Teaching How to Monitor for Quality Monitoring is not a word always embraced in the quality field. To some, it evokes images of Big Brother in the workplace. To others, the word feels paternalistic. Dad is keeping a watchful eye … Continue reading
John Priebe, who blogs on the quality profession, argues this week that it is up to the quality professional to take charge of his or her own training. This resonates strongly in the social services. In only rare exceptions does the … Continue reading
If we are going to move the practice of quality monitoring and improvement into social service agencies, then schools of social work will need to get in the game of educating their students about quality tools, concepts and management. As … Continue reading
So I went out of the country and avoided the news media and the New York Times sports a piece on quality improvement in the social services, about how the Toyota corporation ran improvement events (Kaizen events) for the New … Continue reading
The graphic to the right shows the most common metrics used in quality work in manufacturing and service industries across the globe, according to the Global Quality Survey administered by the American Society for Quality. (The full report is available … Continue reading
Tim Wood, a middle aged civil servant sits at a metal 1963 vintage Steelcase desk. A pile of forms stuff an inbox in the upper left portion of his desk. There is not a computer in sight. In a … Continue reading
I think ASQ is awesome. I think it is amazing that there is an organization that wants to spread the word about quality. I am a member. I liked them on Facebook. I have bought about $500 worth of quality … Continue reading
Courses on quality improvement are all over schools of nursing and medicine, but not my field, social work. Social work has continued to teach Program Evaluation to our masters students, even when so few of our graduates engage themselves in … Continue reading
Is there is any thing implementation scientists like more than a fancy figure? I think not. All the most highly cited articles seem to have one. This spring’s entrance into the pageant is the Behavior Change Ball, shown here in … Continue reading
Last year, the ASQ journal Quality Progress published an article on the 7 new quality tools, meant as an update to the 7 classic quality tools known to many quality professionals (affinity diagrams, tree diagrams, interrelationship digraphs, process decision program … Continue reading