Re-balancing the excellence frameworks with individualistic logic

The analysis and assessment of business excellence are often associated with the discussion on the design and justification of the excellence measures and their dimensions. This paper re-visits the critical issues in assessing business excellence, and aims to explore the conceptual development on re-balancing the performance dimensions in view of a framework. Based on the synthesising of published literatures and case studies it reveals that all the published excellence frameworks are based on the commonality logic ; and it suggests re-balancing them with the individualistic logic . This concept has then been operationalised by constructing a new excellence framework named world-class diamond model. Based on the surveyed data and by using structural equation modelling the re-balanced diamond model is tested and analysed in order to secure its theoretical validity. With the re-balanced framework, it stresses the critical importance of the individualistic logic in achieving business excellence. It also argues that the managerial implication of the individualistic logic lies in the firm-specific and situation-sensitive practices of business excellence. The original contribution of the research is a conceptually re-balanced perspective of business excellence, suggesting a shift from commonality logic towards individualistic logic

Time for action! ICT integration in formal education : key findings from a region-wide follow-up monitor

This paper is a report on the key findings of a region-wide monitoring study conducted in Dutch-speaking schools in Belgium. First, we elaborate on the building blocks of the instrument, which has been updated and improved since its first deployment in 2007. In particular we focus on the core indicators, along with the multi-actor approach, the sample design and the ways in which new phenomena such as media literacy and gaming have been operationalized. Secondly, we highlight the main trends and patterns within pre-school, primary and secondary education. The first descriptive analyses show quite disappointing results with regard to ICT use at the micro level and the available infrastructure, while headmasters, teachers and pupils reported positive perceptions of different aspects of ICT integration. These results indicate an urgent need to take appropriate action. Therefore, the final part of the paper examines how ICT integration could be improved via structural changes and appropriate policymaking with regard to budgeting, teacher training and the particular role of ICT coordinators in schools

Benchmarking of project planning and success in selected industries

Purpose - To identify the industry in which projects are best planned and executed and use it as a benchmark for improving project planning in other industries. Design/methodology/approach - Based on data collected from 280 project managers, project success and quality of project planning were evaluated and analyzed for four industries - construction and engineering, software and communications, services, and production and maintenance. Findings - Quality of project planning was found to be the highest in construction and engineering organizations and the lowest in manufacturing organizations. This is a result of a few factors, among them the intensive organizational support which is offered to project managers working in construction and engineering organizations. The other three industries limit their support mostly to tactical aspects, such as the purchasing of project management software. The high quality of project planning in the construction and engineering organizations resulted in their ability to complete projects by almost half the cost and schedule overruns, as compared to organizations belonging to the other industries. Finally, results of the industries in Israel and Japan are compared and analyzed. Research limitations/implications - Findings are limited to the four industries included in the study. Practical implications - If organizations, not belonging to the construction industry, wish to improve the probability of success in project planning and execution, they should follow methodologies commonly used in the construction industry. Originality/value - This paper introduces a valid field study, exploring project management practices in four industries and identifies the one which may be used as a benchmark for the others. It also identifies specific strengths and weaknesses in project management within the explored industries

Assessing the Efficiency of Mass Transit Systems in the United States

Frustrated with increased parking problems, unstable gasoline prices, and stifling traffic congestion, a growing number of metropolitan city dwellers consider utilizing the mass transit system. Reflecting this sentiment, a ridership of the mass transit system across the United States has been on the rise for the past several years. A growing demand for the mass transit system, however, necessitates the expansion of service offerings, the improvement of basic infrastructure/routes, and the additional employment of mass transit workers, including drivers and maintenance crews. Such a need requires the optimal allocation of financial and human resources to the mass transit system in times of shrinking budgets and government downsizing. Thus, the public transit authority is faced with the dilemma of “doing more with less.” That is to say, the public transit authority needs to develop a “lean” strategy which can maximize transit services with the minimum expenses. To help the public transit authority develop such a lean strategy, this report identifies the best-in-class practices in the U.S. transit service sector and proposes transit policy guidelines that can best exploit lean principles built upon best-in-class practices

BENCHMARKING - A VALID STRATEGY FOR THE LONG TERM?

The present paper work deals with a popular method for developingrequirements and setting goals ââ¬â benchmarking. It contains general aspects about thispowerful performance improvement tool, including types of benchmarking, steps tofollow in Benchmarking analysis, its goals, the benefits in using it and some dangerscaused by using it, also; the whole paperwork can be considered as being a plea forcontinuous, ongoing, unending improvement in management context and sustains theidea that benchmarking enables decision-makers to understand exactly how muchimprovement they will need to accomplish in order to achieve superior performance. Wedecided to broach this issue because even if it is an actual one, none of the existingarticles did not attempt to answer whether or not benchmarking is a valid long-termstrategy that should be implemented by nowaday’s companies. The case study examinesthe benchmarking initiatives taken by Xerox, one of the world's leading copiercompanies, as a part of its 'Leadership through Quality' program; the case discusses thebenchmarking concept and its implementation in various processes at Xerox and it alsoexplores the positive impact of benchmarking practices on this company.benchmarking, management, strategy;

Outsourcing: guidelines for a structured approach

Outsourcing is a management approach by which an organization delegates some noncore functions to specialized and ef®cient service providers. In the era of ªglobal marketº and ªe-economyº, outsourcing is one of the main pillars of the new way to conceive the relationships among companies. Despite outsourcing large diffusion, huge business cases and big deals of documentation available on network or press, there is no structured procedure able to support the govern of the evolution of a generic outsourcing process. In accordance with the principles of total quality management, this paper describes a proposal of a new approach for managing outsourcing processes. The model, which can be easily adapted to different application ®elds, has been conceived with the main aim of managing strategic decisions, economic factors and human resources. The approach is supported by different decision and analysis tools, such as benchmarking techniques, multiple criteria decision aiding (MCDA) methods, cost analysis, and other process-planning methodologies. An application of the method to a real case is also provide

Recognizing Best Practice in Portuguese Higher Education Libraries

The purpose of this paper is to identify best practices in order to improve the quality of services in Portuguese academic libraries. This article describes an ongoing project to assess the performance of library services, resulting from a partnership of six Portuguese higher education libraries. The study has three main steps: (1) selection of criteria to be evaluated and selection of their corresponding performance indicators; (2) data collection and analysis; (3) identification of best practices. The selection of the criteria to be evaluated is based on a mixed model combining the Common Assessment Framework and the Balanced Scorecard. The associated performance indicators are in accordance with International Standards ISO 11620:1998 and ISO 2789:2006