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There has been an ongoing debate on quality and what constitutes quality improvement in healthcare for several decades. Several authors identify that defining quality is an important part of that debate, yet recognise that quality is defined differently by different interests (Caper, 1988; Harteloh, 2003). Harteloh's distinction between quality as a property (a descriptive approach) and quality as a category of judgment (a prescriptive approach) has influenced the conception of quality as a property of participation emerging in this research. This is in stark contrast to the wide spread prescriptive approach set out in published accounts of quality and quality improvement. In the mainstream management literature, conventionally organisations are understood as systems and this conceptualisation underpins many published considerations of quality. In this way of thinking, those involved in leading quality improvement are thought to operate as autonomous individuals who design improvement tools and control improvements according to plans. It is taken for granted that it is possible for a powerful individual to step out of the organisational system and treat it as an object for manipulation and change, following the diagnosis of problem areas and gaps. Yet at other times that autonomous individual becomes part of the system and is subject to manipulation and change by others. As with much of the literature of change management, this approach sets "thought" before "action". In other words, "thought" is understood as the formulation of a plan and "action" is the implementation of that plan. In this thesis, it is my contention that this way of thinking leads to a privileging of the more mechanical and cybernetic elements of quality improvement - such as tools and techniques of waste elimination and fault detection, and, of particular interest in this thesis, the use of national targets in the public sector. My research is underpinned by a complex responsive processes perspective (Stacey, Griffin and Shaw, 2000). Central to this theory of human interaction is the importance of understanding everyday experience from the perspective of inquiring into “…just what is it that we are doing in our groups or in our organisations that leads to emergent patterns that are our experience…” (Stacey, 2003c: 32). In this thesis, I take up a key question raised by Stacey (2006) concerning how those working in the public sector institutions are operationalising central government governance requirements. I explore my experience of working locally with nationally determined performance targets for access to emergency care. I argue for consideration of quality improvement as a cult value along the lines defined by Mead (1923). In conceptualising quality improvement in this way, my inquiry focuses on what happens as we try to make sense of the ways in which our daily activities are being influenced by competing ideologies, by power relations that are played out, and by the enabling and constraining aspects of going on together in patterns of conversation. These are the complex social processes of working with targets I refer to in the title of this thesis. It is my contention that this perspective draws attention to quality as a property of our own participation as managers, rather than the more usual exhortations to look for the next tool for instilling quality into the organisation. As such, I argue that this research makes an important contribution to the ongoing debate on quality, as well as managerial practice. I propose that the participative and socially reflexive nature of the qualitative methodology involved provides a practical example of Mode 2 research, addressing what MacLean, MacIntosh and Grant (2002) identify as a current gap in the literature. Finally, I posit a potential contribution to policy making seeking to address a growing recognition from some policy makers regarding what is now being seen as an increasing problematic reliance on traditional, modernist assumptions of programmatic change.

This graduation theses is focus to implementation of CIP-World (continuous improvement program) and to fullfilment of requirements of Star Power Factory audit in Siemen Nízkonapěťová spínací technika Trutnov, s.r.o. company.

近幾年來，台灣企業逐漸有品質意識，但在品質技術的落實有待加強。本研究將品質技術實際運用在電子廠的生產線上，利用QC七大手法，實施一連串製程改善活動。又由於市場結構的改變及消費型態的轉變，導致工廠的生產方式也有很大改變，過去單一批量的生產型態已逐漸減少，取而代之的是混合生產線的生產型態，此公司亦是混合生產線的生產型態，若採用傳統Shewhart管制圖以控制製程，既費時又費成本，因此本研究採Farnum提出的短程管制圖(Short-run control chart)來控制製程。接著引用更新理論方法建立一個非機遇因素成本模式，藉著最佳化技巧可決定np經濟管制圖的最佳設計參數值。最後，Shewhart np管制圖與np經濟管制圖間的成本比較，顯現出前者有顯著地改善。

In today's worldwide competitive environment, contracting companies are competing in terms of product quality, delivery, reliability and customer satisfaction. In current literature, models of performance measures for contracting companies and construction projects have limitations and shortcomings. They depend mainly on financial measures. These are no longer sufficient to ensure survival and continued profitability in time of change. New measures of performance at the different levels of contracting companies are, therefore, needed. The relatively new performance measurement technique of benchmarking has been widely applied as a powerful performance management concept. However, current published literature does not provide satisfactory proof of its successful implementation in contracting companies. This research addresses these two major weaknesses. Firstly, a methodology using Nominal Group Technique and Delphi Technique was explained and applied to obtain consensus performance measures for construction projects. New performance measures appropriate to construction projects, together with each element's relative importance, were developed. The consensus covers project managers, senior managers and top management. Secondly, quality measures appropriate to construction projects, together with each measure's relative importance, were developed. Thirdly, new performance measures appropriate to contracting organizations were developed. The development of these measures and the determination of their relative importance depend upon: the strategic direction of the organization which reflects the current business and market conditions; the type of construction work; the organization structure; and the development of the management staff within the organization. Fourthly, the implementation of the new performance measures using benchmarking as a management tool for performance measurement and improvement was carried out in one of the largest contracting organizations in the Middle East, the Arab Contractors, Osman A. Osman & Co. The implementation was carried out over a period of five years. Sixteen company branches implemented the measurement system. Each branch was considered as an independent contracting company. The results showed that the use of the new performance measures and the implementation of benchmarking in the company were very effective and led to successful and improved performance.

The main goal of this Master´s Thesis is to analyze the risks of quality management in manufacturing branch of BTL zdravotnická technika, a.s. The introduction part is summarization of important terms from the field of management quality, risk management and metrology. Analysis of the current risk management is a part of the practical part of this Master´s Thesis. The key part of this Thesis is identification of risks in the metrology field and their analysis. For the analysis was used FMEA methodology. The outcome is a register of risk which is valuable for this Thesis as well as for the company. Suggestion for improvements for the critical risks are introduces at the end of this Thesis.

As the airline industry continues to rapidly expand and evolve, today's airlines leaders are faced with the challenge of balancing long term strategies with short term solutions. Customer satisfaction has become significantly important for airline operations and as a result service quality has also gained paramount importance in this sector. Lean's customer-focused theme for improving service quality has gained a momentum in services, however, Lean deployment within the airline service sector is generally a long way behind manufacturing and health services. These factors have motivated research into investigating Lean phenomena within a leading UK airline company. For quantitative and qualitative data analysis, 9 cases were collected from 3 internal departments of the airline company, 35 semi-structured interviews were held, and 220 survey questionnaires were circulated of which 180 were returned. Within-case and cross-case analysis techniques were applied and, to develop a framework and 5 key relationships were identified. This study’s contribution is in the area of Quality Management as it: (a) highlights the role of ‘customer value’ and ‘engagement value’ in the domain of technical and functional service quality attributes; (b) maps cost-quality-delivery relationships through linking Lean improvements to its results; and (c) constructs an ‘outcome-driven’ framework from the findings. Ultimately, this research provides knowledge and understanding of how an airline company deploys Lean as business strategy to improve their service quality. The novelty of the research in terms of deliverables is two-fold: firstly, it establishes framework linking Lean improvement initiatives to its results, which extends to the sustainability, commitment, future profitability and market share characteristics of improvement results; and secondly, it provides a tool, which could assist key decision makers in evaluating the results of the Lean initiative to provide better understanding for Lean deployment. Key words: Lean services; business improvement strategy; service quality improvements; quality management; airline services; customer satisfaction; employee satisfaction.

An inspection approach is proposed for improving the quality of conceptual models developed in a domain specific notation. First, the process of identification of desirable properties of conceptual models in a domain specific notation is described. Intra- and interview properties are considered. Semantic properties are defined considering the conceptual modeling notation. A systematic inspection process is proposed for checking semantic properties of different types of diagrams and of the relations between these diagrams. This process is applied to two real mission space conceptual models. With the proposed inspection approach, it is possible to identify subtle semantic issues which are not identified by many of the contemporary UML CASE tools and other inspection methods.

The diploma thesis examines the influence of established quality management system to improve processes and to further improve the performance of selected company VHL Ltd. Related analyzes and their results are considered as the main goals of the thesis. The first theoretical part of the thesis compares current approaches to quality management and explains basic terms. Introduction to the practical part is the characteristic of the chosen company. Next step is analysis of the impact of the system's implementation and comparison to the precertification state. Analysis uses CMMI model for measuring the maturity of processes. The results of the analysis are used to additional process improvement based on potential improvement. Identified constraints, which are limiting higher business performance, will be subject of the design solution to overcome them. The greatest benefits of the thesis is practical application of the technique for increasing business performance and determining whether quality management system using ISO 9001 will improve the processes.

[pt] Esta dissertação analisa a experiência da gestão educacional em Tocantins, no período de 2000 a 2006, com o objetivo de identificar suas principais características e verificar possíveis impactos nos indicadores educacionais do estado. Ao longo do período analisado, a Secretaria de Educação e Cultura de Tocantins teve seu trabalho orientado por um processo de planejamento estratégico e esteve comprometida com a qualificação profissional e com a melhoria dos seus indicadores educacionais. Entre os programas e ações implantados, destacam-se: o Planejamento Estratégico da Secretaria (Pes), o programa Escola Compartilhada de Gestão Comunitária, a Formação Continuada de Gestores Escolares (Progestão), a Formação Continuada de Professores, o programa Evasão Escolar Nota Zero e o processo de seleção de diretores de unidade escolar. A gestão educacional de Tocantins é analisada a partir da revisão da literatura sobre o tema, do estudo de documentos oficiais, de entrevistas com membros da equipe gestora da secretaria e da análise da evolução dos principais indicadores educacionais do estado, a saber: acesso, fluxo (aprovação, reprovação e abandono) e desempenho dos alunos do ensino fundamental e médio. A análise dos dados mostra que houve melhora no acesso, e no fluxo escolar, tanto no ensino fundamental quanto no Ensino Médio. E também houve uma melhora significativa no desempenho dos alunos tocantinenses avaliados pelo Sistema de Avaliação da Educação Básica na 4a série do Ensino Fundamental e no 3º ano do ensino médio, tanto em Língua Portuguesa quanto em Matemática. / [en] This dissertation analyses the experience of educational management in Tocantins, between 2000 and 2005. The purpose of this research is to find out the main characteristics and verify possible impacts in the educational indicators of the state. Through the period analyzed, the Education and Culture Secretariat of Tocantins had its work oriented into a strategic planning process, which was compromised with the professional qualification and the improvement of its educational indicators. Among the programs and actions implemented, the most important are: the Strategic Planning of the Secretary (PES); Shared Management Communitary School program; Continuing Formation of the Educational Managers (Progestão), the Continuing Formation of the Teachers; the -Zero Grade- Droup-out program and the selection process of the directors of educational units. The Tocantins educational management is analyzed through the literature review about this theme, the study from official documents, interviews with the management team of the secretariat and the analysis of the progression of the main educational indicators of the state: access, student flows (approval, failure, drop-out) and the performance of the students of primary and secondary school. The data analysis shows that there was an improvement in access and an improvement of the student flows, there was an increase in approved and a decrease in the drop-out rates, in the primary and in the secondary school. Finally, there was a significant improvement in the performance of the Tocantins students evaluated for the System of Evaluation of Basic Education (Saeb) in the 4th year of primary school and the 3rd year of secondary school both in Portuguese.