Valéria Martin Valls and Waldomiro de Castro Santos Vergueiro
This paper focuses on the use of ISO 9000 standards for the introduction of quality management in information services, with a special emphasis on the Brazilian experience, aiming…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper focuses on the use of ISO 9000 standards for the introduction of quality management in information services, with a special emphasis on the Brazilian experience, aiming to provide support to information services managers in the use of quality management.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on a comprehensive review of the literature, from the earliest citations to those published more recently, principally articles relating to the application of quality programs in Brazilian information services.
Findings
The paper presents and discusses the main benefits (ordered according to the eight principles of quality management), the concerns and the difficulties of the use of ISO 9000 mentioned by the analyzed literature.
Research limitations/implications
Although the literature describes several practical experiences and theoretical studies that analyze the application of ISO 9000 in information services, each organization has its own typical characteristics and their internal and external environments may differ, helping or making it more difficult to implement projects related to quality management.
Practical implications
The paper observes a general predisposition towards the principles defined on the ISO 9000 standard series, which can be used as a parameter to guide and support quality improvement initiatives.
Originality/value
The research supports the idea that ISO 9000 standards are a guideline for the implementation of quality management in organizations of different types and sizes. The exponential growth on the number of ISO 9000 certificates in Brazil has created a scenario that has certainly favoured the option of several information services towards the ISO 9000 standard series.
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Marie-Line Germain and Robin S. Grenier
This study aims to describe the lectores (readers) who read the world news and works of literature to workers in pre-World War II cigar factories in Tampa, Florida, and in New…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to describe the lectores (readers) who read the world news and works of literature to workers in pre-World War II cigar factories in Tampa, Florida, and in New York City. The paper addresses the need for more examination of some neglected aspects of workplace learning by presenting a more critical approach to workplace learning as a form of social change. It also focuses on the importance of the lectores’ role as facilitators of workplace learning and leaders of change.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a qualitative analysis of archival data from libraries and research centers located in New York City and in Miami, Florida.
Findings
Through the lectores, cigar factories were a place where workplace learning, organizational and social change occurred daily. As leaders, the lectores were radical agents of change and created affordances that shaped the factory workers’ workplace and personal learning. The discussion explores the dynamics between the lectores and the cigar workers.
Practical implications
Findings from this study demonstrate that developing employees is not limited to elevating their knowledge and skills needed to increase productivity and organizational performance. As self-actualized employees are better contributors to organizations, they, along with facilitators of learning, must care about what workers intrinsically need and explicitly demand. The findings speak to the multifaceted nature of workplace learning, one that encompasses skill acquisition and one that transforms workers. In essence, learning facilitators elicit change.
Originality/value
The research literature on workplace learning in the early part of the twentieth century in the USA is rare. This historical data-driven examination of the lectores and their role in factories presents a unique opportunity to focus on issues of social justice that are largely absent from human resource development discourse.
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Evette Smith Johnson and Nanibala Immanuel Paul
The purpose of this qualitative, single-case study was to explore the development of Jamaica’s maritime education and training (MET) curriculum within the local education context…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this qualitative, single-case study was to explore the development of Jamaica’s maritime education and training (MET) curriculum within the local education context. In this research, the story of the development and sustainability of the local MET curriculum in its 40-year journey from 1980 to present (post 2020), as communicated by various maritime stakeholders and archival documents, is chronicled.
Design/methodology/approach
The study utilized a qualitative orientation and was an embedded single-case study in its design. The entire local MET institution community and those legislatively and operationally allied to its sustained viability constituted the general population of this study. Non-probability sampling techniques were used to arrive at a maximum variation sample. Three sources of data were used in this study: individual interviews, focus group discussions and documents.
Findings
The Jamaican (local) MET curriculum was the brainchild of local perspicacity that was empowered by international benevolence. It was developed to satisfy market demands that existed at the time of its inception. These market requirements of the maritime industry are what impacted the development of the local MET curriculum over four decades. Several other factors led to the sustained viability of the local MET curriculum. These included the ability of the local MET curriculum to meet direct market needs and maintain its fitness for purpose.
Research limitations/implications
It is the view of the researcher that the findings of this study were limited by the fact that the voices of current students and employers from the four decades of the curriculum's existence are not represented in this initial study. The perspectives from these two sources would have broadened the description presented in this study.
Practical implications
This research has shown that specialized higher education (HE) institutions are better served in their business when they maintain a symbiotic relationship with the industry for which they are producing graduates.
Social implications
The treatment of HE as a service industry has gained traction globally. This would suggest that ‘product placement' in specialized HE is important to the growth, development and longevity of that course of study within the society in which it exists.
Originality/value
There is a dearth of national research on Jamaica's four-decades-old MET curriculum and the elements that lend to the sustained viability of same. This discussion of sustainability of the MET curriculum will benefit maritime educators and policymakers, who must continue to hone this curriculum so that it is fit for purpose. The study will also identify some of the elements of a sustainable, specialized HE curriculum. The elements identified herein can serve as exemplars and conceptual starting points for other contexts where the discussion of the sustainability of curriculum needs to be had.