Talk
Contribution of quality thinking to the operations design: gap finding and addressing
Ana Margarida Bravo (Bravo, A.); J.M. Vilas-Boas da Silva (Silva, J.); Zulema Pereira (Pereira, Z.);
Event Title
Managing operations in service economies, XVII international annual conference of the EurOMA
Year (definitive publication)
2010
Language
English
Country
Portugal
More Information
Abstract
This exploratory exercise argued for the quality management importance in organizational performance. A sample of quality thinking showed TQM as its acceptable representative. Moreover, TQM was found linked to several management issues close to business competitiveness, despite reports about its unsuccessful implementation. Thus, a framework to accommodate the development of an audit tool to find out the missing links of TQM implementation in operations design was proposed. A qualitative case study strategy in the pharmaceutical industry, following a Soft Systems approach was also suggested.
Acknowledgements
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Keywords
Total Quality Management, Operations Design, Soft Systems Methodology