From QA to TQM

In the decade from 1950 to 1960, two quality-related processes--medical audit and total quality management--were being developed, one directly in the health care field and the other in the manufacturing sector. These processes remained isolated from each other until the mid-1980s. Each would have a separate but major effect on the health care industry.     

Economic integration and labor flows: stage migration in farm labor markets in Mexico and the United States

"This article examines the probable effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on migration from Mexico to the United States, disputing the view that expansion of jobs in Mexico could rapidly reduce undocumented migration. To the extent that NAFTA causes Mexican export agriculture to expand, migration to the United States will increase rather than decrease in the short run. Data collected in both California and the Mexican State of Baja California show that indigenous migrants from southern Mexico typically first undertake internal migration, which lowers the costs and risks of U.S. migration. Two features of employment in export agriculture were found to be specially significant in lowering the costs of U.S. migration: first, working in export agriculture exposes migrants to more diverse social networks and information about U.S. migration; second, agro-export employment in northern Mexico provides stable employment, albeit low-wage employment, for some members of the family close to the border (especially women and children) while allowing other members of the family to assume the risks of U.S. migration."     

Who killed change management?

A story is told here of an investigation into change management's apparent death, provoked by the dubious business novel Who Killed Change [Blanchard, K., J. Britt, P. Zigarmi, and J. Hoekstra. 2009. Who Killed Change? Solving the Mystery of Leading People Through Change. London: Harper Collins Publishers]. The story is told over eight chapters inviting you to investigate competing explanations for the death of change management using the structure of the story arc: stasis, trigger, quest, surprise, critical choice, climax, reversal and resolution. An annoying voice (sometimes interior monologue and at other times dialogue) of another reader keen to inform and frame your understanding of the status of change management remains ever present. The case is solved with the story's resolution providing insights into advantages of investigating over literature reviewing, the problematic/masculine nature of murder metaphors, the academic potential of story arcs and the mystery which characterises organizational change.     

The Lac‐Mégantic Derailment,Corporate Regulation,and Neoliberal Sovereignty

On July 6, 2013, Montreal, Maine, and Atlantic railcar 5017 hauling 72 tanker cars of Bakken crude oil derailed over the town of Lac‐Mégantic, Quebec. The town erupted in a fiery inferno as 5,560,000 liters of highly flammable Bakken crude oil exploded over the town, killing 47 people and contaminating 558,000 tons of soil and local waterways. While Montreal, Maine, and Atlantic Rail Chairman Edward Burkhardt initially blamed the derailment on the lone engineer and local firefighters, this study shows how Transport Canada and the rail industry undermined regulatory and safety measures for several years before the derailment. This study uses a Foucauldian theoretical perspective to conceptualize and explain a new political mentality that transfers existing state regulatory authority to the corporate sector. This new mentality, neoliberal sovereignty, is composed of sovereign and neoliberal logics that monopolize “correct” trajectories of human economic development. This absolute market mentality merges with state sovereignty and eliminates existing safety and regulation frameworks to pursue unregulated corporate profits. Le 6 juillet 2013, un train de 72 wagons‐citernes transportant du pétrole brute Bakken a déraillé de la ligne de chemin de fer de la Montréal, Maine et Atlantique, dans la ville de Lac‐Mégantic au Québec. La ville c'est transformé en véritable enfer, alors que 5 560 000 litre de pétrole brute Bakken très inflammable ont fait explosé la ville, tuant quarante‐sept personnes et contaminant 558 000 tonnes d'eaux et du sol de Lac‐Mégantic et ses environs. Alors que le président de la MMA, Edward Burkhart, a d'abord blâmé l'ingénieur et le service d'incendie local, les études montrent que Transport Canada et l'industrie ferroviaire ont amoindrit les mesures de réglementation et de sécurité plusieurs années avant le déraillement. Cette étude utilise une perspective théorique foucauldienne pour conceptualiser et expliquer une nouvelle mentalité politique qui transfère l'autorité de régulations gouvernementales existantes au secteur des entreprises. Cette nouvelle mentalité, souveraines et néo‐libérale, est composé de logique souveraines et néo‐libérales qui monopolise les trajectoires « respectables » de développement économique humain. Cette mentalité de marché absolu fusionne avec la souveraineté de l'État et élimine les cadres de sécurité et les réglementations existantes pour les bénéfices des entreprises non réglementaires.     

Predictors of Intrusive Sexual Behaviors in Preschool-Aged Children

Intrusive sexual behaviors (ISBs) are a specific type of problematic sexual behavior characterized by the invasive nature of the acts (e.g., touching others’ private parts, attempting intercourse; Friedrich, 1997). The limited amount of research on ISBs has focused on sexual abuse history as the primary predictor. However, Friedrich, Davies, Feher, and Wright (2003) found that ISBs in children up to age 12 were related to four broad conceptual factors: (a) exposure to sexual content, (b) exposure to violent behavior, (c) family adversity, and (d) child vulnerabilities. The current study sought to replicate Friedrich’s study using a clinical sample of 217 preschool-aged children (ages two to six). Results supported variables from within the child vulnerabilities construct (externalizing behaviors, β_EXT = 0.032, p = 0.001), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) criteria met (β_PTSD = 0.177, p = 0.02), and an inverse relationship with age (β_AGE = ?0.206, p = 0.024). These results highlight the importance of considering childhood behavioral patterns and reactivity to traumatic events as correlates of ISBs in young children.     

Using a “child's‐eye view” of social success to understand the importance of school readiness at the transition to formal schooling

Recent research into school readiness has highlighted the importance of not only children's cognitive and socio‐emotional skills, but also the degree to which they have family support in the home. The current study examines the association between social success upon school entry and teacher‐ratings of school readiness as assessed by the Brief Early Skills and Support Index (BESSI), controlling for language ability. Importantly, social success was assessed using a “child's‐eye view” with peer‐reported assessments of both social preference and reciprocated friendships. A total of 244 children (131 boys, M_age = 61 months, SD = 4.78 months) in their first year of formal schooling participated. Child school readiness was found to be important for social preference, with the association being more marked for boys versus girls. Family support was the only independent predictor of children's reciprocated friendships. The use of the BESSI, with its broad scope compared to other measures of school readiness, highlights the importance of focusing both on a child's cognitive and socio‐emotional skills at school entry and their family support when exploring the association of school readiness to children's social success at the transition to formal schooling.     

Estimation of the cumulative incidence function under multiple dependent and independent censoring mechanisms

Competing risks occur in a time-to-event analysis in which a patient can experience one of several types of events. Traditional methods for handling competing risks data presuppose one censoring process, which is assumed to be independent. In a controlled clinical trial, censoring can occur for several reasons: some independent, others dependent. We propose an estimator of the cumulative incidence function in the presence of both independent and dependent censoring mechanisms. We rely on semi-parametric theory to derive an augmented inverse probability of censoring weighted (AIPCW) estimator. We demonstrate the efficiency gained when using the AIPCW estimator compared to a non-augmented estimator via simulations. We then apply our method to evaluate the safety and efficacy of three anti-HIV regimens in a randomized trial conducted by the AIDS Clinical Trial Group, ACTG A5095.