Search

What is the role of information technology (IT) in enabling the outsourcing of manufacturing plant production processes? Do plant strategies influence production outsourcing? Does production process outsourcing influence plant performance? This research addresses these questions by investigating the role of IT and plant strategies as antecedents of production outsourcing, and evaluating the impact of production outsourcing and IT investments on plant cost and quality. We develop a theoretical framework for the antecedents and performance outcomes of production outsourcing at the plant level. We validate this theoretical framework using cross-sectional survey data from U.S. manufacturing plants. Our analysis suggests that plants with greater IT investments are more likely to outsource their production processes, and that IT investments and production outsourcing are associated with lower plant cost of goods sold and higher product quality improvement. Our research provides an integrated model for studying the effects of IT and production outsourcing on plant performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality improvement programs are regarded by many businesses as mechanisms for improving organizational competitiveness in the face of tightening budgets and more global market structures. Recently developed computer-supported group problem-solving tools, or Group Decision Support Systems (GDSSs), offer the potential to reduce the effort involved in applying quality improvement methods by providing automated means to enter, record, and operate on ideas generated by team members during face-to-face meetings. To explore how GDSSs might be used by quality teams, the Internal Revenue Service and the University of Minnesota conducted a multiyear study of GDSS use in small-group meetings. This paper presents some initial findings on the extent and types of uses of the technology made by teams based on the first seven months of our study. This preliminary analysis is presented within the framework of adaptive structuration theory and considers the relationship among inputs, processes, and outputs of group interaction as a GDSS is used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contractors and owners use various techniques to provide temporary lighting for buildings under construction. The purpose of the temporary lighting is to give workers a safe and productive environment in which to work. OSHA sets minimum standards for the quantity of light needed for safety, but studies have shown that many construction sites do not meet minimum lighting requirements. OSHA sets minimum standards but does not provide guidance on how to achieve those standards. The following work looks at four common lighting systems and evaluates their effectiveness in meeting the OSHA standards. A vacant warehouse was chosen for the lighting study to simulate a construction site and to eliminate variables other than the lighting system. The results of the tests showed the positive and negative aspects of all four systems, both quantitatively and qualitatively. A cost comparison was made to compare the installation, maintenance, and energy cost for each system. Project managers can use the information to create prescriptive or performance lighting standards that comply with the OSHA standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the problem of organizational change in the constitutional sector of the health care system in the U.S. Improvement of the systems quality; Goals of the organizations; Identifications of the system and processes that make up the organization's culture.

The article presents an interview with Janet Norwood, former Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics on the "Boskin Commission Report." According to Norwood, Boskin report is based on judgments about changes in the quality of goods and services. On the philosophy of the consumer price index, Norwood commented that it is the price of a market basket of goods and services measured at a given point in time. A cost-of-living index measures the expenditures that a consumer have to make to buy a market basket that is updated in each successive period and that would give the consumer the same satisfaction as the original market basket. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) have idea of the value of the quality increase. Norwood argues that BLS should examine the Boskin report carefully to determine which pieces should be adopted and which pieces should not, and then explain it publicly. As per Norwood, the Boskin group is using a lot of the research that the BLS itself has produced. The commission points out that the BLS doesn't measure the extent to which people switch to cheaper goods.

The first part of this article discusses the effort made by each state to provide the opportunity of a college education for its residents. Based on the per cent of the college age population that study at an institution of higher learning within their state, Utah, Arizona, North Dakota, Kansas, and Montana rank as the national leaders. The second section develops a number of criteria which are used to rank graduate schools in the United States. A separate ranking is presented for the science and the social science-humanities fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]