ABSTRACT
This chapter emphasizes the importance of and need for quality management through the project life cycle. It traces the evolution of quality management and concepts from the 1930s with Shewhart's process model to the currently in vogue Six Sigma version and organization examples of quality cultures. The chapter examines the basic focus of the various quality program targets through this period, a high-level perspective emerges. Major Project Management Body of Knowledge Guide components of this knowledge area contain defined processes for quality planning, quality assurance, and quality control. The definition of quality offered here is derived from a combination of four disciplines—Philosophy, Economics, Marketing, and Operations Management. Quality planning involves identifying the products at the start of the project and deciding the best steps to verify and validate them so that they meet the standards. The guiding principle behind organizational quality involves creating policies that support specific business values.
