The strategic process of a cultural change to implement total quality management: a case study

The implementation of a total quality management (TQM) culture, with its implicit orientation towards the customer, is a complex matter and requires a long-term approach. Consequently, the firms that try to change from a bureaucratic culture to one oriented towards quality will have to design an appropriate strategy in order to succeed. This type of modification can only be achieved through an evolutionary process and not a reactionary or a revolutionary one, since we are dealing with individual and collective behaviours that can obtain customer satisfaction through continuous improvement. In this respect, we present the case of a transformation towards a TQM culture in the Division of Alicante (Alicante is a province in the East of Spain) of Telefonica Group (a Spanish telecommunications company which, in 1999, provided jobs for over 100000 people and had profits of more than 1780 million euros). Thus, we are going to study the stages the Division went through in the process and the problems they had to face, finally reflecting the results obtained after implementing a strategy that was formulated to achieve this purpose in the long run

Facilitating public sector organisatonal culture change through the processes of transformational leadership: A study integrating strategic options development and analysis with the cultural values survey

The management of change is increasingly important in the public sector.Legislative change and the demands of society are presenting new challenges to a sector that is, perhaps, noted more for its bureaucracy than its adaptability. The change goes deeper than the normal addition of statutory responsibilities and has a significant impact on the managerial philosophies and organisational cultures. There is a growing requirement for all levels of organisation to think strategically, to lead are well as to manage. If the public sector is to meet these challenges, and to enable service provision in an effective and efficient manner, then it must adapt to meet changes in the environment.Change manifests itself in different ways for particular services. For example, in education, LEAs are experiencing a high degree of turbulence because of a variety of Government initiatives such as ’Opting Out’, Local Management of Schools, and the changing roles of advisors, inspectors, head teachers and governors. Social Services continue to digest the implications of Care in the Community, often together with major reorganisations involving the creation of devolved or area structures. However, despite these differences, thecommon theme is one of ever-increasing change demanding an organisational response that is frequently nothing less than a radical transformation

Introduction to complex cardiovascular physiology

This chapter aims at providing a brief overview of the main aspects in cardiovascular physiology that have encouraged and justified the use of advanced nonlinear signal processing methodologies for the study of the cardiovascular system. This system, in fact, constantly adapts to changes in internal and external conditions to maintain blood pressure homeostasis through complex and dynamic feedback mechanisms that simultaneously affect several processes such as heart rate, cardiac output, blood pressure, respiration, peripheral resistance etc. Therefore, there is a need for nonlinear, non-stationary, and multivariate approaches to assess cardiovascular interactions and their causal structure in health and disease

Cholestérol plasmatique total et HDL dans la population en Suisse; Quelle attitude et quelles normes adopter?

The reports on the effectiveness of blood lipid lowering in the primary prevention of ischaemic heart disease have promoted the development of statements and strategies for decreasing plasma cholesterol levels. As the risk of ischaemic heart disease gradually increases with the serum cholesterol level, a shift of the whole cholesterol distribution curve towards lower cholesterol values not exceeding 5.2 mmol/l is found to be desirable. The population survey conducted in the cantons of Vaud and Fribourg, as part of the MONICA-project, has yielded the data about the distribution of serum total and HDL-cholesterol for a representative sample of the population. 34% of men and 30% of women aged 25 to 74 have a blood cholesterol value exceeding 6.7 mmol/l, the percentage of people with high cholesterol levels increasing with age, especially in women. HDL-cholesterol levels, higher in women than in men, remain fairly constant according to the particular age group concerned. On application of the norms proposed by the US Consensus Conference on blood cholesterol, one finds that 32% of women and 37% of men have to be considered as 'high risk' and 18% of both sexes at 'moderate risk' concerning the development of coronary heart disease. The consequences of the application of such norms in Switzerland, as well as the current cholesterol values of the Swiss population as compared to those obtained earlier on in Switzerland and the USA have to be considered on a large scale in order to draw up a global strategy for health promotion and the prevention of cardiovascular disease