International Journal for Quality Research

10

Authors: Magdah Ezat Gharieb

This paper aims to investigate the current knowledge management (KM) practices and models proposed, strategies and frameworks used in different countries and sectors, and the impact and results of using KM on the organizations working towards effectively activating knowledge management. Using the term "knowledge management in the public sector", a search for available works is done in Google Scholar. In the main stage, the quest for writing distributed under whenever decision was done in the initial ten pages of the web search tool. Then, at that point, one more nine page of Goggle Scholar were looked for later works distributed, setting the time as 2014 to 2018. The quest yielded 84 usable works for this audit. This writing searches and survey results showed that out of the 47 works looked into, simply three works were identified with Saudi Arabia. A few works from Sub-Saharan Africa and African countries may also contain findings relevant to Saudi Arabia. Findings related to specific country contexts were maximum in numbers. There were also several papers specifically dealing with specific public sectors like health care. KM modeling itself is not easy as only very few papers on KM modeling were available. This study applies to Saudi Arabian public sector organizations. There is a strong opportunity for research in Saudi Arabia mainly because of the country's growth and progress.

12

Authors: Fumiko Ogawa, Hironobu Kawamura, Ken Nishina

Generally, the geometrical characteristics are calculated in a composed way, as the normal distribution cannot be assumed in many cases. Various methods have been proposed to determine how the process capability index should be calculated in such cases. In this paper, using the data from the machining process, several methods presented in the ISO 22614 series and those presented thus far in Japan are examined and compared. Additionally, this paper analyzes what methods should be used in a certain case depending on the purpose and the status of the process (start-up or improvement of the process, assurance of the post-process).

12

Authors: Dmytro Kabachenko, Olena Churikanova, Svitlana Oneshko, Ruslan Avhustyn, Valeria Slatvinska

The objective of the article lies in determining the place of information technologies in the process of making management decisions, as well as determining the current level of their implementation with the formation of forecasts for the near-term prospect. Methodology. The assessment of the level of information technology development has been carried out on the basis of Statista (2021) and Gagliodi (2020) data by applying deduction methods, graphical and comparative methods. Results. The analysis of statistical data has revealed that the growth rate of the use of information technology in management decision making has slowed down in 2020-2021. The data obtained show that the IT market is currently focused on the supply of devices and software for remote working. Services on supporting decision-making are used less often, although in the current unstable environment, they should be the ones to pull the focus of leaders onto themselves.

14

Authors: Anastasiya Yu. Ladogina, Anna V. Kukushkina, Araz O. Mursaliev, Valery I. Salygin

This paper considers the extra component of quality, which goes beyond the limits of government norms and standards, as well as general market requirements to the quality of products that are dictated by competition. It includes ethical aspects of quality, which are connected to companies' manifesting corporate social and ecological responsibility. We determine the influence of three factors - buyer sophistication, market competition freedom, and entrepreneurs' non - commercial initiatives - on the ethical aspects of quality in the concept of corporate social responsibility. The purpose of this research is to study the international experience and specifics of developed and developing countries in the selected factors' influence on the ethical aspects of quality of products. The authors determine the key factor (combination of factors), which determines the ethical aspects of quality in the concept of corporate social responsibility - separately for developed and developing countries. To study corporate social responsibility, we use the materials of the dataset "Social entrepreneurship in the world economy: from virtual scores to big data - 2020" (https://iscvolga.ru/dataset-social-predprinim). To study corporate ecological responsibility, we use the materials of the dataset "Corporate social responsibility, sustainable development and fight against climate change: imitation modelling and neural network analysis in regions of the world - 2020" (https://iscvolga.ru/dataset-climate-change). We determined that the change of the existing model of conducting entrepreneurial activities in the modern conditions creates challenges for economic companies; one of these challenges is the provision of quality of products based on the observation of ethical norms in the concept of corporate social responsibility of company employees.

14

Authors: Wajdi Aljedaibi, Afnan Talal Agal

Due to complexity of software and its related development activities, it has become difficult for software organizations to deliver high-quality products under low-cost budget constraints. Many software developments firms around the world have resorted to The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) to establish continually improving standard software development processes. Aligning software development practices with state-of-the-art standards in software development will consequently improve the quality of the resulting products and place the organization at a higher level of software development maturity. In this research, we assess the extent of applying CMMI at a Saudi organization and analyze provide an analysis based on a survey study.

14

Authors: Olha Kosenchuk, Marianna Kokhan, Inna Ninyuk, Solomiya Kudyn, Nataliia Bordiug, Razina Tetiana

The objective of the research is conducted to empirically prove the importance of education in the country's technological potential under the conditions of global development. Methodology. The study is based on the hypothesis that education quality affects economic growth. To substantiate the integrated quality culture management improving proposals, educational quality dynamics, and structure indicators, an empirical analysis was carried out; the relationship of the rate is determined using regression analysis, in particular the definition of the Pearson coefficient. Results. It is empirically proved that education has a high association with the technical level of economic development. The main issues of education quality management include the dependence of universities on the regulator, the criteria for assessing the learning and teaching quality. The development methods of quality culture management in HEIs are built to solve these problems.

16

Authors: Beata Starzyńska, Agnieszka Kujawińska, Filip Górski, Paweł Buń

The article features the quality tools presentation and selection system for solving problems in production processes using the Virtual Reality (VR) technique. The main goal of the Authors' application is to facilitate the acquisition and assimilation of knowledge related to the use of quality tools in SMEs' everyday industrial practice. The solution is dedicated to production workers - including unskilled workers and those who resume education after a long break. The study carried out as part of the project has shown that one of the barriers in employee training is an inaccessible form of knowledge (text descriptions written in a language incomprehensible to production workers, no visual examples, complicated instructions and no practical guidelines for selecting a problem-solving tool). This obstacle was overcome by using in the developed prototype system immersive virtual reality techniques and the three-dimensional visualization of selected quality tools.

16

Authors: Nebojša Zakić, Nikola Ćurčić, Ksenija Leković

The subject of the paper is the importance of investment in the implementation of new technologies in the digital transformation of hotels within the marketing and business development objectives. For this paper, empirical research was conducted in over 30% of the total number of 4 and 5-star hotels in Serbia (41 hotels) in 2021 on the use of modern technologies in the digitalization of hotel business, related to the hotel characteristics. The implementation of cloud technology, energy management, automation, and technologies of sophisticated machine learning was considered. The difference in statistical significance was shown in the revenue level and investments of the hotels in the last three years in the technologies of sophisticated machine learning, which also affected the achieved level of digitalization of the aforementioned hospitality operations. Undoubtedly, it is a positive finding that hotels with a high and medium level of digitalization together make up over 80% of the surveyed hotels, which indicates a high level of awareness of hoteliers about the importance of digital technologies for customer relationship marketing and business development objectives, as well as broader sustainable development goals.

18

Authors: Ewa Kubińska-Jabcoń, Mariusz Niekurzak, Bartłomiej Sroka

In the face of constant changes in the service sector, companies must adapt their offer to the needs and requirements of customers in order to gain and maintain their trust. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the quality of the services provided, since it makes it possible to meet customers' expectations. Methods aimed at researching or measuring the quality of services achieved are of great importance. There are many methods, which have been developed both in theoretical and practical applications, and allow for effective measurement of the quality of the non-material area of services. The article presents the application of the SERVQUAL method to assess the quality of services for a company providing automotive services. Familiarization with this method will allow a given company to properly adjust it to the research needs, and thus to properly interpret the collected data and draw conclusions influencing its future decisions. Based on the originality and scientific value of a given article, as demonstrated by the conducted research, the proposed method allows to learn about the actual attitudes and expectations of the client, and therefore it is a universal and very useful tool for measuring the quality of service in business practice. The obtained results prove the cognitive and practical value of the implemented research method.

18

Authors: Gilberto Santos, Maria D. Magalhães, Sandro Carvalho, Ricardo Jorge Pinto, Maria João Félix, Joanna Rosak-Szyrocka

Developing Countries will continue being Developing Countries for a long time, if they are unable to conceive and design new products with their own technology in their own companies. Technological Development based companies are necessary and technical universities can contribute to these activities if a good technological policy, complementary to the research policy, is implemented by their governments. Scientific researchers and engineers must work together to develop new products able to enrich the economy of their own countries. Achieving Innovation is very difficult, or even impossible, without Technological Development, even if a country does a lot of scientific research; it is imperative for Developing Countries, to achieve economic value from scientific knowledge to improve its own living standard. Presently, we are on the threshold of the 4th Industrial Revolution, where digitalization is essential. However, the value created in wealthy countries that design products will tend to increase therefore, the worth of labour in production processes will tend to decrease. Thus, digitalization and the 4th industrial revolution will tend to widen the gap between developed and Developing Countries. If nothing it's done to counter these trends, Digital Transformation will make poor countries poorer and rich countries richer. The already enormous gap in inequality will worsen.

30

Authors: Gonzalo Díaz-Ruiz, Mariana Trujillo-Gallego

In today's globalized and dynamic world, companies face pressures related to high-quality product offerings that meet customer expectations, with minimum variability. Likewise, they deal with complex systems, such as industrial processes. The objective of this article was to design a five-phase model of the DMAIC cycle by integrating the six sigma and system dynamics approaches for variability reduction in critical quality characteristics. Model validation was carried out via a case study in the electrolytic tin plating process, in a Colombian metal- mechanics company. Thus, the current process was simulated and various scenarios were analyzed, that which would benefit the company the most was selected. The results show significant quality improvement by way of the reduction of variability in the coating thickness, and profit increases achieved through poor quality and reprocessing cost reductions. The proposed model serves as a financial viability tool, given the implementation of a six-sigma project, by guiding management to determine the best scenario for investments in the process, so as to obtain results that benefit companies, in terms of both profits and product quality.