Selected papers from the 7th Canadian Quality Congress

Citation

Sinha, M. (2016), "Selected papers from the 7th Canadian Quality Congress", Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 22 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/BPMJ-05-2016-0100

Selected papers from the 7th Canadian Quality Congress

Article Type: Guest editorial From: Business Process Management Journal, Volume 22, Issue 5.

This special issue of Business Process Management Journal contains selected papers presented at the 7th Canadian Quality Congress that was held at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The theme of the congress was: managing change through quality leadership.

This volume has eight papers on a variety of interesting topics. The authors, in their efforts to understand the important role of process management in TQM are telling us what is happening now and what must happen in the future on the global stage. Beside the papers presented here, I would like to say that there were many excellent presentations on quality and innovations in healthcare industries. But, unfortunately those authors decided not to write their stories at this time for this special issue.

The volume begins with the topic on one of the most interesting and widely popular topics that is currently found in all business management journals, that is, the Six Sigma and Black Belt training. The authors show how the enhanced awareness of academic research and approaches can encourage strategic thinking and critical awareness leading to more effective and sustainable improvement solutions for employee engagement and enthusiasm. It shows how the depth and breadth of the knowledge base among the participating Black Belts increased and how they were then applying these new skills in their improvement projects to make them more sustainable as well as financially valuable.

The second paper is about the impact of middle management commitment on improvement initiatives in public organizations. Empirical research with a mixed-method design were used in a semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire to explore the current practices of continuous improvement and examine employees’ views from different management levels of the implications of current improvements in a Saudi public service organization. It was found that increasing middle managers’ awareness of the importance of their commitment to process improvement initiatives can have a very measurable impact on employees’ commitment towards improvement initiatives, especially in those public organizations that have vertical/hierarchical structures.

The purpose of a third paper is to observe the organizational dynamics in the business of running an academic institution like a university through the systemic analysis and identification of shortcomings that exist in at management level and finds gaps in leadership actions for change management and quality improvement. The case study is a contribution in theory and principles of total quality management for applicability of Six Sigma and Lean techniques in the organizational development of a private university.

The next paper is about an approach to integrate SERVQUAL into quality function deployment (QFD) to set the success factors for improving quality in a textile industry. QFD technique can provide companies with a better understanding of the customers’ expectations and translate these expectations into requisite service specifications and allow systematic process assessment. The paper further explores the application of an integrative approach to other types of industry sectors and offers practical information that are useful to both the academicians and practitioners.

An integration of customers into the quality management has been always a difficult task. The authors of the fifth paper in this volume outline the use of quality management in value creation chains with company-wide quality goals in mind. It shows the great importance of a cross-company standardized process and its application to cross-linked quality management systems. The conclusion is that quality management in value creation chains needs a common buildup of competencies of joint trainings. To control the quality of the offered product or performance, it is necessary to determine quality objectives along the value creation chain.

The value creation proposition using QFD technique is the purpose of next paper that addresses and reveals where and how to focus talent and efforts in a municipal administration system. The results are presented as a case study. The aim is to improve the services offered to citizens and provide answers to their expectations. The primary concerns found were traced to a lack of necessary training of employees. The analysis helped simplify the requirements, reduce customer’s response time, provide assertiveness and ensure transparency in services.

The author of the seventh paper defines organizational development as a business process of eliminating gaps in the functions of organization. A mathematical model is used where learning is made and built-in as a part and parcel of the equation of the development process. The author bases his model on the hypothesis that ineffectiveness is the result of an error in programming the mindset of managers and that the error is in thinking of development as a secondary function, not as a primary function for the top management. An insufficient support from the strategic management is identified as the main cause and a procedure is developed to ensure that the organizational development remains effective to produce quality output.

In the final paper, the authors review the existing models of national indices on consumer opinion and customer satisfaction and conclude that the characteristics of the products and services offered do not include variables that may aid in determining their impact on a social responsibility. Knowing a major growth in modern day communication power that have made consumers more responsible and aware of the hyper-consumerism phenomena, their research share the results of a qualitative and quantitative analysis of surveys performed where a model of structural equations was developed and tested the hypothesis including a variable which is called “Social Responsibility.”

The 7th Canadian Quality Congress was once again too good an opportunity to be missed. I am grateful to my team of volunteers, Editorial Review and Technical Program Committee members for their dedication and support.

Thanks are extended to Ms Jessica Emery, the Content Editor of Business Process Management Journal along with her technical staff at Emerald Publishing Group and Dr Majed Al-Mashari, the Editor, without whose help and guidance it would not have been possible to publish this special issue on time.

I look forward welcoming everyone at the 8th Canadian Quality Congress, September 20-21, 2016; at the campus of the world-famous McGill University, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

About the Guest Editor

Madhav Sinha is a major contributor to the theory and practice of quality control and total quality management (TQM) in Canada and known internationally as an Expert and a Pioneer in the field. He has a varied career experience of 45 years as Research Scientist, Plant Engineer, Quality Manager, University Professor and Government Administrator. A prolific writer, Dr Sinha has authored, co-authored and edited ten books, including a textbook (The Management of Quality Assurance, Wiley, NY, 1985) and over 45 research papers published internationally, some translated into foreign languages. He is the recipient of over 35 medals, honors, awards and testimonials for his outstanding contributions in the field of modern quality management, including the Distinguished Service Gold medal, the highest award accorded by American Society for Quality and its Grant Medal (for leadership in developing quality educational programs), Edwards Medal (for contributions in application of quality control methodologies), Lancaster Medal (for work in the international fraternity of quality), the Leadership Award from the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of the Province of Manitoba for his pioneering contributions in developing quality control sciences in engineering disciplines. He is listed in the International Who’s Who in Quality and International Who’s Who in Public Service as an outstanding Canadian making significant contributions to the economy and society’s well-being. Dr Sinha is an elected Academician Emeritus of the International Academy for Quality and the Founding President of Canadian Society for Quality and Canadian Quality Congress. He was recently recognized by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and awarded with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for his more than three decades of outstanding contributions in the field of total quality management and for spearheading many unique initiatives to promote and elevate the quality profession in Canada and contributing to build its caring society through his excellent services and achievements. Madhav Sinha can be contacted at: mailto:madhavsinha2@shaw.ca