International Journal for Quality Research

14

Authors: Adriana Vallejo, Efstathios Stefos, Adrián Narváez

This study analyzes the service quality in universities based on users' level of satisfaction of the service provided in the city of Cuenca, Ecuador. The methodology combines a descriptive and a multidimensional statistical analysis, the former demonstrates the frequencies and the percentages of the variables under study while the latter is used to show the group classification of the people under study. Hierarchical grouping is used since it determines the groups of people as a result of their common characteristics. At first, the results indicate that in all cases the percentage of students' satisfaction surpasses 65%. However, there is a minority group of people (3,67%) who are totally unsatisfied regarding their sense of belonging to the Institution and their class as well as with the teaching - learning process.

16

Authors: Talknice Saungweme, Nicholas M. Odhiambo

The decades of economic crisis and political uncertainties in Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 have culminated in exponential increases in the central government's indebtedness. This paper, therefore, seeks to examine the evolution of government debt, both domestic and foreign, in Zimbabwe from 1980 to 2015. At the centre of the discussions are the public-debt structural reforms and frameworks, debt trends and the associated debt-management challenges over the review period. The paper identified four distinctive phases of public-debt evolution in Zimbabwe between 1980 and 2015: (1) 1980 to 1989, in which government debt was still small, but increasing gradually; (2) 1990 to 1997, in which public sector indebtedness was increasing exponentially - mostly due to substantial economic structural adjustment reforms, maturity of previous debts and severe economic crises; (3) 1998 to 2008, in which economic recession and subsequent revenue constraints led to the massive accumulation of public debt arrears; and (4) 2009 to 2015, in which the country experienced an economic rebound leading to some paltry payments on foreign public debt arrears. Among the recommended government debt management principles in Zimbabwe is the need to devise market-friendly trade and investment policies that would enable the government to expand its revenue base, thus effectively reduce the state's reliance on debt financing and also avoid the future accumulation of any arrears.

18

Authors: Taposh Kumar Kapuria, Chitra Lekha Karmaker

The ready-made garment (RMG) industries in Bangladesh have become very competitive to cope with the competitors. The performance of this sector has attracted many countries to invest their money safely here and also earns foreign currency by exporting different materials like jute yarn. Jute yarn is a spun material which is prepared to use for weaving, knitting, sewing threads, carpets, carrying bags etc. In fiscal year 2015-16, according to data from Bangladesh's Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh has earned $559 million by exporting jute yarn and twine. To meet the growing demand of jute yarn worldwide, Bangladesh still has lots of possibilities to earn huge amount of foreign currency by improving the quality. It's a persistent need for Bangladeshi local jute yarn manufacturers to come forward, seek possibilities for improving quality, and fulfill the worldwide demand. The paper focuses on the application of AHP based QFD approach on a manufacturing company to improve its quality of product & improving the level of customer satisfaction. The paper shows how customer requirements can be identified and used them to prioritize the design requirements for improving quality of jute yarn. Here, AHP is integrated into house of quality (HOQ) that can be guide for overcoming the pitfalls of traditional QFD.

18

Authors: Anuj Singla, Inderpreet Singh Ahuja, Amanpreet Singh Sethi

The objective of study is to analyze the significance of various Technology Push (TP) strategies affecting sustainable development in Indian manufacturing organizations. An extensive survey of 92 companies has been executed for the present context. The study examines the use of Multiple-Attribute Decision Making (MADM) and Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method for evaluation of substantial TP strategies. For the purpose, a comparative analysis of various TP strategies using Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and VlseKriterijuska Optimizacija I Komoromisno Resenje (VIKOR) technique has been executed in the study. The outcomes of empirical calculations signify that the proposed techniques are appropriate to analyze the significance of TP strategies. The comparison of results exhibit that ranking of TP strategies evaluated using VIKOR technique is similar to the ranks obtained by TOPSIS. The focus of the paper is on the distinguishable contributions made by TP strategies like, innovative capability, research and development, corporate strategy and export orientation, for realization of sustainable development in manufacturing industries. It has been acknowledged in the investigation that manufacturing enterprises need to work more actively on managing certain TP strategies.

18

Authors: Marco Antonio Argoti, Andrés Carrión García

The Shewhart p-Chart is a widely used and taught control chart that monitors the process fraction of nonconforming, p. The control limits of this chart are computed from an equation derived from the central limit theorem that assumes the parameters p and sample size, n, provide a good approximation of the binomial to the normal distribution. It is known that if the approximation is poor the chart becomes ARL-biased with a consequent deterioration of its process improvement detection capability. Hence, if one is to use this chart its ARL-biased severity ought to be established in advance. Three parameters are used to estimate a chart's ARL-bias severity, namely the in-control ARL, the relative ARL-bias and the maximum out of control ARL. However, calculating these parameters is a task that requires of lengthy calculations that often entails the use of specialised software. In this paper we present a new approach that facilitates the estimation of the bias severity, this approach consists of a closed-form equation that eases the calculations of the ARL-bias parameters and of a graphical method that permits assessing a p-Chart's ARL-bias severity level according to the severity zone in which its n and p values fall into.

24

Authors: Filipe Carvalho, Gilberto Santos, Joaquim Gonçalves

The Internet is a privileged means of communication towards Sustainable Development (SD), where information disclosed knows no borders. The aim of the study is to determine the nature of the content that is disclosed on the corporate website and the profile of the certified Portuguese organizations which disclose information on SD, that is, about Integrated Management Systems (IMS), Corporate Sustainability (CS) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This research consists of an exploratory analysis of the institutional website of 422 organizations with certified management systems in quality (ISO 9001), environment (ISO 14001) and occupational health and safety (BS OHSAS 18001). The research was based on the content analysis method, which allowed quantifying the contents of the information disclosed on the website by category and subcategories of analysis. The content available on the website was quantified using the Information Disclosure Index (IDI). The certified Portuguese organizations with greater business volume (turnover) and the public limited companies (PLC) disclose more information on SD on their website than the others.

26

Authors: Ana Carolina Martins Rosa, Evandro Eduardo Broday

The present work is a review of literature, to identify the improvements acquired from the application of the Lean Six Sigma methodology in the industrial and service sectors in different countries. The PRISMA methodology was used to select relevant articles to the topic of work, and the bibliographic databases used for the research were the Google Scholar, SciELO, ScienceDirect, Taylor & Francis and Web of Science. The study counted on 27 articles to better exemplify these points, being 11 focused on the industrial sector and 16 on the services sector. It was evident that in both sectors the variability of the process and its waste were reduced, by eliminating non-value-added activities, improving process quality, productivity, efficiency, the service provided, increasing customer satisfaction, reducing costs and generating savings. It has been found that Lean Six Sigma is a versatile tool that can be adapted and applied in any segment, allowing potential opportunities for new research and applications.

14

Authors: Jolly Sahni

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to assess the Quality of work life among female employees in private sector in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The study intends to explore the significant factors constituting Quality of work life for female employees. Methodology - The study mainly uses survey approach. A total of 200 survey questionnaires were distributed to a random sample of female employees working in the private companies across different industries. The research uses descriptive statistics and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in analyzing data. Findings - The findings suggest that factors considered vital and significant in Quality of work life by female employees are job satisfaction and growth opportunities. Results indicate a positive and significant link between Quality of work life and seven constructs used in the study. Majority of female employees in Saudi are young, ambitious and expect improvements in the overall Quality of work life. Originality/Value - The research contributes to the extant literature on Quality of work life. The findings can be used by policy makers to design and implement suitable initiatives in order to improve the existing QWL and bring a meaningful change at work place. The findings present insight for other professionals and stakeholders as well.

14

Authors: Eliza Safina, Sergei Khokhlov

Consumption of alternative energy resources is conventionally considered as an implement of lean management, main target of which is use of renewable (in terms of exhaustibility) energy resources. However, when it comes to actual consumption of alternative energy resources, the contradiction is arisen between , the caused need of economy of non-renewable energy resources and rational environmental management and "providence" which is caused by cost reduction of energy consumption. What is the factual providence, how substantial is the dilemma between environmental friendliness and cost effectiveness in matters of energy savings, what is the significance of alternative energy consumption in countries with different economic types, what should balanced solution in energy mentioned issues are contemplated in current article.

14

Authors: Jimmy Kansal, Sandeep Singhal

This study was carried out to explore and validate DMAIC six sigma tool to enhance the customer satisfaction in an ISO 9001: 2008 certified government R&D organization. The organization chosen for this study has implemented QMS since last six years with an aim of attaining 85% customer satisfaction. The deficiency in customer satisfaction by 8% has been observed after comprehensive data analysis of the customer feedback. The Lean Six Sigma tools and techniques have been applied followed by solution implementation and effectiveness assessment. The developed solution is found to be effective in enhancing the customer satisfaction by more than 85%. This has established that the designed LSS tools are suitable and effective in an R&D set-up for improving service quality and customer satisfaction. The results give feasible solutions to the emerging service oriented government R&D sector to enhance customer satisfaction. Limitation of the study is that the results are based on the limited inputs from one organization and the tools can vary depending upon the mandate and quality objectives.

16

Authors: Aqil M. Daher, Tahseen A. Al-Rubai, Ahmed S. Al-Nuaimi, Ameel F. Al-Shawi, Usama Medhat

Objectives: Breast Cancer (BC) is the most common cause of cancer-related death among females which affects quality of life. This study aimed at describing the impact of Breast Cancer (BC) on quality of life among a sample of Iraqi patients. Methods: A sample of 263 Breast cancer patients attending Al-Amal National hospital for Cancer management was invited to participate in this study. The impact of BC on quality of life was measured using the newly developed Impact of breast cancer questionnaire. It is composed of 20 domains that tap different aspect of life might be affected by BC. Results: More than half of the interviewed female patients were in their 50s and attained secondary education. About 60.8 % were married and more than half had more than one child. Around 56 % were skilled workers and quarter of respondents came from rural areas. The hhighest negative impact was for Breast Cancer impact on happiness, followed by "ability to focus on daily tasks". Sleep was the third negatively affected domain of life and "carrying out house chores" was the fourth and last domain where more than half of participants showed a negative impact. There was a high percentage of observed agreement between the calculated breast cancer impact and the perceived overall negative impact of breast cancer assessed by direct questioning. This high observed agreement was significantly beyond chance. Conclusions: Breast Cancer negatively impacted Quality of life. A physician in charge of patients' management should pay attention to this when arranging a treatment plan.

18

Authors: Wilhelm Gaus, Rainer Muche, Benjamin Mayer

The standard procedure for lot-by-lot acceptance/rejection sampling described in literature makes always a decision. If there are more invalid items in the sample than specified, then the lot is rejected, otherwise the lot is accepted. However, if the actual proportion of invalid items in the lot is close to the accepted quality level then it is - in principle - impossible to control the customer's and the producer's risk with a reasonable sample size. The published standard procedure can result in acceptance of the lot even if there is insufficient information. We think this is unfair to the customer. Three statistical methods with a common acceptable quality limit are proposed and discussed: A simple procedure, confidence intervals, and finally a statistical test. The idea of a statistical test, its application in lot-by-lot acceptance/rejection sampling, and the proposed statistical test are described in detail and with examples. Additionally, determination of sample size and multiple step sampling plans are characterized.

18

Authors: Stella Bezrodnaya

The research objective includes a set of processes performed to build up the quality management system. Theoretical, methodical, and practical aspects of quality management make up this research subject matter. The key objective of this article is to develop guidelines targeted at the management process improvement. Revealing non-conformities and finding out corrective actions for quality enhancement make up the necessary stage for the achievement of the major objective. For this purpose it would be useful to analyze the activity of the Ukrainian fat-and-oil company and find out the advantages of the foreign system implementation, proposing the implementation of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system, performing an expert review of a set of certain criteria for the company activity evaluation, determining the assessment parameters for every structural component of the system, using Polli-Cook technique for the determination of HACCP system life cycle phase, making administrative decisions targeted at the improvement of the system formation and development processes.

20

Authors: Muafi, Suwitho, Purwohandoko, Imanirrahma Salsabil

Human resources have become one of strategic issues of Islamic banking in Indonesia. Islamic bank is important to have a good human capital, who has specialized knowledge and expertise related to Islamic aspects. The quality of human resource that is bad will affect the organization to grow unhealthy and also the employee performance. This research aims to test and analyze the role of human capital that affect the healthy organization and the employee performance. This research was conducted on all employees of Islamic banks in the Province of Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta (DIY) and East Java. The reason is because nowadays, Islamic banking in Indonesia is experiencing a slowdown growth of business performance, especially market share so that it needs human capital with good quality. Sampling technique is using purposive sampling. Bank employees came from Islamic bank, government bank, and private bank. The result concludes that human capital (HC) has significant positive effect on the improvement of employee performance (EP) and healthy organization (HO). Meanwhile, healthy organization (HO) has significant positive effect on the improvement of employee performance (EP). Healthy organization mediates the relationship between human capital and employee performance.

12

Authors: Nenko Brkljač

For each structural and functional design of the organizational system, it is necessary before the start of design to know which is the highest hierarchical principle for the organization. The paper presents the results of research that give an answer to the question "What is the highest hierarchically principle for QMS in profit-oriented organizations?". Presented the highest hierarchical principle is explored for the purpose of orientation of quality management system in profit-oriented organizations. Defined principle should be used for the decomposition of lower hierarchical principles and objectives (6.2, ISO 9001: 2015). Defined principle enables the necessary integration of quality management systems in the business system of profit-oriented organizations.

14

Authors: Stanislav E. Elkin, Olga S. Elkina, Sergey Y. Metelev

The article discusses the concept of "human development" and the schematic diagram of the organizational design of regional management systems in relation to human development. Management as an organizational process in the study is considered as part of all social subsystems, specifies regularities of development and formation of new structures and functions. In the study applied the following methods: allocation of levels of models, techniques of domination, the allocation phases of the operation, the construction of generalized indicators, etc. As a result of research design problems of systems management human development revealed that the primary means of successful adaptation of organizations to changing conditions is an effective mechanism for management of human capacity, which will provide the best in current economic terms the end results that allows you to apply the concept of "innovation potential" in relation to the process of human development.

14

Authors: Marija Ivaniš, Nebojsa Pavlović

Personal values are seen as a higher level of attitudes and they reflect the general view on life and the world, dispositions aimed for achieving goals that are desirable and valuable for human- universal values in the structure of human personality that it strongly and permanently run on certain activities. It is found that ethical behavior have long been associated with personal values and that personal values in personal value systems of universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformism, security and independence are positively and significantly correlated with ethical behaviour, whereas universal values in personal value systems of power, achievement, hedonism and incentive are negatively and significantly correlated with ethical behaviour. This study presents the results of empirical research on personal value systems and ethical / unethical behavior among hotel strategic managers in large hotel companies in Croatia.

16

Authors: Olga Soboleva, Olga Nogovitsina, Elena Syrtsova, Olga Tokmakova

The definition of influence factors on economic development of the region remains today the most important issue that will choose the most effective direction of investment, and will allow identifying the highest risks to the realization of actions directed on development of territories.

16

Authors: Fulufhelo Nemavhola, Kemlall Ramdass

The paper exhibits the examination of life quality evaluation of helical coil springs in the railway industry as it impacts the safety of the transportation of goods and people. The types of spring considered are: the external spring, internal spring and stabiliser spring. Statistical process control was utilised as the fundamental instrument in the investigation. Measurements were performed using a measuring tape, dynamic actuators and the vernier caliper. The purpose of this research was to examine the usability of old helical springs found in a railway environment. The goal of the experiment was to obtain factual statistical information to determine the life quality of the helical springs used in the railroad transportation environment. Six sigma advocacies were additionally used as a part of this paper. According to six sigma estimation examination only the stabilizers and inner springs for coil bar diameter met the six sigma prerequisites. It is reasoned that the coil springs should be replaced as they do not meet the six sigma requirements.

18

Authors: Joghee Ravichandran

Control charts for range (R-chart) and standard deviation (S-chart) are commonly used charts along with X-bar control chart for variables. One of the major challenges in these charts is the use of appropriate estimators of the unknown population parameters involved in the control limits. In this paper, first a detailed review on the classical charts for dispersion, R-chart and S-chart, is presented and then by applying the concept of Six Sigma quality characteristics, new set of Six Sigma-based R- and S-charts are developed. The motivation of the proposed approach is due to the fact that "specifications refer to the deviations that are permissible from the target and the units produced from a well-behaved process will match the target and standard deviation associated with its specifications". Accordingly, unlike the traditional charts, in this new approach, the unknown population standard deviation related to range and standard deviation are derived from specification using the perspective of Six Sigma. Procedures for obtaining control limits of the proposed Six Sigma-based R-and S-chart are given. The average run length values for the proposed new charts are also obtained for different in-control and out-of control shift values. It is discussed that due to various reasons a process may maintain certain sigma quality level at a point of time that may be in terms of number of sigma. Since the goal of Six Sigma is of 3.4 defects per million opportunities, it is recommended to keep monitoring the process in terms of sigma quality level by using the improved control limits for the purpose of continuous quality improvement every time till the goal is achieved. The proposed charts are illustrated with appropriate numerical examples for better understanding.

24

Authors: Nilesh Pancholi, Mangal Bhatt

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the scope of reliability improvement of aluminium wire rolling mill. This paper addresses the performance reliability of continuous process industry of interest to many applications in maintenance planning where multi-attribute decision making (MADM) approaches are very useful. The paper addresses the process of discriminating critical components through substantial shop-floor failure data. The research work narrates a method for evaluating risk priority number (RPN) traditionally. Moreover, the maintainability criticality index (MCI) for each failure cause of identified critical components is evaluated through two disparate MADM failure models: technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and preference section index (PSI) to overcome the limitations of more traditional approaches. The primary findings of this research work are to enhance quality in planning the maintenance activities of critical components of targeted process industry through traditional as well as non-traditional failure analysis models. The research work is focused on potential failure causes of critical components like; bearings, gears, and shafts of aluminium wire rolling mill which are commonly representing the most critical components in a large range of industrial processes including aluminium wires. The proposed work will illustrate the working lives of components and associated failures. It will help to elucidate maintenance issues of major process industries and recommended deliverable keys.

12

Authors: Bacel Mikhael Alasas, Sofia Ishkildina, Sergey Zvonov, Dmitriy Antipov, Natalia Ushanova, Elena Demidenko

Effective production process management contributes to the competitiveness of a company. If a manufacturer knows customer requirements to produced goods he can define specification levels for a product at each production process. Therefore, a complex index is required which allows to evaluate process quality quantitatively depending on the extent of its shift and dispersion. The tool widely used for assessing process quality is capability index. The analysis presented in the paper shows that this index has two drawbacks: it does not consider costs level and process change dynamics. To solve this problem we introduced two additional indices. One index based on the calculation of economic losses, and the second one considers process change dynamics. Developed quality indices can be applied for the cases when a production process follows the Gaussian law. Moreover, Q index should be used in the cases when the probability of nondefective units production is high.

16

Authors: Jasmina Dedić, Dragan Lazarević, Bogdan Nedić, Milan Mišić, Živče Šarkočević

As a metal machining process, end milling is the most widely used processes in industry. One of the most important indicators of success in finishing operation is the estetic quality of the surface that is directly connected to the maximal height of uneven surfaces, namely rougness. In process of milling the quality of the machined surface depends of many factors, for example, tool geometry, cutter parallel axis offset and cutter axis tilt, tool deflection due to cutting forces, tool and work piece vibrations etc. This paper presents the development of mathematical model for the determination of the quality of the machined surface topography. The model starts from an ideal trochoid point trajectory on the cutting edge tooth end mill, and then inserts the deviations due to cutter parallel axis offset and cutter axis tilt and gives instructions for the input of other factors that influence on the machined surface quality. Also it compares the values of maximal roughness height with different mill axis positions, and on different mill cross section heights, as well as the differences at up and down milling.

16

Authors: Miriam Jankalová, Lukáš Vartiak

The process of globalization has started the need to achieve the Business Excellence status. Emphasizing the responsibility of the company's behaviour towards society and the environment is confirmed by the adoption of the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Based on theoretical background review, there is no single unified methodology for the evaluation of the Business Excellence status in relation to the CSR concept. The aim of this paper is to identify bases for the evaluation of Business Excellence status in relation to the CSR concept. The most important tasks include: to identify internal and external factors affecting Business Excellence status; to identify CSR areas for the needs of evaluation of the Business Excellence status. Primary sources included especially national and foreign scientific publications.

18

Authors: Zuhair A. Al-Hemyari, Abdullah M. Al-Sarmi

This research is applied in private HEIs to study and evaluate the level of satisfaction, and to estimate the level of participation and engagement of students and academic staff. Two surveys for students and academic staff were used and administrated in 40 HEIs. The sample was drawn from the target population and divided into sub-stratified random samples for each HEI. Student and academic staff satisfaction and student and academic staff participation and engagement were estimated and provided significant signs to HEIs. The demographic variables of participants (students and academic staff) in this project were studied and demonstrated. In order to check the precision and robustness of the final results of this paper, several statistical tests were applied. Conclusions, recommendations, limitations and future research directions were discussed.

18

Authors: Elena Syrtsova, Olga Tokmakova, Irina Merkulova, Olga Sinitsyna

The article is devoted to the study of various aspects of development and implementation of e-learning at higher education institutions. This system has been created according to the main approaches and criteria used by the European Foundation for quality assurance of e-learning (EFQUEL). The article presents the main results of the experiment on Vyatka State University's e-learning system development. The article reveals the feasibility of the development of e-learning in the region. The authors consider three main strategies of implementation of e-learning system at Vyatka State University. The authors substantiate the choice of the most effective and promising strategy of them based on the analysis and considering the peculiarities of the university and the region. In the article, the fundamental results of the experiment and description of the stages of the implementation of e-learning system are presented.

20

Authors: Samson Oludapo, Fadzline Puteri, Jack Kie Cheng

When it comes to performance improvement process, literature abounds with lean, agile and lean-agile. Over the years, the implementation of the improvement processes of lean and agile had met with resounding success in the manufacturing, production, and construction industry. For this reason, there is an interest to develop a performance process for business process service industry incorporating the key aspect of lean and agile theory extracted from the extant literature. The researcher reviewed a total of 750 scholarly articles, grouped them according to the relationship to central theme - lean or agile, and thereafter uses factor analysis under principal component method to explain the relationship of the items. The result of this study showed that firms focusing on cost will minimize the investment of resources in business operations this, in turn, will lead to difficulties in responding to changing customer's requirements in terms of volume, delivery, and new product. The implication is that on the long run cost focus strategy negatively influence flexibility.

20

Authors: Katarina Kanjevac Milovanović

This work should indicate how an integrated approach to continuous improvement of quality and safety of products affecting the competitiveness goals as product and company. The impact of Quality Management System (QMS) and compatibility with the requirements of the New Approach Directives (the CE mark) we conducted in three directions. First we developed a model that includes all the essential steps. By using the modeling method of the complex dynamic system, three macro variables are determined in the model. Each of the macro variables has its structure, variables in the in order to research the practical impact of QMS and CE mark on the competitiveness of enterprises in Serbia, we created a questionnaire on the basis of established models. On the results we apply methods of statistical analysis. In order to further research mentioned impacts on the competitiveness of products in Serbia, we have created a simulation software. This paper presents some of the results that have a dominant impact on competitiveness. From all this we can conclude that the implementation of QMS and CE creates a positive image of the product on the market, and enables the growth of profits and the competitiveness of organization.

10

Authors: Luis Fonseca, Jose Pedro Domingues

The aim of this research is to evaluate, six months after the issuing of ISO 9001:2015, if the 2015 edition has achieved its aims of being in line with modern management and quality management concepts and bring additional value to organizations of all industry and services sectors worldwide. A survey was carried out among IRCA registered auditors and the statistical analysis of the results support the assumption that ISO 9001:2015 is in line with modern business and quality management concepts and will be a useful tool for the companies. Although the authors acknowledge pursuing further in-depth studies, this is a relevant contribution to the validation of ISO 9001:2015 edition and its value for all type of organizations worldwide.

13

Authors: Dominik Zimon

The purpose of this publication is to characterize the philosophy of TQM guidelines and show how this implementation can improve logistics operations. The article is based on an analysis of the literature on the issues of quality in logistics. It is based upon an analysis of key publications on the definition, implementation and application of TQM in logistics. Moreover, the research process was conducted on the group of 31 of Polish and German entrepreneurs. The result of the work is to highlight the areas of logistics management in which the implementation of modern quality management systems can be crucial for joint development. The implementation of TQM philosophy promotes the integration of the supply chain, builds positive relationships with customers, improves the level of logistics customer service and develops logistics subsystems. You can also formulate a thesis that high quality products and logistics processes are the foundation of supply chain management strategies.

14

Authors: Gordana Todorovic, Vladimir Kojic

In this paper from the assessments: the satisfaction of the citizens with the services PUC "Waterworks and Sewerage" and the total time interruption in water supply, appreciating their importance, we carried out the assessment of the implemented IMS PUC "Waterworks and Sewerage" in Kragujevac.

18

Authors: Goutam Kumar Kundu

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of existing research and present a holistic understanding of quality in higher education. This literature review builds on major sources of relevant research relating to educational quality methodologies, quality literacy and multi-dimensional concept of quality. The paper attempts to understand quality in education as a relationship amongst all the participants and resources of an educational institution. Based on the results of the literature review, the paper attempts to establish the foundation for a comprehensive understanding and analysis of quality focussing on higher education. This literature review provides a frame of reference that serves as a basis for future research regarding role of quality in education.

18

Authors: Pavle Popovic, Radovan Orlandic

Based on test results obtained so far, the objective relating to modern scientific methods and approaches has been defined with the intention to develop model which defines new management system integration model, by adopting necessary practical terms of real systems that most frequently circulate in maritime practice in the field of integrated management systems (IMS) in terms of safety and security of vessels and ports. The subject of research is maritime, particularly port services, by way of defining internal and external advantages through adopting integrated management systems. The research will be conducted through theoretical and applied assessments of case study analyses using example of the Port of Kotor H.Co.

20

Authors: Nicole Kalemba, Fernando Campa-Planas

The main purpose of this research is to provide a comprehensive overview of literature related to the quality phenomena in the air transportation business over the last decades, to assess if there is some relationship between variables related to the quality concept in this business and how they have been developed during this period. To obtain this goal, a systematic literature review (SRL) has been carried out, based on international academic literature of Scopus and ISI Web of Science databases simultaneously, identifying the corresponding main papers on the research question, as well as carrying out a network analysis resulting from this review. The number of papers related to the quality concept have considerably increased during the last decades, showing, therefore, the dynamism, higher importance and interest that this topic has gained. Findings show, as well, a detailed overview of the most cited articles and productive journals on this research topic and the importance of co-occurrence between the established variables. This study promotes the growing interest that the research topic is receiving, as well as it provides a broad understanding on the variables that frame the development of this concept in the air transportation business, giving, therefore, a general overview and helping researchers and practitioners.

22

Authors: Musrrat Parveen, Khalid Maimani, Norizan M. Kassim

The health care industry (public and private) in several countries, including Saudi Arabia, is facing high turnover rate among registered nurses (RNs) and other health care professionals (OHPs). However, despite numerous studies that have been conducted in the past to tackle this phenomenon, we still believe that the functions and the connections between quality of work life (QWL), satisfaction and retention are still not thoroughly explored in the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia. The aims of this current study are to examine the effects of demographic characteristics on the QWL dimensions and satisfaction, and the relationships between the QWL dimensions and satisfaction, and between satisfaction and retention among RNs and OHPs. A model was developed to link QWL, satisfaction and retention. A sample of 360 RNs and OHPs was collected in Jeddah, one of the major cities in Saudi Arabia. Multivariate analysis of variance and structural equation modeling were used to test the hypotheses. The results show that there is a significant difference between demographic and QWL dimensions and satisfaction. Satisfactions with personal growth and salary package were found to have significant positive impacts on overall retention. The paper provides a greater understanding of QWL, satisfaction and retention and their relationships with each other among the RNs and OHPs in public and private health care organizations in Saudi Arabia.