Thomas M. Margavio

A gender‐based categorization for conflict resolution

Purpose – As the workforce becomes increasingly diversified, it becomes increasingly important for managers to understand the conflict resolution attitudes brought to information systems (IS) by both men and women. This research was designed to investigate assumptions that may exist regarding the relationship between gender and conflict resolution. Specifically, the intent of this study was to compare the conflict resolution strategies of males and females majoring in IS in order to determine if gender‐based differences exist.Design/methodology/approach – The Thomas‐Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument was utilized to assess the conflict resolution styles of 163 traditional‐age (18‐22) students enrolled in undergraduate IS courses at a large Midwestern university. Both ANOVA and t‐test analyses were utilized to investigate the relationship between gender and conflict resolution style.Findings – Results of this study indicate that, when compared with their male counterparts, women are more likely to utilize a ...

Alarm rates for quality control charts

There is a direct relationship between a single alarm probability and the average run length only for basic Shewhart charts such as the X-chart. Alarm rates are defined in this paper that can be applied with charts such as the cumulative sum (CUSUM) chart and the exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) chart that base decisions on several observations, not just the most recent one. Methods for determining EWMA chart limits are compared on the basis of their false alarm rates. It is shown how control charts can be more flexibly and carefully defined by considering a desired pattern of in-control false alarm rates in conjunction with a desired in-control average run length.

Quality Improvement Using Capital Budgeting and Taguchi’s Function

Quality improvement decisions are the catalyst for substantial technological improvements being made in the manufacturing sector. The new technology, however, has developed faster than techniques for evaluating capital investments in such improvements. This is largely because the benefits of quality improvement technology are difficult to quantify. The Taguchi loss function is incorporated into a net present value capital budgeting technique to provide an estimate of these benefits. Describes the loss function in relation to key quality costs: appraisal and prevention costs, and internal and external failure costs. External failure cost savings are generated by reducing variability in the manufacturing process. These savings are then compared with the cost of the quality improving technology. Results indicate that these savings can be substantial, depending on the achieved reduction in the process variability, the cost of capital, and on the estimate of the cost of processing a customer’s return of the pr...