scholarly journals How to Build Quality Management in a Small to Medium Enterprise

10.28945/4099 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 043-054
Author(s):  
Desmond (Tres) Bishop
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Quality Management ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Customer Expectation ◽  
Quality Movement ◽  
Medium Enterprise ◽  
Barriers To Implementation ◽  
Medium Enterprises

Quality management (QM) in one of its many forms has become an integral part of contemporary business. Since its mainstream introduction to the United States in the early 80’s it has become more than a strategy or a competitive differentiator. QM is now a customer expectation. Most of the voluminous research done in this field was conducted by large businesses for large businesses. However, the vast majority of businesses in the United States and the world at large are small to medium enterprises (SMEs). These organizations have largely been ignored by the quality movement. This study closes that gap by investigating what is currently known in this field by the academic and practitioner communities. The findings from this research study indicate that QM is appropriate to the SME environment. There are specific critical to success factors and barriers to implementation that are unique to SME’s that should be considered prior to implementation. Additionally, there is evidence to suggest that QM is not universal in nature as previously thought but context dependent. Most of the studies that were conducted were survey based. There was comparatively little qualitative research done in this field and no action research projects that this author could find which creates an opportunity for future research.

Mapping the terrain of public service quality improvement: twenty-five years of trends and practices in the United States

2009 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Holzer ◽  
Etienne Charbonneau ◽  
Younhee Kim
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Quality Improvement ◽  
Quality Management ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Organizational Effectiveness ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Quality Criteria ◽  
The United States ◽  
Total Quality ◽  
Quality Movement

The quality movement in the United States has been characterized as an impetus for organizational effectiveness and responsiveness since the late 1970s. ‘Quality’ can be a subjective term as each organization has its own definition and boundaries. Three emphases are evident in the field of quality improvement: quality circles, total quality management, and citizen satisfaction. Practices of quality improvement in the public sector have been driven by demands from citizens for more effective services, outcomes that require the implementation of suitable quality models and standards. Points for practitioners This article presents major intellectual trends in the practice of service quality improvement. Practitioners will be able to comprehend the most fundamental concepts of ‘what is public service quality improvement’. Practitioners will also obtain useful insights into defining quality criteria and assessing organizational improvement models based on substantive principles of quality management for promoting organizational effectiveness and responsiveness.

scholarly journals s Global Quality Assurance System of Higher Education in United States, Vietnam and Japan Possible?

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 63-80
Author(s):  
Patricia Abels ◽  
Ha Duy Mong Nguyen ◽  
Hiroaki Kawamura ◽  
Masahiro Chikada
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Quality Management ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
The United States ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Total Quality ◽  
Global Quality ◽  
Quality Movement

Higher education has jumped into the quality movement with expectations of enhancing the excellence of education being received by students. The total quality management philosophy that dominated the manufacturing industry has found its way into the education industry. W. Edwards Deming developed a set of 14 quality management principles, which can be applied to the education sector (Hughey, 2000; Prasad, 2017). Accreditation is a mechanism to inform the employers, the public and students that a university or program has met the minimum standards for quality. The injection of accountability and accreditation into the educational system has raised the expectations of an institution. External accreditation has been growing worldwide in importance. This paper looks at the development of accreditation within the United States, Vietnam, and Japan. An educational curriculum was seen to be a pillar needed for growth for each country. It became apparent that all three countries realize the importance of quality and are heavily involved in the assessment process. There are some differences in who controls the curriculum and the assessment process. However, continuous improvement is universally shared among the three countries. Developing an understanding of the accreditation process will contribute to the literature surrounding accreditation and quality assurance.

scholarly journals Success Factors in a Comprehensive International Partnership: Lessons Learned from a Case Study of an Indo-American Collaboration

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-39
Author(s):  
Cynthia L. Strittmatter ◽  
Prashanth N. Bharadwaj ◽  
Robert C. Camp
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The Body ◽  
Future Research ◽  
International Partnership ◽  
Road Map ◽  
Educational Partnership ◽  
High Level

This article thoroughly examines a specific case of a partnership between educational institutions in India and the United States with the help of in-depth interviews of key stakeholders in the program. The article outlines factors that are necessary ingredients for a collaborative program to succeed. The factors are classified as external, internal, financial, and intangible. The findings of the article can be used by administrators and faculty in the two countries as a road map while starting or growing a partnership. The paper also outlines the constraints and threats for a partnership such as this. Finally, there are suggestions for future research that can enhance the body of literature in this area. This research is of particular importance since both India and the United States are significant higher-education hubs and are the sources of a high level of educational partnership activity.

Fragments of the American Dream: Immigration, Race, and Medical Care in the Segregated South, 1929

Public Voices ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
John R Phillips
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
American Dream ◽  
Black Population ◽  
The United States ◽  
Single Woman ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Legal Doctrine ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sunflower County

The cover photograph for this issue of Public Voices was taken sometime in the summer of 1929 (probably June) somewhere in Sunflower County, Mississippi. Very probably the photo was taken in Indianola but, perhaps, it was Ruleville. It is one of three such photos, one of which does have the annotation on the reverse “Ruleville Midwives Club 1929.” The young woman wearing a tie in this and in one of the other photos was Ann Reid Brown, R.N., then a single woman having only arrived in the United States from Scotland a few years before, in 1923. Full disclosure: This commentary on the photo combines professional research interests in public administration and public policy with personal interests—family interests—for that young nurse later married and became the author’s mother. From the scholarly perspective, such photographs have been seen as “instrumental in establishing midwives’ credentials and cultural identity at a key transitional moment in the history of the midwife and of public health” (Keith, Brennan, & Reynolds 2012). There is also deep irony if we see these photographs as being a fragment of the American dream, of a recent immigrant’s hope for and success at achieving that dream; but that fragment of the vision is understood quite differently when we see that she began a hopeful career working with a Black population forcibly segregated by law under the incongruously named “separate but equal” legal doctrine. That doctrine, derived from the United States Supreme Court’s 1896 decision, Plessy v. Ferguson, would remain the foundation for legally enforced segregation throughout the South for another quarter century. The options open to the young, white, immigrant nurse were almost entirely closed off for the population with which she then worked. The remaining parts of this overview are meant to provide the following: (1) some biographical information on the nurse; (2) a description, in so far as we know it, of why she was in Mississippi; and (3) some indication of areas for future research on this and related topics.

Questions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James L. Gibson ◽  
Michael J. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
The U.S

We have investigated the differences in support for the U.S. Supreme Court among black, Hispanic, and white Americans, catalogued the variation in African Americans’ group attachments and experiences with legal authorities, and examined how those latter two factors shape individuals’ support for the U.S. Supreme Court, that Court’s decisions, and for their local legal system. We take this opportunity to weave our findings together, taking stock of what we have learned from our analyses and what seem like fruitful paths for future research. In the process, we revisit Positivity Theory. We present a modified version of the theory that we hope will guide future inquiry on public support for courts, both in the United States and abroad.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Travis D. Stimeling
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Country Music ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Music Culture ◽  
Rich Variety ◽  
Ethnographic Studies ◽  
Folklore Studies ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich

This chapter offers a historiographic survey of country music scholarship from the publication of Bill C. Malone’s “A History of Commercial Country Music in the United States, 1920–1964” (1965) to the leading publications of the today. Very little of substance has been written on country music recorded since the 1970s, especially when compared to the wealth of available literature on early country recording artists. Ethnographic studies of country music and country music culture are rare, and including ethnographic methods in country music studies offers new insights into the rich variety of ways in which people make, consume, and engage with country music as a genre. The chapter traces the influence of folklore studies, sociology, cultural studies, and musicology on the development of country music studies and proposes some directions for future research in the field.

Secular Living as a Context for Moral Development

2020 ◽  
pp. 612-628
Author(s):  
Phil Zuckerman ◽  
Kyle Thompson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Moral Development ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Philosophical Discussion

Despite widespread suspicion to the contrary, secular living can and does serve as an adequate, or even excellent, context for moral development. In this chapter, the authors present the contours of contemporary anti-atheist prejudice, with an emphasis on the United States. Next, they explore the empirical data showing that individual atheists and highly secularized societies, such as Sweden and Denmark, are often quite moral, which serves to counter and debunk anti-atheist prejudice. Then, the authors move to a philosophical discussion centering around secular morality itself, outlining general merits of atheistic morality specifically while simultaneously pointing out various problematic assumptions of theistic morality. Finally, the authors conclude and make recommendations for future research.

Racial and Political Dynamics of an Approaching “Majority-Minority” United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 677 (1) ◽  
pp. 204-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maureen A. Craig ◽  
Julian M. Rucker ◽  
Jennifer A. Richeson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Political Outcomes ◽  
Essential Questions ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Demographic Shifts ◽  
Projected Changes

Do demographic shifts in the racial composition of the United States promote positive changes in the nation’s racial dynamics? Change in response to the nation’s growing diversity is likely, but its direction and scope are less clear. This review integrates emerging social-scientific research that examines how Americans are responding to the projected changes in the racial/ethnic demographics of the United States. Specifically, we review recent empirical research that examines how exposure to information that the United States is becoming a “majority-minority” nation affects racial attitudes and several political outcomes (e.g., ideology, policy preferences), and the psychological mechanisms that give rise to those attitudes. We focus primarily on the reactions of members of the current dominant racial group (i.e., white Americans). We then consider important implications of these findings and propose essential questions for future research.

scholarly journals Nonprofits and the Promotion of Civic Engagement: A Conceptual Framework for Understanding the "Civic Footprint" of Nonprofits within Local Communities

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Micheal L. Shier ◽  
Lindsey McDougle ◽  
Femida Handy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Rural Community ◽  
Community Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Education And Awareness

ABSTRACT   The literature suggests that nonprofit organizations provide civic benefits by promoting engagement within local communities. However, there exists minimal empirical evidence describing the ways in which nonprofits actually undertake this role. In order to address this omission, we conducted interviews with personnel of nonprofit organizations in one rural community in the United States. Our preliminary findings indicate that nonprofit organizations promote civic engagement through programs and activities that: 1) engage volunteers and donors; 2) bring community members together; 3) collaborate with organizations within and beyond the community; and 4) promote community education and awareness. Together, these findings help to develop a working model to understand the civic footprint of nonprofit organizations with methodological implications for future research that would seek to measure the extent to which nonprofits promote civic engagement. Il est normal de supposer que les associations à but non lucratif favorisent l’engagement du citoyen dans les communautés locales. Cependant, il existe peu de données empiriques sur la manière dont ces associations assument véritablement ce rôle. Pour combler ce manque, nous avons mené des entretiens semi-directifs approfondis auprès du personnel d’associations à but non lucratif dans une petite communauté rurale aux États-Unis. Nos résultats préliminaires indiquent que ces associations motivent les citoyens à s’impliquer quand elles offrent des programmes et des activités qui : 1) intéressent les bénévoles et les donateurs; 2) rassemblent directement ou indirectement les membres de la communauté; 3) collaborent avec d’autres associations tant au sein de la communauté qu’au-delà de celle-ci; et 4) encouragent l’éducation et la conscientisation communautaires. Ces constats aident à établir un modèle pour mieux comprendre la présence civique des associations à but non lucratif dans les communautés et indiquent une piste à suivre pour des recherches futures qui examineraient l’influence de ces associations sur le niveau de participation civique.

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