A total quality management methodology for universities

This research document is motivated by the need for a systemic, efficient quality improvement methodology at universities. There exists no methodology designed for a total quality management (TQM) program in a university. The main objective of this study is to develop a TQM Methodology that enables a university to efficiently develop an integral total quality improvement (TQM) Plan. ^ Current research focuses on the need of improving the quality of universities, the study of the perceived best quality universities, and the measurement of the quality of universities through rankings. There is no evidence of research on how to plan for an integral quality improvement initiative for the university as a whole, which is the main contribution of this study. ^ This research is built on various reference TQM models and criteria provided by ISO 9000, Baldrige and Six Sigma; and educational accreditation criteria found in ABET and SACS. The TQM methodology is proposed by following a seven-step metamethodology. The proposed methodology guides the user to develop a TQM plan in five sequential phases: initiation, assessment, analysis, preparation and acceptance. Each phase defines for the user its purpose, key activities, input requirements, controls, deliverables, and tools to use. The application of quality concepts in education and higher education is particular; since there are unique factors in education which ought to be considered. These factors shape the quality dimensions in a university and are the main inputs to the methodology. ^ The proposed TQM Methodology is used to guide the user to collect and transform appropriate inputs to a holistic TQM Plan, ready to be implemented by the university. Different input data will lead to a unique TQM plan for the specific university at the time. It may not necessarily transform the university into a world-class institution, but aims to strive for stakeholder-oriented improvements, leading to a better alignment with its mission and total quality advancement. ^ The proposed TQM methodology is validated in three steps. First, it is verified by going through a test activity as part of the meta-methodology. Secondly, the methodology is applied to a case university to develop a TQM plan. Lastly, the methodology and the TQM plan both are verified by an expert group consisting of TQM specialists and university administrators. The proposed TQM methodology is applicable to any university at all levels of advancement, regardless of changes in its long-term vision and short-term needs. It helps to assure the quality of a TQM plan, while making the process more systemic, efficient, and cost effective. This research establishes a framework with a solid foundation for extending the proposed TQM methodology into other industries. ^

Measuring Hotel Service Quality: Tools for Gaining the Competitive Edge

As the hotel industry grows more competitive, quality guest service becomes an increasingly important part of managers' responsibility measuring the quality of service delivery is facilitated when managers know what types of assessment methods are available to them. The authors present and discuss the following available measurement techniques and describe the situations where they best meet the needs of hotel managers: management observation, employee feedback programs, comment cards, mailed surveys, personal and telephone interviews, focus groups, and mystery shopping.

Dive Tourism: Evaluating Service Quality

Through the application of importance- performance analysis (/PA), the author investigated the conceptualization and measurement of service quality for tour operators in the scuba diving industry Findings from a study of consumer perceptions of service quality as they relate to a dive tour operator in Western Australia revealed the core service quality dimensions hat need to be improved for the operator and demonstrated the values and relative simplicity of the importance-performance analyses for dive tour operators generally

A precise measurement of the two -photon exchange effect

The two-photon exchange phenomenon is believed to be responsible for the discrepancy observed between the ratio of proton electric and magnetic form factors, measured by the Rosenbluth and polarization transfer methods. This disagreement is about a factor of three at Q 2 of 5.6 GeV2. The precise knowledge of the proton form factors is of critical importance in understanding the structure of this nucleon. The theoretical models that estimate the size of the two-photon exchange (TPE) radiative correction are poorly constrained. This factor was found to be directly measurable by taking the ratio of the electron-proton and positron-proton elastic scattering cross sections, as the TPE effect changes sign with respect to the charge of the incident particle. A test run of a modified beamline has been conducted with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. This test run demonstrated the feasibility of producing a mixed electron/positron beam of good quality. Extensive simulations performed prior to the run were used to reduce the background rate that limits the production luminosity. A 3.3 GeV primary electron beam was used that resulted in an average secondary lepton beam of 1 GeV. As a result, the elastic scattering data of both lepton types were obtained at scattering angles up to 40 degrees for Q2 up to 1.5 GeV2. The cross section ratio displayed an &epsis; dependence that was Q2 dependent at smaller Q2 limits. The magnitude of the average ratio as a function of &epsis; was consistent with the previous measurements, and the elastic (Blunden) model to within the experimental uncertainties. Ultimately, higher luminosity is needed to extend the data range to lower &epsis; where the TPE effect is predicted to be largest.

Quality of experience evaluation of voice communication: an affect-based approach

Voice communication systems such as Voice-over IP (VoIP), Public Switched Telephone Networks, and Mobile Telephone Networks, are an integral means of human tele-interaction. These systems pose distinctive challenges due to their unique characteristics such as low volume, burstiness and stringent delay/loss requirements across heterogeneous underlying network technologies. Effective quality evaluation methodologies are important for system development and refinement, particularly by adopting user feedback based measurement. Presently, most of the evaluation models are system-centric (Quality of Service or QoS-based), which questioned us to explore a user-centric (Quality of Experience or QoE-based) approach as a step towards the human-centric paradigm of system design. We research an affect-based QoE evaluation framework which attempts to capture users' perception while they are engaged in voice communication. Our modular approach consists of feature extraction from multiple information sources including various affective cues and different classification procedures such as Support Vector Machines (SVM) and k-Nearest Neighbor (kNN). The experimental study is illustrated in depth with detailed analysis of results. The evidences collected provide the potential feasibility of our approach for QoE evaluation and suggest the consideration of human affective attributes in modeling user experience.