Quality Issues and Insights in the 21st Century

6-18

Authors: Mariana Dogaru, Ioan Neacşu

Each school system aims at performing better for its students by getting better outcomes, and being able to cope with a continuously changing society. We define herein a "successful school" a school that reaches best outcomes for every learner. Accordingly, it is very important for educators and policy makers to identify those common factors that positively influence student achievement. A central concern of policy makers in education is that of identifying the best solutions for transforming a failing school into a successful one. Previous studies show that one of the major factors affecting student learning is principal’s leadership. This factor can be identified in the predominant leadership style, but also through the involvement of teachers in decision-making. In this research, it was studied a sample of 8 schools in Romania that had good students outcomes. For these schools we correlated the principal’s style of leadership with the teachers’ involvement in decision making, to identify common elements that lead to the success of these schools. Thus, in our exploratory approach, we highlight the "recipe for success" in "successful schools."

28-45

Authors: Christopher Kluse

Third-party quality audits have been a continued practice within the manufacturing community since release of the ISO 9000 standard in 1987. In recent times, many within the manufacturing industry are questioning the value of the audit process. (Sayle, 1995, Sayle 1999, Douglas, 2000, Gordon, 2001, Dalgleish 2006) Consequently, a need exists to better understand the impacts and perceptions of the third-party auditing process. This research used a grounded theory approach to explore the following question: How do management representatives perceive the third-party audit process? Collection of data consisted of 25 in-depth interviews taken from management representatives within the North American automotive industry. Job titles of research participants included Quality Director, Quality Manager, and Quality Engineer. Results of the research include (a) the third-party audit process is adequate to assess an organization’s quality management system against the ISO/TS16949 standard, (b) the third-party audit process fails to add tangible value for the organization, (c) the relationship between the auditor (registrar) and auditee (organization) represents a significant conflict of interest, (d) the continued audit cycle is redundant and offers diminishing value, and (e) mature organizations fail to benefit from the third-party audit process. Results substantiate the views offered by Sayle (1995 & 1999), Douglas (2000), Gordon (2001), Karapetrovic and Willborn (2002), Beckmerhagen, Berg, Karapetrovic, and Willborn (2004), and Dalgleish (2006). Furthermore, a final model is offered to depict the fundamental changes recommended to improve the audit process. The conclusions of the research include: (a) Revise the ISO/TS standard to incorporate requirements that drive continual improvement and offer value to an organization, (b) Develop ISO registration and audit process infrastructure whereby the organization does not have leverage over the auditor and make the audits truly third party, (c) Remove the requirement for continued audit cycles for organizations that have periodically demonstrated compliance to requirements via surveillance audits. Eliminate the requirement for continued audit cycles, and (d) Incorporate assessment of the quality management system level of maturity as a method to determine if an organization is in need of a third-party audit. This study suggests that, by and large, tangible value is not a benefit of the third-party audit process. Consequently, as a value added activity, or a continual improvement tool, the third-party audit process is ineffective, insufficient and in need of significant changes Suggestions for further research include (a) conducting a quantitative study to demonstrate the financial impact of the third-party audit process; (b) determining if an organization’s quality and customer performance improves over time after becoming ISO/TS certified; (c) conducting a quantitative study of management representatives within the automotive community to determine the percentage that support third-party audit process; (d) completing a case study on a successful, profitable non-ISO-certified manufacturing organization; (e) conducting a Delphi study on the Kluse Utopian Third-Party Audit Model; and (f) investigating alternatives to the audit process as a method to determine QMS compliance and effectiveness. Additionally a future researcher may seek to understand how factors such as human resources practices, organizational climate and knowledge management affect an organizations quality-related performance.

53-59

Authors: Natalia Novokreshchenova, Olga Novokreshchenova

One of the main purposes of the educational system is to provide a qualified workforce for the companies of the different industries. And nowadays universities understand that along with the teaching and research activities they should pay attention to the creation positive and effective relationship with the business world. To achieve their goals and to become competitive on the market both universities and companies should create long-term relationships that give them the opportunities for effective development. So, they should think about strategic partnership. Because of the strategic partnership universities can share and exchange knowledge and expertise with the business community. They understand the “outside world” and its needs and requirements better and then they can use this knowledge in their activities. Strategic partnerships can help universities earn extra profit and encourage innovations. But to use all of these advantages universities should learn more about strategic partnerships. They should know about the mechanism and forms of the partnership, such as universities enterprises and technical parks, the using of the universities facilities, professional development courses, business-related events, employing universities graduates, research cooperation. The paper contains the theoretical as well as the practical aspects of the strategic partnership between universities and companies. The authors have summarized the approaches to the strategic partnership and analyzed the most important forms of the partnership in Russia using the practice of the most developed Russian universities.

79-87

Authors: Stanislava Stoyanova, Ivan Krastev

Some standards of quality management are enumerated that are focused on the process of detecting and capturing the defects, meeting the technical requirements, as well as satisfying the customers and the employees. Some principles of quality management are presented that are focused on the customers, related to the employees and to the managers, to some specific work situations. In Bulgaria, 34 managers (8 men and 26 women) were asked 6 questions related to quality management. The biggest part of the managers was not excited by the conflict situations between people. They considered themselves as goal-orientated, reflexive and satisfied with the completion of some difficult and important tasks, but they had negative attitude towards being monitored in their work. What is important in quality management concerning the managers is their motivation to set the appropriate goals, to commit own performance to the taken decisions, the tasks to be finalized (even if they are considered monotonous and difficult), the conflicts to be resolved and used for innovations, the monitoring and supervision to be perceived as a way of demonstration of own achievements and strengths.