Quality Management Principles Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Quality Managers, Operations Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-QP-072

Before you join: Participants should have experience working in an operational, project, service delivery, quality, compliance or process improvement role.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Quality management is not limited to inspection or compliance. It is the disciplined design and control of processes so products, services and customer interactions meet defined requirements consistently. Poorly managed quality creates rework, complaints, delays, warranty costs, audit findings and loss of trust. Strong quality management makes variation visible, assigns process ownership, prevents recurring failures and turns customer feedback into measurable improvement priorities.

This course examines the principles that underpin an effective quality management system and shows how to apply them to operational processes. Participants work with the seven quality management principles reflected in ISO 9001, the process approach, risk-based thinking, customer requirements, performance measurement, corrective action and continual improvement. They learn to map processes, define critical-to-quality requirements, analyse variation, investigate root causes, plan controls, evaluate suppliers and prepare evidence for internal audits and management review.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with sector-based cases, facilitated group analysis, process-mapping work, data interpretation, audit simulations and improvement-planning activities. Cases can be adapted for banking operations, public services, healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, energy, telecommunications and NGO programmes. Participants leave with a practical quality management toolkit, including a process map, quality measures, corrective action record, risk analysis and 90-day quality improvement plan. A certificate of completion is issued to participants who complete the course.

The course is suited to managers, quality professionals, process owners and operational specialists who need to improve service reliability, reduce defects, meet customer requirements or support an ISO-aligned quality management system.

What you will be able to do

  • Apply the seven quality management principles to assess operational processes and management practices
  • Map end-to-end processes using SIPOC diagrams, process maps and defined control points
  • Translate voice-of-customer evidence into critical-to-quality requirements and service measures
  • Measure process performance using operational definitions, check sheets, Pareto charts and control charts
  • Investigate recurring failures using 5 Whys, fishbone diagrams, FMEA and corrective action records
  • Develop risk-based controls, acceptance criteria and escalation procedures for critical processes
  • Conduct process-focused internal audits using ISO 9001 requirements and objective evidence
  • Produce a 90-day quality improvement plan with owners, measures, milestones and review routines

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Ability to diagnose process weaknesses before they become customer-facing failures
  • Practical evidence for leading quality improvement discussions with operational teams
  • Confidence using ISO 9001 concepts without treating quality as paperwork
  • Reusable methods for investigating complaints, defects and recurring rework
  • A structured improvement plan for an immediate workplace quality priority

For your organisation

  • Fewer recurring defects through stronger root-cause analysis and corrective action
  • Clearer process ownership, acceptance criteria and escalation routes
  • More reliable customer service through measurable quality requirements and feedback loops
  • Better audit readiness through traceable evidence, risk controls and management review inputs
  • Reduced cost of poor quality from rework, failures, complaints and avoidable inspection

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can apply the seven quality management principles to assess how a process is directed, controlled and improved.

  • Seven ISO quality management principles and their operational implications
  • Customer focus translated into voice-of-customer requirements and service measures
  • Leadership commitments, quality policy, objectives, and accountability structures
  • Engagement of people through competence, awareness, consultation, and recognition
  • Process approach linking inputs, activities, outputs, controls, and owners
  • Evidence-based decisions using operational data, variation signals, and customer feedback
  • Relationship management with suppliers, partners, regulators, and internal customers

Participants can define process boundaries, quality requirements, controls and objectives before operational delivery begins.

  • Quality planning within the Plan-Do-Check-Act improvement cycle discipline
  • SIPOC diagrams defining suppliers, inputs, process boundaries, outputs, and customers
  • Process maps showing handoffs, rework loops, decisions, and control points
  • Service blueprints separating frontstage actions, backstage work, and support processes
  • CTQ trees converting customer needs into measurable quality requirements
  • Quality objectives expressed through targets, owners, measures, and review dates
  • Documented process criteria, acceptance standards, and escalation thresholds

Participants can collect and interpret quality data to distinguish normal variation from meaningful process signals.

  • Operational definitions that make defect counts repeatable between assessors
  • Data collection plans specifying source, frequency, sample, and responsibility
  • Check sheets designed for stratification by product, shift, location, and cause
  • Pareto charts distinguishing vital few contributors from trivial many
  • Run charts and control charts separating signals from common-cause variation
  • Process capability indices Cp and Cpk interpreted against specification limits
  • Measurement system analysis using bias, repeatability, reproducibility, and resolution

Participants can convert customer feedback, complaints and service expectations into controlled quality requirements.

  • Voice-of-customer sources: complaints, interviews, surveys, observation, and usage data
  • Customer journey maps locating failure points, waiting, and unmet expectations
  • Complaint classification by severity, frequency, root cause, and resolution time
  • Net Promoter Score limits and complementary customer satisfaction measures
  • Service-level agreements defining response, resolution, communication, and acceptance requirements
  • Closed-loop complaint handling with ownership, containment, investigation, and customer confirmation
  • Translating feedback trends into corrective action priorities and quality objectives

Participants can identify quality risks, contain failures and establish corrective actions that address verified causes.

  • Risk-based thinking applied to process failures, stakeholders, and planned changes
  • FMEA scoring severity, occurrence, detection, and prioritized treatment actions
  • Failure containment actions protecting customers while investigation proceeds
  • 5 Whys and fishbone diagrams testing causal hypotheses with evidence
  • Corrective action records distinguishing correction, cause removal, and effectiveness review
  • Change control assessing quality impacts before altered methods go live
  • Risk registers connecting controls, owners, due dates, and residual risk

Participants can select and apply structured improvement methods to reduce chronic defects and process instability.

  • DMAIC phases applied to chronic defects and unstable process performance
  • A3 problem-solving structure from background through follow-up verification
  • Cause-and-effect matrices linking input variables to critical output measures
  • Scatter plots, stratification, and hypothesis testing for suspected relationships
  • Standard work documenting best-known method, sequence, timing, and quality checks
  • Poka-yoke controls preventing errors or making errors immediately visible
  • Verification plans confirming improvement results without shifting defects downstream

Participants can establish proportionate controls for suppliers and external providers based on quality risk and performance.

  • Supplier segmentation based on criticality, risk, spend, and substitutability
  • Supplier quality requirements built into specifications, contracts, and purchase orders
  • Incoming inspection plans using risk, sampling, and acceptance criteria
  • Supplier scorecards tracking defect rates, delivery, responsiveness, and corrective actions
  • Acceptance sampling concepts: lot quality, sample size, and decision risks
  • Supplier corrective action requests requiring containment, analysis, and verified closure
  • Partnership reviews addressing shared process improvements and recurring performance issues

Participants can prepare for and conduct process-focused audits, document findings and support management review decisions.

  • ISO 9001:2015 clause structure and evidence expected during audits
  • Audit programmes based on process importance, performance, change, and risk
  • Audit questions tracing requirements through records, observation, and interviews
  • Objective evidence distinguished from opinion, assumption, and isolated anecdote
  • Nonconformity statements citing requirement, evidence, and clear gap description
  • Root-cause follow-up testing corrective action effectiveness after implementation
  • Management review inputs, decisions, action tracking, and resource commitments

Participants can align quality objectives, reporting routines and governance arrangements with organisational priorities.

  • Quality policy deployment linking strategic priorities to measurable process objectives
  • Hoshin Kanri catchball aligning targets, ownership, resources, and review cycles
  • Balanced scorecards combining customer, process, people, and financial quality measures
  • Quality cost categories: prevention, appraisal, internal failure, external failure
  • Dashboard design using leading indicators, lagging indicators, targets, and thresholds
  • Tiered daily management escalating abnormalities through defined response routines
  • Quality culture mechanisms reinforcing reporting, learning, recognition, and accountability

Participants can create an actionable quality improvement plan for a selected workplace process or service issue.

  • Current-state quality diagnostic covering principles, processes, measures, risks, and governance
  • Prioritisation matrix ranking improvement opportunities by impact, effort, and urgency
  • 90-day quality improvement plan with milestones, owners, measures, and reviews
  • Communication plan for policy, procedures, performance results, and improvement changes
  • Competence matrix identifying training needs, authorisation requirements, and coaching actions
  • Control plans sustaining gains through checks, reaction plans, and ownership
  • Personal application commitments tied to a selected workplace quality challenge

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Quality management principles assessment checklist
  2. SIPOC and process mapping template
  3. Critical-to-quality requirements matrix
  4. FMEA and corrective action record templates
  5. Internal audit question checklist
  6. 90-day quality improvement plan

Who should attend

  • Quality Managers — responsible for improving quality system performance and audit readiness
  • Operations Managers — accountable for reducing defects, delays, rework and service failures
  • Process Owners — need controls, measures and clear accountability for end-to-end processes
  • Continuous Improvement Specialists — require structured methods for diagnosing and sustaining improvements
  • Internal Auditors — need to assess process conformity using evidence and risk priorities
  • Project Managers — need to embed quality requirements, controls and acceptance criteria into delivery

Skills and tools covered

Quality management principlesProcess mappingRoot cause analysisStatistical process controlInternal quality auditingQuality improvement planning

Tools and standards

ISO 9001:2015, ISO 19011:2018, Plan-Do-Check-Act, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce quality principles, ISO 9001 concepts and improvement methods. Participants analyse realistic operational cases, map process flows, interpret quality data, classify customer complaints and test root-cause hypotheses. Group exercises apply FMEA, corrective action and audit questioning to common process failures. Simulations demonstrate the difference between inspection, control and prevention. Each participant builds an application plan around a selected process, service issue or quality objective from their own workplace.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience working in an operational, project, service delivery, quality, compliance or process improvement role. They should be comfortable discussing how work moves between teams, how performance is measured and how customer requirements are managed. Familiarity with basic process maps, performance indicators or internal procedures is useful but not essential. No prior ISO auditor qualification, statistical software knowledge, Lean Six Sigma certification or advanced mathematics is required. The course explains the required quality tools and statistical concepts from an applied operational perspective.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should understand the basic work processes, services or projects within their area of responsibility. Previous ISO 9001, Lean Six Sigma or auditing training is not required.

Participants should bring examples of a process, recurring quality issue, customer complaint pattern or performance measure from their work. Sensitive information can be anonymised before use in discussions.

The course is designed for quality, operations, process improvement, project, compliance and service delivery professionals. It is especially relevant for people responsible for improving consistency, reducing rework or preparing for quality audits.

This course focuses on the principles and management methods that make quality part of everyday operations. It introduces selected improvement and audit tools, but it is not a Lean Six Sigma belt programme or an auditor certification course.

Participants can use the templates to map a process, define quality measures, investigate a recurring failure and assign corrective actions. The final improvement plan provides a structured starting point for workplace implementation.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides approximately 6.5 contact hours. The five days progress from quality principles and process design through measurement, risk, improvement, auditing and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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