An interrupted time-series design pooling 6 12-year series evaluated the long-term effects of a quality training intervention in a factory. Training positively affected quality of goods and dollar utility. Production process was an important contextual factor in assessing the effect size of the intervention. (SK)

When planning for a new facility, consideration of maintenance needs is crucial to successful design. Designing for maintenance needs involves considering such factors as the durability of materials used, the cost and lifecycle of the materials, and the flexibility of the maintenance staff. Stresses the importance of including key members of the…

The director of distance learning at Regis University in Colorado reflects on steps that must be taken to assure that university-level e-learning courses are the same quality as traditional courses. Key areas include: qualified faculty, teaching excellence, course design (with the added components of production as they apply to the application of…

Discusses the quality controls imposed on text and image data that is currently being converted from paper to digital images by the Patent and Trademark Office. The methods of inspection used on text and on images are described, and the quality of the data delivered thus far is discussed. (CLB)

Describes the Quality Improvement Program developed by Florida Power and Light's Nuclear Training organization that was awarded the Deming Application Prize for quality control. Training quality, team activities, training's role in business planning, customer involvement and evaluation, and continuous improvement of training are discussed. (LRW)

Discusses problems that arise when employees are asked to cooperate with each other to improve the company but are rewarded for individual performance. Offers solutions such as rewarding behaviors and offering a combination of salary plans. (JOW)

Discussion of data quality examines five approaches to defining data in the literature; considers criteria of adequacy; proposes a modeling activity; discusses the most important dimensions of data quality, including accuracy, precision and reliability, currentness, completeness, and consistency; and suggests further research. (Contains 44…

Recommends academic strategies to contribute to an issue of great interest in industry--workplace documentation. Describes strategies including contextualizing quality definitions, advocating use of multiple quality measures, conducting research to identify specific heuristics for defining and measuring quality in particular workplace contexts,…

Discusses the need for training in manufacturing and high-tech industries to keep up with the rapid changes taking place in operating technologies. Topics include the six standards of training evaluation; employee satisfaction; learning how to learn; quality improvement; front-end analysis; justifications for implementing retraining; and trainee…

Describes the development of a prototype system to analyze the ambiguity and complexity of cataloging rules to aid the quality control of cataloging standards. Highlights include AACR2 (Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd edition) rules, syntactic structure of rules, rule parsing, rule templates, relationships between rules, examples, and further…

Describes a two-pronged program at Dartmouth Medical School (New Hampshire) for teaching quality improvement to medical students: one component requires all students to participate in an improvement project at their community-based physician preceptor sites; the other component, an elective, has students develop an improvement plan for the…

Describes a process for reviewing and improving data collection quality. The methodology includes a thorough business practice review, an analysis of existing data quality, cleansing of existing data, and implementation of business practice changes aimed at improving the quality of data captured by each institution. (EV)

Since the mid-1990s, the number and diversity of "quality-certified" products has increased dramatically. This article examines labor practices and regulatory spaces within 3rd party quality certification and suggests that this distinct configuration be termed "just-in-space" production. A privileging of space derives, on the one hand, from the…

Purpose--To explore the nature component parts, degree structure and purpose intended outcomes of the Doctor of Business Administration DBA degree, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the degree as they stand presently, using Australian experience. Design/methodology/approach?-A review of DBA programme offerings in Australia identified…

This article describes two recent efforts to rank the quality of higher education institutions in Australia and New Zealand. After a brief discussion of goals, methods, and results, the author evaluates each ranking using the following questions: Does this methodological approach achieve its objective? Can other countries use the methodology by…