Quality Management Paper

SECTION

POINTS

DESCRIPTION

Title Page

5

This should contain the title of your quality management research paper; your name, address, e-mail address, and telephone number; the course number and title; the instructor’s name; and the date.

Introduction

10

Provide an overview of the organization and give enough information about the firm to acquaint an unfamiliar person (no matter how famous the company). Identify the company’s name, location, size, and market segment (business line), and give a brief history. Identify the essential issues, events, or actions to help frame the problem and subsequent discussion points.

Problem Statement

15

Identify and clearly state the problem (the quality management issues that you have selected to research).
 
The problem statement should identify the major reason(s) for the recommended direction to implement a quality management initiative.

A well-formed problem statement has the following.

1. Focus: The problem should be well defined and specific enough for the reader to gain a clear idea of the quality management area and the direction of your study and research.
2. Structure: If the problem statement is sufficiently focused, it will provide a basis for decisions about which information to include and which to exclude from the paper.
3. Significance: The significance section is the area where you need to answer the magic question: “So what?” The significance makes your research worth it to the reader. It is great if you can link this more to quality and productivity issues and provide numbers to support your direction.

Literature Review

30

·         You must address a minimum of eight scholarly resources in this section (excluding the textbook).

·         Provide an analysis and synthesis of the various authors from the research that significantly informed your analysis and proposed solutions.

·         You may have found conflicting opinions or theories related to your topic area. Identify and discuss any such contrasts and/or describe in detail significant agreement among your sources.

·         Your literature review should be separate and distinct from your analysis section; it is a summation of your research.

·         The “best practices” of quality management that were covered in the course and that link with your direction should be cited in this section.

·         Use subtitles as necessary.

·         Citations are a must!

Analysis

30

Explore the problem in depth and with scholarly rigor.

Provide an identification and description of the potential root causes of the problem or issue. Be sure not to address only symptoms of your problem. Diagnose the problem and its origins as best you can.

A critical element of this section is to apply the best practices of quality management concepts and models from the textbook, class discussions, and researched sources.

Discuss the concepts, ideas, or insights that are most valuable in helping you make sense of the causes of the problem. Support your analysis with reference to appropriate research material.

Citations are a must!

Recommendations

30

Identify the quality management initiative and recommended direction that you have chosen. Explain its relevance and significance in how it will address the quality management issue(s) and reason(s) that you identified in the problem statement area.

Citations are a must!

Note: Please remember in this section you also need to touch on how you will be able to measure success. Think of the “lead-lag” indicator concepts from the course readings and lectures.

Reflection

10

In this section, you are to reflect on your learning from this assignment. Identify the areas that you found most interesting and also identify areas that you feel will assist you most in your career.

References

10

You must use no fewer than eight library resources outside your textbook.

All references must be cited in two places: within the body of your paper and on a separate reference list. Choose references judiciously and cite them accurately. Cite all sources using APA format.

Please note: Citing an author’s work within your text documents your research, identifies the source for readers, and enables readers to locate the source of information in the alphabetical reference list at the end of the paper.

To use the ideas or words of another person without crediting the source is plagiarism. Plagiarism in its purest form involves copying passages either verbatim or nearly verbatim, with no direct acknowledgment of the source. The most common form of plagiarism is to paraphrase information from your source material. Paraphrasing does not relieve you of the obligation to provide proper identification of source data.

The best way to avoid plagiarism is to make sure all quotes, ideas, or conclusions not your own are given proper acknowledgment in your text. A key thought to remember is “If you did not write it, cite it!”

Total

140