TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT: A LITERATURE REVIEW AND AN AGENDA FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Total quality management (TQM) is a revolutionary approach to effective management. The research in TQM has emerged from practical needs of organizations embracing this philosophy, and the literature is mostly conceptual and practitioner-oriented. There is a lack of sound theoretical framework classifying past efforts and guiding future research. To fill the void, a study of the published TQM literature is undertaken. A review, classification, and analysis of the research in TQM spanning the last two decades is presented. A total of 226 TQM-related articles are identified from 44 refereed management journals published from 1970 to 1993. These articles are then classified and analyzed using the following two-dimensional scheme: (1) article orientation (conceptual, case study, empirical, analytical, simulation, and overview) and (2) article focus using the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria. The analysis of the literature presents pertinent developments in each of the seven criteria. In addition, it provides future research directions as well as a ready reference of the TQM literature. The suggestions for research should guide future developments in the TQM field and help transform it into a formal discipline.     

《常言道》别具一格的讽刺艺术

《常言道》为清落魄道人所编,通篇以金银钱为线索,串引出无数人事来,摹尽世态,写足人情,展现了一幅封建社会末期的风俗图,寄托了作者对黑暗现实的愤激之情。     

The future of hormone replacement therapy in the aging male

This paper is based on a presentation given at the 2nd World Congress on the Aging Male, Geneva, Switzerland, February 2000     

Abstracts

Objective: To ascertain if two commonly used health status measures could be successfully self-administered to a group of older men recruited from the community to volunteer for a clinical research project and to correlate responses to the health status questionnaire to testosterone levels. Methods: In a cross-sectional survey 93 men, age 70 or greater, responded to a random mailing to a suburban community. Sixty-eight men were eligible and 47 participated in the study. Two health status questionnaires, the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP) and the Short-form 36 (SF-36), were mailed to participants with instructions to complete the surveys on the same day and return them by mail. Blood samples were obtained for bioavailable and total testosterone measurements. Pearson correlation coefficient analysis was used to compare the responses to the SF-36 and SIP and testosterone levels. Results: Of the eligible volunteers 69% participated and were able to self-administer the SIP and the SF-36. Summation scores for the surveys were above those reported in similar age populations. Perfect scores were reported frequently in all subsets of the SIP; perfect scores were reported in 43-92% of men on various subscales. The responses to the SF-36 were also frequently perfect although perfect scores ranged from 2 to 82% on various subsets. There was moderate correlation between the results from the two surveys. There was no correlation between age, SIP or SF-36 and testosterone level. Conclusions: Healthy older men volunteering for clinical research were able to self-administer both the SIP and SF3-6. Responses to both surveys were skewed toward perfect scores; the SIP failed to reveal many men with functional deficits. Bioavailable testosterone levels did not predict perceived health in this group of men.     

Diagnosis and management of age-related hypogonadism

Many studies show a better state of health in women than men and indicate that life expectancy for men is significantly shorter than that for women in every region of the world. Yet, the health-care systems have so far made surprisingly little effort to reduce these pronounced differences. Consequently, investigation into the state of health of the aging male and relevant health care is breaking new ground in science. From a scientific perspective, the conspicuous differences in physical conditions can be ascribed to a number of causes. Medical, social, and psychological factors are evidently linked by complex interactions out of which interdisciplinary approaches for improving the state of health, in particular that of older men, are derived. Fundamental research questions, necessary for the adaptation of sex-specific health care to benefit both sexes, can then be developed.     

Social demographic aspects

Unlike in women, where instruments are available to measure the severity of symptoms, cross-culturally validated instruments are lacking for aging males. This study set out to conduct a translation and cultural validation of the 'Aging Males' Symptoms' (AMS) scale, originally developed in German, into English for use in North America and the UK. Following international methodological recommendations, the AMS scale was translated in a standardized way consisting of forward translation, quality control, backward translation and a pretest. Five experienced bilingual translators and reviewers were involved. Many difficulties of compatibility between the cultural backgrounds of Germany, the UK and North America were identified and resolved by consensus. This resulted in one version for British and American English. A pretest in volunteers demonstrated clarity and understandability across social classes, but also suggested minor changes in the instrument. A preliminary test-retest comparison of the final scale showed high reliability with a correlation coefficient of 0.93 for the total AMS score. The AMS scale is a valuable tool for assessing symptoms in the aging male. This scale can be used in German and English speaking countries. Flemish and Finnish versions are also in use.     

从《资本论》看公平与效率的辩证关系

马克思在《资本论》中指出,对于资本主义制度来说,“国民财富和人民贫困是一回事。”从而在资本主义制度下,效率即国民财富与公平即人民不贫困,是直接对立的。其原因就在于,这里的效率只是少数人的效率,对大多数人来说,这一效率甚至是负的。只有当效率是最广大人民群众的效率时,这个效率才与公平是一致的。而要构建和谐社会,就必须把握公平与效率的辩证关系,以更加注重公平的方式来提升真正属于最广大人民群众的效率,让最广大的人民群众共享改革开放的成果。     

Frank Capra and Leni Riefenstahl: Politics,Propaganda and the Personal

Abstract

The circumstances that led Frank Capra to view Leni Riefenstahl's notorious documentary of the 1934 Nuremberg rallies, Triumph of the Will, is well-known. What is less known is the extent to which the themes inherent in Capra's filmmaking through the 1930s, and Riefenstahl's own interest in ideas of national identity, social commentary and romanticism in her fictional and documentary films, mapped out a set of cinematic coincidences between the two little discussed in the body of literature devoted to these directors. This article lays out a number of those coincidences and, in the process, compares the theoretical strain of political romanticism that winds its way through Capra and Riefenstahl's work. The iconic and symbolic imagery in their films suggests interesting and important comparative aspects to their canon, but also that a fascination in political romanticism led them to differing conclusions about the impact and threat of media and propaganda forces lined up in alliance with totalitarian powers during the 1930s and '40s.     

Testosterone supplementation: what and how to give

Several epidemiological studies have demonstrated a gradual decrease of serum testosterone with aging in men. A considerable number of men will experience hypogonadal androgen levels, defined by the normal range for young men. Thus, in addition to the long-standing use of androgen replacement therapy in the classical forms of primary and secondary hypogonadism, age-associated testosterone deficiency has led to considerable developments in application modes for testosterone. Since oral preparations of testosterone are ineffective, due to the first-pass effect of the liver, or, in case of 17 α-alkylation, cause hepatotoxicity, intramuscular injection of long-acting esters, such as testosterone enanthate, have been the mainstay of testosterone therapy. However, the large fluctuations of serum testosterone levels cause unsatisfactory shifts of mood and sexual function in some men; combined with the frequent injections, this delivery mode is thus far from being ideal. In contrast, the transdermal testosterone patches are characterized by favorable pharmacokinetic behavior and have proven to be an effective mode of delivery. Safety data over 10 years indicate no negative effect on the prostate. Nevertheless, the scrotal testosterone patch system is hampered by the application site, which is not easily accepted by many subjects; the non-scrotal patch has a high rate of skin irritations. In view of the drawbacks of the currently available preparations, the most recent developments in testosterone supplementation appear to be highly promising agents. Androgen, which has been available in the United States since mid-2000, will be introduced this year in most European markets as Testogel ® , a hydroalcoholic gel containing 1% testosterone. Doses of 50-100 mg gel applied once daily on the skin deliver sufficient amounts of testosterone to restore normal hormonal values and to correct the signs and symptoms of hypogonadism. The gel has shown to be very effective and successful in American patients, who have benefited from its availability for almost 3 years. Furthermore, in phase II and III clinical studies, the intramuscular injection of 1000 mg testosterone undecanoate every 12-15 weeks has led to extremely stable serum testosterone levels for a prolonged period of time and has resulted in excellent efficacy. It is very likely in the future that these products will be the mainstay of testosterone supplementation. Whereas the indication for testosterone substitution for men with classical forms of hypogonadism is unequivocal, the use of testosterone in men with ageassociated hypogonadism is less uniformly accepted. Yet, the few studies addressing this question indicate that men with testosterone serum levels below the lower normal limit for young adult men and with lack of energy, libido, depressed mood and osteoporosis may benefit from testosterone supplementation. However, it should be kept in mind that the experience documented in studies is limited. Nevertheless, serious side-effects, especially in regard to the prostate, did not occur, with the longest study extending over 3 years.     

Recovering the social: globalization,football and transnationalism

Abstract In this article, we place the social and football (as a sporting realm) at the heart of social scientific analysis of globalization processes. Our theoretical framework sets out, in turn, the concepts of glocalization, with particular reference to what we term the ‘duality of glocality’; transnationalism, notably its socio‐historical aspects; connectivity, with particular reference to its antonym, ‘disconnectivity’; and cosmopolitanism, with strong focus on what we term its ‘thick’ and ‘thin’ variants. We explore the interplay of these concepts and processes within three broad domains of the ‘football world’: supporter subcultures, sport journalism, and Japanese football culture. We conclude in part by arguing for greater exploration of sport's role in regard to global processes and of the interrelationships between the duality of glocality and the thick/thin variants of cosmopolitanism.