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The purpose of this paper is to examine the quality movement in the framework of an organizing taxonomy model from six perspectives: global trend, national mandate, industry trend, organizational strategy, operational strategy, and personal philosophy.

The authors use the organizing taxonomy model to analyze the quality movement from each of the six perspectives in terms utilizing a diverse range of key questions, characteristics, and issues which must be addressed.

The analysis shows that viewing the quality movement from these various perspectives can help practitioners in developing an understanding of the quality movement not only from a historical standpoint, but also in terms of current requirements and future demands. This can also benefit quality management researchers in terms of organizing the focus of their research on the various perspectives. The organizing taxonomy model can also be used to assess other phenomena such as lean, supply chain management, knowledge management, and business analytics which are similarly impacting organizations across all industries and throughout the world.

The paper presents a fresh look at the quality movement from a range of perspectives and provides insight into an organized method of assessing major movements that continue to impact businesses globally.

The aim of this study was directed toward how a group of fourth year bachelor physiotherapy students describes their experiences, attitudes and beliefs from participating in a course of 40 h lasting three months in basic body awareness therapy (BBAT).

A qualitative study using phenomenological exploratory design was conducted. A total of 125 physiotherapy students within the subject of mental health physiotherapy, in the fourth year’s study course belonging participated. The BBAT introduction course consisted of 20 h theory and 20 h practical implementation with a particular focus on promoting movement quality through a movement awareness learning strategy. The course was carried out through three consecutive years. Data were collected through using focus group interview at the end of each movement session and qualitative face-to-face research interview at the end of the whole course.

The data-analysis revealed 16 emerging themes grouped into four categories: physical perceptions, body awareness characteristics, self-awareness and body awareness professional development.

This study highlights key experiences after attending a course on BBAT. In addition, it points out that to achieve movement quality awareness among the students, there is a need to include more self-training in the curriculum.

The movement quality learning process is necessary to develop the mental health physiotherapy program. The experiences of students while body awareness learning process included physical perceptions, body awareness characteristics, self-awareness and professional development.

This study is among the first to describe the experiences of students when a movement awareness learning methodology is applied. In physiotherapy in mental health, this learning process is relevant for the application of BBAT.

Statistical thinking is an intrinsic part of the quality movement. Helped by initiatives such as Six Sigma, there is greater acceptance of the importance of data analysis and a general trend towards embracing numeracy. It is timely to review the emergence of statistical thinking and consider the good and bad features resulting from its application in a wide range of sectors.

The paper first defines statistical thinking and justifies its importance to the quality movement. The achievements from the past 25 years are then considered sector by sector along with their collateral damage.

The following lessons are proposed for the next 25 years: statistical thinking needs to expand its remit to include more aspects of analytical thinking becoming what may be called wider statistical thinking; statistical thinkers have ground-breaking ideas and need to communicate with managers at the top of the hierarchy to ensure that both the thinkers and the ideas have the influence they deserve; whilst learning from past successes, the quality movement must be mindful of knock-on effects and nurse a holistic viewpoint; expect the unexpected.

Statistical thinking is gaining more prominence in all sectors and is used within the quality movement to make major progress as well as major upsets. It is important that the quality movement treads carefully and makes sure that society as a whole benefits from the ever increasing drive for improvement.

This study aims to analyze four text-mining studies of quality management (QM) to illustrate and problematize how the research on quality has informed the quality paradigm since the 1980s. By understanding history, one can better manage current developments.

The findings are based on a meta-analysis of four text-mining studies that explore and describe 11,579 research entries on quality between 1980 and 2017.

The findings show that the research on quality during the past 30 years form a research paradigm consisting of three operational paradigms: an operative paradigm of backend quality orbiting around QM, total QM (TQM) and service quality; an operative paradigm of middle-way quality, circling around the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), business excellence frameworks (BEFs) and quality awards; and an operative paradigm of frontend quality, revolving around reliability, costs and processes. The operative paradigms are interconnected and complementary; they also show a divide between a general management view of quality and a hands-on engineering view of quality. The findings indicate that the research on quality is a long-lived standalone paradigm, supporting the notion of quality being a genuine academic entity, not a fashion or fad.

The empirical basis of the study is four text-mining studies. Consequently, the results and findings are based on a limited number of findings.

Text-mining studies targeting research on quality are scarce, and there seem to be no prior models that depict the quality paradigm based on such studies. The perspectives presented here will advance the existing paradigmatic discourse. The new viewpoints aim to facilitate and deepen the discussion on current and future directions of the paradigm.

This paper aims to propose a reading of children’s small toy/puppet play that takes account of bodily movements within classroom assemblages. The researcher/author created representations of episodes of activity that focused on children’s ongoing bodily movements as they followed their interests in one Early Years classroom in England.

By drawing a contrast between a traditional logocentric interpretation of puppet play and an embodied theorisation, this paper provides a way of understanding young children’s literacy practices where these are seen as generated through bodily movement and affective atmospheres within classroom assemblages.

Analysis suggests that affective atmospheres were produced by the speed, slowness, dynamics and stillnesses of children’s hand movements as they manipulated the small toys/puppets. Three interrelated contributions are made that generate further understandings of embodied meaning making. First, this paper theorises relations between hand movements, materials and affective atmospheres within classroom assemblages. Second, the technique of analysing still shots of hand movements offers a way of understanding the semiotic and affective salience of hand movement and stillness. Finally, the paper offers a methodology for re-examining taken-for-granted pedagogical practices such as puppet play.

Together these contributions re-explore literacy as an embodied and affective endeavour, thereby countering logocentric framings of early literacy.

The purpose of this paper is to understand why the quality markets are expanding in some areas of food production, while struggling in others. Across agricultural markets in advanced industrialized economies, there are movements toward quality production and consumption. The author argues that the quality turn in beer, coffee, wine and other transformed artisanal food production are fundamentally different from the quality movements in primary food products. The heart of that difference lies in the nature of the supply chain advantages of transformed versus primary agricultural products.

The author applies convention theory to explain the dynamics within transformed agricultural quality markets. In these producer-dominant markets, networks of branded producers shape consumer notions of product quality, creating competitive quality feedback loops. The author contrasts this with the consumer-dominant markets for perishable foods such as produce, eggs, dairy and meat. Here, politically constructed short supply chains play a central role in building quality food systems.

The emergence of quality in primary food products is linked to the strength of local political organization, and consumers have a greater role in shaping quality in these markets.

Quality beer, coffee, wine and other transformed products can emerge without active political intervention, whereas quality markets for perishable foods are the outcome of political action.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-01-2020-0001.

This article presents some discussions on the role of production engineers in quality and reliability planning and control in the context of the manufacturing sector in Singapore. Superior productive efficiency in manufacturing can only be achieved through effective quality control and reliability planning. To be able to compete with other and more advanced countries, Singapore has to emphasise modern manufacturing methods, like automated, computer‐integrated and flexible manufacturing systems. Therefore, concerted efforts are now being taken to train adequately skilled and professional manpower to operate and manage such manufacturing systems. The role of production engineers in operating and managing the modern manufacturing systems has thus become more important and demanding.

The total quality management (TQM) literature has largely been based on experience in Japan, the USA and the UK, however, other countries especially those in South‐east Asia remain under‐researched. In this paper we consider the experience of the quality management (QM) movement in Singapore. With the trend towards globalisation, it is inevitable that Singapore companies will increasingly have to compete with those from developed economies. The implication for Singapore firms is that they will have to provide world‐class quality products and services in order to have a share of the global market. This research examines the extent and nature of QM in Singapore private sector companies, and the issues that have arisen from this study based on an exploratory survey. We use aspects of the Baldrige criteria in order to determine the progress of QM‐practising companies in Singapore towards the objectives of TQM. We conclude that while there is some evidence of familiarity with TQM ideas and principles, there is a long way to go for Singapore in terms of achieving a TQM culture.

Notes that the seven basic tools of quality management document flow analysis, cause‐and‐effect variables, and linear patterns of process but that in organizational systems composed of human beings, data are not always regular, or logical. Comments that the real world of work does not usually provide black‐and‐white situations and crystal clear data and suggests that quality can be measured with hard logic data, and with qualitative, or fuzzy logic information. Discusses the use of tools that measure non‐quantitative information. Points out that the profound knowledge that Dr Deming taught had its underpinnings in an appreciation for the system as a whole and that to understand quality, one had to commit to the whole. Suggests that it is this holistic view of quality that will be the driving force of the next wave of the total quality management movement and that the ability to measure and analyse the fuzzy processes of a learning organization will move quality leaders into a new paradigm. Points out that the integration of fuzzy logic theory with quality principles in a continuous and unbroken alchemy may lead to dynamic self‐discoveries within the quality movement.