ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems: Critical Analysis of Literature Review

Purpose and Methodology/Approach: This paper follows a previous one focused on a bibliographic review of motivations, benefits and difficulties in implementing quality management systems (QMS) based on ISO 9001 standard (Saraiva et al, 2017). Controversial, conflicting and even contradictory, and/or non-consensual findings in same or different countries have suggested other dimensions were lacking. So, a further and critical analysis was deepened in order to identify possible flaws in dimensions of analysis and in methodological issues, which is the scope of this paper. Findings: Many research works were based on perceptions/opinions (eg. motivations, benefits, difficulties) and tangible results were missing, being conclusions built only on qualitative data. Quantitative data were not used to objectivize and validated qualitative findings. Physical or economic indicators rarely were presented. Researchers may not have asked for quantitative data or even ignore these aspects of organizational reality, or the organizations also do not have this type of data. It is hard to corroborate statements (from company’s managers) or findings (from researchers) without other objective evidences (examples are: motivations influence the QMS performance; cost reduction is a benefit; the biggest difficulties in implementation/certification of QMS are the excessive and complex (bureaucratic) documentation, the weak commitment to quality by management and staff, the high cost/scarce resources and the time spent with the additional tasks for the implementation process; organizations operating an ISO 9001 QMS show a better performance). Another matters such as the relative size of the certification phenomenon in each country or region and their economic and social development were generally unknown or were not taken into account. These contextual factors can distort findings. The scientific affiliation of researchers (eg. Industrial engineering, Management, Sociology, Organizational psychology) may also have implications for the research perspective and aspects that are privileged in analysis and conclusions. Research Limitation/implication: Additionally, other methodological issues can also be related to data collection instruments (eg. questionnaires to collect perceptions/opinions) are not the most appropriate for achieving some desired information or data processing does not validate conclusions. Thus, we will take into account in our future research these limitations we have identified in this one and strongly recommend to other researchers our conclusions. Originality/Value of paper:These reflections and findings suggest further and deeper work for research in QMS and other related topics, looking for those dimensions already identified as missing, and/or considering more dimensions, bearing in mind concerns that quality movement is losing popularity, because it does not appear to managers consistently with quantitative data proving contributions of quality to increase productivity and competitiveness. Finally, we raise methodological questions about research on these topics, and other dimensions of analysis are recommended

Minimisation of a one-loop charge breaking effective potential

We compute the field derivatives of a one-loop charge breaking effective potential and analyse their effect in its minimisation. The impact on charge breaking bounds on the MSSM parameters is discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures. One figure added and conclusions made cleare

Infra-red stability of Yukawa and soft-breaking fixed points

We investigate the infra-red stability of the fixed points in the evolution of the Yukawa couplings, $A$-parameters and soft scalar masses in a broad class of supersymmetric theories. We show that the issue of stability is essentially determined in all three cases by the eigenvalues of the same matrix. In a very wide range of physically interesting theories it follows that, in the asymptotically free case, the existence of stable infra-red fixed points for the Yukawa couplings implies stable infra-red fixed points for the $A$-parameters and soft scalar masses.Comment: 12 pages, tex, Uses harvmac (big). Errors corrected in Eqs. (33)-(35), and some references adde

Balanced scorecard as a strategic alignment tool for employees

The thesis in question tries to understand how the use of a strategic management tool, more specifically the Balance Scorecard, allows aligning the company's strategic objectives with the company's employees. Given the importance that the worker has received over the years, it is important to understand how their integration can be essential. It is necessary to understand if there is any type of action on the achievement of stipulated objectives, whether financial or non-financial incentives, on the fulfillment of the same. We chose to adopt a qualitative methodological perspective, using the case study, where, through an interview conducted with a member of the board of directors of Corticeira Amorim and an employee, it was possible to clarify certain aspects on the research question, taking into account as well the sustainability report and the consolidated accounts from the company. During the interview, it was possible to understand how the tool was implemented in the company and in the respective operations in order to understand if there is, at an initial stage, a correct application of the tool; understand how the company managed to form the alignment between the strategic objectives and its employees; and finally, verifying whether all workers are rewarded for meeting established goals. The results indicate that the company is able to effectively carry out its integration of objectives with employees, but the incentives linked to the company's strategic objectives are not connected with all employees. Only managers get a “direct” reward on the objectives set by the Balanced Scorecard tool.A tese em questão tenta entender de que forma é que a utilização de uma ferramenta de gestão estratégica, mais concretamente o Balance Scorecard, permite alinhar os objetivos estratégicos da empresa com os colaboradores da empresa. Dada a importância que o trabalhador tem vindo a receber ao longo dos anos, demonstrando o seu valor, é importante, então perceber de que maneira é que a sua integração possa ser essencial. É preciso entender se existe algum tipo de ação sobre a concretização de objetivos estipulados, sejam eles incentivos, financeiros ou não-financeiras, sobre o cumprimento da mesma. Optou-se por adotar uma perspetiva metodológica qualitativa, recorrendo ao estudo de caso, onde, através de uma entrevista conduzida a um membro do conselho de direção da Corticeira e a um colaborador da empresa foi possível verificar certos aspetos sobre a questão de investigação, no qual também existiu a integração dos relatórios consolidados da empresa, tal como o relatório de sustentabilidade. Durante a entrevista foi possível entender de que forma é que a ferramenta foi implementada na empresa e nas respetivas operações para entender se existe, numa fase inicial, uma aplicação correta da mesma; perceber de que forma é que a empresa conseguiu formar o alinhamento entre os objetivos estratégicos e os seus colaboradores; e por fim verificar se todos os trabalhadores são recompensados face ao cumprimento de objetivos estabelecidos. Os resultados indicam que a empresa consegue efetivamente realizar a sua integração de objetivos com os colaboradores, mas os incentivos ligados aos objetivos estratégicos da empresa não estão conectados com todos os trabalhadores. Apenas as chefias obtêm uma recompensa “direta” sobre os objetivos definidos pela ferramenta do Balanced Scorecard

Time-varying coefficient estimation in SURE models. Application to portfolio management.

This paper provides a detailed analysis of the asymptotic properties of a kernel estimator for a Seemingly Unrelated Regression Equations model with time-varying coefficients (tv-SURE) under very general conditions. Theoretical results together with a simulation study differentiates the cases for which the estimation of a tv-SURE outperforms the estimation of a Single Regression Equations model with time-varying coefficients (tv-SRE). The study shows that Zellner's results cannot be straightforwardly extended to the time-varying case. The tv-SURE is applied to the Fama and French five-factor model using data from four different international markets. Finally, we provide the estimation under cross-restriction and discuss a testing procedure

Motivações, obstáculos e benefícios da qualidade

Com a globalização da economia, a família de normas e diretrizes internacionais de gestão da qualidade ISO 9000 ganhou uma reputação universal. Ao contrário dos padrões de qualidade relativos aos produtos e serviços, as normas ISO 9000 aplicam-se ao sistema de gestão da qualidade (SGQ), para garantir que as entidades que o tenham implementado e certificado o mantêm de acordo com os requisitos exigidos, processo não isento de custos e dificuldades. A esta tendência para a implementação e certificação de sistemas de gestão da qualidade estão subjacentes motivações, obstáculos e benefícios, cuja investigação tem sido largamente feita em todo o mundo, por vezes com resultados conflituantes, justificando-se assim mais investigação nesta área. O presente artigo insere-se num projeto de investigação no âmbito do Mestrado em Gestão da Universidade de Évora, subordinado ao título “A relevância do sistema de gestão da qualidade e o papel da contabilidade nas pequenas e médias empresas portuguesas”, tendo como objectivo conhecer o estado da arte no que respeita às motivações, obstáculos e benefícios da qualidade. A revisão da literatura sugere que tanto os motivos externos como os internos são importantes, uns e outros mais ou menos intensos, dependendo do tipo de organização e do contexto onde atua. As maiores dificuldades na implementação / certificação do SGQ residem na burocracia, no fraco compromisso com a qualidade, no custo e no tempo despendido. Regra geral, os trabalhos de investigação consultados apontam para um melhor desempenho das organizações que dispõem de um SGQ ISO 9000. Todavia, também neste caso os estudos não são consensuais, havendo resultados onde a correlação entre a certificação do SGQ e o desempenho das empresas é apenas marginal ou não existe

A full one-loop charge symmetry breaking effective potential

We calculate the one-loop contributions to the effective potential for the minimal supersymmetric model when scalar fields other than the Higgses have vacuum expectation values. The importance of these contributions for studies of charge and colour breaking bounds is discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure

OS CUSTOS DA QUALIDADE: O CASO DAS EMPRESAS PORTUGUESAS CERTIFICADAS SEGUNDO UM DOS REFERENCIAIS ISO

Para assegurar a qualidade dos produtos e serviços, as empresas implementam sistemas de gestão da qualidade de acordo com as normas da International Organization for Standardization, com vista a obter uma posterior certificação. Todavia, desconhece-se se tais empresas estão igualmente empenhadas na gestão dos custos da qualidade decorrentes das actividades desenvolvidas, quer ao nível das actividades de controlo, quer resultantes de falhas no controlo, bem como se essas organizações verificam (ou não) a recuperação dos investimentos em qualidade. Neste sentido, o presente artigo pretende averiguar quais os procedimentos adoptados por essas empresas na gestão dos custos da qualidade, bem como avaliar em que medida os relatórios de gestão permitem a análise e contribuem para o planeamento e controlo dos custos da qualidade. Os resultados obtidos neste estudo evidenciaram que existe um reduzido assentimento quanto à implementação de sistemas formais de planeamento e controlo dos custos da qualidade e quanto à identificação explícita e isolada dos custos da qualidade nos relatórios de gestão

An optimized predication execution for SIMD extensions

Vector processing is a widely used technique to improve performance and energy efficiency in modern processors. Most of them rely on predication to support divergence control. However, performance and energy consumption in predicated instructions are usually independent on the number of true values in a mask. This means that the efficiency of the system becomes sub-optimal as vector length increases. In this work we propose the Optimized Predication Execution (OPE) technique. OPE delays the execution of sparse masked vector instructions sharing the same PC, extracts their active elements and creates a new dense instruction with a higher mask density. After executing such dense instruction, results are restored to the original sparse instructions. Our approach improves performance by up to 25% and reduces dynamic energy consumption by up to 43% on real applications with predication.This work has been partially supported by the RoMoL ERC Advanced Grant (GA 321253), the European HiPEAC Network of Excellence and the Spanish Government (contract TIN2015-65316-P). A. Barredo has been supported by the Spanish Government under Formación del Personal Investigador fellowship number BES-2017-080635. M. Moretó has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness under Ramon y Cajal fellowship number RYC-2016-21104.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft