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...

Notes that quality improvement and management practices involve using tools, which are formulated from industrial practices and quality engineering theory. Points out that the seven old Japanese tools are claimed to be able to solve up to 95 per cent of quality‐related problems and that the...

Points out that we have accepted on faith many of our improvement tools without really understanding their impact on the performance of the organization. Challenges some of the basic principles on which total quality management was founded. Presents data from the International Quality Study...

Simulation is a widely used tool in the design of factory systems of almost all kinds and yet seems to be used rarely in the design and analysis of quality management systems. Explores the reported applications of simulation in this and other fields relating to quality and concludes that the...

States that quality of university education has recently become a subject of major concern. The job market is getting tighter, and even a degree from a reputable university does not guarantee employment in the area of the student’s expertise any more. Students, their families, employers and...

The Software Engineering Applications Laboratory (SEAL) is a university‐based research enterprise with project activity in the areas of software quality management and the development of specialized engineering applications. The SEAL was awarded a third party ISO 9001 certification for...

Ever since the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) was established in 1987, many other countries have developed their own version of a national quality award (NQA). These NQAs tend to follow the general framework of the MBNQA with different emphases on criteria items such as...

Reports the results of an attempt to relate the military treatise of the ancient Chinese strategist Sun Tzu to strategic quality management. Two sets of 20 statements were compiled, one from the work of Sun Tzu and the other from the concepts of strategic quality management. A group of employees...

Discusses quality and environmental management systems integration. Concepts of a system and a “system of systems” are addressed, followed by a description of different management systems, and their interrelations and integration. Subsequently, strategies for integration of the quality...

The paper reports the views and activities of a sample of system certification bodies with respect to the integration of quality management, environmental management, and occupational health and safety management systems. It is pointed out that such bodies have not been active in the promotion...