OPM-411 TQM (Total Quality Management) Review

[Flelm]

I don't see a lot of discussion on this course, and I just wanted to post my impressions in case it helps anyone else in the future. I took it in the March 2020 term.

OPM-411 is required for the BSBA Operations Management. I'm not certain if at this point there's a more economical way to get the requirement, possibly CSU-Global's Project Quality Management PJM440S self-study assessment?

In any case, this course was interesting because I was the only student enrolled in the course. I would say the workload is not quite as much as a capstone.

• Weekly/twice weekly discussion posts (14 total) were required, but I didn't cite much of anything in these from what I remember. Since it was just me and the professor, it was odd to do these. I could only reply to his pre-written posts, and would have to do my own.
  
• 7 written assignments which are all 5-6 questions based on the textbook readings (3-5 pages each assignment) which I did use APA citings, maybe 3-5 per assignment.
  
• A midterm, standard multiple choice and 4 short answer questions.
  
• A PowerPoint, 15-20 slides required, with discussion notes. More details below.
  
• A final project which expands on the PowerPoint. More details below.
  

The most difficult was the PowerPoint and final project because there was quite a bit of 'making stuff up.' The scenario was very vague and you need to get creative. It's about a one-paragraph scenario, and you need to determine almost everything: the company's business model, the challenges it's facing, it's quality failure modes, etc. I didn't reach out for help on this and instead struggled through it myself, and had to keep telling myself 'it's good enough.' If I had reached out, maybe I would've had an easier time.

Once I settled on the scenario and the details, the discussion notes for the PowerPoint became the hardest part. I did the PowerPoint first, and went back and put in 'notes' but what I think was really required was a full paper essentially, inside the PowerPoint notes section. I got through this by the skin of my teeth, and I received a 93 overall for the course, barely giving me an A.

[ROYISAGIRL]

Thank you for posting this. I do enjoy when people post about courses that aren't the norm. I have always wondered what would a person do if they are the only student in a courses.

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[Flelm]

It was really weird. I'm not sure why they didn't cancel the course. Maybe because it's a required course for the BSBA OpMgmt AOS?

I feel like the professor didn't spend a lot of time on the discussion posts, they seemed mostly prewritten (even his responses to my posts). The assignments were graded fairly however. I didn't do well on the PowerPoint, and my grade reflected that. He did grade me generously on the final paper I believe, to bring me to an A overall. I probably should've earned an A- in the course with the work I did.

[bjcheung77]

That's weird, I wonder why they didn't make the course a Guided Study course instead of an Online course, I guess the posting vs grading extra assignments would have been easier for the teacher. Hmm... it's a first I've seen, most classes would have had at minimum 5 students...I've not been in any course with lesser than that number, ever...

[dfrecore]

CSU-Pueblo IS has it for $615/course
- MGMT 468: Quality Management

[ss20ts]

It was really weird. I'm not sure why they didn't cancel the course. Maybe because it's a required course for the BSBA OpMgmt AOS?

I feel like the professor didn't spend a lot of time on the discussion posts, they seemed mostly prewritten (even his responses to my posts). The assignments were graded fairly however. I didn't do well on the PowerPoint, and my grade reflected that. He did grade me generously on the final paper I believe, to bring me to an A overall. I probably should've earned an A- in the course with the work I did.

I find that most profs - at a number of schools - just copy and paste their response to the online discussions. It's always funny when they forget to change a name. They don't typically actively participate in the discussions in my experience. I only had one professor who would actually join in which was nice because he could give us his perspective after working in the field for 20+ years. He wasn't a PhD either. He was an adjunct with a master's who still worked his day job which made me feel that was why he actually participated and could give us feedback on different situations and why things were handled a specific way which was helpful. It wasn't just a copy and pasted comment about federal government policies. Reading that would have been less exciting that watching paint dry.