Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Apply continuous quality improvement philosophies, methods and tools to enhance the competitive edge of an organization in a global economy.

Develop a quality improvement plan that will enhance productivity in a diverse work environment.

Apply an understanding of the impact personal responsibility has in problem solving and in problem resolution within a quality initiative organization.

Evaluate managerial and supervisory skills conducive to continuous quality improvement.

Apply individual and /or group skill-building activities such as role-plays, case studies, or other exercises geared toward critical analysis of course concepts.

Use written assignments or oral reports designed to integrate course material into personal experience or experiences of others.

Complete exams comprising of essay and/or objective questions, or an individual and/or team project or paper requiring integration application, and critical examination of course concepts, issues, and themes.

Competencies and Skills

Implement an improved process or procedure into the organization.

Create a process flow chart

Write a situation, target, and a proposal

Identify the inefficiencies in a process and recommend improvements

Concepts:

Continuous improvement

Improving productivity

“Plan, Do, Check, Act” (PDCA)

Quality leadership

Team problem solving

Problem solving process.

Themes:

Continuous improvement is both a philosophy and a method for improving profitability of the workplace.

Issues:

Employees become entrenched in the comfort of “the way we’ve always done it” and resist change.

Tasks and processes need to be reassessed periodically to embrace efficiencies due to technology or other opportunities.