’s communication) to ensure the best performance and success of the project (Alkenani, 2013-2014). Many ethical problems occur when quality is involved. Thus, the project manager may focus on deadlines and skip the stage of quality testing (or some procedures within this process), which will lead to malfunctions in the future. Clearly, project managers have to remain ethical and concentrate on quality rather than deadlines or associated pressures.
Reference List
Alkenani, A. (2013-2014). Ethical dilemmas and use of code of ethics in software project management. International Journal of Management and Commerce Innovations, 2(1), 44-48.
Isaacson, W. (2012). The real leadership lessons of Steve Jobs. Harvard Business Review, 90(4), 92-102.
Schwalbe, K. (2013). Information technology project management. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.