McLaughlin & Kaluzny's Continuous Quality Improvement in Health Care


Book Description

Through a unique interdisciplinary perspective on quality management in health care, this text covers the subjects of operations management, organizational behavior, and health services research. With a particular focus on Total Quality Management (TQM) and Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), the challenges of implementation and institutionalization are addressed using examples from a variety of health care organizations, including primary care clinics, hospital laboratories, public health departments, and academic health centers. Significantly revised throughout, the Fifth Edition offers a greater focus on application techniques, and features 14 chapters in lieu of the prior edition's 20 chapters, making it an even more effective teaching tool. New chapters have been incorporated on Implementation Science (3), Lean Six Sigma (6), and Classification and the Reduction of Medical Errors (10).




Continuously Improving an Organization's Performance


Book Description

This practical hands-on tool kit for managers demonstrates when, where, and how to implement significant organizational change through teamwork. The use of self-managed, cross-functional, benchmarking, and outside linking teams by high-performance firms is employed in a case study format.




Rethinking Innovation - Driving Dramatic Improvements in Organizational Performance Through Focused Innovation


Book Description

Our Ongoing Search to Understand and Enable the Practice of Innovation to Drive Improved Organizational Performance The Innovation Expedition was launched on April 1, 1991 at the Banff Centre in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The Banff Centre is a world class centre for the arts, leadership, innovation and mathematics. It is also a gathering place for cross boundary imagineers. Since that time, the Expedition (now a private company) has been engaged in a global search for innovative ideas, individuals, organizations, projects and products concerned with nurturing the change leaders required to both build high performing organizations in the new knowledge-




Leadership Explained


Book Description

Unfortunately, leadership does not have a one-size-fits-all definition. We all have our own ideas as to what makes a good leader and the types of challenges that will be faced. The author bridges a gap by presenting how modern leadership happens while simultaneously combining a description of leadership and its practical application in today’s environments. In this book, Nicholas Harkiolakis integrates the various theoretical perspectives into a unified model that can be understood by both the academic and the practitioner (existing and future leaders). This understanding is necessary to effectively treat and apply leadership to the challenging settings of today’s operational environments: virtual, distributed, multicultural and so on. Some of the key topics covered are: leadership through the ages characteristics of leadership modern perspectives an integrated leadership framework the application of leadership the twenty-first-century leadership practices.




The Improvement Guide


Book Description

This new edition of this bestselling guide offers an integrated approach to process improvement that delivers quick and substantial results in quality and productivity in diverse settings. The authors explore their Model for Improvement that worked with international improvement efforts at multinational companies as well as in different industries such as healthcare and public agencies. This edition includes new information that shows how to accelerate improvement by spreading changes across multiple sites. The book presents a practical tool kit of ideas, examples, and applications.




Lean IT


Book Description

Winner of a Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award Information Technology is supposed to enable business performance and innovation, improve service levels, manage change, and maintain quality and stability, all while steadily reducing operating costs. Yet when an enterprise begins a Lean transformation, too often the IT department is either left out or viewed as an obstacle. What is to be done? Winner of a 2011 Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award, this book shares practical tips, examples, and case studies to help you establish a culture of continuous improvement to deliver IT operational excellence and business value to your organization. Praise for: ...will have a permanent place in my bookshelf. —Gene Kim, Chief Technology Officer, Tripwire, Inc. ... provides an unprecedented look at the role that Lean IT will play in making this revolutionary shift and the critical steps for sustained success. —Steve Castellanos, Lean Enterprise Director, Nike, Inc. Twenty years from now the firms which dominate their industries will have fully embraced Lean strategies throughout their IT organizations. —Scott W. Ambler, Chief Methodologist for Agile and Lean, IBM Rational ... a great survival manual for those needing nimble and adaptive systems. —Dr. David Labby, MD, PhD, Medical Director and Director of Clinical Support and Innovation, CareOregon ... makes a major contribution in an often-ignored but much-needed area. —John Bicheno, Program Director MS in Lean Operations, Cardiff University ... a comprehensive view into the world of Lean IT, a must read! —Dave Wilson, Quality Management, Oregon Health & Science University




Understanding and Improving Information Search


Book Description

This edited book adopts a cognitive perspective to provide breadth and depth to state-of-the-art research related to understanding, analyzing, predicting and improving one of the most prominent and important classes of behavior of modern humans, information search. It is timely as the broader research area of cognitive computing and cognitive technology have recently attracted much attention, and there has been a surge in interest to develop systems and technology that are more compatible with human cognitive abilities. Divided into three interlocking sections, the first introduces the foundational concepts of information search from a cognitive computing perspective to highlight the research questions and approaches that are shared among the contributing authors. Relevant concepts from psychology, information and computing sciences are addressed. The second section discusses methods and tools that are used to understand and predict information search behavior and how the cognitive perspective can provide unique insights into the complexities of the behavior in various contexts. The final part highlights a number of areas of applications of which education and training, collaboration and conversational search interfaces are important ones. Understanding and Improving Information Search - A Cognitive Approach includes contributions from cognitive psychologists, information and computing scientists around the globe, including researchers from Europe (France, Netherlands, Germany), the US, and Asia (India, Japan), providing their unique but coherent perspectives to the core issues and questions most relevant to our current understanding of information search behavior and improving information search.




Advanced R


Book Description

An Essential Reference for Intermediate and Advanced R Programmers Advanced R presents useful tools and techniques for attacking many types of R programming problems, helping you avoid mistakes and dead ends. With more than ten years of experience programming in R, the author illustrates the elegance, beauty, and flexibility at the heart of R. The book develops the necessary skills to produce quality code that can be used in a variety of circumstances. You will learn: The fundamentals of R, including standard data types and functions Functional programming as a useful framework for solving wide classes of problems The positives and negatives of metaprogramming How to write fast, memory-efficient code This book not only helps current R users become R programmers but also shows existing programmers what’s special about R. Intermediate R programmers can dive deeper into R and learn new strategies for solving diverse problems while programmers from other languages can learn the details of R and understand why R works the way it does.




The High Performance Enterprise


Book Description

This book presents, as a how-to guide, a compelling methodology for improving the operational and financial performance of a firm. The book focuses on the optimum utilization of capital assets and human resources to support the firm's business strategy and, therefore, gain a competitive advantage. It complements publications on the Balanced Scorecard by providing rather detailed sets of performance metrics applicable to Supply Chain, Customer Relationship Management, and Intellectual Capital improvement efforts. Managers involved in business improvement programs will benefit from the development of performance metrics for intellectual capital. MBA students will find especially useful the concise description of the best practices and issues affecting enterprise performance today. Reviews Finally, consideration for non-financial assets handled in a non-financial manner. A coming together of several current management concepts, along with a way to measure and evaluate their value to the company. A useful reference for building, implementing and evaluating a plan of improved efficiency. L. Sehr RA/AVP, Bank of America, San Jose, California This book provides a good overview of important financial and process redesign concepts that can influence business performance. This resource covers a broad range of ideas from continuous improvement, business strategies, balanced scorecards and value measurement tools. Non-financial persons will find this especially helpful, as information is presented in a non-technical manner, a quick read and intuitively links each idea or concept. David Bell Senior Manager, Guidant, Inc., Santa Clara, California The High Performance Enterprise is written in a very readable and concise language. The authors manage to explain in a very direct way the relationship between enterprise high performance and each of the four steps to achieving it; all this, without getting bogged down with the details on specific techniques and practices that are generally known in the industry. The discussion stays focused on the importance of metrics and simulation and their link to overall financial/accounting concepts that gauge the value of the enterprise and its performance. Because the book touches on, and gives examples of, all major functional aspects of an enterprise, I would recommend it for use in an undergraduate strategic management or capstone course in business administration program. The book would be particularly useful in an MBA course. George Guim Ed.D. Head of Business Administration Department The National Hispanic University, San Jose, California




Fundamentals of Quality Control and Improvement


Book Description

A statistical approach to the principles of quality control and management Incorporating modern ideas, methods, and philosophies of quality management, Fundamentals of Quality Control and Improvement, Fourth Edition presents a quantitative approach to management-oriented techniques and enforces the integration of statistical concepts into quality assurance methods. Utilizing a sound theoretical foundation and illustrating procedural techniques through real-world examples, the timely new edition bridges the gap between statistical quality control and quality management. Promoting a unique approach, the book focuses on the use of experimental design concepts as well as the Taguchi method for creating product/process designs that successfully incorporate customer needs, improve lead time, and reduce costs. The Fourth Edition of Fundamentals of Quality Control and Improvement also includes: New topical coverage on risk-adjustment, capability indices, model building using regression, and survival analysis Updated examples and exercises that enhance the readers’ understanding of the concepts Discussions on the integration of statistical concepts to decision making in the realm of quality assurance Additional concepts, tools, techniques, and issues in the field of health care and health care quality A unique display and analysis of customer satisfaction data through surveys with strategic implications on decision making, based on the degree of satisfaction and the degree of importance of survey items Fundamentals of Quality Control and Improvement, Fourth Edition is an ideal book for undergraduate and graduate-level courses in management, technology, and engineering. The book also serves as a valuable reference for practitioners and professionals interested in expanding their knowledge of statistical quality control, quality assurance, product/process design, total quality management, and/or Six Sigma training in quality improvement.