According to W. Edwards Deming, American companies require nothing less than a transformation of management style and of governmental relations with industry. In Out of the Crisis, originally published in 1982, Deming offers a theory of management based on his famous 14 Points for Management. Management's failure to plan for the future, he claims, brings about loss of market, which brings about loss of jobs. Management must be judged not only by the quarterly dividend, but by innovative plans to stay in business, protect investment, ensure future dividends, and provide more jobs through improved product and service. In simple, direct language, he explains the principles of management transformation and how to apply them.

Out of the Crisis

to many, however, it constantly appears as an instructional problem. The final two chapters serve as excellent summary statements. Chapter 13 emphasizes the application of previous text material to the classroom situation. Of great significance is the author's discussion of commonly defined independent, dependent, and moderator variables. The final chapter focuses on evaluation in the overall sense, particularly as it relates to programs of study. The principles of measurement and research design are applied to the evaluation process through several ex-

Educational Research: Competencies for Analysis and Application:

The Social Psychology of Organizations.

How have Japanese companies become world leaders in the automotive and electronics industries, among others? What is the secret of their success? Two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, are the first to tie the success of Japanese companies to their ability to create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. In The Knowledge-Creating Company, Nonaka and Takeuchi provide an inside look at how Japanese companies go about creating this new knowledge organizationally. The authors point out that there are two types of knowledge: explicit knowledge, contained in manuals and procedures, and tacit knowledge, learned only by experience, and communicated only indirectly, through metaphor and analogy. U.S. managers focus on explicit knowledge. The Japanese, on the other hand, focus on tacit knowledge. And this, the authors argue, is the key to their success--the Japanese have learned how to transform tacit into explicit knowledge. To explain how this is done--and illuminate Japanese business practices as they do so--the authors range from Greek philosophy to Zen Buddhism, from classical economists to modern management gurus, illustrating the theory of organizational knowledge creation with case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, Nissan, 3M, GE, and even the U.S. Marines. For instance, using Matsushita's development of the Home Bakery (the world's first fully automated bread-baking machine for home use), they show how tacit knowledge can be converted to explicit knowledge: when the designers couldn't perfect the dough kneading mechanism, a software programmer apprenticed herself withthe master baker at Osaka International Hotel, gained a tacit understanding of kneading, and then conveyed this information to the engineers. In addition, the authors show that, to create knowledge, the best management style is neither top-down nor bottom-up, but rather what they call "middle-up-down," in which the middle managers form a bridge between the ideals of top management and the chaotic realities of the frontline. As we make the turn into the 21st century, a new society is emerging. Peter Drucker calls it the "knowledge society," one that is drastically different from the "industrial society," and one in which acquiring and applying knowledge will become key competitive factors. Nonaka and Takeuchi go a step further, arguing that creating knowledge will become the key to sustaining a competitive advantage in the future. Because the competitive environment and customer preferences changes constantly, knowledge perishes quickly. With The Knowledge-Creating Company, managers have at their fingertips years of insight from Japanese firms that reveal how to create knowledge continuously, and how to exploit it to make successful new products, services, and systems.

The knowledge-creating company

Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling (2nd ed.)

Literature on QWL is limited and several studies commonly correlates with job satisfaction but no study on QWL has associated with career related factors. This empirical study was done to predict QWL in relation to career-related dimensions. The sample consists of 475 managers from the free trade zones in Malaysia for both the multinational corporations (MNCs) and the small-medium industries (SMIs). The result indicates that three exogenous variables are significant: career satisfaction, career achievement and career balance, with 63% of the variance in QWL.

Quality Of Work Life: Implications Of Career Dimensions

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to investigate the influence of soft factors on quality improvement and performance and also to examine the link between quality improvement and organizational performanceDesign/methodology/approach – The paper uses data from perceptions from managers in 255 electrical and electronics (EE customer focus; employee involvement; training and education; and reward and recognition Organizational performance was significantly influenced by the following soft factors: management commitment; customer focus; and employee involvement Finally, this paper empirically shows that firm performance will increase when the organizations implement more quality improvement practicesPractical 

The influence of soft factors on quality improvement and performance: Perceptions from managers

The aim of this study was to determine the level and relationship between qualities of work life (QWL) with career-related variables. The sample consists of 475 executives from the electrical and electronics industry in the free trade zones in Malaysia for both the multinational corporations (MNCs) and the small-medium industries (SMIs). The selection of respondents using stratified random sampling technique involves a complete list of industrial firms registered with Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA). Construct validity and discriminant validity were conducted on the instruments. Three exogenous variables were studied. The result indicates that the three exogenous variables are significant: career satisfaction, career achievement and career balance with 63% of the variance in QWL. The respondents appeared to be satisfied in respect to the level of QWL (49.5%), career achievement (70.3%), career satisfaction (63.8%), but less so for career balance (36.6%). These findings contribute to an understanding of ways by top management in attempts to attain a career fit between the needs of the employees and the needs of the organization. The role QWL plays in organizations is an understudied issue. The present study opens an avenue for more studies in this direction.

An Analysis of Quality of Work Life (QWL) and Career- Related Variables

While much is known generally about predictions of customer‐perceived service quality, their application to health services is rarer. No attempt has been made to examine the impact of social support and patient education on overall service quality perception. Together with six quality dimensions identified from the literature, this study seeks to provide a more holistic comprehension of hospital service quality prediction. Although 79 percent of variation is explained, other than technical quality the impact of the remaining factors on quality perception is far from constant, and socio‐economic variables further complicate unpredictability. Contrary to established beliefs, the cost factor was found to be insignificant. Hence, to manage service quality effectively, the test lies in how well healthcare providers know the customers they serve. It is not only crucial in a globalized environment, where trans‐national patient mobility is increasingly the norm, but also within homogeneous societies that appear to converge culturally.

Hospital service quality: a managerial challenge

This paper investigates the affects of dynamic intercultural competency of cultural intelligence and its dimensions on expatriate job performance. Based on sample of 332 expatriates working in Malaysia, cultural intelligence found to be a vital intercultural competency that facilitates expatriates job performance in international assignments. Specifically, the results of this study reveal that expatriates in Malaysia with greater meta-cognitive and behavioral cultural intelligence fared better in their contextual performance. Greater assignment specific performance related to greater behavioral cultural intelligence. The findings of this study contributes to the body of knowledge in the cross-cultural management field as well as practical implication to expatriating firms especially in the area of selection and hiring of international candidates.

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Jegak Uli

Papers

Quality Of Work Life: Implications Of Career Dimensions

The influence of soft factors on quality improvement and performance: Perceptions from managers

An Analysis of Quality of Work Life (QWL) and Career- Related Variables

Hospital service quality: a managerial challenge

Expatriate Performance in International Assignments: The Role of Cultural Intelligence as Dynamic Intercultural Competency