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Focuses on the development of a quality culture in a sport organization in the U.S. and Europe. Evaluation of Total Quality Management (TQM); Importance of leadership in implementing TQM; Advantage of TQM organization in sport.

Managed care is the health care delivery system in the United States. The environment of care providers in relation to the clients served defines the quality issues of managed care. The ability to manage care is dependent on the metrics of care to understand what services result in positive health outcomes. The stated goals of cost effectiveness presume knowledge of measures of health outcomes. The success of managed care is the system of screening clients, authorizing services, and referral to appropriate providers. The information systems and metrics of care, of appropriate services and of appropriate referrals, have suggested that the metrics of the system is critical. Decisions on care which address cost effectiveness require discrete data, which can assist decision-makers on appropriate services and expected outcomes. The metrics commonly used includes econometrics and quality assessments. The need to model and to focus on appropriate measures and appropriate methodologies to analyze these measures is relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Service quality is the great differentiator of the 1990s. It means understanding and consistently meeting customer requirements. A lack of complaints is a poor indicator of customer satisfaction. Reliability is the most important factor affecting your customers' perception of quality. This article outlines a do-it-yourself process for creating and enhancing a quality culture in a clinical laboratory. This process requires understanding the nature and importance of quality; adopting quality goals and performance measurements; asking for customer input; rewarding satisfactory performance; creating self-managed teams that aim for continuous improvement; and encouraging unrelenting service directed at delighting customers. In a competitive marketplace, quality is the great differentiator that pays impressive dividends.

Evaluates the approaches used in assessing the quality management practice of small businesses in the United States. Factors to consider in determining the status of a company in terms of quality; Role of the employees in the quality management; Importance of a quality culture assessment; Creation of a focus group. INSETS: Questions for Employee Focus Group on Quality Culture.;Questions for Visits to Companies..

Focuses on an award-winning quality control program at staffing company Kelly Services. Cornerstones of its effort; Establishment of Kelly Quality Management System in Houston, Texas; Evolution of quality process in 1997; Return on quality investment.

Stresses the need for total quality management (TQM) to function within a Total Quality Culture. Total Quality Culture as the concentration of people and resources in search for greater quality and service in every dimension of the organization; Values and principles to be observed in building a Total Quality Culture; Significance of a committed leader in the successful implementation of Total Quality Culture.

One of the purposes of the Bologna process in Europe is to assure quality in higher education institutions. The development of quality culture, which is part of organizational culture, is one of the ways how quality in higher education institutions can be assured. However, if we want to develop quality culture in higher education, primarily we need to evaluate the quality culture in order to know how strong it is in a higher education institution and which parts of quality culture we need to improve. But it is difficult to evaluate quality culture, because there is still lack of research on this topic in education, psychology and management research literature and the definition of quality culture itself is not clean This article aims at defining the concept of organizational culture quality and substantiating quality culture dimensions and criteria, comparing the European and the USA conceptions of quality culture. There were eight quality culture dimensions set in this article, providing criteria to all these dimensions: 1) human resource management, 2) leadership, 3) quality implementation, 4) organization attitude to change, 5) institutional quality evaluation, 6) orientation to customer, 7) decision making and 8) strategic planning dimensions. The dimensions and criteria identified in this article can be used in building quality culture measurement instruments in higher education institutions, which would allow comparing and assessing quality culture in different higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) accredits the tertiary education programs in the areas of applied and natural science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology. ABET offers accreditation in the United States and other regions in the world that lack such entities such as Gulf Cooperative Counties (GCC). Though ABET accreditation is voluntary, graduates of the ABET-accredited programs are considered equivalent in knowledge, behaviors, and attitude with global standards. The process of ABET accreditation takes months or years depending upon the gap with readiness and resources. The objective of this study is to compile and prioritize the list of critical success factors (CSFs) to commit resources optimally for sustained academic quality assurance and ABET accreditation. The triangulation research designed has been employed. Firstly, the observation of the ABET accreditation process of multiple programs at King Khalid University (KKU) helped in identifying 11 CSFs in three categories namely Program design and execution, Quality culture and excellence, and Institutional infrastructure and support. Further, these CSFs have been explored in the literature in the area of ABET accreditation. Finally, the research employs a fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (Fuzzy AHP) and full consistency method (FUCOM) to rank the relative importance of these CSFs and their dimensions for sustained academic quality assurance and ABET accreditation. The incorporation of these CSFs will help institutions in the GCC and other regions to get their academic programs ABET-accredited in an optimal manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the findings of the annual QP Salary Survey in the U.S. and Canada. The survey includes the advancement and retreat of salaries in 2004 to 2016, growth trajectories, and average salary for quality professionals in Canada that is more volatile from year to year than in the U.S. Findings include average of full-time salaries, salary premiums for higher levels of education by age, and likelihood of satisfaction with salary based on indicators of organization's quality culture. INSET: SHIELDING PERSONAL DATA.

Most people in the United States do not engage in sufficient physical activity (PA). However, certain communication behaviors from romantic partners can motivate PA. Research indicates that confirming communication and communal coping (CC) in romantic relationships can increase PA efforts, but less research has examined the role of explicitly disconfirming communication or relationships between confirmation, disconfirmation, and CC on PA outcomes. We examined models in which shared PA appraisals mediate relationships between (a) confirmation and (b) disconfirmation and joint PA behavior in heterosexual, romantic dyads. Sex differences in actor and partner effects were also considered. Partners (N = 144) in 72 dyads completed assessments of key constructs. Results indicated that shared PA appraisals were critical in the confirmation model, mediating relationships between perceptions of confirmation and reports of joint PA. Unexpectedly, both partners’ reports of partner disconfirmation were positively associated with their partners’ reports of joint PA. Only one statistically significant sex difference emerged. Theoretical and pragmatic implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper analyses the establishment and evolution of a public oversight body (POB) – the Egyptian Audit Oversight Unit (AOU) – and its implications for local auditing firms and practices. Design/methodology/approach: Primary data were gathered from 34 semi-structured interviews (including follow-up ones) between 2014 and 2020. Secondary data was obtained through publicly available documents and internal memos. Drawing on Debord's (1967) Society of the Spectacle, the insights focus on the POB's conception, materialisation and evolution in a context characterised by weak regulatory structures. Findings: Through a series of acts, the findings reveal how the AOU first accepted the image of "international best practice" oversight (the "metaphorical"), followed by the construction of the local structure and décor replicating a United States (US) style POB archetype (the "transformational") by primarily relying on visible processes/procedures. Yet, these mechanisms emphasised the spectacular nature of oversight, with little improvement for practice and limiting itself to "cracking down" on smaller local firms. A final stage (the "performative") reveals how the AOU seeks to expand its activities beyond its original mandate without challenging the image-driven nature of its oversight. Originality/value: The paper offers two key contributions. First, it reveals how actors, through a combination of symbolic and tangible measures, create a new performative reality of public oversight. Second, it advocates Debord's "spectacle" to complement other theoretical lenses, with a view to illuminating the materialisation stages that bridge the gap between proclaimed oversight policies and actual practices (including conscious and unconscious omissions) within a given political economy context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings and conclusions of recent exploratory research conducted by the authors on quality practices at higher education institutions in the US and Malaysia. Data from the institutions were collected via mail questionnaires in December 1997 (Malaysia) and February 1998 (US). A brief description of the research as well as a summary of findings and conclusions are included in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The learning assistant (LA) model is a widely used and researched model for institutional and course transformation towards research-based instructional strategies (RBIS). The LA model leverages learning assistants, pedagogically trained students, to facilitate student learning in active learning environments. However, although the LA model has shown significant results when implemented in university contexts in the United States, there has as yet been little documentation of similar implementation or results in European higher education. In this study, we present the results of a three-semester design-based research project to implement the LA Model in a Scandinavian physics department. The three core elements of the LA model (pedagogical training, course content meetings, and teaching in active learning environments) were implemented and iteratively refined, with necessary adjustments due to the specific institutional and cultural contexts documented. Throughout all three semesters, data was collected on how participation in the LA model affected LAs' buy-in to RBIS using focus groups, pre/post surveys, and teaching observations. A thematic analysis of these data showed that participation in the LA model helped ensure LA buy-in to both the interactive engagement methods and goal of cultivating conceptual understanding that underlie most RBIS, and that the combination of teaching practice and pedagogical training seminars were key to this buy-in. We argue that these results demonstrate the potential usefulness of the LA model for creating institutional and cultural change in European higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law in the United States in 2011, shifting the existing food safety focus from a reactive to a preventive approach. According to literature, legislative requirements of FSMA can be challenging for small food facilities affected by the regulations immediately or in near future. Thus, the purpose of this research was to utilize quality management tools to identify and prioritize major challenges faced by small food facilities in adopting the preventive controls' component of the FSMA legislation. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews of food industry representatives and academic professionals from the Midwest region of the United States. An affinity diagram was used to identify the set of challenges that emerged from the interviews, following which a weighted multi-voting survey was used to prioritize the identified challenges. Major identified challenges included: understanding of the FSMA law, cost of implementation, timeline for implementation, employee preparedness, absence of quality culture, and employee willingness. Furthermore, a difference was observed in how industry representatives and academic professionals rank ordered the above-listed challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the evolution of the Type 1 Diabetes Exchange Quality Improvement Collaborative (T1DX-QI) and provides insight into the development and growth of a successful type 1 diabetes quality improvement (QI) program. Since its inception 8 years ago, the collaborative has expanded to include centers across the United States with varying levels of QI experience, while simultaneously achieving many tangible improvements in type 1 diabetes care. These successes underscore the importance of learning health systems, data-sharing, benchmarking, and peer collaboration as drivers for continuous QI. Future efforts will include recruiting additional small- to medium-sized centers focused on adult care and underserved communities to further the goal of improving care and outcomes for all people living with type 1 diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last century and a half, U.S. industry has seen the emergence of several different management models. We propose a theory of this evolution based on three nested and interacting processes. First, we identify several successive waves of technological revolution, each of which prompted a corresponding wave of change in the dominant organizational paradigm. Second, nested within these waves, each of these organizational paradigms emerged through two successive cycles—a primary cycle that generated a new management model making the prior organizational paradigm obsolete, and a secondary cycle that generated another model that mitigated the dysfunctions of the primary cycle’s model. Third, nested within each cycle is a problem-solving process in which each model’s development passed through four main phases: (1) identification of a widespread organizational and management problem, (2) creation of innovative managerial concepts that offer various solutions to this problem, (3) emergence and theorization of a new model from among these concepts, and (4) dissemination and diffusion of this model. By linking new models’ emergence to specific technological revolutions, we can explain changes in their contents. By integrating a dialectical account of the paired cycles with an account of the waves of paradigm change, we can see how apparently competing models are better understood as complementary pairs in a common paradigm. And by unpacking each model’s phases of development, we can identify the roles played by various actors and management concepts in driving change in the models’ contents and see the agency behind these structural changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional wisdom about American campuses abroad suggests that they are typically vanity projects for cosmopolitans. This view reflects only a partial reality. A new database from the Global American Higher Education initiative shows that the landscape is more diverse and inclusive than commonly understood. These institutions are largely unknown in the United States but extend the American higher education footprint into 80 countries around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Depression is an illness with biological, psychological, and social underpinnings, which may include the interplay of inflammation, psychological traits, stress, social relationships, and cultural background. Aims: This work examines the prospective associations between social relationship quality and depressive symptoms, and between social relationship quality and inflammatory outcomes in two distinct cultures. Methods: Data were obtained from two longitudinal, prospective cohort studies: Midlife in the United States (MIDUS), and Midlife Development in Japan (MIDJA) between 2004 and 2010. One thousand three hundred and twenty-seven community-based adults were included in analyses, 1,054 from the United States and 273 from Tokyo, Japan. Depressive symptoms (measured by the CES-D Depression Scale) and inflammation (measured by blood sample concentrations of the inflammatory biomarkers interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein) were the outcomes. Social relationship quality was the predictor. Culture, trait independence and interdependence, and psychosocial stressors were examined as moderators of the link between social relationship quality and depressive symptoms. Results: Higher social relationship quality was associated with lower depressive symptoms in the United States (β = −6.15, p <.001), but not in Japan (β = −1.25, p =.390). Social relationship quality had no association with inflammation. Psychosocial stressors moderated the link between social relationship quality and depressive symptoms in both the United States (β = −0.39, p =.001) and Tokyo (β = −0.55, p =.001), such that social relationship quality acted as a buffer against depressive symptoms as psychosocial stress increased. Conclusion: Improving the perceived quality of social relationships appears to be a stronger target for depression interventions in the United States than in Tokyo, Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses a report about quality improvement program of the Auburn University in Alabama, presented at the 3rd World Congress for Total Quality Management: Business Excellence Through Quality Culture. University's strategic plan involving the increase in its productivity; Establishment of academic programs and administrative priorities.

Moving from business as usual to a Total Quality Management (TQM) culture demands much from an organization. Nowhere in the organization is the demand more apparent or more important than in the human resource management function. Interviews with human resource professionals employed by winners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award provide insights into how HRM "best practices" support TQM cultures in these firms. Baldrige Award-winning companies have developed "portfolios" of human resource management policies to complement strategic TQM objectives. Aligning human resource practices with quality initiatives requires revolutionary changes in the way organizations train, empower, evaluate, and reward individuals and teams. However, the revolution is far from over. Even among organizations recognized for their TQM achievements, there is still a need for continuous improvement with respect to HR practices governing the selection, promotion. and development of future leaders. A profile of fourteen "ideal" human resource practices is derived from the interview data. The best practices profile provides a useful benchmark for organizations to assess their own HR activities. Bottom-line payoffs for successful integration of HRM practices and TQM goals show up in reduced costs, increased product reliability, greater customer satisfaction, and shorter product development cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses topic related to the importance of incorporating quality measurement and improvement into a gastroenterology practices in the U.S. It mentions the negligence of various physicians over the quality measurement because patient care could not be conceived without total commitment and dedication. It also mentions the importance for gastroenterologists to ensure that efficiency does not compete with work quality.

Research ethics review committees (RERCs) and Human Research Protection Programs (HRPPs) are responsible for protecting the rights and welfare of research participants while avoiding unnecessary inhibition of valuable research. Evaluating RERC/HRPP quality is vital to determining whether they are achieving these goals effectively and efficiently, as well as what adjustments might be necessary. Various tools, standards, and accreditation mechanisms have been developed in the United States and internationally to measure and promote RERC/HRPP quality. We systematically reviewed 10 quality assessment instruments, examining their overall approaches, factors considered relevant to quality, how they compare to each other, and what they leave out. For each tool, we counted the number of times each of 34 topics (divided into structure, process, and outcome categories) was mentioned. We generated lists of which topics are most and least mentioned for each tool, which are most prevalent across tools, and which are left unmentioned. We also conducted content analysis for the 10 most common topics. We found wide variability between instruments, common emphasis on process and structure with little attention to participant outcomes, and failure to identify clear priorities for assessment. The most frequently mentioned topics are Review Type, IRB Member Expertise, Training and Educational Resources, Protocol Maintenance, Record Keeping, and Mission, Approach, and Culture. Participant Outcomes is unmentioned in 8 tools; the remaining 2 tools include assessments based on adverse events, failures of informed consent, and consideration of participant experiences. Our analysis confirms that RERC/HRPP quality assessment instruments largely rely on surrogate measures of participant protection. To prioritize between these measures and preserve limited resources for evaluating the most important criteria, we recommend that instruments focus on elements relevant to participant outcomes, robust board deliberation, and procedures most likely to address participant risks. Validation of these approaches remains an essential next step. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examined two sets of constructs in maquiladoras with respect to ISO 9000 certification. The managerial support and employee involvement as well as quality systems were internal constructs and the global supplier selection criteria were external constructs. The maquiladora industry is a manufacturing model that uses the Mexican workforce and foreign investment and technology on the border area between the United States and Mexico. The standards of ISO certification were studied and analysed through a survey instrument and extensive field interviews with experts of maquiladora plants in El Paso, TX and Juarez, Mexico. There was a 78% response rate with 171 usable questionnaires. There were also 11 in-depth interviews conducted with quality and supply chain experts from eight industries in maquiladoras. Extensive statistical analyses including reliability and validity analyses and factor analyses were performed. Based on the results of factor analyses, ISO-certified companies exemplified better and longer-term relationships with their main/core suppliers, greater top managerial support and employee involvement and communication, and more effective quality systems than those of non ISO-certified companies. In conclusion, additional insights and perspectives were provided and future research directions were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowing that business as usual would not sustain the city for the challenges ahead, Virginia Beach, Virginia leadership recognized the need to refocus its time to create the future, not simply operate for the present. The creation of the Virginia Beach Quality Service System brought many changes in the way the city operates. Six city businesses were identified to align with the council's Destination Points. Strategic issue teams were created to develop an integrated strategy for each business. The success of Virginia Beach's approach comes from the involvement and commitment of the organization's full membership. Members from all levels and across departmental lines were committed to creating a shared model for Virginia Beach with a common language and philosophy of alignment, innovation and effectiveness. Human Resources processes and systems were redesigned to support the citywide strategic direction. Significant changes included the performance evaluation process and compensation system, plus the addition of recognition programs to align with the new organizational values and other cultural changes.

Between October 2020 and March 2022, FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) completed two pilot programs to assess the quality management maturity (QMM) of drug manufacturing establishments. Mature quality systems promote proactive detection of vulnerabilities, prevent problems before they occur, and foster a culture that rewards process and system improvements. A CDER QMM program may help to advance supply chain resiliency and robustness and mitigate drug shortages. One pilot program evaluated seven establishments located within the U.S. that produce finished dosage form products marketed in the U.S. A second pilot program evaluated eight establishments located outside the U.S. that produce active pharmaceutical ingredients used in drug products marketed in the U.S. The execution of these pilot programs afforded FDA the opportunity to learn important lessons about the establishment QMM assessment process, scoring approach, assessor behaviors, and perceptions of the assessment questions, reports, and ratings. Many of the participating establishments reported that the QMM pilot assessments helped to identify their strengths, weaknesses, and new areas for improvement which they had not previously identified through internal audits or CGMP inspections. There has been a great deal of interest in the outcomes of CDER's QMM pilot programs and this paper describes, for the first time, the lessons CDER learned and will continue to heed in the development of a QMM program., (© 2023. This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply.)

Despite the importance of supply chain security (SCS), there is significant variance regarding the level of deployment of SCS practices across firms and little is known about the efficacy of these practices. This study examines the role of external (coercive pressure) and internal (top management involvement) factors that potentially explain SCS practice deployment and its effect on SCS performance. It also examines the moderating role of organizational culture. In essence, this inquiry examines the role of external and internal forces in a context where organizational action is perhaps effectively mobilized only when both external and internal pressures are salient. Using data from 166 U.S. manufacturing firms, we found that the effects of coercive forces on SCS practice deployment are transmitted via top management involvement. In addition, the effect of top management involvement on SCS practice deployment is more salient for firms with high security‐oriented organizational culture, although a diminishing return was detected. SCS practice deployment was found to be strongly related to SCS performance. We discuss the theoretical contributions and managerial implications based on our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at the efforts of General Motors Corp. (GM) in building Saturn Corp. to be the key to GM's long-term competitiveness, survival, and success. Saturn's corporation mission is to market compact vehicles which are developed and manufactured in the U.S., with focus placed on quality, cost, and customer satisfaction. After two years in the market Saturn had proved itself to be one of the strongest brands in the U.S. The author discusses the brand equity held by Saturn. Seven areas of strategy which contributed to Saturn's position as a strong brand are identified including the development of customer relations and retail strategies. INSETS: The 1993 recall.;Gateway 2000..

The article focuses on total quality management efforts implemented in the Aluminum Company of America (Aloca). Paul H. O'Neill, the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Alcoa, appointed a team of a dozen senior managers to explore the issue of quality management at Alcoa in November of 1987. C. Fred Fetterolf, President of Alcoa, jointly commissioned the quality task force with O'Neill. The quality task force and the operating committee sought to identify the challenges and opportunities of total quality management (TQM) and then to design and begin implementation of Alcoa's excellence through Quality initiative. The company patterned some of its program after that of the Xerox Corporation. The practice of benchmarking became common for Alcoa's quality task force.

A profusion of recent research has focused on historical legacies as key to understanding contemporary outcomes. We review this body of research, analyzing both the comparative-historical analysis (CHA) and modern political economy (MPE) research traditions as applied to the study of communism, imperialism, and authoritarianism. We restrict our focus to the sizeable subset of arguments that meets a relatively strict definition of legacies, i.e., arguments that locate the roots of present-day outcomes in causal factors operative during an extinct political order. For all their differences, the CHA and MPE approaches both face the challenges of convincingly identifying the sources of historical persistence and of reckoning with alternative channels of causation. We find that mechanisms of persistence in legacy research generally belong to one of three main categories. While both traditions acknowledge the role of institutions in historical persistence, CHA research tends to emphasize the lasting power of coalitions, whereas work in MPE often argues for the persistence of cognitions. We argue that, at their best, CHA and MPE approaches yield complementary insights. Further progress in legacy research will benefit from greater cross-fertilization across research traditions and deeper recognition of commonalities across communist, imperialist, and authoritarian regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The creation of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) represents a significant development concerning the teaching mission of the university in the UK. This paper considers the background to, and the development of, the TEF. It explains the context from which the TEF emerged and unpacks a series of rationales which illustrate the need for, and the role of, the new framework. The TEF is presented as an instrument to fulfil a range of functions, including: a mechanism to determine tuition fee rises and inform student choices in a reconfigured higher education market; a means of updating the quality and regulatory regime; and a way of raising the esteem of teaching within the academy, and the importance institutions place on student education. The paper explains how the contested idea of “teaching excellence” is defined within the framework, and the metrics and methodology used to assess this. An overview of the submission process and results illustrates how the TEF works in practice. How the TEF embeds two agendas in higher education is discussed: the use of quantitative measures to capture and convey performance, and the role of the student as a consumer not just a learner. The paper concludes the TEF can be viewed as a multi-purpose evaluation tool, not merely designed by the imperatives of teaching excellence or quality assurance, but also by the need for a measure to provide market information to consumers and allocate fee increases to institutions, and this is reflected in its content and character. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we present an analysis of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (SoTL) which contributes to SoTL both as a field of research practice and as a background to professional development in higher education. We analyse and describe the constitution of the field, and in so doing address its nature in the face of the dilemma of, on the one hand, its diversity and, on the other hand, its generally agreed set of purposes. Our analysis of SoTL knowledge is conceptualised as relational, connecting SoTL practitioners with the work they disseminate to the community at large. We describe and exemplify the internal horizon of the field in terms of five domains: the didactic and the epistemic, which we refer to as the knowledge building domains, and the interpersonal, the moral/ethical and the societal domains, which we refer to as the axiological domains. The external horizon is described in terms of four aspects of the context that can impact the production and implementation of SoTL knowledge: the disciplinary, the professional, the cultural and the political aspects. Methodological emphasis is equally on the axiological underpinnings of SoTL, its values and attitudes, as the ontological and epistemological underpinnings that are predominant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]