Gomes da Silva Jonas, Nezu Kikuo and Ohfuji Tadashi
Provides empirical support for TQM reviewing and improvement. Evaluates 190 companies’ performance that have or have not used TQM in Japan. Cross‐sectional survey methodology is…
Abstract
Provides empirical support for TQM reviewing and improvement. Evaluates 190 companies’ performance that have or have not used TQM in Japan. Cross‐sectional survey methodology is employed. Thus, seven categories with 80 key elements regarding American MBNQA and ten equations are examined. The main conclusions are that, although TQM remains helpful for Japanese business performance, globalization has created a highly competitive environment where companies using only TQM (or another single management system) will not be able to survive in the long term; and that the examined self‐assessment questionnaire, although far from 100 per cent perfect, is a reliable and valid instrument for calculating business performance.
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Jonas Gomes Da Silva, Ohfuji Tadashi and Nezu Kikuo
The paper aims to investigate the best common management practices of the world‐class companies identified in Brazil and Japan; and propose a business model aimed at helping…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to investigate the best common management practices of the world‐class companies identified in Brazil and Japan; and propose a business model aimed at helping companies to achieve world‐class level of excellence.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross‐sectional survey is the methodology employed. The balanced scorecard and seven categories with 80 key elements focusing on the Malcolm Baldrige Award were some approaches used to achieve the research's aims.
Findings
The main conclusion is that senior managers are positively leading successful top companies with a high focus on customer satisfaction and are continuously improving the six dimensions of their total quality process – as some managers do; but through a systematic self‐management process, they have effectively refined it more than others.
Research limitations/implications
The paper investigated only the internal best practices that permeate the Brazilian and Japanese top companies and manufacturing industries. Further research should be done in order to investigate the works outside those companies; to study the top service companies; and also to apply the statistical inference instead of descriptive cross‐sectional method of analysis.
Practical implications
It is recommended that senior managers continuously find ways to update and improve their daily leadership skills; clearly define their business areas; and reinforce the quality assurance system and support the integration of TQM with other management systems.
Originality/value
It provides a benchmark of excellence practices and valuable suggestions to senior managers interested in implementing or improving their TQM process; and proposes a new business measurement model and conceptual ways for companies to achieve a world‐class level of excellence.
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Barbara de Lima Voss, David Bernard Carter and Bruno Meirelles Salotti
We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in…
Abstract
We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.
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Amanda Escobar, Arthur Rocha-Gomes, Clarisse Giovana Maciel dos Reis, Kiara Nubia Silva Herrera, Tiago de Jesus Guedes, Alexandre Alves da Silva, Mayara Rodrigues Lessa, Nísia Andrade Villela Dessimoni-Pinto and Tania Regina Riul
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the chemical composition of unripe banana flour from Southeast Brazil and verify its nutritional, physiological and biochemical properties…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the chemical composition of unripe banana flour from Southeast Brazil and verify its nutritional, physiological and biochemical properties in adult Wistar rats.
Design/methodology/approach
Analysis of soluble solids, titratable acidity, pH, moisture, ash, lipids, proteins, carbohydrate, resistant and total starch and energy was obtained. In all, 18 male Wistar rats were given different concentrations of unripe banana flour (0, 10 and 20 per cent) and these assessments were performed: feed, caloric and water intake; weight gain; coefficient of food efficiency; weight of organs; body, tibia and femur length; total mineral of bones; and biochemistry of blood, hepatic fluids and feces.
Findings
Unripe banana flour showed a potential for weight control as well as increased fecal cholesterol excretion. These results showed the potential of unripe banana flour for obesity treatment and lipid excretion. Nevertheless, plasma triacylglycerol levels increased in the animals that received the largest amount of banana flour (20 per cent w/w), possibly because of the large amount of resistant starch in the flour, indicating the need for additional studies to confirm the mechanisms responsible for this increase.
Originality/value
Unripe banana flour may promote beneficial health effects (such as weight control and increased elimination of cholesterol in feces); however, the large amount of resistant starch present may be responsible for an increase in blood triacyglycerol.
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Noel Scott, Brent Moyle, Ana Cláudia Campos, Liubov Skavronskaya and Biqiang Liu
Verónica Gabriela Silva Piovani, Ieda Parra Barbosa Rinaldi and Jorge Both
This article aims to explain the transfer of training model used in the training of human resources within organizations and its possibilities for the mandatory internship (MI) in…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to explain the transfer of training model used in the training of human resources within organizations and its possibilities for the mandatory internship (MI) in sport science (SS) higher education.
Design/methodology/approach
A review that argues the concept of transfer of learning, the model of factors that affect the transfer of training and its evolution was undertaken.
Findings
The possibilities and implications of thinking about the MI in the SS undergraduate courses are listed based on the transfer of learning and of training model. It is concluded that different factors such as the students' characteristics, the characteristics of the different spaces of SS professional's intervention, the evaluation, the academic and technical supervisors, the host organization and peers, as well as other elements of the transfer of training model, are important to develop the MI at the SS undergraduate courses.
Originality/value
The consideration of this model of factors could be relevant to improve the teaching and learning processes within the MI at the SS undergraduate courses.
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Pedro Vaz Serra and Cláudia Seabra
Tourism, as a system, develops strategies for risk prevention and mitigation. The shock generated by the COVID-19 pandemic is different when compared with previous events because…
Abstract
Tourism, as a system, develops strategies for risk prevention and mitigation. The shock generated by the COVID-19 pandemic is different when compared with previous events because it is more intense and prone to structural changes. Tourists' perceptions condition their behaviour and decisions, with adverse results on travel and tourism consumption; and hygiene and health risks generate a cause-effect relationship on destination specificities.
From globalisation to risk perception and crisis management, in a framework where technology, communication and digital content represent undeniable importance, we are facing circumstances especially conducive to the redesign of the collective future, where the sustainability of tourism is a collective goal, arising from the right balance between the competitiveness of destinations and climate action.
Given the prospects for the next decade, health and hygiene are structural factors to be considered in decision-making processes. Thus, so the proposed approach contributes to the awareness, by the various stakeholders, of its importance and the need to implement methods and processes compatible with more inclusive and responsible tourism.
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The paper aims to considering quality that comes from quality employees taking discretionary efforts, having right perception towards quality, getting satisfied from their…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to considering quality that comes from quality employees taking discretionary efforts, having right perception towards quality, getting satisfied from their contribution. Exploring the relationship of engagement, perception and satisfaction, and mapping the levels and identifying managerial implications for improving the levels.
Design/methodology/approach
William Kahn’s employee engagement dimensions, Parasuraman and Zeithaml’s quality dimensions and Harter et al.’s satisfaction dimensions applied and variables framed in health-care context, tested and applied. Survey data collected from randomly selected medical and non-medical employees from south Indian state Tamil Nadu health-care organizations, using structured questionnaire.
Findings
Age, experience and roles of the respondents in work have a significant association with the levels. It explores a significant positive relationship of perception, engagement and satisfaction. The study explores an average 28% of employees have high level of engagement, perception (18%) and satisfaction (22%), and the rest fall under moderate and low levels. The roles of the respondents significantly predict the levels.
Originality/value
The study focuses on engagement, perception and satisfaction of employees, not of patients. It registered the responses of trained physicians, nurses and administrative staff. It illustrates human resource strategic importance to improve the levels concerning quality measures.
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Domestic abuse or intimate partner violence is a term that describes a pattern of abusive behaviours, often experienced concurrently and linked to gender-based violence. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Domestic abuse or intimate partner violence is a term that describes a pattern of abusive behaviours, often experienced concurrently and linked to gender-based violence. This study aims to explore through the literature the potential to design effective digital services that work for victims, survivors and those who provide domestic abuse support services.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on a systems or service design thinking methodology which was adopted during a Scottish Government-funded Technology Enabled Care (TEC) pathfinder project on domestic abuse. This methodology is the basis for the Scottish Approach to Service Design which is based on the Design Council Double Diamond. During the first phase, known as the discovery phase, desk-based research is conducted by the service design team to inform their approach to the later phases (the second half of the first diamond is define whilst design and deliver form the second diamond). Time is spent during discovery to unpack the complexity whilst the approach takes a pragmatic worldview.
Findings
Technology has yet to be shown to provide an effective solution to any aspect of the victim or survivors’ experience or support services albeit these are often over-stretched and under-funded even without the Covid-19 pandemic. Digital abuse is increasing with perpetrators adapting new technologies. Digital developments should be grounded on ethical design principles.
Research limitations/implications
This study is the result of the desk-based research during a TEC project considering the potential role of technology in tackling domestic abuse. Limitations include only including evidence from the literature; interviews were conducted but are not reported here. Another limitation is the pragmatic rather than academic nature of the approach; it was to be a foundation for service re-design. So hopefully useful for new practitioners to immerse themselves in the topic area but with no claims to be reproducible as would be the case in a formal review.
Practical implications
All the evidence shows the authors need to keep trying different approaches, different forms of engagement and ways to empower survivors. Could technology support health-care practitioners to consistently use sensitive routine enquiry? Perhaps enable independent domestic violence advisors to attend more multidisciplinary team meetings in local community settings? Meanwhile, digital abuse is increasing with perpetrators adapting new technologies. Technology has not yet provided a digital solution which is practical and meets the needs of the broad intersectional population affected by domestic abuse nor those who provide support. If the future is to be based on digital developments it must be grounded on ethical design principles.
Originality/value
This desk-based review collates the current national and international policy and research literature whilst focusing on digital developments which support those affected by domestic abuse.