Search results

Total quality, as a tool of cultural change, is a strategic weapon. When used in conjunction with merger and acquisition programmes, total quality can substantially reduce the high rate of M & A failures.

Discusses who should be the right person to direct a TQM implementation programme. Provides the answer based on experience in helping organisations plan and introduce total quality initiatives. Asserts that what is required is a leader who can create change, force issues when necessary, and make things happen. Discusses total quality from a number of managerial perspectives. Concludes by considering the need to recognise that mistakes can be made and that change is a learning process. Asserts that standing back and examining the operational issues and learning from the experience of others prevents problems arising and facilitates smooth transition to TQM.

Examines training. Considers training is a key element in creating culture change. Explains the importance of managing the learning environment, maintaining interest and developing action plans based on the training experience. Asserts that training should address changing attitudes. Discusses TQM workshops and action learning. Considers the importance of feedback. Concludes that maintaining enthusiasm is probably the most difficult aspect of TQM to control when promoting change oriented towards stimulating long‐term cultural change.

Around 80% of all Total Quality initiatives in the UK will fail because they do not have the backing of the senior management team. The senior team, in many cases, do not realise that they have to change the way they manage, including their style. Many think that public exhortation of the TQM philosophy is their only responsibility. When TQM dies because of their failure to lead by example, they move onto the next ‘managerial gimmick’ hoping that it will give them the success they crave.

Discusses cultural change within a leading division of a finance house, which had managed change through turbulent times by emphasizing teamwork. Outlines procedures for managerial change, with particular reference to managing difficult people and poor performers. Explores techniques of setting performance standards.

Asserts TQ is ostensibly about creating a culture. Outlines the steps required for culture change. Contends culture change rests on changing the nature of relationships within the company so that everyone is “empowered” to promote improvement. Asserts it is a long‐term competitive strategy. Describes how it is based on changing the style of how people are managed and developed and a shift in value systems evidenced by actions not words. Recognizes the need to change. Emphasises the importance of leading through example. Contends senior management teams have to be committed to the initiative. Describes the action plan for change. Concludes that the company is a better place to be but, more importantly it will be a better place to be in the future.

Looks at organizational culture in part 1 of a series on cultural change. Discusses how understanding the importance and dynamics of organisational culture is critical if a TQM initiative is to be successful. Asserts that senior officers who over‐emphasise the application of systems to the detriment of developing “shared values” will fail to maximise the benefit of TQM. Asserts the need not to underestimate the power of the organisational culture in effecting TQ. Concludes that managers have a responsibility to ensure that the culture projects something strong and positive and promotes TQ.

Discusses how a group of European manufacturing executives had the opportunity of seeing, first hand, the Japanese approach to TQM. Provides insights into their quality practices and identifies the key to TQM elements common to all successful Japanese organizations. Describes the emphasis placed on increasing the average knowledge base of the workforce. Contends that Japanese companies have invested more resources in production engineering, documents, and TQM observations. Summarizes that the group learned a lot about TQ but recognised that this “way of life” may not be so easy to implement within their own plants.

Looks at the 2000 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference held at the University of Cardiff in Wales on 6/7 September 2000. Spotlights the 76 or so presentations within and shows that these are in many, differing, areas across management research from: retail finance; precarious jobs and decisions; methodological lessons from feminism; call centre experience and disability discrimination. These and all points east and west are covered and laid out in a simple, abstract style, including, where applicable, references, endnotes and bibliography in an easy‐to‐follow manner. Summarizes each paper and also gives conclusions where needed, in a comfortable modern format.

This chapter explores the emergence, growth, and current status of the sociology of sport in Canada. Such an endeavour includes acknowledging the work and efforts of Canadian scholars – whether Canadian by birth or naturalization or just as a result of their geographic location – who have contributed to the vibrant and robust academic discipline that is the sociology of sport in Canadian institutions coast-to-coast, and who have advanced the socio-cultural study of sport globally in substantial ways. This chapter does not provide an exhaustive description and analysis of the past and present states of the sociology of sport in Canada; in fact, it is important to note that an in-depth, critical and comprehensive analysis of our field in Canada is sorely lacking. Rather, this chapter aims to highlight the major historical drivers (both in terms of people and trends) of the field in Canada; provide a snapshot of the sociology of sport in Canada currently; and put forth some ideas as to future opportunities and challenges for the field in Canada.