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Attempts to sketch out directions for business and quality management based on a recent survey of world business leaders. Discusses the reality of global trading on a 24‐hour basis and considers the findings of a survey carried out to determine how leaders of businesses intend to direct their efforts to become more competitive in the twenty first century. Itemises the universal trends that emerged from the study. Contends that the keys to competitive advantage, business survival and success will be customer focus and quality management in all its forms.

States that efficient communication of the TQM message is essential if a programme is to be implemented successfully. Underlines the need to tailor communications messages according to who they are directed at, especially employees, and suggests that quality managers work together with public relations departments in order to get these messages across. Proposes that communication holds the key to change and that if employees understand exactly what is being asked of them in a quality initiative, then they are more likely to respond positively.

This study tests a research model for promoting understanding of the responsibility attribution process.

A between-subjects experiment was conducted to test the hypotheses.

The results reveal that counterfactual thinking about how a system failure could have been prevented moderates the effect of cause of misstatement on perceived control. Counterfactual thinking about how an audit failure could have been avoided also moderates the effect of perceived control on causal account. Additionally, causal account mediates the effect of perceived control on responsibility judgment of an audit firm. Inclusion of audit firm size and auditor systems competency as control variables in the hypothesis tests and as grouping variables in the invariance tests does not alter the model results.

Research can guide the audit profession on development of innovative strategies for detecting fraud to protect the interests of decision-makers. Strategies can also be devised to prompt users to consider relevant factors to enhance their ability to arrive at an accurate assessment of an audit firm’s responsibility for an audit failure.

Regulators may need to address whether availability of advanced data analytic tools increases the audit firms’ responsibility for presenting convincing evidence suggesting due diligence in the audit work in the event of an audit failure.

This study examines the process variables influencing responsibility judgment of an audit firm. Elicitation of counterfactual thoughts before the participants responded to the questions measuring the process and dependent variables facilitates discernment of the intensity of counterfactual thinking on the variables examined in the research model.

Reconfigurable machines tools (RMTs) are gaining momentum as the new solutions to customised products in the manufacturing world. The driving force, among others, behind these machines is the part envelope and the part family of products that they can produce. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new class of RMT known as a reconfigurable guillotine shear and bending press machine (RGS&BPM). A part family of products that this machine can produce is developed using hierarchical clustering methodologies. The development of these part families is guided by the relationship of the parts in the family in terms of complexity and geometry.

Part families cannot be developed in isolation, but that process has to incorporate the machine modules used in the reconfiguration process for producing the parts. Literature was reviewed, and group technology principles explored, to develop a concept that can be used to develop the part families. Matrices were manipulated to generate part families, and this resulted in the development of a dendrogram of six possible part families. A software with a graphic user interface for manipulation was also developed to help generate part families and machine modules. The developed concept will assist in the development of a machine by first developing the part family of products and machine modules required in the variable production process.

The developed concepts assist in the development of a machine by first developing the part family of products and machine modules required in the variable production process. The development of part families for the RGS&BPM is key to developing the machine work envelope and modules to carry out the work. This work has been presented to demonstrate the importance of machine development in conjunction with a part family of products that the machine will produce. The paper develops an approach to manufacturing where part families of products are developed prior to developing the machine. The families of products are then used to develop modules that enable the manufacture of the parts and subsequently the size of the machine.

The research was limited to the development of part families for a new RGS&BPM, which is still under development.

The study reflects the development of reconfigurable machines as a solution to manufacturing challenges in terms of group technology approaches adopted in the design phase. It also highlights the significance of the concepts in the reconfigurable machine tool design. The part families define the machine work envelop and its reconfiguration capability.

The success of the research will usher an alternative to smaller players in sheet metal work. It will contribute to the easy development of the machine that will bridge the high cost of machine tools.

The study contributes to the new approach in sheet metal manufacturing where dedicated machines may be substituted by a highly flexible reconfigurable machine that has a dual operation, making the investment for small to medium enterprises affordable. It also contributes to the body of knowledge in reconfigurable machine development and the framework for such activities, especially in developing countries.

In line with conservation of resources theory and signaling theory, the purpose of this paper is to conceptualize and test a multiple mediation model in which telecommuting affects engagement via perceived supervisor goal support and goal progress.

A three-phase longitudinal study carried out over ten months was used to test the hypotheses.

Individuals who worked in organizations that offer telecommuting were more engaged than those who worked in organizations that did not offer telecommuting. Furthermore, telecommuting availability was not only directly but also indirectly related to engagement via perceived supervisor goal support and goal progress. Engagement in general decreased over time. However, individuals who attained their personal work goals were able to maintain high levels of engagement.

Giving employees the option to telecommute could increase employee engagement. This study is correlational in nature and relied on self-report data.

This is the first study examining the effects of telecommuting on engagement over a period of ten months. It is also the first study to use perceived supervisor goal support and goal progress as explanatory variables to the teleworking and engagement relationship.