Guest editorial

Citation

Sinha, M. (2012), "Guest editorial", The TQM Journal, Vol. 24 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/tqm.2012.10624daa.001

Guest editorial

Guest editorial

Article Type: Guest editorial From: The TQM Journal, Volume 24, Issue 4.

The collection of papers in this special issue (2012, Vol. 24, No. 4) of The TQM Journal come from the presentations made at the Third Annual Canadian Quality Congress (CQC) that was held, June 27-29, 2011, on the campus of the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. The theme of the Congress was: Quality improvement and customer focus: the lessons learned. Six world-class keynote speakers and 45 highly qualified research scholars from 16 countries from around the world including from Canada were the main attractions featured during the two-and-a-half day sessions. It was quite a rewarding experience to see the success of the third Congress in my home town of Winnipeg.

The papers selected in the present special issue cover a wide variety of research topics. From a discussion on the lessons learned from manufacturing applied to healthcare institutions to how to amalgamate quality systems with food safety programs to the formidable task on eliminating human errors, to latest thinking on quality cost system analysis, to designing models applicable to Canadian Police Service and old-fashioned construction industries; you will find all topics worthwhile, excellent, rigorously searching for a better tomorrow.

The paper by Wendy Cukier and her team of researchers has excellent reasons to ask whether we have learned enough lessons in Total Quality Management (TQM) to help improve the quality of services provided by law enforcement officers in any country. With example and case studies showing what is happening in Canadian Policing organizations, you will appreciate the authors research how the topic represents unique challenges to management theory and practice. The authors provide ample evidences of management principles from the private sector being adapted to policing (e.g. strategic planning processes, corporate communications and marketing) along with standard public administration practices (related to budgeting and policy development). However, a lot remains to be seen how police agencies become unique given their role in society.

Reuben Govender has presented the findings of a hygiene management system (HMS) from a regulated basic food safety system point of view and argues the need for implementing continual improvement systems within the existing management system to ensure that these systems remain relevant, efficient and effective over time. The aim of this research was to determine the extent to which the HMS requirements facilitate continuous improvement and discuss an approach on how the concept may be ultimately realized in practice. The study was conducted in two parts. The first part developed continual improvement criteria benchmarking the ISO 9000 series and the second part theoretically extents continual improvement ideas to empirically test the existing requirements of the HMS in support of continual improvement.

A third paper by Jan Myszewski conducts a systemic analysis of scenarios which are illustrating creation of human errors, caused by functions of management system. The paper refers to a research study on mechanisms of errors committed by employees that was conducted by the author in several organizations with a special focus given to the interaction between error-generating mechanisms and management system. It focusses on some issues that decide on the effectiveness of prevention of human errors and provides explicit evidence of the necessity of the management involvement in the quality management system.

The purpose of Leonardo Fons's paper is to suggest a quality cost measurement model which can be managed in coordination and conjunction with the accounting reports to create a comprehensive management control tool for organizations. Relating the context from the accounting theory to analyze the evolution and practice of accounting, a model is proposed that unifies different management control tools into a single system, without neglecting their individual theoretical principles. The author claims that the model is applicable to organizations of any size and type requiring specific adaptations when implemented in particular situations.

Another paper by Jim Harrington, Frank Voehl and Hal Wiggin addresses quality problems and their associated costs in the construction industries. This paper presents the findings of a 12-month research project conducted to identify attributes of effective quality-management systems in the construction industry that was originally conducted in 2002 and updated in 2009. The objectives were met through an extensive literature review and in-depth interviews with over 150 engineering, construction, quality, and procurement personnel from 20 owner and contractor firms involved in heavy industrial, manufacturing, and commercial construction. The emergence of total quality (TQM) applications in the construction industry was a significant finding of the interviews. The results indicate that substantial improvements in meeting quality requirements can be achieved by the use of quality management practices in the construction industries.

When a company comes up with an innovation in medical device technology, where can it go from there to transfer its product into the hands of consumers and how quality comes into play – was the question asked and answered by January Luczak. If the technology is patented, the company has the option to license it. Alternatively, the company may want to move forward with further product development and marketing on its own (whether patented or not). Getting a medical device into any market typically requires regulatory approval, which cannot be obtained without a quality system. This paper focusses on the foundations of establishing a quality system and obtaining certification and regulatory approval in Canada, the EU, and the USA, and is directed towards small medical device manufacturers. It describes the process within four phases that cover the initial start up, implementation of procedures, certification and regulatory approval, and continual improvement. The descriptions of phases in tandem with the DIY tips presented in this paper are intended to be of help to a small medical device manufacturer wanting to bring their innovative technology to consumers within a major marketplace.

The last paper by Dale Schattenkirk discusses how using an new model of Lean Six Sigma training dramatically decreases the amount of time it takes to become competent and capable at applying process improvement within a healthcare environment. The author points out the root causes of the existing problems in heath care organizations and how these are compounded in real life by many factors including cost, urgency, political pressure and inconsistency in the Lean Six Sigma body of knowledge including the difference in the approaches of training model used by organizations. Among the findings, the first is that more people are capable of almost instantly leading change, given the right model, than organizations may be aware of. The second is the paradigm that an expert has to live – at least 500 miles away – simply meaning that people working within their current system are rarely seen as capable to solve the organizations problems. The third is that any organization can easily have a complete infrastructure in place within a week and their staff leading improvements within two weeks.

Finally, I would like to say few words of my own thanks and gratitude to all our volunteers and members of the conference organizational team. The start of CQC has been an extraordinary project since 2009. But, something else, a very special event was celebrated on the very first day of the Congress. It was the long awaited, grand inauguration of a first-ever, non-profit, membership-based organization called, the Canadian Society for Quality with me as its founding president.

The occasion was graced by leaders of all political parties, a few members of the Canadian Parliament, heads of local businesses, and university faculty members. The objective is to promote quality improvement and business excellence principles to private, public, and voluntary organizations of all sizes, in Canada and around the world to build a competitive infrastructure based on knowledge ecology and a culture of social responsiveness for betterment of human lives. The word got out and the news spread. Greetings and well wishes are coming faster than expected.

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the Total Quality Research Foundation board of directors, the members of its National Advisory Council of the CQC and the Editorial and Technical Program Committee members who have shared their valuable time, talent, energy, and ideas to enrich our collective knowledge by contributing to this endeavor.

Last but not the least, I want to thank Ms Lucy Sootheran, the Publisher of The TQM Journal along with her technical staff at Emerald Group Publishing, and Dr Alex Douglas, the Editor of this journal, without whose continuing help and guidance it wouldn’t have been possible to finish on time the publication of this special issue.

Madhav SinhaGuest Editor

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, Sinha has authored, co-authored and edited ten books, including a textbook and over 50 research papers published internationally, some translated into foreign languages. He is the recipient of over 30 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) and 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. Sinha is an elected academician of the International Academy for Quality and the Founder President of the Canadian Society for Quality.