Achieving high standards of quality in products, services, and the manner in which they are generated and delivered, has never been more important; it is not an optional extra for any organisation. There is no one universal answer to this challenge. The true professional will understand the many possibilities and be capable of selecting and mapping a way forward appropriate to a given situation.
The Body of Quality Knowledge is regularly reviewed and updated by the Professional Policy Board of the Chartered Quality Institute to reflect changes in the profession and Issue 2 has now been released. The current revision has rationalised the original version into 6 modules, removing duplications, ensuring a logical flow from level I to level II and taking account of progress in the profession. Users of the Body of Quality Knowledge are invited to submit comments to the Secretary of the Professional Policy Board at mdebenham@thecqi.org.
A basic quality professional needs a combination of knowledge, understanding, and the ability to apply sections 2 to 5, plus an appreciation of the themes in Sections 1 and 6. The more mature professional will, in addition to a profound knowledge of some aspects of 2-5, have also a thorough grasp of Sections 1 and 6 and their implications.
Module 1: Concepts of Quality, its History and Development
Module 2: Customers, Suppliers, other Stakeholders and Markets
Module 3: Interactions of Organisations and People
Module 4: Technologies and Techniques
Module 5: Laws, Standards, Models, Associations and Professional Bodies
Module 6: Corporate Strategy
What is the Body of Quality Knowledge?
According to Dr. Juran every profession needs a body of knowledge as one of the foundations that defines the profession and provides the basis for regulation of the profession.
The Body of Quality Knowledge is the framework that defines the current boundaries of knowledge of the quality profession within the UK. It is set out as simple statements of knowledge that can be used and developed by user groups such as the educational establishment, training establishments, membership and those organisations that need to define guidance or competencies for their quality professionals.
It is not intended to be the repository of quality knowledge, which can be said to be the collection of papers, treatise, books, educational and training programmes that have been developed over the years by leading members of the profession. The CQI's Body of Quality Knowledge is revised and administered by the Professional Policy Board which accepts requests for revision as and when they arise from user groups and other interested parties.
Level I of the Body of Quality Knowledge provides an overview of the current boundaries of the knowledge of the profession. Level II expands on Level I to the extent considered useful for the user groups, i.e. Level II is not intended to be restrictive nor unduly prescriptive in limiting user groups that wish to extend the current boundaries of the profession's knowledge.
Note: The Body of Quality Knowledge is not a syllabus, nor a set of competencies, nor a programme of training. Such documents are the responsibility of the appropriate user groups, and will be a further development arising from Levels I and II
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Level I: Summary Description
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Level II: Expansion
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Module 1: Concepts of Quality, its History and Development
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1.1 | The history and tradition of inspection, quality control and quality assurance up to c1970 | The development of quality from craft and tradition up to the widespread development of quality systems. Historical perspective of the development and use of standards in regulating quality (Pre-Roman, European Guilds, Gold/Silver Marks etc)
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1.2 | The evolution of quality thinking, post c1970 | The development of systems thinking; new approaches to quality management; quality management standards; definitions of quality and quality assurance; the introduction of third-party certification schemes.
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1.3 | The influence of "Quality Gurus" | Deming, Juran, Feigenbaum, Ishikawa, Taguchi, Crosby, Shingo, Ohno; modern leading edge thinkers.
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1.4 | Development of formal quality systems into the service sectors, professions and other (non-manufacturing) businesses | Service element of product supply (specification, customisation, after sales, etc.); service typology; terminology and definition; public, private and voluntary sectors and professions.
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1.5 | Continual improvement | Benefits; systemic and corporate improvement; tools and methods.
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1.6 | The quality infrastructure - roles of the different bodies | Government, accreditation bodies, certification bodies, standards bodies, regulatory bodies, professional bodies, customers, consultants; interfaces.
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Level I: Summary Description
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Level II: Expansion
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Module 2: Customers, Suppliers, other Stakeholders and Markets
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2.1 | Markets | Internal and external markets; market analysis
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2.2 | Customers | Internal and external customers; purchasers, end-users and consumers; managing customer relationships; customer needs and expectations.
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2.3 | Suppliers | Internal and external suppliers; company and personal suppliers; managing supplier relationships; supplier needs and expectations.
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2.4 | Stakeholders | Identifying stakeholders; managing stakeholder relationships; stakeholder needs and expectations (and conflicts).
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2.5 | Satisfaction and loyalty | The customer focused organisation; measuring and/or monitoring satisfaction; complaints and complaint management; data gathering and analysis; customer loyalty; product recall, replacement and disaster management.
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Level I: Summary Description
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Level II: Expansion
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Module 3: Interactions of Organisations and People
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3.1 | Standards and ethics | Need for organisational values and for codes of conduct, professional principles and business ethics.
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3.2 | Corporate structure and culture | The importance of corporate structure, values and culture in an organisation. Global cultural differences.
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3.3 | Roles and responsibilities of corporate management | Roles and responsibilities of corporate management in relation to managing the business or organisation; public, private and voluntary sectors.
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3.4 | Communication | Communication theory; methods of communication and their effectiveness.
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3.5 | Management infrastructure | Design, implementation and maintenance of an infrastructure appropriate to the organisation's goals, methods of production and service delivery.
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3.6 | Role of the individual | Job design and specification; responsibility; authority and accountability; competence levels; professional bodies and institutions.
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3.7 | Leadership, empowerment, motivation and teamworking | Leading and managing teams; leadership styles; motivational theory; team selection; team building; delegation of authority; setting targets; facilitation.
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3.8 | Awareness raising – learning, training and mentoring | Training specialists and non-specialists; self learning; continuing professional development (CPD); mentoring; coaching; validation; knowledge theories; training effectiveness.
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3.9 | Performance management | Staff supervision; reviews; competence; personal development plans; promotion; setting objectives; financial and motivational reward.
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3.10 | Impact of technology on people | Specifying and selecting appropriate technologies; introduction of technology to improve the product/process/service, the conditions and the working environment; effects of technology on people and the environment; managing stress.
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3.11 | Quality Consultancy - its variety and roles | Internal/external consultancy role; advantages/disadvantages to organisations; management of or involvement in consultancy activities; selection of the most appropriate consultant.
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Level I: Summary Description
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Level II: Expansion
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Module 4: Technologies and Techniques
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4.1 | Specifying, designing and developing processes, products and services | Input requirements, for example customer, statutory, regulatory, technical, production, service or other specifications. Transforming input requirements into specification, processes and defined systems using appropriate quality tools and methodologies.
Verification and validation of the specification, design, process and system outputs.
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4.2 | Process analysis and improvement | Mapping, process analysis, benchmarking and competitor analysis using the appropriate improvement tools and methodologies.
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4.3 | Problem diagnosis and improvement tools | Selection of appropriate tools including risk assessment, process capability, statistical process control (SPC), reliability, maintainability, life cycle, product/service failure techniques and other quality control tools.
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4.4 | Measurement, assessment, monitoring and control | Data collection and analysis; use of statistics, failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), inspection methods and techniques, attributes & variables, quantitative & qualitative techniques.
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4.5 | New materials, technologies and techniques | Use of existing quality tools in new technology, for example design of experiments, Taguchi, prototyping, piloting and other tools. Assessment and development of new quality techniques.
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4.6 | Managing continual improvement | Recognising the evolutionary nature of continual improvement techniques. The influence of culture. Selection of appropriate continual improvement tools and techniques to improve the business, products and services. Evolutionary versus breakthrough improvement. Change management.
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Level I: Summary Description
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Level II: Expansion
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Module 5: Laws, Standards, Models, Associations and Professional Bodies
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5.1 | Legislation | Legal framework; consumer protection, enforcement agencies; EU directives; employment directives, product liability, legal requirements.
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5.2 | Standards development | Sources and use of standards: national, EU and international
Process of development, development bodies and committees. The development, use and role of corporate standards.
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5.3 | Management system standards | Application of management and other relevant standards, specifications and guidelines into an organisation (e.g. ISO 9000 series, ISO 14000 series & OHSAS 18001, sector standards, ISO 9001 derivatives)
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5.4 | Compliance management and enforcement | Regulated industries and professions; National, EU and international self regulation, CE, kite marking, government legislation, licensing. Methods of enforcement, accreditation & certification.
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5.5 | Excellence models and awards | International, for example EFQM, Baldrige, Deming Prize, CQI; national, for example Charter Mark, IIP; use to encourage improvement or benchmarking.
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5.6 | Audit, self assessment and appraisal
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Internal/external audit; ISO 19011; certification processes; self assessment to the variou excellence models; capability assessment. Auditor certification schemes.
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5.7 | Industry associations | Their role and purpose.
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5.8 | Specialist professional bodies | Their role and purpose.
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Level I: Summary Description
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Level II: Expansion
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Module 6: Corporate Strategy
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6.1 | Strategic management | Vision, values and mission; business environment; quality planning within the corporate strategy; goals, objectives and principles; customer focus strategy; business plans; stakeholder concerns.
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6.2 | Corporate governance | Governance structures and accountability; ethics; AGMs; audits; management reviews; committees and reporting structures; corporate citizenship.
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6.3 | Elements of corporate strategy | Corporate structure; operational processes and systems; learning from success and failure; managing introduction of new technology; assessment and management of risk; managing corporate business change; initiative fatigue.
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6.4 | Management systems.
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Designing, installing and maintaining management systems to meet organisational needs; application of management system models; integrated management systems (holistic approach): quality, environment, health & safety, finance, human resources, IT, data protection, knowledge management.
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6.5 | Impact of corporate strategy on people | Different management styles; different corporate cultures; quality of working life; involvement of the whole workforce; performance management.
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6.6 | Managing quality across the (global) organisation, its stakeholders, suppliers and customers | Global considerations; impact of different cultures; international partnerships; working relationships with (global) stakeholders, suppliers and customers; global communication.
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6.7 | Quality in its total business concept | Models and value chains; sustaining the quality drive; contribution from supporting functions; corporate vs. departmental management; departmental vs. process management; business process change; decision making; benchmarking; fitness for purpose; future quality developments. |
6.8 | Corporate social responsibility | Accountability; reporting; system integration; stakeholder involvement; sustainability; ethical supply chains; environmental and social impact. |
