城市政府全面质量管理体系的业绩改进

业绩改进是城市政府全面质量管理体系建立和运行的基本要求。在改进过程中,可从目标体系、领导机构、责任制度、文化氛围、反馈系统等方面着手,以优化城市政府环境、目标、产品、地位等不利因素。具体途径可考虑以下几个方面:公众需求是动力,领导推动是关键,自我完善是根本,过程控制是重点,有效方法是保证。     

Role of Government in an Era of Total Quality Management (TQM) and Globalization: Challenges and Opportunities

This article addresses the changing role of government in the rapidly changing environment of globalization, a process through which worldwide integration is pursued by forces of global capitalism. Government is challenged by conflicting and contradictory forces of globalization of corporate capitalism seeking absolute profit, while at the same pressures for quality services and quality assurance are mounting worldwide. As a result, an impossibility theorem develops, with new challenges and opportunities facing governments. Alternative theories of government are presented, and suggestions are offered on what government should do to promote quality assurance and TQM in the age of globalization. An original version of this paper was presented at the International Conference on Total Quality Management (TQM), Tehran, Iran, December 18–20. No quotation without permission of the author. Please send comments to the author at the above address.     

MANUFACTURING QUALITY,RELIABILITY AND PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE

We consider an important topic from the traditional quality literature-the impact of conformance quality of a manufactured product on the preventive maintenance costs to downstream users of this product. Folk wisdom supports the notion that higher conformance quality translates into lower maintenance costs (as well as other components of life-cycle costs) for these users. We examine this proposition in some detail on the basis of a failure-time model that relates conformance quality to reliability. We consider both repairable and nonrepairable items that are maintained by a block-replacement or a minimal-repair strategy. In addition to maintenance cycles and costs, we discuss the value of information to the user as to the actual production quality, and the value of inspection.     

PARTIAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT: AN ESSAY

A serious gap is emerging between what is espoused as total quality management and what is actually being implemented. Examples of actual implementation failures are given. In addition to affecting the offending firms, these gaps threaten the viability of the quality management movement in the United States. Their causes and appropriate counter measures are worthy topics for research.