Quality Management

INTERNAL CUSTOMER SERVICE QUALITY IN THE MALAYSIAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY

by Rohaizat Baharun

PATIENT'S PERCEPTIONS ON CLINICS SERVICE QUALITY

by Rohaizat Baharun

Quality TQM: My Definition

by Lee Wilson

This paper defines what the word quality means and also what the definition means to me. It also describes what I feel... more This paper defines what the word quality means and also what the definition means to me. It also describes what I feel is quality and what isn't.

The adoption, local implementation and assimilation into routine nursing practice of a national quality improvement programme: the Productive Ward in England

by Peter Griffiths

Morrow, E., Robert, G., Maben, J., & Griffiths, P. (2012). Implementing large-scale quality improvement – lessons from The Productive Ward: Releasing time to care™ International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 25(4), 237-253.

Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to focus on facilitating large-scale quality improvement in health care, and... more Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to focus on facilitating large-scale quality improvement in health care, and specifically understanding more about the known challenges associated with implementation of lean innovations: receptivity, the complexity of adoption processes, evidence of the innovation, and embedding change. Lessons are drawn from the implementation of The Productive Ward: Releasing Time to Care™ programme in English hospitals.

Design/methodology/approach – The study upon which the paper draws was a mixed-method evaluation that aimed to capture the perceptions of three main stakeholder groups: national-level policymakers (15 semi-structured interviews); senior hospital managers (a national web-based survey of 150 staff); and healthcare practitioners (case studies within five hospitals involving 58 members of staff). The views of these stakeholder groups were analysed using a diffusion of innovations theoretical framework to examine aspects of the innovation, the organisation, the wider context and linkages.

Findings – Although The Productive Ward was widely supported, stakeholders at different levels identified varying facilitators and challenges to implementation. Key issues for all stakeholders were staff time to work on the programme and showing evidence of the impact on staff, patients and ward environments.

Research limitations/implications – To support implementation, policymakers should focus on expressing what can be gained locally using success stories and guidance from “early adopters”. Service managers, clinical educators and professional bodies can help to spread good practice and encourage professional leadership and support. Further research could help to secure support for the programme by generating evidence about the innovation, and specifically its clinical effectiveness and broader links to public expectations and experiences of healthcare.

Originality/value – This paper draws lessons from the implementation of The Productive Ward programme in England, which can inform the implementation of other large-scale programmes of quality improvement in health care.

Patient safety, satisfaction, and quality of hospital care: cross sectional surveys of nurses and patients in 12 countries in Europe and the United States

by Peter Griffiths

BMJ, 344. doi: 10.1136/bmj.e1717

authors:
Linda H Aiken
Walter Sermeus
Koen Van den Heede
Douglas M Sloane
Reinhard Busse
Martin McKee
Luk Bruyneel
Anne Marie Rafferty
Peter Griffiths
Maria Teresa Moreno-Casbas
Carol Tishelman
Anne Scott
Tomasz Brzostek
Juha Kinnunen
Rene Schwendimann
Maud Heinen
Dimitris Zikos
Ingeborg Strømseng Sjetne
Herbert L Smith
Ann Kutney-Lee

Objective: Cost containment is exerting pressures on the hospital nurse workforce that may conflict with quality and... more Objective: Cost containment is exerting pressures on the hospital nurse workforce that may conflict with quality and safety improvement. Europe is an ideal laboratory for determining how to realign organisational behaviors to achieve good patient and workforce outcomes in a context of finite resources.
Design: Cross-sectional surveys of patients and nurses.
Setting: Nurses were surveyed in 488 general acute care hospitals in 12 European countries and 617 general acute care hospitals in the United States. Patients were surveyed in a subset of 210 of the European hospitals and 430 of the United States hospitals.
Participants: 33,659 nurses and 11,318 patients in Europe and 27,509 nurses and over 120,000 patients in the United States.
Measurements: Hospital staffing, nurse work environments, burnout, dissatisfaction, intentions to leave, patient safety, quality of care, patient satisfaction overall and with nursing care and willingness to recommend their hospitals.
Results: The percentage of nurses reporting poor or fair quality of patient care varied substantially by country from 11% (Ireland) to 47% (Greece) as did the percentage that gave their hospital a poor or failing safety grade (4% in Switzerland to 18% in Poland). High nurse burnout ranged from 10% (Netherlands) to 78% (Greece), job dissatisfaction from 11% (Netherlands) to 56% (Greece), and intent to leave from 14% (United States) to 49% (Finland and Greece). Percent of patients rating their hospitals highly varied considerably across countries from 35% (Spain) to 61% (Finland and Ireland), as did the percentage of patients that were willing to recommend their hospital (53% in Greece to 78% in Switzerland). Better work environments and lower patient-to-nurse ratios were associated with higher care quality and higher patient satisfaction. After adjusting for hospital and nurse characteristics, nurses in European hospitals with better work environments were half as likely to report poor or fair care quality (adjusted odds ratio 0.56, 95% confidence interval, 0.51 to 0.61) and to give their hospitals poor or failing grades on patient safety (adjusted odds ratio 0.50, 0.44 to 0.56). Each additional patient per nurse increased the odds on nurses reporting poor or fair quality car (adjusted odds ratios 1.11, 1.07 to 1.15) and poor or failing safety grades e (adjusted odds ratio 1.10, 1.05 to 1.16). Patients in hospitals with better work environments were more likely to rate their hospital highly (adjusted odds ratio 1.16, 1.03 to 1.32) and to recommend their hospital (adjusted odds ratio 1.41, 1.22 to 1.62), while patients in hospitals with higher patient-to-nurse ratios were less likely to rate their hospital highly (adjusted odds ratio 0.94, 0.91 to 0.97) or recommend their hospital (adjusted odds ratio 0.95, 0.91 to 0.98). Findings were similar in the United States. Nurses and patients agreed on which hospitals provided good care and could be recommended.
Conclusions: Hospital care quality deficits were common in all countries. Improving hospital work environments may be a relatively low cost lever to produce safer and higher quality hospital care and higher patient satisfaction.

Designing Model Courses for a Process of eLearning Optimization

by Andy Hediger

Co-authored with Jetmire Sadiki, published in EADTU Proceedings,
Strategies and business models for Lifelong Learning / Networking Conference, pp.186–200

The Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS) has set up the project “Best Prac- tice”, initiating several... more The Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS) has set up the project “Best Prac- tice”, initiating several processes of eLearning optimization. The objective of the project is to improve the didactic quality of courses, learning environment and study guidance, as well as to enhance student’s online-activity, interactivity (Salmon, 2002) and self-regulation.
In a beacon project three courses have been designed as prototypes. Additionally a specific implementation tutorial will aid with the multiplication of these prototypes and to transfer re- sults in to practice. To reach the project’s goals, we are aware that successful communication is an essential condition for support in virtual learning situations (Arnold, Kilian, Thillosen, & Zimmer, 2004). Consistent course design, adequate contacts with course instructors and active discussions have been proved to significantly influence the success of online courses (Swan et al., 2000). These didactic demands are met with a set of specifically designed devices like new course structure, presentation and visualization of study material and the information for lecturers and students. Further development will include an implementation policy and respective for- mation for multimedia use (“DICE”, 2010), the publishing process and data visualization. We will show our monitoring process of the new didactic possibilities and how they can be helpful for students and lecturers.

Improving the quality of goods produced in New Zealand

by Peter Mellalieu

Mellalieu, P. J. (1976, November). Improving the quality of goods produced in New Zealand (Year paper for Policy Analysis, Master of Public Policy). Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.

The paper explores policy proposals for raising the quality of products and services manufactured and/or offered for... more The paper explores policy proposals for raising the quality of products and services manufactured and/or offered for sale in New Zealand. The context for the study was that New Zealand manufacturers operated under a highly-protected regime of import quota, import licensing, and tariff protection. Consequently, several studies remarked on the inferior quality of product and service delivered in New Zealand compared with overseas markets.

Discusses the rationale for improving quality for reasons such as safety, value for money, resource conservation, export promotion and design aesthetics. Explores the interplay of public and private sector legislation including the Sale of Goods Act, Consumer Information Act, and Commerce Act. Examines the role and interplay of institutions concerned with quality improvement including the Consumers Institute, the Standards Association of New Zealand, the Industrial Design Council, and other interest groups including the NZ Manufacturers Federation and Retailers Federation.

A forensic analysis of government expenditures pertaining to consumer protection and the improvement of industry and commerce identifies a grave imbalance in favor of NZ-based manufacturing in contrast to consumer protection. Recommends redressing the imbalance through raising the real value of government grants to the NZ Standards Association, Industrial Design Council, and Consumers Institute with a focus on raining the demand sophistication of retailers and end-consumers. Advocates that quality-related legislation should be given more ‘bite’, for example through compulsory adoption of elected national standards, and adoption of legislation based on the US Consumer Product Safety Act. Recommends increasing the range of technical and educational training in quality management to cope with the requirements of both large scale multi-nationals and the more common small-medium enterprise prevalent in New Zealand.

Statistical quality control and improvement

by Eileen Drew

Quality management approaches in Irish organisations

by Eileen Drew

Delivering better government: The challenge of gender equality

by Eileen Drew

The Management of Quality

by Peter Mellalieu

Mellalieu, P. J. (1978). The Management of Quality. Wellington, New Zealand: Productivity Centre, Department of Trade & Industry.

For a case example, see:
Mellalieu, P. J. (1978). Case study: Total Quality Control at W Graham Hitchins Ltd. Productivity & Technology, NZ Department of Trade & Industry, 1(78), 8–10. Retrieved from http://unitec.academia.edu/PeterMellalieu/Papers/1571203/Case_study_Total_Quality_Control_at_W_Graham_Hitchins_Ltd

Introduces a practical approach to managing the quality of products and services throughout the entire value chain... more Introduces a practical approach to managing the quality of products and services throughout the entire value chain from design through delivery and service. Focusses especially on the needs of small-medium enterprise and short-run manufacturing or bespoke services.

Laatujärjestelmät ja niiden ulkoinen arviointi

by Anne Holappa

Anne Holappa with Sinikka Luokkanen and Jarmo Saarti.
In: Laatu ratkaisee. Laatutyöopas korkeakoulukirjastoille. Ed. Markku Laitinen, Sinikka  Luokkanen, Ari Rouvari, Jarmo Saarti, Jari Tyrväinen. Suomen  tieteellisen kirjastoseuran julkaisuja, 2007,  ss. 17-24.

The value of relative quality in video delivery

by Antonio Liotta

V. Menkovski, G. Exarchakos, A. Liotta, "The value of relative quality in video delivery". Journal of Mobile Multimedia, Vol.7, No.3 (2011) 151-162, Rinton Press

Estimating perceived quality of video is typically done by gauging the user’s response on an absolute scale of ratings... more Estimating perceived quality of video is typically done by gauging the user’s response on an absolute scale of ratings (excellent, good, fair, poor and bad). However, the internal representation of these adjectives to the stimuli varies significantly in different people. Even though the goal is to make an absolute estimate of the perceived quality, these questions reveal merely relative tendencies due the incorporated bias and variability in the responses. We present results from quality assessment based on estimates of relative quality distances between samples, by asking the question in the form or comparison rather than rating. This, two-alternative forced choice method scales the differences in a form of psychometric function, which presents the utility of the perceived quality on a measurable objective value. We argue that this relativistic mapping with low variance is more useful in video delivery because it offers an accurate way to optimize the resources.

Beyond FMEA: The Structured What-If Technique (SWIFT)

by Alan Card

Card AJ, Ward JR, Clarkson PJ. Beyond FMEA: The Structured What-If Technique (SWIFT). Journal of Healthcare Risk Management. 2012;31(4):23-9.

If you would like a copy of the final published version of this paper, and do not have access to the Journal of Healthcare Risk Management, feel free to write me at: alan.j.card [at] gmail.com.

Although it is probably the best-known Prospective Hazard Analysis (PHA) tool, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis... more Although it is probably the best-known Prospective Hazard Analysis (PHA) tool, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is far from the only option available. This paper introduces one of the alternatives: The Structured What-If Technique (SWIFT). SWIFT is a flexible, high-level risk identification technique that can be used on a standalone basis, or as part of a staged approach to make more efficient use of bottom-up methods like FMEA.

In this paper we describe the method, assess the evidence related to its use in healthcare using a systematic literature review, and suggest ways in which it could be better adapted for use in the healthcare industry. Based on the limited
evidence available, it appears that healthcare workers find it easy to learn, easy to use, and credible. Especially when used as part of a staged approach, SWIFT appears capable of playing a useful role as component of the PHA
armamentarium.

Come valuatre la qualità di un servizio pubblico differenziato territorialmente

by marcucci edoardo

The quest for quality: translation of a mythical idea

by Monika Kostera

Co-authored with Dorota Dobosz-Bourne
Published in: (2007) Journal of Organizational Change Management 20/1, p. 60-73.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the model of the translation of particularly important ideas for the... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the model of the translation of particularly important ideas for the organization and its context, called mythical ideas.

Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on ethnographic research.

Findings – It is found that change processes based on mythical ideas are especially dynamic but also very vulnerable. The consequences of failure can be vital for the organization and its environment.

Originality/value – The paper explores the outcomes to which the translation of a mythical idea can lead. The findings are of value for people involved in organizational change processes.

Collaborative learning: Higher education, interdependence, and the authority of knowledge

by Antonio Marzano

Comparison between DP and MBNQA: convergence and divergence over time

by madhu ranjan kumar

The Brain Drain: Implications for Regional Economic Integration in the Expanding European Union.

by Matthew Jelavic

Jelavic, M. (2012). The brain drain: Implications for regional economic integration in the expanding European Union. In B. Chapalet, & M. Le Berre (Eds.), Producing New Knowledge on Innovation Management. Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, 99 – 111.

This paper provides a review and conceptual analysis of issues surrounding regional economic integration and the... more This paper provides a review and conceptual analysis of issues surrounding regional economic integration and the potential for inter-country brain drain within the expanding European Union (EU). As the EU expands eastward, it absorbs millions of highly skilled knowledge workers and opens opportunities for western European organisations to capitalise on this workforce. The migration of these skilled workers is a macro-exercise in eastern European knowledge management, and could have far-reaching implications at the regional, industry and organisational levels. This paper explores the context and implications of knowledge worker movement across fading borders.

Gare e contratti di servizio nei servizi pubblici locali Trasparenza ed efficienza dell’affidamento mediante concessione: il caso del trasporto pubblico locale

by marcucci edoardo