Quality Assurance In It Project Management Critical Thinking Example

Quality standards that should be used in the hiring decision

Quality standards provides specifications, requirements, characteristics or guidelines that can be used consistently so as to ensure that services are rendered are of good quality as expected. Therefore, so as to hire project management course instructors some quality standards should be followed in order to get qualified individuals in that position who can deliver to the expectations.
The quality standards that should be used in this instructor process selection include; the academic qualifications of that person, the qualification includes the degrees that person has been awarded and the major subjects in those degrees and of course the university which those degrees were attained. The candidate should have performed exemplary in the related field and the degrees should be from a reputable university. The languages that the candidate is conversant with and can read, speak, and also write those languages. The individual should be able to speak fluently in those specified languages for easy communication when performing the assigned tasks. It should also be considered if he or she holds any Scholastic Honors such as honorary, scholarships, or undergraduate and Fraternities-Graduate. Another quality standard is whether the individual holds any membership in any learned professional societies. Does the individual have any books, articles, papers that he or she has published or any other kind of work done by him or her? All the above mentioned qualities of instructors are very instrumental in helping in the improvement of standards of the organization and at the same time improving the efficiency of the instructors in the organization and also enhance their performance to meet the expectations of the organization (Hammond, 2000).

How to handle instructors who do not meet these standards

Some of the instructors who do not meet these standards mostly under perform in their responsibilities. The ability to identify and tackle poor performance is therefore a timely, effective fashion is an important management skill. The consequences are costly. Where there is poor performance, the cause of the problem should be identified. Once the root cause of unsatisfactory performance has been isolated, the problems’ solution should become apparent. If the cause of the problem can be removed or reduced, likely the instructor’s performance will improve. The second step is to nip problems in the bud; the problem should be dealt with as soon as it is noticed (Smarta, 2013).
The third stage is creating a performance improvement plan. Precise performance targets capable of being measured are agreed and set. For instance the employee should date and sign the performance improvement plan, accepting that he has read and understood its requirements. The suggestions of the employee should be included in the performance improvement plan. Performance improvement plan and formal sanctions should run parallel. Positive outcomes of completing successful PIP along with negative consequences of not meeting the criteria should be listed, then take action. The next stage is monitoring the progress and then provide feedback regularly. Reviews should be conducted at weekly interval in order to keep track of the progress. If the employee starts to perform better will be encouraging to the two parties, the focus should be on the positive in order to increase performance and motivation. Lastly the employee is given at least three months to improve depending on the circumstances. If the performance does not improve according to the standards, action can be taken which may include termination (Smarta, 2013).

References

Smarta (2013). Five-part plan for managing problem employee work performance. Retrieved 29 January, 2015 from <http://www.smarta.com/advice/employees/hrm/five-part-plan-for-managing-problem-employee-work-performance/>
Hammond L. (2000). Teacher Evaluation in the Organizational Context: A Review of the Literature, in House, E.R., (Ed.) New Directions in Educational Evaluation. London: United Kingdom.
Lucien B, Bruno C, Lee H, & Brian M. (2007). Implementing and using quality assurance: strategy and practice. European University Association Reichert Consulting. Zurich: Switzerland