Showing papers on "Quality (business) published in 1975"

Regulating through the Professions: A Perspective on Information Control

Abstract: P ROFESSIONS in the service sector exercise extensive controls over the types of goods and services which can be sold, the individuals and organizations which can sell them, and the type and amount of information publicly disseminated about these services. Professional codes of ethics usually prohibit advertising, limit brand name identification, strongly discourage public evaluation of other professionals' work, and place limitations wherever possible on other public indications of the characteristics, quality, or price of the services provided. Members of the professions sharply distinguish between commercial exchanges and their own professional services in which public trust resides with standards of performance to be determined autonomously by the profession.' In this situation the mechanisms of choice and control are assigned primarily to the profession rather than to the consumer, and in the extreme case the consumer has little or no information concerning the differential characteristics of the individuals supplying the services or the market prices for such services. This assignment of control is defended on the grounds that many individuals cannot cope successfully with a commercial environment, and that severe restraints are necessary on the dissemination of information to prevent unscrupulous suppliers of services from misleading such individuals. The undesirable consequences associated with such "commercial"

Improving quality of winter forage for elk by cattle grazing.

Abstract: Highlight: The Bridge Creek Wildlife Management Area located in northeastern Oregon and owned by the Oregon Wildlife Commission, is a prime winter range for Rocky Mountain elk. On the tlW!mge, about 120 head of elk were counted annually on the area during the winters of 1948 through 1960. When the Wildlife Area Wl7S established in 1961, cattle grazing was excluded. Elk numbers increased to about 320 head, but forage became increasingly rank and of low qUlllity. A resource ma1Ulgement plan Wl7S put into effect in 1964, which involved various range improvements and a cattle-gnzzing system designed to increase forage qlllllity for wintering elk. In 1974, elk count increased to about 1,190. Concurrently during these years, the ecological condition of the range improved noticeably and animal unit months Of cattle grazing were increased by 2.6 times. Success of the project is primarily attributable to improved quality of winter forage. The rati01Ulie used in designing the grazing system to achieve winter-forage quality is explained. Although emphasis is pl4ced on using llvestock grazIng to improve the quality of winter forage for elk, it should be noted that the same technique also produces high-quality autumn and winter forage for caltle.

The “Silent Revolution,” Value Priorities, and the Quality of Life in Britain*

Abstract: Inglehart's “Silent Revolution” thesis is examined critically through an analysis of an experimental British survey of subjective attitudes toward the “quality of life.” Inglehart's techniques were replicated to identify “Acquisitive” and “Post-bourgeois” types. It was found that whilst those holding to “postbourgeois” values possessed the demographic characteristics and the political dispositions predicted by Inglehart's thesis, on other highly relevant measures of values choices the postbourgeois group revealed attitudes similarly or even more “acquisitive” than the “Acquisitives.” Discussion is critical of the Maslovian assumptions of Inglehart's model and proposes instead an interpretation of the postbourgeois phenomenon based upon identity and status discrepancies.

Quality of Life: Concept, Measure and Results

Abstract: QUALITY OF LIFE-QOL-is a new name for an old notion. It is a subjective name for the "well being" of people and the environment in which they live. For any individual, QOL expresses that set of "wants" which after being supplied, when taken together, makes the individual happy or satisfied. However, human wants rarely reach a state of complete satisfaction, except possibly for a very short time: as one want is satisfied, another pops up to take its place. As a result, the concept of quality of life varies not only from person to person, but also from place to place and from time to time. Recognition of these difficulties should not deter our efforts to define and measure the quality of life, and to do so in a manner that has some meaning within the decision-matrix associated with comprehensive planning for national health. This paper is an exploratory effort to develop an analytical framework to guide future empirical work, and to establish a set of quality-of-life indicators. These, in turn, will reflect our national health or social wellbeing, and can be constructed, evaluated, and reviewed over time in such a manner that actions towards the improvement of our future quality of life can be taken in a timely and efficient manner.

The Impact of Supervisory Characteristics on Goal Acceptance

Abstract: The study found that supervisory characteristics affect subordinates' stated acceptance of supervisor-assigned goals, but not the quantity or quality of subordinates' task performance; nor do subor...

Journal Publication Performance during 1970-1974: The Relative Output of Southern Economics Departments

Abstract: There have been a number of papers in the recent literature concerned with the quality of economics journals and the publication performance of economics departments [1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 7; 8]. Quality ratings of the major economics journals have been prepared on the basis of questionnaire surveys [2], institutional affiliation of contributors [4], crossreferences in major journals [1], and citations on reading lists [8]. Publication performance of economics departments has been measured by tabulating the institutional affiliation of contributors to a selected group of economics journals [5; 7] and the Ph.D. source of contributors to the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, and Quarterly Journal of Economics [3]. These recent surveys have been concerned with publication performance of American academic institutions during the decade of the 1960s, and a review of the results shows that southern

Political Scientists' Evaluations of Sixty-three Journals

Abstract: Professional journals are central in our professional lives. They are a primary means of communicating new ideas and research findings to other political scientists, and hence help record, however haltingly, our collective progress in understanding the political world. In a business where one's academic contribution is frequently taken as a tally of publications, the journals also function as an important instrument of professional advancement. Counts of vitae entries, however, seem to be generally weighted by judgements of quality; but the quality assessed quite often appears to be of the journal in which an article appears rather than the quality of the specific article. It is interesting therefore, and perhaps prudent to consider how the community of political scientists evaluate the journals in which we publish. This short note presents some data on this question.

Stage approach for the evaluation and selection of R&D projects

Abstract: Sequentiality in decision making is an inherent characteristic of the R&D process. Conceptual changes are noted during the course of the project which represent a continuous improvement in the quality of the data available during the various project stages. When using single evaluation models, a contradiction is observed in that the same tool is used for varying conditions such as levels of R&D cost, time needed, and degree of risk and uncertainty at a given stage, with the result that the technique does not always fit the need. It is proposed, instead, to use a combination of differentiated models based on a stage approach for project screening, evaluation, and selection. The bases of this approach are: a) identification and utilization of specific attributes characterizing the individual R&D stage. b) selection of differentiated qualitative-quantitative models for evaluation at each stage. The selected models must be commensurate with the quality and quantity of data available at each stage. c) correlation of the magnitude of resources committed and the chance of project success. The proposed methodology is based on the adaptation of available models.

Does Advertising Communicate Product Quality to Consumers? Some Evidence from Consumer Reports

Abstract: This article reports the relationship detected between retail price, product quality (as determined by a major consumer testing agency), and advertising. Retail price was not significantly correlated with product quality for a majority of the products investigated here. However, analysis of a nominally-valued measure of advertising indicates that heavily-advertised products earn an unusually high proportion of top quality ratings. These findings are assessed in light of their consequences for consumer decision-making.

Health-care costs when the population changes

Abstract: Health-care costs when the population changes. This paper uses a theoretical model of the complete economic-demographic system to investigate the impact of population change on the relative burden of health-care costs. The model is used in a number of computer simulation experiments under a variety of as- sumptions about the course of fertility and migration. Our analysis suggests that population changes can be expected to have a sub- stantial impact on the costs of health care in the longer term. However, it seems clear that large cost increases which occur within a decade or so must primarily reflect changes in the quality of services provided. Our analysis suggests also that changes in fertility rates are likely to be of much greater quantitative im- portance than are changes in migration rates.

Some aspects of a theory of advice: The management of an instructional developer-client, evaluator-client, relationship

Abstract: Instructional development and evaluation are essentially concerned with the giving and taking of advice, and, for this reason, a great deal of what is accomplished depends upon the quality of the client-consultant relationship. Creating and nurturing such a relationship, which is essential to effectiveness, demands a special set of skills. Most developers and evaluators have usually developed these as a result of their long experience. Fortunately, these relationship skills can be more quickly acquired, for effectiveness involves learning the competencies that comes from getting the right things done in terms of client-consultant expectations. This paper examines the special nature of the client-instructional developer, client-evaluator, relationship within the broader and more general context of a theory of advice. An analysis is made of the differing sets of assumptions and expectations that may underlie the relationship, for which three common models are recognized. The discussion then continues with a description of seven successive phases through which a relationship can typically pass, a cycle which runs parallel to the cycle of task-oriented activities more usually recognized. Both cycles, relationship-oriented and task-oriented, need to be managed in such a way that the two on-going sets of activity are as compatible as possible. After considering a number of general factors that contribute overall to effective relationships, the paper concludes with the assertion that effectiveness seems to be a product of how the relationship is actually viewed.

Behavior Modification in Quality Control

Abstract: Combined attitude change and operant conditioning procedures to improve operative worker performance were investigated. Results indicate no attitude change, no quality change, quantity improvement,...

Quality Change and Pricing Behaviour in the United Kingdom Car Industry 1956-1968

Abstract: In the past, empirical analysis of pricing behaviour has been mainly concerned with list prices or actual transactions prices. Quality has been considered either as a separate issue like advertising or for some other reason to be exogenous. It is obvious however that optimal quality and optimal prices are far more interdependent than, for example, price and advertising expenditures for many if not most goods. This paper looks at some of the aspects of pricing behaviour in the United Kingdom private motor car assembly industry 1956-1968 where quality and quality change is thought to be particularly important. The first section describes the derivation of quality-adjusted prices for all cars in the sample for each year. This involves some changes on previously employed methods (Griliches, 1961; Cowling and Cubbin, 1972). These modifications allow a more sophisticated functional form to be used and also allow direct comparisons of quality adjusted prices in different years to be made. In Section II we report the estimation of a "profits function" with the aid of a quality index for cars. This function is then employed to derive a price-marginal cost margin (and hence the Lerner index of effective monopoly power) for each year. This shows a remarkable fall after 1960.

Internal medicine and family practice. Controversies, conflict and compromise.

Abstract: Internal medicine and family practice have come into conflict because both specialties consider primary care to be part of their "turf." Moreover, in academic medical centers there is competition for scarce resources, including patients and support for residents. Analysis of the number of physicians in practice as well as in training shows clearly that both internists and family physicians, as well as pediatricians and obstetricians, must participate in rendering primary care if the needs for this type of physician are to be met. Internal medicine also has to achieve a better balance between generalists and subspecialists, and family practice must define its limitations, monitor its rapid growth and assure the quality of its training programs. Most of these problems are internal to each specialty rather than between two specialties, and, where there is conflict, compromise is clearly possible. (N Engl J Med 293:326–332, 1975)

Retrieval of answer-sentences and answer-figures from papers by text searching

Abstract: Retrieval of passages from documents rather than whole documents as units speeds both user access to wanted information and the screening out of false retrievals. Passage retrieval services are already available to many lawyers. Results of an experiment reported here suggest that high quality passage retrieval services for scientists are now feasible. The experimental results are for biomedical retrieval questions, but reasons are given which support generalizing them. Since only titles, abstracts and words from figures (tables graphs, etc.) need be in computer-readable form, the retrieval procedures used are now economically feasible. Several characteristics of the results are especially noteworthy. (1) Search words for input to the computer search were selected by a person with only limited biomedical knowledge, aided primarily by a medical dictionary and medical textbooks (no thesauri or other cross-reference systems were used). (2) Recall averaged 90% and the lowest recall for any question was 75%. (3) The false retrieval rate averaged three falsely retrieved sentences per answer-paper retrieved, though for one question this value rose to 12. (4) Each answer-paper was retrieved by retrieval of a sentence, figure or (occasionally) title which was either in itself an answer-passage or became so when “automatically augmented”. In the latter case the computer annotated the passage with a qualification such as “multiple-case result” on the basis of words in the title or abstract. (5) Search of the words in figures in addition to those in titles and abstracts raised recall from 35% to 80%.