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The purpose of this paper is to present the complete details of the Quality Maturity Model (QMM), and the associated Quality Culture Assessment Instrument (QCAI). The QMM provides a framework for libraries to self-assess their progress towards achieving a culture of quality.

The research used a Design Science approach and predominantly grounded theory methodology to develop the QMM as a roadmap that defines an ordinal scale for measuring the maturity of an academic library’s quality culture.

The QMM describes seven facets of quality culture, and five levels for each facet.

The QCAI enables libraries to locate themselves within the quality maturity landscape. They will then be able to use the QMM as a roadmap to plan their route to improvement. Such a strategic approach to improvement allows libraries to make sense of the literature in terms of what is appropriate for them, so avoiding expensive irrelevancies.

The QMM is unique. There are other models that assess quality culture, but the details of these models are kept secret and the only way to be assessed is by paying a consultancy fee. There are other models that make their details public, but they describe only one or two aspects of quality culture, not all.

The review of literature found that there is a significant correlation between a construction company’s organisational culture and the company quality performance. The purpose of this paper is to assess the organisational culture profiles of Indonesian construction companies, and to examine the influence of the companies’ organisational culture profiles on their quality management systems (based on QMS-ISO 9001:2008) implementation. Prior to conducting the examination, there are examinations of the relationships among the quality management system (QMS) variables.

The methodology employed a survey questionnaire of construction industry practitioners who have experience in building and civil engineering works. The Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument was selected due to its suitability in assessing organisation’s underlying culture.

Within the examination among the QMS variables, it was found that problematic issues associated with the implementation of QMS-ISO 9001:2008 in Indonesian construction companies can affect the implementation of the QMS and contribute to the lower level of companies’ business performance. It was also found that there is no significant relationship between the QMS implementation and the companies’ business performance. By using the Competing Values Framework diagram, it was found that most of the construction companies’ organisational culture is characterised by a Clan type which is reflected in how employees are managed, how the organisation is held together, and how the organisation’s success is defined; the leadership style is Hierarchy-focused, while the organisation’s strategy is Market type. It was also found that different culture profiles have different influences on the QMS implementation.

A strong mixed Hierarchy and Market culture needs to be developed within the construction companies in Indonesia, as the driver to support proper and successful implementation of their QMS in order to enhance business performance in a quality performance-oriented Indonesian construction industry.

The strategic management literature emphasizes the concept of business intelligence (BI) as an essential competitive tool. Yet the sustainability of the firms’ competitive advantage provided by BI capability is not well researched. To fill this gap, this study attempts to develop a model for successful BI deployment and empirically examines the association between BI deployment and sustainable competitive advantage. Taking the telecommunications industry in Malaysia as a case example, the research particularly focuses on the influencing perceptions held by telecommunications decision makers and executives on factors that impact successful BI deployment. The research further investigates the relationship between successful BI deployment and sustainable competitive advantage of the telecommunications organizations. Another important aim of this study is to determine the effect of moderating factors such as organization culture, business strategy, and use of BI tools on BI deployment and the sustainability of firm’s competitive advantage.

This research uses combination of resource-based theory and diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory to examine BI success and its relationship with firm’s sustainability. The research adopts the positivist paradigm and a two-phase sequential mixed method consisting of qualitative and quantitative approaches are employed. A tentative research model is developed first based on extensive literature review. The chapter presents a qualitative field study to fine tune the initial research model. Findings from the qualitative method are also used to develop measures and instruments for the next phase of quantitative method. The study includes a survey study with sample of business analysts and decision makers in telecommunications firms and is analyzed by partial least square-based structural equation modeling.

The findings reveal that some internal resources of the organizations such as BI governance and the perceptions of BI’s characteristics influence the successful deployment of BI. Organizations that practice good BI governance with strong moral and financial support from upper management have an opportunity to realize the dream of having successful BI initiatives in place. The scope of BI governance includes providing sufficient support and commitment in BI funding and implementation, laying out proper BI infrastructure and staffing and establishing a corporate-wide policy and procedures regarding BI. The perceptions about the characteristics of BI such as its relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, and observability are also significant in ensuring BI success. The most important results of this study indicated that with BI successfully deployed, executives would use the knowledge provided for their necessary actions in sustaining the organizations’ competitive advantage in terms of economics, social, and environmental issues.

This study contributes significantly to the existing literature that will assist future BI researchers especially in achieving sustainable competitive advantage. In particular, the model will help practitioners to consider the resources that they are likely to consider when deploying BI. Finally, the applications of this study can be extended through further adaptation in other industries and various geographic contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the Focus/Values/Purpose Matrix, first presented at the 2nd Northumbria International Conference on Performance Measurement which attempts to define three significant factors that contribute to the extent to which a library and information service organisation has a “culture of assessment” that informs its strategic planning, allocation of resources, and the use it makes of evaluation in these activities.

The underlying assumption is that the ability of a library to understand customer requirements, and deliver high quality service is influenced by its commitment to a “culture of assessment”. This assumption, and the matrix itself have been tested empirically, and positive placement on each of the axes was shown to correlate with an enhanced ability to deliver customer satisfaction, as assessed by a SERVQUAL type gap analysis. In that research each organisation's placement on the axes was assessed using documentary evidence and interview data from each library. An attempt to determine placement on the axes using survey data was unsuccessful. Other instruments to evaluate an organisation's culture of assessment have been developed, but they are developed from a management perspective, and take a top‐down approach to organisational culture.

The study finds that a new survey instrument is being developed and tested, that attempts to translate the theoretical model of the matrix into a workable instrument which would measure these factors in a wider range of institutions, using an approach that is more integrated with the perspectives of staff at all organisational levels on the understanding that a culture of assessment must permeate all staff levels to be translated into service quality.

The newly developed instrument is intended to be administered to an organisation's staff, and attempts to capture the views, practice and culture of the organisation using statements about the personal and organisational value placed on evaluation, and knowledge of activities that demonstrate that measurement is incorporated into planning procedures. The instrument, which has been developed through a series of focus groups, and testing in six university libraries, and which has inbuilt checks for construct validity, and consistency, is now ready for testing in a larger range of libraries, and correlating with scores of customer satisfaction.

Information and communications technology (ICT) offers enormous opportunities for individuals, businesses and society. The application of ICT is equally important to economic and non-economic activities. Researchers have increasingly focused on the adoption and use of ICT by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as the economic development of a country is largely dependent on them. Following the success of ICT utilisation in SMEs in developed countries, many developing countries are looking to utilise the potential of the technology to develop SMEs. Past studies have shown that the contribution of ICT to the performance of SMEs is not clear and certain. Thus, it is crucial to determine the effectiveness of ICT in generating firm performance since this has implications for SMEs’ expenditure on the technology. This research examines the diffusion of ICT among SMEs with respect to the typical stages from innovation adoption to post-adoption, by analysing the actual usage of ICT and value creation. The mediating effects of integration and utilisation on SME performance are also studied. Grounded in the innovation diffusion literature, institutional theory and resource-based theory, this study has developed a comprehensive integrated research model focused on the research objectives. Following a positivist research paradigm, this study employs a mixed-method research approach. A preliminary conceptual framework is developed through an extensive literature review and is refined by results from an in-depth field study. During the field study, a total of 11 SME owners or decision-makers were interviewed. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed using NVivo 10 to refine the model to develop the research hypotheses. The final research model is composed of 30 first-order and five higher-order constructs which involve both reflective and formative measures. Partial least squares-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is employed to test the theoretical model with a cross-sectional data set of 282 SMEs in Bangladesh. Survey data were collected using a structured questionnaire issued to SMEs selected by applying a stratified random sampling technique. The structural equation modelling utilises a two-step procedure of data analysis. Prior to estimating the structural model, the measurement model is examined for construct validity of the study variables (i.e. convergent and discriminant validity).

The estimates show cognitive evaluation as an important antecedent for expectation which is shaped primarily by the entrepreneurs’ beliefs (perception) and also influenced by the owners’ innovativeness and culture. Culture further influences expectation. The study finds that facilitating condition, environmental pressure and country readiness are important antecedents of expectation and ICT use. The results also reveal that integration and the degree of ICT utilisation significantly affect SMEs’ performance. Surprisingly, the findings do not reveal any significant impact of ICT usage on performance which apparently suggests the possibility of the ICT productivity paradox. However, the analysis finally proves the non-existence of the paradox by demonstrating the mediating role of ICT integration and degree of utilisation explain the influence of information technology (IT) usage on firm performance which is consistent with the resource-based theory. The results suggest that the use of ICT can enhance SMEs’ performance if the technology is integrated and properly utilised. SME owners or managers, interested stakeholders and policy makers may follow the study’s outcomes and focus on ICT integration and degree of utilisation with a view to attaining superior organisational performance.

This study urges concerned business enterprises and government to look at the environmental and cultural factors with a view to achieving ICT usage success in terms of enhanced firm performance. In particular, improving organisational practices and procedures by eliminating the traditional power distance inside organisations and implementing necessary rules and regulations are important actions for managing environmental and cultural uncertainties. The application of a Bengali user interface may help to ensure the productivity of ICT use by SMEs in Bangladesh. Establishing a favourable national technology infrastructure and legal environment may contribute positively to improving the overall situation. This study also suggests some changes and modifications in the country’s existing policies and strategies. The government and policy makers should undertake mass promotional programs to disseminate information about the various uses of computers and their contribution in developing better organisational performance. Organising specialised training programs for SME capacity building may succeed in attaining the motivation for SMEs to use ICT. Ensuring easy access to the technology by providing loans, grants and subsidies is important. Various stakeholders, partners and related organisations should come forward to support government policies and priorities in order to ensure the productive use of ICT among SMEs which finally will help to foster Bangladesh’s economic development.

The purpose of the article is to investigate the impact of organizational culture on software process improvement (SPI). Is cultural congruence between an organization and an adopted process model required? How can the level of congruence between an organizational culture and the values and assumptions underlying an adopted process model be assessed?

The competing values framework and its associated assessment instrument are used in a case study to establish an organizational culture profile of a software development business unit within the case company. The instrument is supplemented with a technique to produce culture profiles of texts such as process models like the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) and the case company's quality management system. The different profiles are subsequently analyzed and compared.

The culture profile of the CMMI confirms previous research and depicts a result‐oriented, formalized, and structured organization. A comparison with the company's quality management system shows congruent culture profiles suggesting that the case company has succeeded in capturing underlying assumptions of the CMMI when updating the quality management system. The analysis also reveals the organizational culture profile of the business unit to be incongruent with the quality management system's profile. This disconfirms previous research claiming that congruence is a prerequisite. Further analysis reveals that actions were taken by managers in the case company to address the cultural challenges and successfully implement new processes. It is, therefore, concluded that cultural incongruence is not an insurmountable barrier to SPI. By comparing cultural profiles, some SPI implementation challenges become evident and that in turn allows for effective SPI management action.

The research is based on a single case study and that is sufficient to disconfirm existing research. Additional research is, however, needed to validate both the proposed text analysis technique as well as the proposed process for assessing and managing cultural challenges confronting SPI projects.

SPI managers are provided with a more complex view of organizational culture in which congruence is not a necessity. SPI managers can choose to compare culture profiles and decide how to address incongruences. To that end the text analysis technique is offered as a web service that allows for analysis of all text‐based process models and standards, and of internal process documentation.

The proposed culture management process, including the text analysis technique, is a cost‐efficient approach to analyzing and providing the basis for managing cultural challenges during SPI in a specific company. The process provides understanding and guidance in dealing with the specific challenges faced by software companies during SPI.

The purpose of this article is to discuss Portuguese academics’ views on quality assessment and the elements that are important for a better understanding of what ascribes meaning to “quality cultures” in Portuguese higher education.

The discussion was based on the results of a survey run in 2010 among Portuguese academics on quality assessment objectives and purposes. Descriptive statistics was used to investigate academics’ support to what quality assessment was supposed to guarantee (its purposes) and which should be its objectives. Furthermore, a factorial analysis using Promax rotation (oblique) was performed to investigate if the different purposes could be grouped according to the different areas they address in terms of quality assessment, helping to uncover a rationale that could explain the answers obtained. Theoretically, the results have been analysed in the light of the “quality culture” concept.

Perceptions of Portuguese academics that support internal processes of quality assurance correspond either to the responsive quality culture or the regenerative quality culture. The viable form of ideal cultures is analytically limited, and the perceptions gathered encourage “quality cultures” biased by stronger group control.

The paper offers new insights into academics’ perceptions on quality assessment, a theme that so far has been relatively absent from higher education quality assurance studies. Furthermore, the results obtained could be useful to policymakers and quality assurance agencies when setting up evaluation and accreditation systems capable of balancing improvement associated with the group dimension and accountability coupled with the grid dimension.

The purpose of this paper, based on a nation‐wide survey, is to explore how clinical governance managers in the English NHS are seeking to engage with the culture(s) of their organisation to support quality improvement.

All English NHS primary and acute trusts, a total of 325, were contacted for R&D approval between March and September 2006. Clinical governance leads of organisations which gave their approval, 276 (or 85 per cent), were targeted in a nation‐wide postal survey between October 2006 and February 2007. A response rate of 77 per cent was obtained. The questionnaire contained mostly closed questions about the role and importance of culture in clinical governance and the use of tools for culture assessment. The questionnaire was piloted with eight respondents, seven in clinical governance from both primary care and acute trusts, and one from the National Patient Safety Agency. Useful feedback was received from five of the respondents, which was used to revise and refine the questionnaire. Confidence in the reliability and validity of the results is based on a high degree of consistency and similarity in the responses, both with respect to a few questions which were closely related and the two categories of respondents from primary care trusts and acute trusts.

There was found to be clear interest among clinical governance managers in culture renewal and management, in line with the growing national policy interest in promoting culture change as a lever for health system reform. Nearly, all clinical governance managers (98 per cent) saw the need to measure local culture in order to foster change for improved performance; 85 per cent, indicated that culture assessment should satisfy a formative purpose, whereas 64 per cent believed that it should serve summative ends. While nearly all clinical governance managers (99 per cent) acknowledge the importance of understanding and shaping local cultures, the majority are also conscious that there are many challenges to overcome in their efforts to implement and sustain beneficial culture change.

This research highlights the widespread practical interest in assessing and managing local health care cultures to support clinical governance and quality improvement activities. It also highlights the need for culture assessment tools that better reflect the needs and interests of clinical governance managers.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and address the underlying causes of costly quality/ethical problems that have prevented companies to achieve and sustain excellence. More broadly, the study has leveraged data from multiple sources to determine root-cause issues and propose a new management model that enables leadership to prevent and effectively address quality/ethical problems by operationalizing excellence. For the purpose of this research, operationalization is defined in terms of developing a sustained culture of excellence and enabling a firm to systematically prevent, detect, and address costly problems in their daily operations.

The study has defined the concept of excellence in terms of measurable results based on ten critical success factors: products, financials, stakeholders, employees, leadership, societal, operational, innovation, alignment, and ethical excellence. To identify and address the underlying causes, this study has used a spiral research model to develop and improve an assessment process for the consistent examination of three types of firms: national quality award recipients, successful and responsible Fortune-500 companies, and landmark ethical violators. Findings from case studies were then substantiated using results from current research studies and conclusions from over 20 years of international field work/experience.

To operationalize excellence, this study found that organizations need to develop a foundation for two tightly coupled and inseparable variables: ethics, excellence. Case studies show when these two variables are inadequately planned, integrated, checked, and enforced across business operations, they cause serious and costly problems. This foundation enables a firm to maximize performance, the return on investment, and to sustain performance in each of these critical success factors (CSFs) using the following interconnected building blocks of excellence: grander purpose, measurable results, effective collaboration, leadership development, individual development, continuous alignment, continuous innovation, ethics management, and ethics foundation.

The application of the assessment instrument proved to be complex due to the difficulties of transforming conjecture into certainty using existing online corporate records (e.g. understanding true leadership intention). Findings of this study are applicable to any industry and type and size company. The building blocks of this new management model should not be developed and implemented in an isolated, standalone, or piecemeal manner; nor should they be forced onto an organization as a new program. For best results, each building block needs to be implemented as an interconnected component of a complete and total system of management and infused into the fabric of the culture as a normal part of the daily operations.

Total business excellence is a proposed new management model for operationalizing excellence. This new model serves three major purposes. First, it enables an enterprise to responsibly deliver a continuous flow of innovative and competitive products as defined and measured by ten CSFs. Second, it enables management to prevent costly quality/ethical problems by developing a unified and responsible strategy for planning, execution, and quality. Most importantly, it provides a missing platform of opportunity where individuals can incrementally grow and develop as they add meaningful personal, professional, and societal value.

Addresses the standardization of the measurements and the labels for concepts commonly used in the study of work organizations. As a reference handbook and research tool, seeks to improve measurement in the study of work organizations and to facilitate the teaching of introductory courses in this subject. Focuses solely on work organizations, that is, social systems in which members work for money. Defines measurement and distinguishes four levels: nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio. Selects specific measures on the basis of quality, diversity, simplicity and availability and evaluates each measure for its validity and reliability. Employs a set of 38 concepts ‐ ranging from “absenteeism” to “turnover” as the handbook’s frame of reference. Concludes by reviewing organizational measurement over the past 30 years and recommending future measurement reseach.