We begin with “A Year in the Life of a Consumer Product: As Heard in Cyberspace.” This article by Byron Finch of Miami University, deals with the use of monitored chat room conversations for determining customer satisfaction with the quality of products and services. His innovative approach provides a model for the structured analysis of chat room comments, leading to analysis based on nonsolicited feedback from customers. It is interesting to speculate about the research potential of the Internet, and this paper provides an example of a new, Net-based methodology.
The question of who is the customer of education has long been a topic of debate among students and educators alike. Richard Biehl of Walden University attacks this question in “Customer-Supplier Analysis in Educational Change.” Using a Delphi analysis of both education and business professionals, he found that business professionals followed a systems model, where stakeholders served in either customer or supplier roles. In contrast, education professionals viewed all stakeholders as both customer and supplier. This interesting finding is translated into a systems model for analyzing educational stakeholders, useful in identifying expected relationships for a particular educational change initiative.
What makes quality managers successful? Although much research has been directed toward the importance of the quality manager in an organization, little research has focused directly on the critical success factors for quality managers. Injazz Chen, Ronald Coccari, Antony Paulraj, all of Cleveland State University, and Ken Paetsch of the Department of Defense used data from 193 firms to isolate the most important determinants of quality manager success, in “Quality Managers and the Successful Management of Quality: An Insight.” They identify and discuss seven factors that provide insight into paths to success for quality managers.
In Focus on the Classroom, Joseph Van Matre and Donna Slovensky, both of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, provide a new classroom game for demonstrating the value of team decision making. Following a model similar to the “Lost at Sea” type games, the authors ask students to identify taped excerpts of musical selection, both as individuals and as groups. Van Matre and Slovensky find this approach to be fun and enlightening for students, as well as providing cleaner scoring and easier adaptation to different audiences than “Lost at Sea.”
Many have asked whether quality management is simply a fad or whether it is an enduring paradigm. In “Total Quality Management: Is it a Fad, Fashion, or Fit?” this question is further probed by Ton Van der Wiele and Roger Williams of Erasmus University and B. G. Dale of the Manchester School of Management. They trace the evolution of quality management from fad, when it was clearly defined and measurable; to fashion, when there were widespread pressures for adoption of quality management principles; to fit with normal management practice. In the fit stage, the original fad has affected the normal way of working of the entire organization. In addition to identifying the stages, this research highlights the factors contributing to movement between the stages.
Barbara B. Flynn
Editor
Quality Management Journal
EDITORIAL
EDITOR
Barbara B. Flynn
Wake Forest University
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George S. Easton
Emory UniversityFOUNDING EDITOR
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Lawrence Technological UniversityADMINISTRATION/PRODUCTION
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University of MinnesotaSelwyn Becker
University of ChicagoRobert E. Cole
University of CaliforniaJames W. Dean, Jr.
University of North CarolinaJames R. Evans
University of CincinnatiJohn P. Evans
University of North CarolinaFrank M. Gryna
University of TampaJohn Hamburg
APEX, Inc.David Luther
Luther Quality AssociatesRam Narasimhan
Michigan State UniversityRoger G. Schroeder
University of MinnesotaKalyan Singhal
University of BaltimoreMichael J. Stahl
University of TennesseeEDITORIAL REVIEW BOARD
Sanjay Ahire
Indiana University South BendSusan D. Amundson
Arizona State UniversityRon Anjard
Anjard International ConsultantsAsbjorn Aune*
Norwegian University of Science and TechnologyKimberly A. Bates*
University of TorontoMarcos E. J. Bertin*
Gaspar CamposMichael Beyerlein
University of North TexasPaul M. Bobrowski
Syracuse UniversityKenneth Boyer
DePaul UniversityKenneth E. Case
Oklahoma State UniversityInjazz Chen
Cleveland State UniversityThomas Choi
Arizona State UniversityBarrie Dale*
University of ManchesterRichard Deane
Georgia State UniversityJohn Delery
University of ArkansasLinda Doherty
Department of the NavyKevin Dooley
Arizona State UniversityEdward Duplaga
Bowling Green State UniversityMaling Ebrahimpour
University of Rhode IslandSusan West Engelkemeyer
Babson CollegeMichael Faigen
Dispensing Technologies International Corp.Byron Finch
Miami UniversityMark D. Finster
University of WisconsinLaura Forker
Boston UniversityMiflora Minoza Gatchalian*
Quality Consultants International Inc.Soumen Ghosh
Georgia Institute of TechnologyGlenn H. Gilbreath
Virginia Commonwealth UniversityJohn M. Groocock*
TRW (Retired)Robert Handfield
Michigan State UniversityH. James Harrington
Ernst and YoungSandra J. Hartman
University of New OrleansMarilyn Helms
University of TennesseeMary Collins Holcomb
University of TennesseeAnn Jordan
University of North TexasDeborah Kellogg
University of ColoradoGary Kern
Indiana UniversityJill Phelps Kern
Digital SemiconductorDavid Kerridge*
Aberdeen UniversityHarvey Klein
Global Strategies Group L.C.Ray A. Klotz
Qualcomm Inc.Franklin Knight
DeVilbiss CompanyPeter Kolesar
Columbia UniversityThomas M. Kubiak
Honeywell, Inc.Ronald D. Kurtzmann
Brewer and AssociatesKeong Leong
Ohio State UniversityA. Magid Mazen
Suffolk UniversitySatish Mehra
University of MemphisKim I. Melton
North Georgia College and State UniversityHenry R. Neave*
British Deming AssociationYoram Neumann
California State UniversityWilliam Newman
Miami UniversityGeoffrey O. Okogbaa
University of South FloridaThomas Pyzdek
Quality Publishing Inc.Gary Ragatz
Michigan State UniversityJohn Ramberg
University of ArizonaGipsie B. Ranney
Belmont UniversityJames J. Rooney
JBF Associates Inc.Richard N. Rosett
Rochester Institute of TechnologyManus Rungtusanatham
Arizona State UniversityBrooke Saladin
Wake Forest UniversityMark V. Schimelonis
Xerox Business ServicesHelmut Schneider
Louisiana State UniversityNirmal Sethia
California State Polytechnic UniversityChristine Shea
University of New HampshireSue Siferd
Arizona State UniversityVinod Singhal
Georgia Institute of TechnologyMadhav N. Sinha*
Government of ManitobaJohn G. Surak
Clemson UniversityWilliam Tallon
Northern Illinois UniversityMichael D. Tveite
The Tetrad GroupF. Leroy Walser
University of OklahomaPeter Ward
Ohio State UniversityL. David Weller
University of GeorgiaTed Weston
Colorado State UniversityCarolyn Woo
Notre Dame University*International reviewer
