3Quality & resource management

• 3.1Quality management

  Covers the division of roles among the three quality processes—quality planning, quality assurance, and quality control—and the trade-off among the three cost of quality categories (prevention cost, appraisal cost, and failure cost), together with why preventing defects from being built in the first place minimizes total cost more than relying on inspection to catch them.

• 3.2The seven QC tools and control charts

  Organizes the strengths of each of the seven QC tools (Pareto chart, cause-and-effect diagram, histogram, scatter diagram, control chart, check sheet, and stratification) around the judgment of which tool fits the data at hand, and covers the abnormality-detection rules used with a control chart's control limits (points outside the limits, runs biased to one side, etc.) and the corrective action a PM should take afterward.

• 3.3Resource planning and team development

  Covers clarifying roles with a RAM (responsibility assignment matrix) / RACI chart, what is happening on a team at each stage of the Tuckman model (forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning) and how a PM should engage at each stage, when to apply Maslow's versus Herzberg's motivation theories, and judging when to apply resource leveling.

• 3.4Conflict and leadership

  Organizes the conflict resolution techniques (confront/collaborate, compromise, smooth, withdraw, and force) around the judgment of which to choose given the nature of a conflict (urgency, importance, relationship), and covers situational leadership—adapting leadership style to team maturity and the nature of the task.