A company divided misses opportunities, loses profits, and defeats its own best efforts. But seen, analyzed, and fixed as a finely tuned, integrated system, a company can thrive.
Ian W. Saunders and Michael Walker
Total Quality Management (TQM) has achieved some success as a philosophy of management in manufacturing industry. The differences between the manufacturing situation and that of…
Abstract
Total Quality Management (TQM) has achieved some success as a philosophy of management in manufacturing industry. The differences between the manufacturing situation and that of tertiary education are examined to identify the similarities and differences and highlight the likely difficulties in implementing TQM in tertiary education. It is concluded that, while there are substantial differences from a manufacturing situation, where TQM has achieved its most conspicuous successes, the differences work as much in favour of the success of TQM as against it.
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Christina Mauléon and Bo Bergman
The purpose of this paper is to explore the epistemological origin of Shewhart's and Deming's ideas in their development of a theory of quality.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the epistemological origin of Shewhart's and Deming's ideas in their development of a theory of quality.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach takes the form of a literature review.
Findings
Walter. A. Shewhart's and W. Edwards Deming's ideas concerning a theory of quality originated not solely from insights about variation within statistics but also from the field of philosophy, particularly epistemology. Shewhart and Deming, both seen as quality pioneers, were strongly influenced by the conceptualistic pragmatist Clarence Irving Lewis and his theory of knowledge. This is, and has often been, a neglected connection; however, in today's competitive business environment knowledge and competence have become crucial success factors. Thus, the epistemology‐related origin of their theory of quality has become increasingly interesting and important to explore. First, a summary version of Clarence Irving Lewis' theory of knowledge will be presented here as expressed in his work Mind and the World Order: Outline of a Theory of Knowledge (1929). Second, examples of some important connections between Lewis, and chosen parts of Shewhart's and Deming's theory of quality will be given, for example the plan‐do‐study‐act cycle, operational definitions and profound knowledge. It will also be indicated how the social element in knowledge is emphasised in the works of Lewis, Deming, and Shewhart.
Originality/value
By exploring the epistemological background of Deming's and Shewhart's ideas of a theory of quality, it might be able to better comprehend the profound ideas they left behind and improve the understanding and use of their theory of quality today.
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Reports on total quality management at the University of Wisconsin‐Madison, as espoused by the University′s chancellor, Donna Shalala. Considers the prospects for the resurgence…
Abstract
Reports on total quality management at the University of Wisconsin‐Madison, as espoused by the University′s chancellor, Donna Shalala. Considers the prospects for the resurgence of the quality movement in US federal government now that Shalala is Secretary of Health and Human Resources.
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W. Edwards Deming is famous for his work in Japan and his attempts to transform Western management. A recently established collection in the Library of Congress contains his…
Abstract
W. Edwards Deming is famous for his work in Japan and his attempts to transform Western management. A recently established collection in the Library of Congress contains his personal and professional papers. These files help clarify Deming’s profound views. Well organized and properly maintained, this collection is titled The W. Edwards Deming Papers. Those who are searching for an understanding of Deming’s experience and views will find a treasure trove of information and ideas. Obviously, this collection will not answer all of the questions about his philosophy, but it will help significantly. After a short description of his experience this article provides an overview of the collection and then focuses on five examples of potential research that will be aided by The W. Edwards Deming Papers. These examples are not presented as completed research, but rather as research opportunities intended to whet the research appetite of the reader.
The years of 1977–78 have seen more fuzzy sets and ill‐posed problems come along in mathematics in addition to sturdy statistics and robust estimations. Fortunately there has also…
Abstract
The years of 1977–78 have seen more fuzzy sets and ill‐posed problems come along in mathematics in addition to sturdy statistics and robust estimations. Fortunately there has also appeared a modest number of titles to help the reference librarian sort out mathematics, pure and applied. And although a computerized data base with online access is still awaited, its blur on the horizon is becoming more distinct. For now it remains necessary for the librarian to keep informed and assist other information seekers primarily by means of the printed word.
This article discusses the total quality management (TQM) movement and then elaborates about W. Edwards Deming’s experiences and views. Finally, there is a comparison of total…
Abstract
This article discusses the total quality management (TQM) movement and then elaborates about W. Edwards Deming’s experiences and views. Finally, there is a comparison of total quality management and the Deming approach to quality management. The TQM movement was attractive to many organizations during the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s. To succeed, total quality management had many long‐term require‐ments. One of these was that top management must have a passion for the subject. Without this sustained passion top management’s attention and energy towards TQM would be diverted to other pressing needs. While Deming insisted that there was no “instant pudding”, many consultants in establishing themselves with a client suggested short‐term gains. Because of this search for short‐term gains, process improvement and reductions in cycle time became very popular and in some cases a final objective. Unfortunately, after they ran their short‐term course, many efforts collapsed and TQM was often declared a failure.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the large negative impact command and control thinking has had on the Alberta provincial healthcare system. The assumptions of this…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the large negative impact command and control thinking has had on the Alberta provincial healthcare system. The assumptions of this thinking and devastating consequences for health services delivery in Alberta and across Canada, are contrasted with Deming's system thinking.
Design/methodology/approach
The author has been following and writing about the use of the command and control management model in Alberta healthcare for 20 years, treating its expanding use in the system as an experiment in the effectiveness of this model in improving system performance.
Findings
The assumptions of command and control thinking combined with a limited enumerative, as opposed to analytic understanding of the system, has largely manufactured the present crisis. Equally important, systemic issues continue to worsen the system until the command and control model will get replaced.
Originality/value
There is a comparison of two distinct models of management, management style, and the linking of Deming's enumerative and analytic studies to these models. An analysis of healthcare system evolution over two decades is detailed on how the command and control model of professional management has failed and why.
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Gerhard Fink and Maurice Yolles
While emotions and feelings arise in the singular personality, they may also develop a normative dimensionality in a plural agency. The authors identify the cybernetic systemic…
Abstract
Purpose
While emotions and feelings arise in the singular personality, they may also develop a normative dimensionality in a plural agency. The authors identify the cybernetic systemic principles of how emotions might be normatively regulated and affect plural agency performance. The purpose of this paper is to develop a generic cultural socio-cognitive trait theory of plural affective agency (the emotional organization), involving interactive cognitive and affective traits, and these play a role within the contexts of Mergers and Acquisitions (M & A).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors integrate James Gross’ model of emotion regulation with the earlier work on normative personality in the context of Mindset Agency Theory. The agency is a socio-cognitive entity with attitude, and operates through traits that control thinking and decision making. These traits are epistemically independent and operate on a bipolar scale; with the alternate poles having an auxiliary function to each other – where the traits may take intermediary “balanced” states between the poles.
Findings
Processes of affect regulation are supposed to go through three stages: first, identification (affective situation awareness); second, elaboration of affect is constituted through schemas of emotional feeling, which include emotion ideologies generating emotional responses to distinct contextual situations; third, execution: in the operative system primary emotions are assessed through operative intelligence for any adaptive information and the capacity to organize action; and turned into action, i.e. responses, through cultural feeling rules and socio-cultural display rules, conforming to emotion ideologies.
Research limitations/implications
This new theory provides guidance for framing multilevel interaction where smaller collectives (as social systems) are embedded into larger social systems with a culture, an emotional climate and institutions. Thus, it is providing a generic theoretical frame for M & A analyses, where a smaller social unit (the acquired) is to be integrated into a larger social unit (the acquirer).
Practical implications
Understanding interdependencies between cognition and emotion regulation is a prerequisite of managerial intelligence, which is at demand during M & A processes. While managerial intelligence may be grossly defined as the capacity of management to find an appropriate and fruitful balance between action and learning orientation of an organization, its affective equivalent is the capacity of management to find a fruitful balance between established emotion expression and learning alternate forms of emotion expression.
Social implications
Understanding interdependencies between cognition and emotion is a prerequisite of social, cultural and emotional intelligence. The provided theory can be easily linked with empirical work on the emergence of a cultural climate of fear within societies. Thus, “Affective Agency Theory” also has a bearing for political systems’ analysis, what, however, is beyond the scope of this paper.
Originality/value
The paper builds on the recently developed Mindset Agency Theory, elaborating it through the introduction of the dimension of affect, where cognitive and affective traits interact and become responsible for patterns of behaviour. The model is providing a framework which links emotion expression and emotion regulation with cognitive analysis.