Quality Management Areas Research Articles

Empirical assessment of ISO 9000 related management practices and performance relationships

Unlike the experience in the broader quality management (QM) area, for ISO 9000, the relationships between management practices associated with the standard and performance is relatively under-researched. This has contributed to a general lack of clarity on how the standard works and how effective it is in generating the espoused benefits. In this paper, an attempt is made to fill this gap. Through a review of the standard and associated literature, a set of six management practice constructs (management policies, plans and actions, focus on customers, capable employees, reliable suppliers, sound communication system and steady processes) were identified. Further, three performance constructs (consistent quality outputs, satisfied customers and business performance) were developed based on the espoused outcomes of the standard. Relationships between these constructs were hypothesized, with the relationship between management policies, plans and actions and steady processes constructs being partially mediated by the other four management practice constructs, and the consistent quality outputs and business performance constructs being fully mediated by satisfied customers construct. These relationships were consolidated into a model and empirically tested with data from 418 Australian ISO 9000 registered manufacturing plants using the structural equation modeling technique. Results showed that only two out of the 12 hypothesized relationships were not supported, with management policies, plans and actions being negatively related to steady processes, and focus on customers and steady processes relationship being statistically insignificant. This result supports the assertion that the top management team plays a ubiquitous role, albeit an indirect one in creating steady processes. Also, strong focus on customers could be of little value in creating steady processes. Overall, this study defines the role of stakeholders and shows how they interact with the salient aspects of the ISO 9000 standard. Through this, insights into how the standard works have been developed. Further, a validated framework for effective implementation of ISO 9000 has been produced.

National Process of Quality Management Education : the Swedish Example

The application of a process view, as complement to the traditional functional division, is often a way to highlight organisational improvement potential. This paper examines the process of providing university level education in quality management, using Sweden as an example. The purpose is to assess the performance of university education as part of the supply chain of providing quality management to a society. This has been done by studying the actual offering compared to a notional benchmark of best performance. Preliminary results indicate that there could be a significant improvement potential in both providing more education of the right type and in the right way. A lot of similar basic courses are given but with varying names, possibly reflecting difficulties in defining the area of quality management and its constituents. An important reason for the detected improvement potential seems to be the lack of ownership of the studied supply chain of providing university level quality education to the Swedish society.

Risk, responsibility and regulation: whose risk is it?

It is increasingly difficult these days to find the time to stand back and think about the fundamental concepts which underpin what we are doing in our daily work. In the area of clinical risk and health quality management, we need to ask such questions as: what is risk management in nursing and medicine? Why regulate for health quality? Do patients maintain unrealistic expectations of what can be achieved in their treatment? As nurses, do we protect them too much? Do patients know that there is no such thing as zero risk? Reflection is useful as it can help us develop new perspectives or even reaffirm old ones in our minds.

Function enterprise quality management area of physical culture

Function enterprise quality management area of physical culture

Local air quality management as a risk management process: Assessing, managing and remediating the risk of exceeding an air quality objective in Great Britain

Air quality is managed in Great Britain via an effects-based, risk management process designed to provide a dynamic solution to public health issues associated with elevated concentrations of seven specified air pollutants. This paper is concerned with an examination and evaluation of the process of Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) in Great Britain from the late 1980s to date as a risk management process. The statutory basis of LAQM process is provided by the Environment Act 1995. The Act provides a framework in which national and local actions are required to identify and remediate areas of poor air quality. Within this framework, the implementation of the process at national and local levels is considered, leading to an identification and assessment of risks in the formulation and implementation of air quality management policy and practice. Local Authorities began the process of Review and Assessment in 1999 and the first round of the process concluded in 2001. Following this, some 129 Local Authorities declared one or more Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs). The Review and Assessment elements of the framework were subjected to an evaluation in 2001 and the essential elements of it were confirmed as fit for purpose. The evaluation led to a confirmation of the process of LAQM but also a simplification based on the experience of Round 1. Now, a two step process is required comprising of an Updating and Screening Assessment and, where a risk of exceeding an Air Quality Objective (AQO) is identified, a Detailed Assessment follows. The Government has identified a time scale for Review and Assessment through to 2010 and also introduced the requirement of a regular Progress Report in order that a Local Authority is able to address routine matters of air quality management. The risks inherent in epidemiological or scientific uncertainty are factored into the LAQM process at an early stage of the process and, by identifying the risks and subjecting them to regular review, the process provides a ‘level playing field’ across spatial and temporal scales. Whilst the process of LAQM described in this paper has been developed for Great Britain, the generic elements of the process are applicable to other countries challenged by air pollution problems which require both national and local action to resolve them.

The impact of converting to an electronic health record on organizational culture and quality improvement

Implementing an information technology system can impact more than just quality of care and patient outcomes. The purpose of this 4-year, observational research project is to examine changes in organizational culture, quality improvement (QI) maturity, and quality of care following adoption of a single, electronic health record (EHR) system within an integrated healthcare network. The primary outcome measure, the Culture and Quality Questionnaire (CQQ), assesses the perceived culture of an organization and the degree of CQI maturity in seven quality management areas. Baseline surveys were distributed prior to conversion to the EHR. Subsequent data collection occurred at 12 months post “go live” and will occur at 24 and 36 months after the first hospital “go live”. Secondary data were abstracted from routinely collected patient satisfaction measures and standard quality indicators. Contrary to expectation, our findings from the Baseline and 12-month follow-up data suggest that employees perceived the organizational culture as becoming more, rather than less, hierarchical. We also hypothesized that quality indicators would show improvement due to enhanced information flow and ease of information retrieval. This hypothesis was not supported by 1-year results. However, follow-up data from years two and three may provide different results.

Quantitative estimation of dust fall and smoke particles in Quetta Valley

Tightening of air quality standards for populated urban areas has led to increasing attention to assessment of air quality management areas, where violation of air quality standards occurs, and development of control strategies to eliminate such violation of air quality standards. The Quetta urban area is very densely built and has heavy motorized traffic. The increase of emissions mainly from traffic and industry are responsible for the increase in atmospheric pollution levels during the last years. The dust examined in the current study was collected by both deposit gauge and Petri dish methods at various sites of Quetta Valley. Smoke particles were obtained by bladder method from the exhausts of various types of motor vehicles. The concentration of lead found in the smoke ranged from 1.5x10(-6) to 4.5x10(-6).

Hospitality service failures: Who will be more dissatisfied?

This research examines consumer responses to process and outcome failures in two hospitality settings, a hotel and a restaurant. Converging evidence from two experiments indicates that dissatisfaction with service failures reflects the joint influence of failure type and value orientation. Specifically, a face-conscious value that emphasizes a positive public self-image has an aggravating effect on dissatisfaction, and the effect is stronger for process failures. In contrast, a fate-submissive value that conduces fatalistic thinking has an attenuating effect on dissatisfaction, and the effect is stronger for outcome failures. These results have broad implications for hospitality research and practice, especially in the areas of service quality management and target marketing.

Integrating climate change management into the local air quality management process at a local and regional governance level in the UK

Environmental policies should not be treated in isolation due to the synergistic and antagonistic relationships within the policy arena. For example, a combined strategy for climate change and local air quality can make better use of the possibilities to improve energy efficiency and introduce alternative fuels. In other words, combining environmental policies can achieve much more without additional costs. The Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) process has been in place since 1997 and through adaptation and diversification the system is now well established and can be most effective if managed correctly. Part of the LAQM process is the statutory requirement to develop an Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) (should exceedences of an air quality objective be identified) and the non-statutory development of a local Air Quality Strategy (AQS). These and other facets of the LAQM process can be successfully adapted to integrate climate change management. To date, 183 local authorities in the UK have declared an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) for different pollutants; predominantly for NO2 and PM10. The sources of these pollutants are commonly found to be transport, industrial and domestic related; the same sources that are primarily responsible for CO2 emissions. During the development of the AQAP to alleviate the exceedence, careful consideration should be made as to whether the solution(s) utilised have a co-beneficial effect on both climate change and local air quality or if a trade-off has to be made. Due to the overlapping nature of air quality and climate change, these two facets of the LAQM system may be adapted to successfully integrate the management of local air quality and climate change and in doing so a significant and cost effective environmental benefit may be accrued.

A preliminary review of local air quality management consultation practices in England

Stakeholder participation in environmental risk decision-making processes is on the increase in the UK and EU member states. An example of this enhanced consultation requirement concerns the statutory requirement involving local authority declaration of Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs). This local air quality management (LAQM) consultation process represents one of the largest locally based environmental risk consultation exercises carried out in the UK. This paper rehearses and provides evidence from an intensive 2-year ESRC research project that has investigated the nature, scope and effectiveness of LAQM consultation approaches. In order to interrogate this environmental risk distribution, all 353 local authorities in England were surveyed, and 11 in-depth case studies were identified and executed. Our findings suggest that there are no simple solutions to the consultation dilemma. Local authorities are faced with a series of substantive challenges in contacting, engaging with, and incorporating the views of their diverse constituencies within the LAQM decision-making process. However, in order to assist local authorities in this process we have evolved a range of emergent ‘better practice’ parameters that build upon and operationalise our research findings.

Environmental justice consequences of the UK’s local air quality management (LAQM) systems

This paper will investigate the relationship between social deprivation and environmental quality, referred to as Environmental Justice. Specifically it examines the formulation, structure and implementation of the UK’s Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) system in terms of its possible impacts on social equity. Under the LAQM system Local Authorities (LAs) are required to identify areas, known as Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs), where air quality objectives cannot be met. LAs that have declared AQMAs are also required to produce Air Quality Action Plans (AQAPs); these are reports that inform the government of, amongst other things, the mitigations strategies to be adopted by the LA. This paper will present the initial findings on the level of social deprivation within the AQMAs. The methodological complexities of computing deprivation within AQMAs are also discussed. An assessment of the inclusion of social issues within the LAQM process is undertaken by appraising AQAPs. The paper will review the method adopted by LAs in developing AQAPs and examine the extent to which social considerations are included in the plans. The overall project aim is to provide a decision support process in which social issues are considered in the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental policies.

Air quality action plans in the UK: An overview and evaluation of process and practice

Local Air Quality Management is an effects-based process by which local authorities are required to review and assess their local air quality in relation to health-based air quality objectives. Where it is predicted that objectives will not be met and members of the public are exposed to elevated levels of pollutants, authorities are required to declare Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) and subsequently develop and implement Air Quality Action Plans (AQAPs) to improve air quality to acceptable levels. The majority of AQMAs (>90%) are predominantly transport related, and as such Local Transport Plans (LTPs) will be critical to the successful implementation of measures to improve air quality. LTPs are currently moving into the second round of a 5-year cycle of planning, with Plans being submitted to Government in July 2005 to cover the 2006-2011 period. In order to align AQAP and LTP more closely, and to reduce the number of policies and plans required of councils, local authorities with air quality problems arising from transport emissions have the freedom to include AQAPs within their LTP. LTP’s now include air quality as one of the four priorities. This move to integrate the two processes is seen largely as positive, but it is still unknown how the two processes (which still work to different timescales and report to different government departments) will be implemented in practice. This paper will provide an overview of the air quality action planning and local transport planning processes and then review three case study local authorities to examine the practice of air quality action planning in the context of air quality, organisational and political challenges.

Managing Air Quality – Are We Doing Enough?

2005 marked the 10 anniversary of the Environment Act that laid the foundations for the UK Local Air Quality Management regime. Two key events made it a significant year for air quality management in Europe. Firstly, the European limit value for PM10 came into force at the beginning of the year (followed later by widespread failure to comply with it). Later in 2005, after considerable debate, the European Commission launched its Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution, setting out its vision for air quality management up to 2020. In the context of these events, this paper looks at the state of air quality management in the UK, Europe and further a field and asks whether the nature of the current frameworks for air quality management and their implementation are any longer sufficient for tackling air pollution problems at a local, national and European scale. Air pollution, in the UK at least, is largely a symptom of the country’s transport problems with over 90% of Air Quality Management Areas in the UK being declared in relation to transport related sources. Despite the evidence of the strong relationship between transport, air pollution and AQMAs the government has ‘revised’ its 10-year transport plan, removing its commitment to a reduction in traffic and instead has committed itself to planning for considerable increases in road traffic. Given the predicted increases of traffic and its associated emissions is there any evidence to suggest that the air quality management regime is able to deliver the intended outcome of improved air quality?

Quality and risk management: what are the key issues?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the field of risk management in relation to the connection to quality management. It poses and attempts to answer three questions. What can quality teach risk management? What can risk management teach quality? What must both risk and quality management still learn? This is an area which has so far not been explored by the quality management fraternity.Design/methodology/approachThe examination is built on more than 20 years' experience in the area of quality management and extensive involvement in recent developments around risk management (e.g. the Australian/New Zealand standard for risk management – AS/NZ4360, the development of a risk management model by the European Foundation for Quality Management, and the launch of risk‐based instruments by a number of private companies).FindingsAmongst the major findings are that there are three types of risks: predictable risks that organisations know they face; the risks which an organisation knows it might run but which are caused by chance; and the risks which organisations do not know they are running.Practical implicationsIt is pointed out that in the past the challenge for quality management professionals was to support process and design improvements, but the challenge of the future is to improve relationships in order to reduce and manage the most important risks.Originality/valueThe paper outlines how the quality management discipline can help with the management of these types of risks.

Local air quality impacts of emissions from Corus Port Talbot steelworks

To assess the impact of particulate emissions from Port Talbot Works on local air quality, a detailed mathematical analysis of ambient particulate data collected in the borough over several years has been completed, with a special focus on the period following the stoppage of n° 5 Blast Furnace in 2001. This work was done following the declaration of an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) adjacent to Port Talbot Works, in order to tackle the high incidence of exceedances of the 24 h PM 10 objective in this area.

Quality Assurance Improvement during Accreditation Process of a French Cord Blood Bank: FACT No Fiction.

The Cord Blood Banks (CBB) wishing to be affiliated to NETCORD must demonstrate that they adopted the Fact-Netcord standards for collection, processing, quality control testing, storage, selection and release for their cord blood units (CBU). The best way to provide these assurances is to obtain FACT accreditation label. The Besancon Cord Blood Bank initiated this quality approach in January 2004 and was inspected on-site in June 2004.Initial internal audits revealed major deficiencies in specific Quality Management areas and the lack of an efficient documentation system together with adequate standard operating procedures and documented validation studies for each step of the process. Adequate labelling, conformity with good transport practices and post-transplantation clinical data recovery were also areas to be improved. Moreover, in order to clarify the different pathways of material, cell products, staff, or wastes, several building works modifications had to be undertaken. Several major improvements were performed during those six months of Fact accreditation project. The Assurance Quality Information System was significantly upgraded to control all the major elements of assurance quality (staff formation, material, premises, alarms, cleaning, records, and quality control testing) by implementing a computerised Oracle-based application. Morover, all documentation was implemented on an intranet network and is now easily accessible to all the staff wherever in the facility. In order to improve the volume of CBU, a weigh-and-mix machine used for blood donor harvesting procedure was tailored for specific CBU collection. To improve the conditions of transport we set up special containers with controlled temperature continuously monitored. Finally, major validation study was performed on a short period, aiming at demonstrating efficiency and reproducibility of the overall CBU process. In brief, eligible mothers, who give their informed consent, are accepted for CB donation after a medical interview. Collection is performed with the placenta in utero. The delay between collection and processing must not exceed 24hrs. CBU volumes are reduced using Sepax© (Biosafe, Switzerland) technology for long-term storage in a Bioarchive© (Thermogenesis, CA, USA). Quality controls include testing maternal blood samples for infectious markers (HIV, HCV, HBV, HTLV, syphilis) and the presence of IGg- and IgM-antibodies against toxoplasmosis, EBV and CMV on the day of birth and after a quarantine period of at least 60 days. No active infectious disease is mandatory. A baby's clinical examination is performed at the same time point. Microbiological tests on the CBU must be negative. In addition, our CBB requires a minimal collection volume of 80 ml and a minimum of 2 x 106 CD34 cells for CBU qualification. We implemented a systematic cord blood haemoglobin analysis and tested systematically cord blood plasma for viral infection by genomic detection. Finally, our bank obtained its FACT accreditation on May 2nd 2005, validating our strategy. This achievement had a great impact on CBB staff, desiring to maintain and improve their know how. On June 30th 2005, 5045 CBU were registered at French marrow registry and 273 (5%) were transplanted, 142 (52%) in France and 131 (48%) in other countries. This high 5% transplantation rate may be due to the stringent initial quality controls requirements.

Integrated air quality modelling for a designated air quality management area in Glasgow

Currently, most local authorities in the UK use well-established Gaussian-type dispersion models to predict the air quality in urban areas. The use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in integrated urban air quality modelling is still in its infancy, despite having an enormous potential in assessing and improving natural ventilation in built-up areas. This study assesses the suitability of a general CFD code (PHOENICS) for use in integrated urban air quality modelling for regulatory purposes. An urban air quality model of a designated air quality management area in the city centre of Glasgow has been developed by integrating traffic flow data for urban road networks, traffic pollutant emission data and a three-dimensional CFD dispersion model of a complex configuration of street canyons. The results are in good agreement with field measurements taken during the continuous monitoring campaign, and show that a general CFD code has indeed the potential for regulatory use. Although this numerical tool has demonstrated satisfactory performance, it is observed that small differences in monitoring station positioning may yield significant variations of the measured mean concentration, due to large values of horizontal and vertical local concentration gradients. Although, at this stage, the accuracy of the developed Glasgow urban air quality model is highly dependent on the experience of its users, it is believed that use of a CFD code (such as PHOENICS) could benefit urban planners, architects, HVAC engineers and all other professionals interested in public health.

Regional collaborative urban air quality management: case studies across Great Britain

Almost a third of local authorities across Great Britain have declared air quality management areas (AQMAs), which are the focus of concerted actions to reduce unacceptably high concentrations of prescribed air pollutants by a date specified in regulations. Local government has been provided with guidance from central governments on the use of modelling and monitoring tools, as part of a local air quality review and assessment process. Use of the various tools and the interpretation of the findings have not been consistent across Great Britain. As a result, AQMAs are neither uniform in shape nor in the decision-making processes leading to their declaration. Local authorities have collaborated in many parts of the country, using working groups to share experiences and resources. This paper examines groupings from three regions of Great Britain; London, the West Midlands and the former-Avon area of Southwest England. An examination of the methods and tools used collaboratively has illustrated variation in local air quality management decision-making and AQMA designation. This has implications for delivering the necessary improvements to achieve the UK's national air quality objectives.

Identifying the contribution of different airport related sources to local urban air quality

The Air Quality Strategy and part IV of The Environment Act, within the United Kingdom, highlight the need for local authorities to undertake air quality assessments. Many UK local authorities have recently completed a review and assessment of local air quality, which has culminated in the declaration of Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) in many urban areas, where air pollution objectives are likely to be exceeded. Those local authorities who declare AQMAs are required to undertake a further stage of assessment, which involves the determination of the contribution of various sources of air pollution, such as airports. Many studies of this nature only consider an airport as one source, however, this study considers the impact of different airport related sources on local air quality from a dispersion modelling study of a large urban area. This paper describes the methodology, results and draws conclusions from a study that assesses the impact of a regional airport's sources (such as it's contribution from road traffic and aircraft). The paper also considers the effect of modelling the above ground aircraft emissions sources (climbout and approach) to different altitude heights. The paper's results highlight the need to investigate the source contributions of an airport, to local air quality, as opposed to considering an airport as just one source.

Urban scale integrated assessment for London: Which emission reduction strategies are more effective in attaining prescribed PM 10 air quality standards by 2005?

Tightening of air quality standards for populated urban areas has led to increasing attention to assessment of air quality management areas (AQMAs) where exceedance occurs, and development of control strategies to eliminate such exceedance. Software tools that bring together data on pollutant sources, their respective contributions to atmospheric concentrations and human exposure, together with information on potential technological and other measures that may be used to reduce concentrations and their economic costs, can be used to identify cost-effective strategies for improving air quality, and hence aid policy development. The Urban Scale Integrated Assessment Model (USIAM) has been developed in this context, illustrated in this paper by application to traffic emissions which are a major contributor to exceedance of air quality objectives for fine particulate matter, PM 10, in London. In such a multidisciplinary approach the aim has been to provide a tool for rapid assessment of a wide range of scenarios to identify those that are most cost effective, maintaining a balance between the level of sophistication in the model and the uncertainties and assumptions involved.