Managing performance in quality management: A two level study of employee-perceptions and workplace-performance

Purpose: This paper addresses potential effects of the control element in Quality Management. First, behavioural theories on how elements of performance management can affect organisational performance are examined. Secondly, theoretical models on how perceptions of work conditions may impact wellbeing and performance are considered. Direct and indirect pathways from performance management to productivity/quality are inferred. Methodology: Matched employee-workplace data from an economy-wide survey in Britain and two-level structural equation models are used to test the hypothesised associations. Findings: The use of practices in workplaces is inconsistent with a unified performance management approach. Distinct outcomes are expected from separate components in performance management and some may be contingent on workplace size. For example, within Quality-planning, strategy dissemination is positively associated with workplace-productivity; targets are negatively associated with perceptions of job demands and positively correlated with job satisfaction, which in turn can increase workplace-productivity. With respect to Information & Analysis: keeping and analysing records, or monitoring employee-performance via appraisals that assess training needs, are positively associated with workplace-productivity and quality. Originality: This paper illustrates how control in Quality Management can be effective. Although the merits of performance management are subject to ongoing debate, arguments in the literature have tended to focus on performance appraisal. Analyses of economy-wide data linking performance management practices, within Quality Management, to employee perceptions of work conditions, wellbeing and aggregate performance are rare

Angular dependence of magnetic properties in Ni nanowire arrays

The angular dependence of the remanence and coercivity of Ni nanowire arrays produced inside the pores of anodic alumina membranes has been studied. By comparing our analytical calculations with our measurements, we conclude that the magnetization reversal in this array is driven by means of the nucleation and propagation of a transverse wall. A simple model based on an adapted Stoner-Wohlfarth model is used to explain the angular dependence of the coercivity

Efficient photovoltaic and electroluminescent perovskite devices

Planar diode structures employing hybrid organic-inorganic methylammonium lead iodide perovskites lead to multifunctional devices exhibiting both a high photovoltaic efficiency and good electroluminescence. The electroluminescence strongly improves at higher current density applied using a pulsed driving method

Preserving Liveness Guarantees from Synchronous Communication to Asynchronous Unstructured Low-Level Languages

In the implementation of abstract synchronous communication in asynchronous unstructured low-level languages, e.g. using shared variables, the preservation of safety and especially liveness properties is a hitherto open problem due to inherently different abstraction levels. Our approach to overcome this problem is threefold: First, we present our notion of handshake refinement with which we formally prove the correctness of the implementation relation of a handshake protocol. Second, we verify the soundness of our handshake refinement, i.e., all safety and liveness properties are preserved to the lower level. Third, we apply our handshake refinement to show the correctness of all implementations that realize the abstract synchronous communication with the handshake protocol. To this end, we employ an exemplary language with asynchronous shared variable communication. Our approach is scalable and closes the verification gap between different abstraction levels of communication

Scaling relations for magnetic nanoparticles

A detailed investigation of the scaling relations recently proposed by [J. d'Albuquerque e Castro, D. Altbir, J. C. Retamal, and P. Vargas, Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 237202 (2002)] to study the magnetic properties of nanoparticles is presented. Analytical expressions for the total energy of three characteristic internal configurations of the particles are obtained, in terms of which the behavior of the magnetic phase diagram for those particles upon scaling of the exchange interaction is discussed. The exponent $\eta$ in scaling relations is shown to be dependent on the geometry of the vortex core, and results for specific cases are presented.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure