Ziaul Huq

Workforce cultural factors in TQM/CQI implementation in hospitals.

One of the major obstacles to successful implementation of TQM/CQI in hospitals has been managements failure to consider the workforce cultural situation. This quasi-qualitative study investigates eight workforce cultural factors in seven midwestern hospitals. Results reveal only one of the seven hospitals successfully implementing TQM/CQI.

Managing change: a barrier to TQM implementation in service industries

Purpose – This paper focuses on six change management issues that address quality management practices in the service sector, difficulty in taking a holistic approach to total quality management (TQM) implementation in the service environment, and the challenges of delivering organizational reform through TQM.Design/methodology/approach – The study employs a quasi‐qualitative case study methodology. Twenty service companies from health care, insurance, consulting, and banking and financial services were studied over a period of two years to assess their change management practices for implementing TQM.Findings – The findings point to a less than total implementation of TQM in the studied companies. Among other issues, unrealistic expectations of employee commitment, absence of process focus, lack of organization around information flow, holes in education and training, and failure to create a continuous improvement culture contributed significantly towards failure. More successful companies focused on avo...

Total quality management contrasts in manufacturing and service industries

Offers the view that TQM concepts apply equally to manufacturing and service industries and examines assertions through a survey of selected manufacturing and service companies involved in TQM implementation. To test the hypothesis a framework of 19 TQM dimensions is developed and, based on this framework, the studied companies are evaluated. It is shown that under varied environmental conditions the TQM tools and procedures may vary but the underlying concepts apply equally to both manufacturing and service companies. The differences in the studied dimensions between manufacturing and service companies signify slow dissemination of TQM knowledge among the service companies. Service operations are generally not sure whether the tested procedures in manufacturing companies will work equally well for them. As a result, commitment for a fully fledged TQM has been lacking in the service industries.

BPR through ERP: Avoiding change management pitfalls

Abstract ERP-led BPR implementation often leads to fundamental changes within an organizations structure, culture and management process. Literature cites that a fragmented approach to change management practices is the major reason for BPR failures. The purpose of this paper is to look at the change management process in companies where BPR was implemented through ERP, and thereby obtain some insight into the dynamics of this change process. Many ERP implementers are finding themselves in a position to re-engineer their existing processes to fit the software they are implementing. The paper uses a case study approach that investigates six change management issues at three diverse companies where ERP-led BPR was implemented. The paper shows that through close attention to the change management principles the ERP implementers must integrate the changes with company strategic objectives, and through detailed planning and workforce cultural changes navigate the new system.

Realigning Top Management's Strategic Change Actions for ERP Implementation: How Specializing on Just Cultural and Environmental Contextual Factors Could Improve Success

Abstarct An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and its implementation represents a substantial organizational change. Top management involvement has been cited as a critical factor in the success, as well as, failure of ERP implementation. To increase ERP implementation success, we propose that top management redesign its ERP implementation work to strategically concentrate on managing employee behavioural change to increase employee acceptance and commitment to the ERP project by specializing its involvement on just two factors – cultural and environmental contextual factors. Three case studies are used to validate this proposition. Eight strategic task, responsibility, and relationship changes to be used by top management to increase ERP implementation success are highlighted in the paper.

Embedding JIT in MRP: The case of job shops

Abstract The philosophy and principles needed to institute JIT in any system, including a job shop, are described. A simulation model is developed using a benchmark job shop to study using a pull system in a job shop having variations in processing times, load levels, and machine breakdowns. It is inferred from simulation that JIT can be implemented if certain conditions are met. Processing time variations did not pose a serious impediment, but load levels and machine breakdowns were critical factors. With uneven loading, the resulting capacity bottlenecks make the pull system look like a push system. This can be avoided by processing a uniform mix of jobs to not violate workstation capacity limitations. If machine breakdowns are unavoidable, maintenance of buffer capacity is essential.

A TQM evaluation framework for hospitals

Aims to offer a generic tool to evaluate the health of TQM programmes in hospitals. The developed TQM evaluation tool includes ten management dimensions and eight control and implementation dimensions. To test the validity of the tool and also to obtain a cross‐sectional overview of the status of TQM implementation in hospitals it is used to evaluate the TQM programme in six mid‐western US hospitals. The study was carried out over a period of one year by groups of executive MBA students. Uses a detailed questionnaire to interview three to four personnel directly involved with TQM planning and implementation in these hospitals. Validates this evaluation framework and offers insights into the status of TQM implementation in hospitals. Suggests that TQM efforts have been successful in the support functions; however, in the patient care activities implementation has been minimal. Most importantly, physician involvement in this effort has been very low in the hospitals studied. To remain competitive within the...

Six-Sigma Implementation through Competency Based Perspective (CBP)

Abstract The popularity of six-sigma has given rise to the question: can any company adopt this rigid data driven approach to achieve higher levels of quality? This research suggests that a company must develop a unique combination of resources and competencies to realize the benefits of six-sigma. According to the competency based perspective (CBP), a company first needs to have the assets, skills, and resources to launch the six-sigma program, and second, it needs to have the expertise to integrate these assets to orchestrate a cohesive implementation of this program. The paper makes the case that most successful six-sigma adopters had initially implemented Total Quality Management (TQM), Baldridge, or some other quality initiative, preparing them to launch this data driven, process oriented approach. For companies that have emphasized quality function deployment (QFD), innovation and problem solving, statistical process control, process capability studies, etc. a transition to six-sigma would be a natural course of action. For others where these practices are at an incipient stage, six-sigma progress can be extremely slow and frustrating. The paper validates these comments with the help of a case study. It was easy for the study company to make the transition to six-sigma because it had captured enough process performance data, customer requirements, infrastructure and leadership development through its long history of quality initiatives.

Perceptions about benchmarking best practices among French managers: an exploratory survey

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to present a discussion on the most commonly accepted benchmarking norms in the USA, the lessons learned from benchmarking experiences and see how they are translated to benchmarking projects by French managers.Design/methodology/approach – A survey questionnaire is developed, based on the ten‐step Xerox benchmarking process, to identify the perceived and/or experienced benchmarking best practices amongst French managers. Large, medium and small companies are surveyed and managers who have participated in or are in the middle of a benchmarking project contributed to the information in developing the conclusions about the perceived best practices, steps and pitfalls for a benchmarking project in French companies.Findings – The survey result showed uniformity amongst French managers from large companies and their opinion on what is important in bringing a benchmarking project to a successful conclusion. There was however lack of uniformity of opinion when it came to wh...

The sensitivity of rule combinations for scheduling in a hybrid job shop

Much of the research literature in job shop scheduling deals with pure job shop environments. However, currently most processes involve a hybrid of both the job shop and a flow shop with a combination of flexible and conventional machine tools. Presents a study of such a job shop under varying conditions and performance criteria. Argues that for scheduling in this environment, certain combinations of scheduling rules should be utilized under different arrival rates and for different job types. A simulation model is developed using a hypothetical hybrid job shop to study the performance of rule combinations with variations in arrival rates and processing times. The performance criteria used are flowtime as a measure of work‐in‐process inventory, tardiness for JIT, and throughput for completed items inventory. It was found that rule combination performance varied with the performance criteria. Furthermore, it was found that the combinations were sensitive to arrival rates and processing times. Concludes, fr...