Originally published as International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management Volume 23 Number 1, 2006
ISBN: 1 84544 882 0
Guest edited by: Ton van der Wiele and Jos van Iwaarden, Rotterdam School of Management, The Netherlands.
The current literature on quality management is very much focused on the implementation of the latest fads and fashions, or various tools and techniques such as Quality Function Deployment, Benchmarking, Self-assessment and Six-Sigma.
Based on research carried out in collaboration between the University of Manchester (UK) and Erasmus University Rotterdam (The Netherlands), we believe that many organizations have lost sight of the basic elements of quality management.
Therefore, we decided to focus, with a Special Issue, on these basic elements of the quality management philosophy, which are: customer focus or stakeholder focus,
process control and continuous improvement.
Contents:
From TQM to learning organization: Another way for quality management in educational institutions
The purpose of this paper is to present the influence of school management from movements coming from the world of industry and business, and the transition from the TQM movement to the one of organizational learning.
Legitimising quality principles through critical incidents in organizational development
The aim of this paper is to analyze how critical incidents or organizational crises can be used to check and legitimize quality management change efforts in relation to the fundamental principles of quality.
Sustained quality management: how to receive the Swedish quality award twice
The purpose of this paper is to describe how Agria Animal Insurance Sweden (Agria) has organized its quality-related work through a sustained and systematic focus on basic elements of quality management such as value focused leadership, employee involvement, process management and control, customer focus, and continuous improvement.
A methodology for availability assessment of tunnel designs
The reliability and maintainability of tunnel infrastructure and systems is an important factor in assuring normal operation of a tunnel. Evaluating availability of a large-scale tunnel that includes civil, electrical, mechanical and electronic systems is a difficult task. The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology for performing such assessments, featuring the use of the Markov model.
Using a knowledge management approach to support quality costing
The purpose of this article is to examine the difficulties associated with quality costing and propose a solution based upon the use of knowledge management techniques.
A management control perspective of quality management: An example in the automotive sector
In many industries, manufacturing complexity and unpredictability have increased over the last couple of years because of an increasing variety of products and shortening product life cycles. At the same time the manufacturers in these industries appear to have more problems with maintaining high quality levels. This paper aims to develop a methodology to study the effects of these developments on quality management systems.
About the International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management
Since the International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management was launched over 20 years ago, academic and managerial concerns for quality and associated reliability have reached unprecedented levels. This highly regarded, international journal sets out to advance the available knowledge in quality and reliability management for the benefit of senior managers and academics worldwide. With its unique blend of managerial and technical material, it deals with all aspects of business and manufacturing improvements to keep you up to date with the very latest thinking, techniques and developments. The International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management is published with approval from the European Safety and Reliability Association (ESRA).
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