PurposeThis study investigates the role of “soft” factors of total quality management – in terms of empowerment and engagement of employees – in facilitating or hindering organizational performance ...of the university technology transfer offices.Design/methodology/approachThe authors developed an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), multiple regression model to test if empowerment and engagement affect organizational performance of the university technology transfer offices.FindingsThe authors found that “soft” factors of total quality management – in terms of empowerment and engagement – facilitate the improvement of organizational performance in university technology transfer offices.Practical implicationsThe authors’ analysis shows that soft total quality management practices create the conditions for improving organizational performance. This study provides practical implications by showing that, in the evaluation of the technology transfer office, not only the “hard” variables (e.g. number of employees and employee experience) but also the “soft” one (e.g. empowerment and engagement) matter. Therefore, university technology transfer managers or university technology transfer delegates should take actions to promote not only empowering employees but also create a climate conducive to employees' engagement in the university technology transfer offices.Originality/valueWith regards to the differences in organizational performances of university technology transfer offices, several studies have focused their attention on technology transfer professionals in technology transfer offices, but only a few of them have examined the “soft side” of total quality management. Thus, this study examines the organizational goals of technology transfer offices through “soft” factors of total quality management in terms of empowerment and engagement employees.
For manufacturing companies, quality management is a key feature for increasing the competitiveness, productivity, profitability, and sustainability of their systems. Quality improvement (QI) methods ...aim to achieve high-quality parts without reducing performance. The Industry 4.0 framework brought technological developments that cannot be used by traditional QI methods, such as Six Sigma, Lean, Lean Six, the Theory of Constraints, and Total Quality Management, which are widely used in manufacturing companies. The need for higher manufacturing sustainability and market requirements has led to the search for alternative QI methods with superior performance to traditional QI methods such as Zero-Defect Manufacturing (ZDM). The current paper is a position paper with a goal to present the ZDM approach and providing a clear definition about ZDM to align everyone in one common understanding of ZDM. Many researchers and manufactures are skeptical about ZDM, therefore, numerous argumentative questions have been created and answered, to convince them why they should migrate from traditional QI methods to ZDM. The migration to ZDM has already started, to support this statement numerous facts from the literature have been presented. Finally, several directions were identified, demonstrating that there is still plenty of room for research in several domains.
Abstract Background Lean and Six Sigma are improvement methodologies developed in the manufacturing industry and have been applied to healthcare settings since the 1990s. They use a systematic and ...reproducible approach to provide Quality Improvement (QI), with a flexible process that can be applied to a range of outcomes across different patient groups. This review assesses the literature with regard to the use and utility of Lean and Six Sigma methodologies in surgery. Methods MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, British Nursing Index, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Health Business Elite and the Health Management Information Consortium were searched in January 2014. Experimental studies were included if they assessed the use of Lean or Six Sigma on the ability to improve specified outcomes in surgical patients. Results Of the 124 studies returned, 23 were suitable for inclusion with 11 assessing Lean, 6 Six Sigma and 6 Lean Six Sigma. The broad range of outcomes can be collated into six common aims: to optimise outpatient efficiency, to improve operating theatre efficiency, to decrease operative complications, to reduce ward-based harms, to reduce mortality and to limit unnecessary cost and length of stay. The majority of studies (88%) demonstrate improvement; however high levels of systematic bias and imprecision were evident. Conclusion Lean and Six Sigma QI methodologies have the potential to produce clinically significant improvement for surgical patients. However there is a need to conduct high-quality studies with low risk of systematic bias in order to further understand their role.
Many scholars have suggested that both total quality management (TQM) and organizational learning can individually and effectively promote innovation. However, the question remains as to whether a ...relationship exists between TQM and organizational learning. This study has three main goals: (1) to determine the relationships between TQM, organizational learning, and innovation performance; (2) to determine if organizational learning fosters innovation performance and plays a mediating role between TQM and innovation performance, and (3) to test a proposed model explaining the relationships among TQM, organizational learning, and innovation performance through empirical examination.
Using a self-administered survey to sample Taiwanese high-tech industry companies, this study examines four hypotheses and tests the proposed model. The principal findings of this study are as follows; (1) SEM analysis shows that the TQM-organizational learning-innovation performance model has goodness-of-fit, (2) TQM has significant and positive effects on organizational learning, and (3) TQM and organizational learning have both significant and positive effects on innovation performance.
This manual discusses how the Total Quality Management (TQM) of the production and manufacturing environment can be modified, implemented, and measured within the engineering project environment. It ...aims to integrate predominant quality philosophy with organization research.
Considering the environmental deterioration mainly caused by manufacturing industries and inadequate studies identifying the factors facilitating firms to counter this issue, the current study aims ...to examine the underlying relationship between total quality management (TQM) and corporate green performance (CGP), and analyses how TQM impacts on CGP. This study also investigates the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the relationship between TQM and CGP and examines how CSR mediates the relationship between them. Six TQM practices are taken from the American “Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awad”; CGP includes green management strategies, green processes and green products performance; and CSR comprises of social, employees and customers dimensions. The researcher collected data from the managers of the medium and large-size manufacturing firms located in Pakistan. The structural analyses indicated a significant and positive impact of TQM on CGP with β and p-values of 0.259 and 0.003, respectively. This indicates TQM significantly enhances organizational capabilities to achieve green performance objectives. TQM also indicated a significant and positive impact on CSR with a β-value of 0.271 and a p-value of 0.002; moreover, a similar impact of CSR is found on CGP with β and p-values of 0.189 and 0.018, respectively. Finally, CSR is found to act as a partial mediator in the relationship between TQM and CGP. The contextual analysis indicates that TQM is equally important for all sizes firms for CGP; however, the level of CSR varies. Moreover, government support is imperative for firms to achieve CGP objectives.
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•Total quality management (TQM) significantly impacts on corporate green performance (CGP).•TQM has a significant and positive impact on corporate social responsibility (CSR).•CSR mediates the relationship between TQM and CGP.•Firm-size has insignificant role in the relationship between TQM and CGP.•Government support is imperative to achieve CGP goals.
The results from studies of the relationship between total quality management (TQM) practices and firm performance and from those on the effects of TQM practices on various types of performance ...measures are mixed. There is no extensive empirical evidence about the effect of TQM practices on employee performance and innovation performance, and few empirical studies have investigated the mediating effect (indirect relationship) of one type of performance measure on the relationship between TQM practices and another type of performance measure. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationships between TQM practices and multiple performance measures and to examine the mediating effects of employee performance and innovation performance on the relationship between TQM practices and firm performance. The study used a cross-sectional survey methodology—we sent questionnaires to 500 randomly selected ISO 9001:2000 certified firms in different industries in the Marmara region in Turkey in 2005 and 2006 and obtained 373 usable questionnaires. After confirming the validity and reliability of the latent variables with confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses, we tested the model and hypotheses using structural equation modeling. Results of the study support the proposed hypotheses that employee performance and innovation performance partially mediate the relationship between TQM practices and firm performance. The study also provides managerial and research implications, research limitations, and suggestions for future studies.
"Tips, techniques, and trends on harnessing dashboard technology to optimize business performance In Performance Dashboards, Second Edition, author Wayne Eckerson explains what dashboards are, where ...they can be used, and why they are important to measuring and managing performance. As Director of Research for The Data Warehousing Institute, a worldwide association of business intelligence professionals, Eckerson interviewed dozens of organizations that have built various types of performance dashboards in different industries and lines of business. Their practical insights explore how you can effectively turbo-charge performance-management initiatives with dashboard technology. Includes all-new case studies, industry research, news chapters on "Architecting Performance Dashboards" and "Launching and Managing the Project" and updated information on designing KPIs, designing dashboard displays, integrating dashboards, and types of dashboards. Provides a solid foundation for understanding performance dashboards, business intelligence, and performance management. Addresses the next generation of performance dashboards, such as Mashboards and Visual Discovery tools, and including new techniques for designing dashboards and developing key performance indicators. Offers guidance on how to incorporate predictive analytics, what-if modeling, collaboration, and advanced visualization techniques. This updated book, which is 75% rewritten, provides a foundation for understanding performance dashboards, business intelligence, and performance management to optimize performance and accelerate results."--
PurposeThe paper aims to identify key human and operational focused barriers to the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM). It develops a comprehensive structural relationship between ...various barriers to successfully implement TQM for sustainability in Indian organizations.Design/methodology/approachWith the help of expert opinions and extant literature review, we identified the case of TQM failure companies and barriers to implement TQM effectively. Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) and fuzzy MICMAC techniques are employed to develop a structural model and the identified barriers are categorized based on their dependence and driving power in the various categories.FindingsFrom the intensive case analysis, we identify fourteen barriers that constrain the successful implementation of TQM. The findings also provide a hierarchy of barriers in which the absence of top management involvement and ineffective leadership are the human barriers having the highest dependence.Research limitations/implicationsThe critical inputs show the implementation of TQM in the firms being more proactive and well prepared in the selected five companies. The study's emphasis on barriers will help organizations in implementing TQM for better sustainability in an organizational context.Originality/valueIn the successful implementation of TQM, barriers need to be identified because failure has often eliminated the organizations from the market. Thus, TQM is the source of strength to achieve higher productivity, profitability, and sustainable business performance. The barriers must be identified to improve organizational performance to contribute to sustainable development.