Search results

Many organizations are investing much time and effort in the management of quality. A few enlightened ones even have a vision to be the best. G. Howland Blackiston, the president of the Juran Institute, noted recently that, “All around the world companies are waking up to ‘quality’. Everyone is touting quality. Many are attempting it. Some organizations have gotten enviable results by using the concepts of ‘managing for quality’ dramatically to lower their costs, increase their profits and become more competitive in an increasingly competitive market. For these winners, quality has become an integral part of their business strategy”.

Presents a preliminary evaluation of an extensive corporate renewal programme directly encompassing some 70 companies in the Swedish branch of Asea Brown Boveri (ABB). The renewal effort which is known as the T50 programme, is focused on reducing the total cycle times within most value adding chains including marketing, design, engineering and manufacturing. Preliminary results show that differences between companies are substantial with the leading companies well ahead of the corporate objective, while others have yet (after three years) only experienced minor improvements. Furthermore, the T50 concepts have been more difficult to apply to white‐collar work than anticipated which have contributed to limited success with respect to complete value‐adding chains. Describes and evaluates the T50 programme at corporate, company and workplace level and uses the programme history together with a national perspective to comment on the future of the programme.

Product innovation is central to the success of most companies. The rewards of a successful innovation programme are highly visible in terms of sales, profits and growth. But not so apparent are the strategies that underlie these product innovation efforts. This monograph is about the ingredients of a winning new product strategy — about strategic decisions on markets, technologies, products — that result in a successful innovation programme.

Executive education can be a powerful catalyst for both personal and organisational development. How corporations are utilising this potential was the subject of an international study of executive education trends among the Fortune 300, Fortune Service 100, and Fortune International 100 firms. The results of the study reflect expanding corporate support for executive education, both on an in‐company basis and through university‐based programmes. The results also suggest some interesting comparisons among the executive education practices of the three survey population subgroupings.

Describes the early stages of university executive education, including MBA and non‐degree executive development programmes, and gives examples of early in‐house executive education. Examines the current university EMBA and speciality programmes and today’s in‐house facilities. Sets out advantages and disadvantages of the two approaches, and considers a customized approach ‐ a movement towards jointly designed executive education, combining university and in‐house features. Looks at the future of executive education, the two most important trends being the effects of global competition and evolving corporate needs, and discusses future executive programmes ‐ university, in‐house and cutomized. Highlights the implications of recent developments in technology, and suggests that the underlying theme for tomorrow’s executive education is the likelihood of more company involvement.

Intervention programmes can potentially aid medium-sized manufacturing companies (MMEs) in improvement work that they otherwise would not undertake. The purpose of this paper is to identify intervention programme functions that support MMEs in the adoption of operations improvements.

Empirical material on one programme, Production Leap, was mainly collected through 11 interviews and an internal-to-the-programme two-day workshop. This material was arranged to describe the programme’s design, and subsequently compared with a theoretical framework based on the literature on operations improvements and interventions.

The interventions were divided into phases focusing on management and employees, each of which is seen as key to planning and commitment. Collaborations with labour unions and trade organisations were found to be important for gaining trust among employees and companies.

Earlier research has identified critical factors for interventions in companies, which this paper groups into governance, involvement, and change agent approach. This paper demonstrates how a programme may or may not operationalise such factors, as well as identifies further factors.

Practitioners and policy makers may use these findings in the design of support for MMEs, including further improvement programmes.

Earlier studies on programmes have examined individual companies, while this paper analyses how a programme may be designed to aid MMEs in the adoption of systematic operations improvements.

Suggests that the need to cope with rapid change and global competition has revolutionized the practice of management within most major corporations. Reports on a ten‐year study of global trends in the field, which shows how practices in executive development have evolved to keep pace with this revolutionary change. The results of the study suggest a changing and increasingly important role for executive development in building and revitalizing corporate competitiveness.

This article reports the results of a longitudinal study of some of the earliest quality circle (QC) programmes to be established in the United Kingdom. The 27 companies in question were first contacted in 1981. A second survey, conducted in April/May 1985, aimed to find out how many of the QC programmes have survived the test of time and in what circumstances. Reasons for the termination of individual circles and programmes were also sought. Forty per cent of the programmes unequivocally remain operative in organisations where senior management tend to be committed to the QC concept; the trade unions have been reasonably receptive or indifferent, the working environment is conducive to this type of initiative, and there have been no major crises, such as redundancy or serious retrenchment. The main reasons for QC programme termination were closure of sites or redundancy, and lack of support from senior management. Regarding those organisations in which QCs did not survive, the majority of respondents nevertheless felt that the technique has the potential to make a valuable contribution to British industry, primarily in relation to employee involvement.

One result of the recent upsurge of national, and indeed international, political interest in the small firm sector of the economy has been a focus on the role of management training and development in the small firm and on the wider, but related, issue of education and training for entrepreneurship. The basis for this renewed government attention seems to lie in recognition of the employment potential of small firms rather than in the contribution that training and education might make to productivity and efficiency. Added to the weight of official concern is pressure from individuals who, without the early possibility of becoming an employee, are being forced to look to their own resources and initiative. It is, therefore, scarcely surprising that much of the recent stimulus to small firms training has come from government training schemes and, in the UK, from local community‐based ventures aimed at improving local job prospects. The accent in the UK has been on encouraging the new small business start up.

Total quality management does improve organizational performance and remains the most viable long‐term business strategy around. These were the findings of a recent report entitled “TQM: Forging a Need or Falling Behind?”, commissioned by Development Dimensions International of Pittsburgh, the Quality & Productivity Management Association of Schaumburg, Illinois, and Industry Week, which were based on interviews with 6,500 people in 84 organizations. However, on considering the various elements which help or hinder TQM implementation, training emerged as the one successful theme in successful programmes.