...Quality Management Journal, 6(2), 9-21 (1999). HOW TO IMPROVE TEACHING QUALITY Richard M. Felder Department of Chemical Engineering North Carolina State University Rebecca Brent College of Engineering North Carolina State University An announcement goes out to the faculty that from now on the university will operate as a total quality management campus. All academic, business, and service functions will be assessed regularly, and quality teams will plan ways to improve them. A campus quality director and a steering team are named, with the director reporting to the Provost. All university departments appoint quality coordinators, who attend a one-day workshop on quality management principles and return to their departments to facilitate faculty and/or staff meetings at which quality improvement is discussed. Many faculty members are irate. They argue that TQM was developed by and for industry to improve profits, industry and the university are totally different, and talking of students as "customers" is offensive and makes no sense. They make it clear that they will have nothing to do with this scheme and will view any attempt to compel them to participate as a violation of their academic freedom. What happens then is…practically nothing. Some changes are made in business and service departments, some curricula are revised, and a few instructors make changes in what they do in their classrooms but most go on teaching the way they have always taught. After two or three...
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...requested that a business report be prepared in order to analyse and evaluate the quality management system currently in place in the organisation and give professional advice for enhancing their system going forward. Therefore, this report aims to look into detail at the current systems that Dawn Meats have in place and pinpoint any areas where there is opportunity for improvement or addition. Organisational Overview Dawn Meats was formed in 1980 and are one of the largest food processing companies and suppliers of beef, pork and lamb in Europe. They are also part of the Queally Group which is Ireland’s largest privately owned agri-business. Dawn Meats process over half a million cattle and one million lamb annually thus producing tonnes of meat products being delivered daily to hundreds of Europe’s leading retail outlets. Dawn Meats deem product integrity to begin on the farm and therefore already have many quality systems in place. First and foremost, Dawn Meats only accept quality assured livestock and ensure this by only working with farmers through the accredited farm assurance schemes and by independently auditing the selected farms regularly and therefore achieving their ‘Gate to Plate’ Policy though batch coding in which every piece of meat can be traced back to where it was farmed. The Dawn Meats products are manufactured under the principles of good manufacturing practice. Their quality assurance is ensured to be maintained by using the procedures agreed by EFSIS...
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...Research of improve the data quality Abstract Data Warehouse is a data collection which is subject-oriented, integrated, relativelyand relatively stable. and It can reflect the changes of history and support the management decision. It is an important segment to maintain the accuracy of the data warehouse. However, ETL is an important part to build data warehouse and occupy about 60 percent of the load. The improvement of the quality in the data warehouse helps to guarantee the reliability and also help the enterprise to summarize and use the data for a long period of time. There are many methods to improve the quality of data. However, in the view of the experience summary and practice accumulation in the practical application, the paper mainly focuses on the ETL dispatcher and way of check to improve data quality of data warehouse. First of all, the automation of data management which is realized by ETL principle make the data into a data stream., the database where the data exists become as starting point of ETL, saving the data warehouse with ultimate high-quality data as the end of ETL. Second, for the data which the ETL data flow has been formed to generate example, for the data which complete ETL processes structure to handling historical information, thus ensuring that the ETL flow can monitoring. Third, building the processing logic of ETL tectonic processes, is the core of constructing high-quality data, constructing the automated calibration procedures...
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...The Liverpool Care Pathway: Does it improve the quality of dying? The Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) is an integrated care pathway developed in the late 1990’s (Ellershaw et al, 1997) as a means of transferring best practice in care of the dying, from the hospice environment to other sectors starting in the acute setting. Currently the LCP is a recognised tool used by clinicians in the United Kingdom as well as over twenty countries, to give appropriate care to patients who have reached the last hours or days of their lives. Described to provide comfort to the dying and also address the needs of the carers (Chapman 2009). During this assignment the author will highlight and explain how a data search was conducted, and will analyse the data retrieved, explaining and evaluating the data to build a discussion based on the chosen topic of end of life care, with a focus on the Liverpool Care Pathway. The author will conclude by producing recommendations for practice. Although described above that the Liverpool Care Pathway is an appropriate tool for providing adequate care for patients, it can also be seen as a controversial pathway, being described as a ‘tick box’ approach rather than a humanistic approach (Chapman 2010). It has been referred to by the UK’s Daily Telegraph as ‘sentenced to death on the National Health Service’ (Devlin 2009). The author has a keen interest in palliative care, after researching is interested in enhancing knowledge surrounding the LCP as there are many...
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...in promoting these programs. The goal of school choice is to create competition between schools for education dollars, which may give public schools an incentive to perform better than without competition. However, opponents have argued that the free-market theory does not work in the educational realm, and that allowing school choice will hurt more students than it helps. School choice in America comes in a few different forms. The different options could be put into these categories: vouchers, tax credits, charter schools, magnet schools and even home schooling. # Support Proponents argue that if parents were given a choice where public funding should go, they would pick the better schools and under-performing schools would have to improve or lose funding. The main premise of school choice proponents’ arguments is that the school should be the focus of reform. Some school choice proponents hold that if a school is failing the student, it should be replaced. Due to the expanded market and subsequent demand for privately run schooling, school choice proponents argue that a myriad of schools of varying selectivity and philosophies would arise to meet this demand, providing greater choice than the publicly run school system. The choice of schools would be analogous to the choice of food products in a supermarket, only limited by physical constraints and not government budgets. Supporters also argue that having a greater number of schools from which...
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...systematically seeks to achieve small incremental changes in process in order to improve efficiency and quality. Kaizen can be applied to any kind of work, but it is perhaps best known for being used in lean manufacturing and lean programming. If a work environment practices kaizen, continuous improvement is the responsibility of every worker, not just a selected few. This word bassically came from Japan which mean "good change''. One approach to continuous, incremental improvem47ent is called kaizen. It originated in Japan and the word translates to mean change (kai) for the good (zen). Kaizen is based on the philosophical belief that everything can be improve. Some organizations look at a process and see that it's running fine; Organizations that follow the principle of Kaizen see a process that can be improved. This means that nothing is ever seen as a status quo – there are continuous efforts to improve which result in small, often imperceptible, changes over time. These incremental changes add up to substantial changes over the longer term, without having to go through any radical innovation. It can be a much gentler and employee-friendly way to institute the changes that must occur as a business grows and adapts to its changing environment. Because Kaizen is more a philosophy than a specific tool, its approach is found in many different process improvement methods ranging from Total Quality Management (TQM), to the use of employee suggestion boxes. Under kaizen, all employees...
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...reduces wages) he could have a better cash flow position. 3) This will improve his cash flow because it will lower the cash outflows for a period of time. This means that no cash will be going out of the business for that month, improving its cash flow position. The risk is though, that suppliers will refuse to sell any more products until they have paid back all of their invoices. So they would get less products to sell to improve the cash flow position. 4) I think that cutting back on orders of food would improve his cash flow to some extent because, it would mean less food overall would be wasted, as the same amount of orders would be made, so cash inflows would stay the same, but cash outflows would drop. This would improve the cash flow position. However, if this happens, the quality of the meals would drop, as they would use the bad parts of food, that would usually be thrown away, this could cause less repeat purchase in the business because people would not want to go to a restaurant that sells poor quality food, especially if he has a competitor near by that could sell high quality food, so he would lose out and become less competitive. So his cash flow position would get worse as he would have less customers, causing cash inflows to drop. 5) Making staff redundant would be a good way to improve cash flow because it would make cash outflows drop, as he has less wages to pay out. This would improve net cash flow as net cash flow=cash inflows-cash outflows. Although...
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...Foundations Paper Kaybee Alvarado HSM/260 05-29-2011 Andrea Peleg Foundations Paper “The Robert Wood Johnson” This organization was established in 1972. The focus is on making affordable basic healthcare available to everyone. The foundation is the nation’s largest charitable organization that is direct focus on health care issues. The foundation support public agencies, universities and public charities that fall under tax exempt sec. 501 (c) (3) of the Internal revenue code. The mission of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is to improve the health and health care of all Americans. Their goal is clear: To help our society transform itself for the better. The foundation does numerous projects throughout it organization. Every year the foundation gives out approximately 1,000 grants totaling hundreds of millions of dollars to hospitals and research institutes. The RWJF (Robert wood Johnson Foundation) does provide annual reports containing its complete list of grants awarded each year. You have the ability to apply for multiple grants at one time as long as it for different projects. You do have to submit an application form in for applying for certain grants. The entire process can take anywhere from four to seven months before it’s approved. Clinical Scholars is one of the most successful foundation programs. It provided young physicians the opportunity to study on non-clinical topics such...
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...Write Up. Case 1: Blue Mountain Resorts. The Service Quality Journey. Dave Sinclair, vice-president of human resources at Blue Mountain Resort (BMR), was considering his options concerning the company's service quality program. He gathered together a team of 25 BMR managers to identify opportunities to improve service quality. They had provided Dave with a number of specific proposals he wanted to evaluate and decide on a course of action. From all, Dave identified three proposals that required careful consideration: costumer flow, speed of service and information technology (IT). BMR service is delivered in different aspects due to the variety of services that it offers, like winter sport, skiing and snowboarding activities and a variety of services related to these activities, hospitality and food and beverage services, call center, day care and conference facilities. Furthermore, it offers a number of other miscellaneous services to the customers. However, because of the growth and expansion, it began to develop a reputation for long line-ups and poor service. The lacks of service quality started to show up. In other words, guests were not experiencing what they were expecting. Since the employees were not giving a right service quality, it was also affecting their morale and job performance, showing this a lack of two of the service quality dimensions, empathy and responsiveness. After BMR started the service quality journey, the company itself started to change. First...
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...A. Advance Quality Patient Care Patient quality of care can be advanced throughout the hospital by active participation of staff with the use of nursing-sensitive indicators. It can be accomplished by educating staff of what nursing sensitive indicators are, how they help improve the quality of care, and how they impact nursing care. For example, pressure ulcer incidence is one of the indicators, and it involves the amount of ulcers that develop during patient hospital stay (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, n.d.). The staff should know that it is an indicator and needs to be reported to the appropriate personnel so that it can be tracked. The staff should also know to implement their facility protocol for pressure ulcers. For example, consulting a wound care nurse or using a specialize mattress. They should continue to monitor the ulcer status if it worsens, improves or heals. Another example of an indicator is the prevalence of restraints. The staff should be aware that restraints are only used as a last resort when other measures have failed but when they are required the staff should know to apply the standard of care for restraint use. Report why they were needed, when they were initiated, and what type was used to the appropriate personnel. Then this data can be used by the facility to compare its data against previous data or use an outside organization such as NDNQI to see if the quality of care is the same, improving,...
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...Sweden, China, Germany and the UK. Volvo has taken vehicle diagnostics to another level by using the data transferred from their vehicles to improve the quality and performance of their overall fleet on the street and on the assembly line. In 1999 Volvo began collecting diagnostic read-out (DRO) data as a tool to help them get a better view into the performance and mechanical failure under actual field conditions. There are several factors to the diagnostic read- out that Volvo has to use in order for this information to be considered “useable data.” Diagnostic trouble codes (DTC) are generated when the vehicle presents some sort of fault, it is then stored in the engine control unit (ECU). The next step is where Volvo took the next in order to transfer data in knowledge. At a typical dealership the service technician would connect his code analyzer to the vehicle’s code output connection. He would then use this information in order to provide or suggest what type if any maintenance or repairs are needed. However; at a Volvo dealership, the data is transferred to a centralized database at the Volvo Headquarters commonly referred to as the “Data Warehouse.” This data is accessible to all Volvo dealerships (Volvo.com). With such a large amount of data to be transmitted there would definitely be a challenge to a corporation to sustain and improve this model. Volvo found themselves in a position that many companies face in the world of technology. That position being “the need for...
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...present believes in that country. The perspective they provided is that businesses can and should enhance the commons, or its business environment, which the government has set. This would mean that it is the responsibility of both the government and the businesses to improve the commons. Long-run profits may be derived by the businesses employing this method. They, the authors, defined competiveness as the ability to operate in the United States and successfully compete with the global economy while supporting the high and rising living standards in that country. The article then discussed several ways to improve or restore competiveness. The ways may be classified into three categories. The first method was to pursue productivity. Productivity is not only found by producing more but also by emphasizing unique strengths that the American sector can provide. The article also states that it’s not necessary to always stay within the United States. This became evident in the fact that there are several multinationals expand faster in the States when they are also expanding in other countries. This is also coupled with the fact that there are instances when activities are brought back to America due to costs, quality problems and other factors. The second method is to build both the commons and the business itself. One idea stems from the fact that many businesses fail to realize the potential impact of their communities on their success. Due to globalization, companies...
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...staffing, and excessive non-productive time in the cardiac catheterization lab, the implementation of the use of a combined Six Sigma and Lean System quality improvement methodology is suggested. Six Sigma’s focus on customers (in this case, patients) and quality improvement will be beneficial in identifying areas of concern and will provide a structure for the identification of and changes to poor patient flow in a cardiac catheterization lab. The call center on the other hand is an important operational center for management of an organization which calls for increased efficiency. The most important process in the call center, which needs most improvement, is an agent handling inbound or outbound call. Six-sigma methodologies can produce major breakthroughs in call handling providing improved results for employees, customers, and shareholders. The five step DMAIC project for both cases: Define. Defining the issues and their importance is not difficult. Since starting the first case of the day plays such an important role in the flow for the rest of the day, a quality and process improvement plan must address this issue. Cases need to begin on time to maximize unit staff, physician resources, and area hours of operation. Patients expect their procedures to begin at the scheduled time. Thus, first case start time is clearly a quality initiative. Hence, a charter was established by the senior leadership and a goal of 80 percent on-time...
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...Closing Case: Kimberly-Clark Estefania Sanchez Matus Principles of Management 5/27/14 Closing Case: Kimberly-Clark 1. Why would Kimberly-Clark executives restructure the company based on “grow, sustain, fix” categories? What disadvantages might result from such structure? * Kimberly-Clark decided to base the company on “grow, sustain and fix,” because this approach would allow them to pay more attention to the products that would require improvement, over those products that are already guaranteed sellers. Products that are growing the fastest and selling good would be placed in the ‘grow’ category. Products that are generating a solid return would be placed in the ‘sustain’ category, and those products that need improvement and need to be fixed would be placed in the ‘fix’ category. It is essentially a very straight forward approach and very easy to categorize, thus I think that’s one of the main reasons Kimberly-Clark decided to go about and carry out this method. The main disadvantage of this particular approach, is that they don’t focus on customer needs and this is by far one of the most important aspects in any company, because customers is basically the reason why the company is still running. 2. Was the organizational structure presented by Kimberly-Clark executives in 2004 better than the first structure proposed? Why or why not? * The organizational structure presented in 2004, was a much better approach in my opinion. After all, the main reason...
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...systems. Under Dr. Wang Shan, PKUPH has enjoyed an increase in revenue, nearly doubling from 1.12 billion in 2006 to 2.6 billion in 2012. With an increase in revenue, medical staff income increased as well. However, the implemented changes only benefit medical staff, leaving patients unsatisfied. This is a problem seeing that private hospitals who have received foreign support are becoming more competitive through their proactive marketing and strong brand image. They boast a premium centric hospital environment and world-class doctors. PKUPH could potentially lose patients to these private hospitals. In response to the threat private hospitals impose, PKUPH should focus on establishing a patient-centric environment and increasing medical quality care. By emphasizing customer service through improving billing services and customer relationship management and increasing on-site conveniences and efficiencies in scheduling, PKUPH becomes a more patient-centric, competitive force in the industry. Improvements in the billing service and customer relationship management will better overall customer service. A well-known fact is that the service industry is extremely dependent upon customer service. Typically, healthcare has a negative connotation when it comes to customer service in the public’s eye. It is said that someone will typically form an opinion about a person, or in this case, a company within 30...
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