Benchmarking as an Instrument for Continuous Improvement in a Regulated Higher Education Quality Assurance Environment

Benchmarking by higher education institutions (HEIs) has been evolving for some time in Australia and New Zealand. Earlier efforts were focused on improving reputation, but now benchmarking has become a required component of higher education quality assurance, or regulatory compliance schemes. ACODE's benchmarking framework and the ACODE Benchmarks provide Australasian HEIs with the ability to review their technology enhanced learning (TEL) practices and decision-making against what is considered “good” practice. The ACODE benchmarking framework and its benchmarks also allow HEIs to inform quality audit, or regulatory compliance reporting by HEIs to maintain institutional recognition and demonstrate performance against threshold or other specific performance standards. ACODE's benchmarking framework and benchmarks are recognized as influencers in benchmarking practice. However, there is a need to generate empirical data to demonstrate its leadership role and review the benchmarks for present purposes and to determine how they are used by HEIs. Thus, in effect, this case study represents a view of the increasing importance of benchmarking in higher education quality assurance schemes—at least in some national sectors—through the lens of benchmarking the benchmarks. The case presents the ongoing efforts, providing available data from one completed round and a still to be completed second round of what has become a biennial exercise. Findings so far suggest increasing interest in using the ACODE benchmarks to assist in determining performance within HEI TEL-related issues and in HEI participation in the benchmarking the benchmarks exercise as a means of learning from each other's practice.

Relationship Between ISO 9001 Quality Management System and Productivity Improvement

The objective of this case is to verify, through the construction of an explanatory model, the possible connection between ISO 9001:2015 quality management system and productivity improvement on a representative sample of companies in the auto parts sector based on different aspects considered in the implementation. The auto parts sector of the automotive industry, supported mainly by its large and medium-sized companies, produces the necessary parts and pieces to support this market. The research analyzed 110 auto parts companies, proportionally distributed in terms of size (large, medium, and small). The results of the empirical study confirm the existence of positive relations between the ISO 9001:2015 quality management system and the improvement of productivity. This chapter focuses on analyzing the relationship between the ISO quality management system and the improvement of productivity as business renewal strategies, for which it explores the Colombian auto parts sector.

Quality Award and Certifications

Quality awards have been widely used by organizations to improve the internal quality as well as to gain recognition and reputation for their products and services. This case illustrates a case of Dubai quality award. Through the 22 years of history of excellence, the Dubai quality award has inspired organizations towards a journey of excellence. The case illustrates the Dubai quality award structure and illustrates the good practices of winners.

Role of Organizational Culture in Quality Management

In this intensely competitive world, an organization can survive in business only as long as it is consistently able to deliver quality products and services. The impulse for higher quality has brought about far-reaching changes in the way business is conducted. Likewise, studies in recent years are attempting to establish the interrelationship between organizational culture and total quality management. An organization is likely to attain a set of core managerial standards, norms, and practices that distinctively identifies the way it runs business; such standards give rise to a culture that may confer the organization a persistent competitive advantage, particularly if it is nifty, atypical, and imperfectly replicable. The present study explores the case of Bhagini Nivedita Sahakari Bank Ltd., Pune, functioning in the state of Maharashtra in India. The bank serves as a classic example of business excellence through continuous quality improvement; it has a unique organizational culture realized by the adoption of a customer-centric business model.

Leadership Development Initiatives of a Japanese Transnational Company Through Blended Mode

The intent of the current case study of a Japanese multinational company is to document and understand the process of developing a transformational (quantum change producing) leadership style in its fast-track leaders in the South West Asia region. The researcher got an opportunity to observe the process of leadership development training that was delivered over a period both through virtual and face-to- ace mode. In the current case study, no instruments were used and therefore no objective data were available to gauge the impact of the training program. However, training partners had identified some of the training outcomes on participants such as 1) participants displayed initiatives to introduce change and persisted that change throughout the completion of the vision with positivity, 2) they examined self-strengths and weaknesses and demonstrated the ability to improve through feedback, and 3) they identified the business, financial, leadership, entrepreneurial, and other challenges at hand and designed the robust plans to overcome those. In short, the researcher can conclude with a reasonable confidence that the training program delivered online could be a success, particularly when it is blended with a FTF experience at some point.

Improving the Retailer Industry Performance Through RFID Technology

This study focuses on RFID and its implementation at two retail chains, Wal-Mart in United States (U.S.) and Metro Group in Europe, who have successfully implemented this technology. It identifies the impact of RFID on improving supply chain performance in the retail industry. The researchers have concentrated on both explorative and indicative studies in an effort to understand the impact that the adoption of RFID technology will have on improving the performance of the supply chain by comparing two different case studies. This research study has found that coordination and integration operations are important for inventory management and related operations, and they are also important factors that contribute to performance improvement in both case studies. In addition, this research study has found that RFID's information-sharing support for buyers in the supply chain has promoted the accuracy of purchasing forecasts. Finally, it is found that RFID has provided increased flexibility of operations, using smart shelves and reducing the cost of inventory management.

Sustainable Development as a Management Challenge

Quality management is core area of every company. Sustainable development has become another core issue for the companies encompassing ecological, economic, and social issues. Companies need to decide how sustainable development can be managed in order to achieve both organizational and global sustainability. The aim of the case study is to discuss how sustainability is being incorporated into company management practices in the Finnish coffee company. It also aims to deepen the understanding about the implementation of sustainable development management practices in companies. The ecological challenge consists in reducing the burden that economic activities place on ecosystems directly and indirectly. The successful management improves the company's ecological effectiveness. The social challenge improves the business task of improving the sum of its social impacts. Economic challenge is composed in increasing eco-efficiency and improving social efficiency. There is a need for methodological integration of environmental and social management with their concepts and instruments in conventional, economically oriented management.

Bringing the Shine Back

This case traces the quality movement throughout NIIT that was supported by Phil Crosby Associates, one of the leading quality companies at the time. Along with this, a personal quality initiative (PQI) was also unleashed throughout the company to ensure that not only the organizational processes improved but individuals' performances also improved. PQI was propounded by Harry V. Roberts, professor at the Graduate School of Business, Chicago University and also the author of the book, Quality is Personal. All these initiatives not only helped NIIT reduce its price of nonconformance (PONC), which is the price a company pays for not doing things right the first time, but also helped create and establish system and processes to sustain the organization through its journey of more than 35 years.

Cost of Poor Quality Management on Organizational Performance in Educational Settings

The purpose of this case study was to explore teacher absenteeism in both primary and secondary schools administered by the Department of Basic Education (DoBE) in South Africa. Further, the chapter focuses on how this phenomenon of teacher absenteeism is managed in schools and by the departmental authorities and its implications on the organization. This chapter proposes a number of quality improvement strategies that can be employed to mediate teacher absenteeism and enhance quality management of the problem.

Quality Improvement in Real Sense or Just a Quick Fix?

High quality education has always been an aspiration for an average Indian student and an area where every parent is willing to invest. Quality offered a differentiation opportunity to business schools, and a market opportunity to the numerous ranking, rating, certification, and accreditation bodies. Today there are statutory accreditations (NBA and NAAC), national rankings (Business World, Business Today, IMRB, People Matters), international rankings (FT QS), and international accreditations (SAQS, AACSB, EDUIS, EPAS, ACBSP, AMBA). While all of them claim to be different and serve different missions and objectives, a business school essentially adds it to their portfolio as a feather in the cap. Do these rankings, certifications, and accreditations really make a difference? Do they really improve quality of education? The case study documents a business school and its journey through quality and accreditations. The names and instances have been fictionalized. The case, however, captures the situation, challenges, and opportunities.