Title: The quality journey: historical and workforce perspectives and the assessment of commitment to quality

Authors: James R. Beatty

Addresses: Department of Information and Decision Systems, College of Business Administration, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182-8234, USA

Abstract: This article reviews the international quality movement from historical and workforce perspectives. The impact of the USA, Japan, the European Community, and other regions is discussed, along with the Baldrige National Quality Program, the Deming Prize, ISO, TQM, and other such programmes. Organisational and individual commitment to quality are emphasised, as well as the importance of measuring such commitment to quality and establishing commitment to quality baselines and benchmarks at the early stages of implementing quality programmes. A highly reliable, valid instrument for measuring commitment to quality is then presented and made available to organisations for baseline and comparison purposes.

Keywords: Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award; Baldrige Criteria Questionnaire; BCQ; commitment to quality questionnaire; CQQ; Deming prize; factor analysis; individual commitment to quality; ISO; item analysis; organisational commitment to quality; TQM; quality awards; total quality management; quality history; workforce; quality measurement; benchmarking; quality definition.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2006.008378

International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2006 Vol.1 No.1/2, pp.139 - 167

Published online: 12 Dec 2005 *

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