Hon Keung Yau

The relationship between quality management and the speed of new product development

Purpose – The speed of new product development (NPD) has been a key factor in a firms degree of competitiveness. The tools and philosophy of quality management have been widely used to improve and control product quality. However, there is a lack of literature on the relationship between quality management and NPD. This paper aims to report on a study that investigates the influence of quality management on the speed of NPD.Design/methodology/approach – The philosophy of quality management refers to total quality management (TQM). Tools for quality management include teamwork, continuous improvement (CI), value analysis (VA) and quality function deployment (QFD). This study begins by comparing literature in concurrent engineering (CE) and TQM, which leads to several common principles and five hypotheses. The hypotheses are tested using survey data from 700 manufacturing companies in 20 countries.Findings – The research reveals that TQM, Team, VA and QFD are positively correlated with the speed of NPD, me...

Analyzing supply chain operation models with the PC-algorithm and the neural network

Research highlights? We study the relations and magnitudes of influences among key factors in a supply chain models. ? Our method is a two-stage approach using (i) the PC-algorithm and (ii) the neural network. ? Using (i), we obtain the skeleton graph describing relations among the factors. ? Internal operation and collective efficacy are deemed the most critical factors based on the graph. ? Using (ii), we quantify the relative importance of other factors in predicting the critical factors. Understanding how the various factors in a supply chain contribute to the overall performance of its operation has become an important topic in management science research nowadays. In this paper, we propose and apply a two-stage methodology to an industrial survey data set to investigate relations among the key factors in a supply chain model. Precisely, we use the PC-algorithm to discover the connectivity relation among the factors of interest in the supply chain model. Critical factors in the model are then identified, and we then utilize the neural network to quantify the relative importance of some of the factors in predicting the critical factors. An advantage of our proposed method is that it frees up the researcher from making subjective decisions in his or her analysis, for example, from the needs of specifying plausible initial path models required in a structural equation modeling analysis (which is usually used in business and management research) and of selecting factors for the subsequent predictive modeling. We envision that the analysis results can aid a decision maker in optimizing the system performance by suggesting to the decision maker which ones of the factors are the important ones that he or she should devote more resources and efforts on.

Principals' and Teachers' Perceptions of Quality Management in Hong Kong Primary Schools.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of a sample of Hong Kong principals and teachers of the extent to which quality management (QM) has been effectively implemented in primary schools. The features of QM improvement implemented in Hong Kong primary schools include: values and duties, systems and teams(ST) resources and changes(RC) and meeting pupil needs and empowering staff.Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative, survey questionnaire was adopted in this study. A total of 322 respondents (83 principals and 239 teachers) out of 83 primary schools responded to the questionnaire.Findings – The finding shows that all four features of QM are perceived as being implemented in Hong Kong primary schools. There are significant differences between the perceptions of principals and teachers towards “value and duties”, “ST”, “RC” of QM. However, there is no significant difference between the perceptions of principles and teachers towards “meeting pupil needs and empowering staff” o...

Relationships Among Academic, Social and Psychological Adjustments to University Life: Comparisons across gender

University support to students’ transition to university life can be divided into three dimensions, namely: academic adjustment, social adjustment and psychological adjustment. Previous researches show that there are relationships among those adjustments. However, less is known about gender differences in these relationships. The purpose of this study is to examine the gender differences in the perception of the relationships among these adjustments during the transition period. The study is based on a survey of 265 students from five Hong Kong universities. The findings show that: (i) social adjustment is perceived by female students to have more influence on academic adjustment than male students; (ii) psychological adjustment is perceived by female students to have more influence on academic adjustment than male students; and (iii) there is no significant difference in the relationship between social and psychological adjustments for both female and male students. Finally, implications of this study are explored and discussed.

An empirical study into gender differences in the relationships among academic, social and psychological adjustments of university support

There are three dimensions through which to measure university support for students’ transition to university life: academic adjustment, social adjustment and psychological adjustment. Previous research studies show that there are relationships among those adjustments. However, less is known about gender differences in these relationships. The purpose of this study is to examine the perceived gender differences in perception of the relationships among these adjustments during the first year undergraduate transition period. The study is based on a survey of 114 first year undergraduate students from a Hong Kong local university. The findings show that (1) female students perceive social adjustment to have more influence on academic adjustment than male students, (2) female students perceive psychological adjustment to have more influence on academic adjustment than male students, and (3) there is no significant difference in the relationship between social and academic adjustments for female and male students.

An empirical study on gender differences in the perception of support during transition to university

The transition into university life is crucial to the future achievements of the students. However, the experience of the transition may be different between male and female students, but this has not been empirically investigated in previous research. The purpose of this study is to examine the gender differences in the perception of university support. This research is based on a survey of 265 students from five universities in Hong Kong. The findings show that (i) more female students perceive the university as being supportive in their academic adjustment than male students; (ii) more male than female students perceive the university as being supportive in their social adjustment; and (iii) more male than female students perceive the university as being supportive in their psychological adjustment. Finally, the implications of the study are explored and discussed.

Are There Any Gender Differences in the Perception of University Support During the Transition Period to Higher Education

The purpose of this study is to determine if there are gender differences in the perception of university support. The study is based on a survey of 368 students in a Hong Kong university. The findings of the study are threefold. First, female students perceive the university as being more supportive in their academic adjustment than do male students (t = −4.256, p < 0.001). Second, male students perceive the university as being more supportive in their social adjustment than do female students (t = 2.156, p < 0.05). Last, male students perceive the university as being more supportive in their psychological adjustment than do female students (t= 2.401, p < 0.05).

The Relationships Between Education Level, Income Level and Prior Experience, and the Attitude of College Students About Online Shopping in Hong Kong Higher Education

This study aims to examine the attitude of college students about online shopping in Hong Kong and how the factors education level, income level and prior experience affect the attitude of college students about online shopping. The survey was used in this study and 160 questionnaire had been collected. The results showed that College student in a higher level of education will not have a more positive attitude towards online shopping; (i) College student with a higher income level will have a more positive attitude towards online shopping, and (ii) College student with prior experience in online shopping will have a positive attitude towards online shopping.

Gender Differences of Human Response Under Vibration Condition

The purpose of this study is to investigate the gender differences of human response under different vibration frequencies. A total of nine frequencies (1.6, 2.0, 2.5, 3.15, 4.0, 5.0, 6.3, 8.0 and 10.0 Hz) were chosen as stimuli for testing in the experiment. In this experiment, four tests were conducted: Heart Rate Variety (HRV) Test, Posture test, Visual Reaction Test and Auditory Reaction Test. Ten males and ten females were invited to participate in the experiment. The major findings revealed that (i) there is difference in response of the feeling of discomfort for tensed upper body posture between males and females. However, (ii) there are no significant differences between males and females in visual and auditory tests. (iii) Vibration influenced our heart rate, it seems more serious on males than females as the heart rate of some female participants do not increase.

Influence of Organisational Defensive Patterns on Learning ICT.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the IT professionals in a Hong Kong public transport company have a general perception of influence of the organisational defensive patterns on learning of ICT; and whether skilled incompetence, organisational defensive routines and fancy footwork are positively associated with each other in IT group of a transport company.Design/methodology/approach – This paper investigated the influence of organisational defensive patterns by means of a survey of 171 IT professionals at a Hong Kong public transport company. Each selected employee completed a questionnaire that asked them to indicate the influence of the organisational defensive patterns (skilled incompetence, organisational defensive routines and fancy footwork) on the learning of ICT in their organisation.Findings – The employees indicated that skilled incompetence, organisational defensive routines and fancy footwork had influence on the learning of ICT. The findings show that the IT profe...