[A Preliminary Analysis of Total Quality Management Approach in Improving The Project Management Effectiveness]

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Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Background of the study1

Problem Statement2

Purpose of the study3

Aim(s) and Objectives3

Significance of the Study4

Rationale/ Nature of the study5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW7

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY15

Research Hypotheses15

The quality and productivity factors16

Data collection and analysis18

Variable Definitions19

Model specification23

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS & DISCUSSION27

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION37

REFERENCES40

REFERENCES40

Chapter 1: Introduction

Background of the study

Software development is similar to other engineering disciplines: a managed approach is likely to improve the quality of the product; thus manufacturing-based concepts have been introduced into the software development process. Several authors have suggested that quality programs based on a TQM philosophy may be able to address the need for quality improvement in software development. One of its major points was that quality could be achieved by incorporating TQM into the production process, rather than by post-process inspection and testing. The CMM and ISO 9000 standard were both based on TQM principles. Thus one of the central aims of CMM and its update (CMMI) involved quality improvement through a reduction of the number of defects by focusing on improvements to the development process.

Building upon the software quality and productivity literature, we proposed a construct of development quality as the key determinant of software development productivity and product quality. We validated the model by analyzing software project data collected from a benchmarking consortium in India. Our empirical results showed that an increase in development quality was positively associated with increases in both, development productivity and product quality, while we controlled for the impact of other productivity and quality factors. Our work highlighted the importance of concentrating on quality efforts during the development process, which is consistent with the use of Total Quality principles in manufacturing.

Problem Statement

The adoption of a quality program requires a substantial investment for an organization. Therefore, it is important to evaluate its ROI. Other than fulfilling its original objective “to enhance product quality”, it is important to know how the quality development process can affect software productivity. Many factors can affect software development productivity, such as tool usage, development methodology, complexity, and size; however, there has been relatively little literature discussing the role of software quality in this context.

Contradicting views of the quality-productivity relationship have been discussed. On the one hand, many developers believe that there is a trade-off between productivity and quality, since quality enhancement requires additional effort, it may reduce productivity. On the other hand, quality experts assert that quality is a driver of productivity, because reducing the number of product defects can decrease the amount of rework, thereby enhancing productivity. There is anecdotal evidence that some software developers employing process-centered quality practices experience improved productivity. Existing empirical models on the quality-productivity relationship in software development have not investigated the effects of the quality-level obtained during code development on post-release product quality and development productivity, which is central to TQM-based efforts.

To address this, we developed and empirically validated a model that incorporated TQM philosophy into the quality-productivity relationship of software ...