21743 Business Excellence

Subject level: Postgraduate

Handbook description

This subject develops an understanding of the practical and managerial aspects of quality, including the fundamentals of total quality management and its relationship to productivity and organisational performance. Topics include: the fundamentals of quality, productivity, and organisational performance; total quality management; traditional concepts and modern definitions of quality; quality management tools and techniques; quality standards; and performance measurement.

Subject objectives/outcomes

On successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

1. understand approaches to organisational design and business improvement based on models of quality, e.g. organisational excellence models, ISO 9000
2. understand the historical development of the quality movement
3. understand the key principles for business excellence
4. understand the systems approach to the design and improvement of business processes
5. apply components of the organisational excellence frameworks to a business setting and various tools and techniques of quality
6. interpret statistical process control data and design basic statistical control charts
7. understand the various 'costs of quality'
8. apply improvement tools and techniques.

Contribution to graduate profile

This subject provides an opportunity for participants to understand and apply a number of approaches to organisational change and business improvement using models that have evolved through the quality movement e.g. The Australian Business Excellence Framework, The Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award, The European Quality Award, ISO 9000 and related approaches such a Benchmarking and 6 Sigma. These approaches provide a systematic way in which to analyse new and existing business situations in order to provide superior organisational performance.

Teaching and learning strategies

The subject will be taught using a combination of lectures, case studies, video material and experiential exercises. These classes will be supplemented with both printed and electronic learning materials. The UTS web-based communication tool UTS Online will be used to facilitate learning.

Content

• Introduction to quality and business excellence.
• Activity to introduce the basic philosophy.
• History of quality — definitions and fundamental concepts.
• Australian Business Excellence Model — key principles and systems thinking
• Comparison of various quality/excellence models.
• Detailed analysis of concepts and application of the various components of Business Excellence Models, e.g. leadership, customer focus, planning, people, measurement, business results.
• Understanding of variation.
• Cost of quality.
• Relationship to knowledge management.

Assessment

Assessment item 1: In-Class Quizzes (Individual)

Assessment item 2: Application of Framework (Individual)

Assessment item 3: Examination (Individual)

Required text(s)

Evans, JR and Lindsay, WM, 2008, Management of Quality and Performance Excellence, 7th edn, South Western College, Cincinnati

Faculty of Business (2006), Guide to Writing Assignments, University of Technology, Sydney (available from the Co-op Bookshop or at: www.business.uts.edu.au/resources/guide.pdf)

Indicative references

Australian Business Excellence Framework — see SAI Global Professional Services webite for latest version overview www.businessexcellenceaustralia.com.au/GROUPS/ABEF/

Bolman, LG, 1991, Reframing Organisations, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco

Coronado, RB and Antony, J, 2002, Critical success factors for the successful implementation of six sigma projects in organisations, The TQM Magazine, Vol 14, No 2, pp 92-99

Deming, WE, 1986, Out of the Crisis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Garvin, D, 1984, What Does 'Product Quality' Really Mean ? Sloan Management Review Fall, pp 25-43

George, M, 2002, Lean Six Sigma, McGraw-Hill, New York

Hanna, DP, 1988, Designing Organisations for High Performance, Addison-Wesley, Reading Massachusetts

Hardie, N, 1997, 'Defining Quality' Chapter 1 of The Consequences of Quality: A Critical Look at the Quality Movement, Consensus Press

Hausner, A, 1999, Linking Bottomline Improvements with the Australian Business Excellence Framework, Australian Quality Council, Sydney

Heskett, JL, Jones, TO, Loveman, GW, Sasser, WE and Schlesinger, LA, 1994, Putting the Service Profit Chain To Work, Harvard Business Review, March-April, pp 164-174

Kaplan, RS and Norton, DP ,1992, The Balanced Scorecard: Measures that drive Performance, Harvard Business Review, Jan/Feb, pp 71-79

Langley, GJ, Nolan, KM, Nolan, TM, Norman, CL and Provost, LP, 1996, The Improvement Guide : A Practical Approach to Enhancing Organisational Performance; Josey-Bass; San Francisco

McAdam, R and Lafferty B, 2004, A multilevel case study critique of six sigma: statistical control or strategic change?, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 24, 5/6; pp 530-549

Manzini, AO, 1988, Organisational Diagnosis – A Practical Approach to Company Problem Solving and Growth, American Management Association, New York

Pande, PS, Neuman RP and Cavanagh, TR, 2000, The Six Sigma Way, McGraw-Hill, New York

Parasuruman, A, Berry, LL, Zeithaml, VA, 1991, Understanding Customer Expectations of Service, Sloan Management Review, Spring pp 39-48

Porter, ME, 1996, What is Strategy, Harvard Business Review, Nov–Dec, pp 61-78

Raisinghani, MS, 2005, Six Sigma: Concepts, Tools and Applications, Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 105 No. 4, pp 491-505

Senge, PM, 1990, The Fifth Discipline – The Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation, Doubleday, New York

Skinner, A, 1998, The Pivotal Role of Understanding the Value the Customer Desires, in Customer Service Excellence, Ed Whitford, B, Beaumont Publishing, Sydney

Tenner, AR and Detoro, IJ, 1992, Total Quality Management Three Steps to Continuous Improvement, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts

Torki, N, 1992, Statistical Techniques – Process Improvement: The Link; Imageset; Melbourne

Walsh, P and Hardie, N, 1994, Brainstorming; Cause and Effect Diagrams From Total Quality Management for Small and Expanding Business , University of Sydney

Journals

Benchmarking: An International Journal

Business Process Management Journal

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management

Human Resource Management International Digest

Journal of Organizational Change Management

Journal of Knowledge Management

Journal of Organisational Behaviour

Journal of Applied Behavioural Science

Journal of Management

Learning Organization: An International Journal

The Managing Service Quality

Measuring Business Excellence

National Productivity Review

Performance Measurement & Metrics

Production and Inventory Management

Quality Digest

Quality Management Journal

Quality Science, International Journal of

Strategy and Leadership

The TQM Magazine

Total Quality management

Websites

Business Excellence Australia www.businessexcellenceaustralia.com.au

American Productivity and Quality Centre www.apqc.org

Baldridge National Quality Program www.quality.nist.gov

European Quality Awards www.efqm.org/award.htm

American Society for Quality (ASQ) www.asq.org

ASQ – Six Sigma Certification www.asq.org/cert/types/sixsigma/bok.html

Motorola Six Sigma mu.motorola.com/index.shtml

Systems Thinking Press www.systemsthinkingpress.com

iSixSigma www.isixsigma.com

ASQ Six Sigma Forum www.asq.org/sixsigma