The Cost of Quality
MODULE: Managing Operations and the Supply Chain 2015-2016

Module Code

Level

Credit Value

Module Tutor

STRM046

7

20

Luciano Batista

Andrew Gough

Assignment Brief

Assignment title:

The Cost of Quality

Weighting:

40%

Deadline:

20th November 2015

Feedback and Grades due:

18th December 2015

Resit Date

5th May 2016
Purpose of the Assessment

This assignment is designed to enable you to demonstrate an understanding of how the quality of your processes, services and products affects the financial performance of your organisation.

Assessment Task

You will conduct a review of the literature in the subject area of Quality Management. Specifically, you are to identify the origins of the concept of the Cost of Quality and to chart its development up to the present day.

Following your review, you are to critically evaluate the relevance of The Cost of Quality to modern operations management.

You will be expected to illustrate your discussion with examples from the trade press and other authoritative sources.

Finally, you will use a contemporary model to prepare an estimate of the financial impact of the Cost of Quality to a specific company.

Assessment Breakdown

1. Begin your discussion by defining the concept of the Cost of Quality.

(5% of word count)

2. Prepare a literature review, charting the development of the concept of The Cost of Quality from its inception until the present day.

Ensure that you include references to at least 10 peer-reviewed articles. You may also find relevant reviews in the trade press and from other authoritative sources.
(45% of word count)

3. Critically review the assertion that “The Cost of Quality is as relevant today as it has ever been”. Ensure that your discussion presents both sides of the argument and is appropriately referenced.

Two articles have been provided to assist you, but these should not be the only sources that you cite.
(35% of word count)

4. Study the 2012 paper by Fons and prepare an estimate of the Cost of Quality for a company of your own choosing. If you are not able to access the relevant financial data from the company, you may use average earnings data.

How does the result influence your view of the relevance of the Cost of Quality?
(15% of word count)
Assessment Submission

Your assignment must be word processed and presented in a report format with simple sub-headings. The word count should be 2500 words±10% (tables, diagrams and appendices are excluded from the count).

The Assignment report should have a Front Sheet showing your name, your student number, the module name, the module number, the assignment title, the module tutor’s name, the date and the word count.

All assignments will be submitted, graded and fed-back electronically via TURNITIN. Several submissions will be permitted before the hand-in date in order to enable you to refine the content in your report.

If you click on the “Submit Your Work” button on the Module NILE site you will find an explanation of the Submission and Grading Electronically process there.

Feedback on assignments in general will be provided to the whole group when marked assignments are returned.

Feedback on assignments for each individual will be provided electronically via TURNITIN.

A student may obtain an individual appointment to discuss feedback with the tutor.
Assessment Guidance

The quality of your presentation and academic referencing is very important. Please, use the Harvard Referencing System.

Within your assignment your tutor will be looking for content that addresses the key elements of the assignment brief.

Try not to overcomplicate your answers by choosing a company that you know little about. Keep to simple processes that you know well.

Look at the Check list at the end of this brief. It shows the subheadings to use and offers a guide as to how the marks will be distributed.

Use the percentages as a guide to how to distribute your word count.
Academic Practice

This is an individual assignment. The University of Northampton policy will apply in all cases of copying, plagiarism or any other methods by which students have obtained (or attempted to obtain) an unfair advantage.

Support and guidance on assessments and academic integrity can be found from the following resources

SkillsHub: http://skillshub.northampton.ac.uk

CfAP: http://tinyurl.com/UoNCfAP
STRM046 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

ASS’T 1 “Report Content Checklist”

STUDENT NAME AND REPORT FRONT SHEET:

DEFINITION OF THE COST OF QUALITY (5%)

– concept,interpretation

LITERATURE SEARCH (45%)

– research the development of the concept of The Cost of Quality from its inception to the present day

CRITICAL REVIEW (35%)

– covering both sides of the argument, critically review the assertion that “The Cost of Quality is as relevant today as it has always been”.

ESTIMATE THE COST OF QUALITY

– using the template from Fons (2012), provide an estimate of the Cost of Quality for your company or an average company in your sector

CONCLUSION(15%)

– does the result influence your view of the relevance of the cost of quality?

MAX WORD COUNT 2500 +/- 10%
Learning outcomes

The learning outcomes being addressed through this assignment are:

Knowledge and Understanding:

a) Investigate and critically evaluate the range of concepts and techniques available to operations managers so as to enable effective business decision making.

b) Desmonstrate conceptual and practical understanding of the opportunities and constraints that organisational characteristics place on operations managers and on operational decision making in the supply chain context.

c) Critically discuss and evaluate the theoretical and real life applications of topics in the indicative content, analysing and evaluating the benefits they offer to an organisation and the challenges to be overcome in implementing them.

Subject- Specific Skills

d) Critically evaluate the business relevance of the concept/topic studied, with a view to understanding the value of its adoption to an organisation.

e) Design evidence-based and contextually relevant solutions to a range of case study scenarios to illustrate the applicability of the Operations Concepts, Tools and Techniques studied.

f) Assess the capacity and capability of an organisation to deliver Quality and Value to Customers both internal and external to the organisation.

Key Skills:

g) Make discriminating use of a range of learning resources in order to solve problems within the domain of International Supply Chain and Operations Management.

h) Communicate the solutions arrived at, and the critical evaluation underlying them.