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Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Integrating Six Sigma Concepts in an MBA Quality
Management Class
Larry B. Weinstein , Joseph Petrick , Joseph Castellano & Robert J. Vokurka
To cite this article: Larry B. Weinstein , Joseph Petrick , Joseph Castellano & Robert J. Vokurka (2008) Integrating Six Sigma Concepts in an MBA Quality Management Class, Journal of Education for Business, 83:4, 233-238, DOI: 10.3200/JOEB.83.4.233-238
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.83.4.233-238
Published online: 07 Aug 2010.
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n 1991, inAn Open Letter:TQM on Campus, six senior executives from AmericanExpress,Ford,IBM,Motorola, Proctor&Gamble,andXeroxexpressed a concern of the business community for universities to integrate total quality management(TQM)intotheircurricula. Theywrotethefollowing:
IftheUnitedStatesexpectstoimproveits globalcompetitiveperformance,business and academic leaders must close ranks behindanagendathatstressestheimpor-tance and value of TQM. . . .Academ-ic institutions that are slow to embrace TQM, at best, miss the opportunity to lead change and, at worst, run the risk ofbecominglessrelevanttothebusiness world.(Robinsonetal.,1991,pp.94–95) Evans(1996)describedtheresponses of employees of companies that had won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award to a request to list the 10 most important quality-related con-cepts or skills that any entry-level col-legegraduateshouldpossess.However, amongtherespondents,therewaslittle emphasis on specific quality tools and techniques.Rather,theresponsescorre-spondedcloselytoacceptedcorevalues of TQM: customer focus, continuous process improvement, teamwork, and participation.
Respondents generally agreed that collegegraduatesshouldhaveanunder- standingofcustomer–supplierrelation-ships,knowtheimportanceofviewing
workasaprocessandseekingimprove-ments, and be able to work indepen-dently and in teams.The survey asked respondents to rate how important it wasforentry-levelcollegegraduatesto know specific quality-related concepts and skills. Evans (1996) adopted these from a list of 60 items identified in a 1994 Association to Advance Colle-giateSchoolsofBusinessInternational study (Gitlow, Einspruch, Laredo, & Percival,1994).Thetop23rankedfac-tors involved teamwork, communica-tion, customer focus, and continuous process-improvementissues(Evans).
How well have quality educators addressed the need to cover these top-ics?Inasurveysentto104schoolswith undergraduate and graduate programs that had indicated in Quality Progress’ SixthAnnualQualityinEducationList-ingthattheiracademicprogramsoffered acourseinqualitycontrol,thecorrela-tionbetweenwhatBaldrigeexpertssaid shouldbecoveredattheundergraduate level and what faculty members teach- ingclassesinqualitymanagementactu-ally emphasized in their undergraduate programswasonly.06(Weinstein,Pet-rick,&Saunders,1998).
Weinstein et al. (1998) argued that educators should improve their skills in quality curriculum development by increasingtheirunderstandingofindus-try’s requirements for knowledge of specific quality topics. Educators have the responsibility to ensure that future
IntegratingSixSigmaConcepts
inanMBAQualityManagementClass
LARRYB.WEINSTEIN JOSEPHPETRICK
WRIGHTSTATEUNIVERSITY WRIGHTSTATEUNIVERSITY DAYTON,OHIO DAYTON,OHIO
JOSEPHCASTELLANO ROBERTJ.VOKURKA UNIVERSITYOFDAYTON TEXASA&MUNIVERSITY DAYTON,OHIO CORPUSCHRISTI,TEXAS
I
ABSTRACT.Instructorsfaceenormous challengesinpresentingeffectiveinstruc-tiononconceptsandtoolsofquality management.Mosttextbooksfocuson presentingindividualconceptsortoolsand failtoaddresscomplexissuesconfronted inreal-worldproblem-solvingsituations. Thesupplementaryuseofcasesdoesnot helpstudentstounderstandthedynamic challengesthatprofessionalsencounter inorganizationalsettings.Inthisarticle, theauthorsdescribeanapproachusedto directstudentsthroughSixSigmaprocess improvementprojectsatlocalcompanies toreinforcethestudents’classroomexperi-ence.Theseprojectsprovideexcellenttools forenhancinglearningandstrengthening thebondsbetweenuniversitiesandbusiness communities.
Keywords:highereducation,masterof businessadministration,quality,SixSigma, totalqualitymanagement,totalquality management
Copyright©2008HeldrefPublications
managersunderstandtheimportanceof qualitytoolsandconceptsandhowthey canbeusedtoimproveorganizations.In light of the apparent success of corpo-ratetrainingprograms,thereshouldbe a heightened urgency for educators to offerprogramsthatmorecloselymatch industry needs. Relegating these skills tosuchcorporateprogramsrelinquishes setting face enormous challenges in presenting effective instruction in the concepts and tools of quality manage- ment.Mosttextbooksfocusonpresent-ing individual concepts or tools (e.g., understandingvariationbyusingcontrol charts)andfailtoaddressmorecomplex issues that graduates confront in real-world problem-solving situations. The supplementary use of cases, although animprovementoverusingqualitytools alone,doesnothelpstudentstounder-stand the dynamic challenges quality professionalsencounterinorganization-alsettings.Educatorsshouldrecognize that quality is not just a collection of facts,theories,andtools.Itisanorien-tation,awayofthinking,andaculture of beliefs, values, and behaviors.They mustteachqualityconceptsandtoolsas partofacultureofqualitythatsupports continuousimprovement.Withoutsuch aculture,effortstoimprovequalitymay not succeed. As more organizations introduceanorganizationalculturethat emphasizesTQM,theneedtodissemi-nate quality knowledge throughout the managerialstructureincreases(Disney, Crabtree,&Harrison,2000).
Mitra (2004) argued that the role of academiaistodesignacurriculumthat exposes students to the essential con-cepts and methodologies of Six Sigma. Inthepresentarticle,ourpurposewasto describeamodelthatincorporatesthese Six Sigma concepts and methodologies in a master of business administration (MBA)qualitymanagementcourse.This model challenges students to identify and solve real-world quality problems by using the Six Sigma method. It also incorporates those elements that Evans
(1996) identified in his study as being the most important to employers. Our purposeistoillustrateanapproachthat othereducatorscanusetoenhancetheir students’educationalexperience.
SixSigma
Six Sigma is a process-focused, sta-tistically based approach to business improvement that numerous organiza-tionshaveimplementedsuccessfully.It includes the use of statistical process- controlconceptsdatingbacktothe1920s withtheworkofWalterShewhart(1931) attheWesternElectricHawthorneplant. Six Sigma is a business improvement strategyusedtoimprovebusinessprof-itability,driveoutwaste,reducecostsof poorquality,andimprovetheeffective-nessandefficiencyofalloperationsso as to meet or even exceed customers’ needs and expectations (Bañuelas & Antony,2001).Companieshaveshown thattheycanattaindramaticresultsby applyingSixSigmamethodstowardthe improvementofprocessquality.Thisis becausetheSixSigmamethodrequires that practitioners measure and analyze theirprocesses.SixSigmaalsorequires that companies build their business so thatitiscenteredontherequirementsof theircustomers,withasmuchdiscipline and focus on this external activity as theyapplytointernalprocessimprove-mentefforts(Blakeslee,1999).
Firms such as Motorola, General Electric, Allied-Signal (Honeywell), Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), Lock-heed Martin, Polaroid, Sony, Honda, AmericanExpress,Ford,LearCorpora-tion, Solectron, and many others have successfully implemented Six Sigma. Motorola saved $15 billion in an 11-yearperiod(McClusky,2000).General Electricsaved$2billionin1999alone (Sandholm & Sorqvist, 2002). Raythe-onrealizedacumulativegrossfinancial benefitof$1.8billion(Tatham&Mack-ertich,2003),andRaytheonSixSigma projects have generated more than $1billionincumulativesavings(Barth, 2005). Although Six Sigma initiatives have focused primarily on improving theperformanceofmanufacturingpro-cesses,theconceptsarewidelyapplied to nonmanufacturing, administrative, andservicefunctions.
Organizations that have successfully implemented Six Sigma have typical-ly reported that this approach enabled themtoreducecostsandimprovepro-ductivity in their processes, eliminate errors and improve customer satisfac-tion in processes, and develop nearly defect-free new products that delight customers (Mutize, 2003).Among rea-sons given for Six Sigma’s success have been that it achieved bottom-line results, used a disciplined approach (i.e.,DMAIC:define,measure,analyze, improve, and control), required short project completion times (3–6 months per project), required clearly defined measures of success, focused on cus-tomersandprocesses,andusedasound statisticalapproach(Mutize).
Althoughthebodyofknowledgefor the Six Sigma black belt (expert) is similar to that of the certified quality engineer (Munro, 2000), Hoerl (2001) emphasizedthatinmostcasestherole oftheSixSigmablackbeltisthatofa leaderofateamworkingonaproblem. Although the black belt needs statisti-cal tools to perform his or her role, the black belt needs other vital skills as well. These include organizational effectiveness skills, such as team and project leadership and management skills. Other soft skills required to be effective include the ability to clearly present the project results, both orally and in writing, and the ability to train team members (Hoerl). Therefore, we address not only the technical aspects of Six Sigma but also the managerial issues that any team leader should be abletoaddress.
Six Sigma encompasses the method ofproblemsolvingandfocusesonopti-mization and cultural change. It uses a well-defined method and an exten-sive set of quality and statistical tools (Raisinghani, Ette, Pierce, Cannon, & Daripaly, 2005). Six Sigma bases its processesonadefinedfive-stepmethod calledDMAIC(Mutize,2003):
Define:Selectanappropriatecustomer-focuseddefectorproblem,document business impact and project deliver-ablesintheprojectcharter,andform amultidisciplinaryteam.
Measure:Developafactualunderstand-ing of current process and locate
sources of problems, establish an as-is process map, measure process capability,andcollectdatatoserveas abaselineofthecurrentprocess. Analyze: Identify potential root causes
of defects or sources of variation, investigate the causes of defects by using experiments and statistical analysis, and verify the root causes ofproblems.
Improve: Eliminate the verified root causesorreducesourcesofvariation and demonstrate with data that you havesolvedtheproblemorthatthere hasbeenameasurableimprovement. Control: Implement methods such as
standard operating procedures and statisticalprocesscontroltoholdthe gains.
Common tools used in Six Sigma includedescriptivestatistics,runchart, control chart, probability plot, check sheets,paretochart,brainstorming,nom-inal group technique, forcefield analy-sis, cause-and-effect diagram, affinity diagram, interrelationship digraph, and scatterdiagram.
Descriptivestatistics isatabularout-put that summarizes information about a data set.Run chart is a time series plotthatpermitsthestudyofobserved data for trends or patterns over time. Control chart is a study of variation at its source-process monitoring and controlandseparationofspecialcause variationfromcommoncausevariation. Probabilityplotassessesthevalidityof normalityassumptions.Checksheetisa systematicdatarecordingandcompila-tionfromhistoricalobservations.Pareto chartseparateschronicproblems(vital few from trivial many).Brainstorming generates new ideas and obtains group involvement.Nominal group technique expeditesteamconsensusontherelative importanceofproblems,issues,orsolu-tions.Forcefieldanalysisanalyzeswhat organizationalforcesaresupportingand drivingtowardasolutionandwhichare restraining progress.Cause-and-effect diagram triggers ideas and promotes a balanced approach in group brain-stormingsessions.Affinitydiagramisa methodtoorganizeandsummarizethe naturalgroupingsfromalargenumber of ideas and issues.Interrelationship digraph
(ID)permitssystematicidenti-ficationandanalysisofcause-and-effect relationships.Scatterdiagramisaplot to assess the relationship between two variables(Breyfogle,1999).
Thecurriculumcoversthesetopicsin thegeneralorderinwhichpractitioners wouldusethesetoolsinaproject.Inthis way, students learn the tools and then, withinashortperiodoftime,havethe opportunitytousetheminareal-world situation.Thisapproachreinforces,ina practical situation, the students’ under-standingoftheroleofeachtool.
PrerequisitesforImplementing SixSigmaProjects
Mitra (2004) proposed that business and engineering students should have at least one semester-level course in statistics that covers topics in descrip- tivestatistics,measurementscales,cer-tain probability distributions, sampling schemes, inferential statistics, linear regression, correlation analysis, and hypotheses testing methods. The stu-dents in our MBA quality class have coveredthesetopicsintheprerequisite statistics class for the MBA program. The class is an elective with a usual enrollment of 20–30 students. Before approaching the topic of Six Sigma techniques,studentsalsoshouldhavea basic foundation in quality philosophy and principles. The first class session will cover several broad topics: defin- ingquality,strategicpriorityofcustom-er satisfaction, operational priority of continual process improvement, qual-itysystems,andqualitycosts.Students needtounderstandthenatureandvalue of quality management to achieve Six Sigma performance (Evans & Lindsay, 2004).The class usually begins with a discussionoftheevolutionofthequal-ity movement and how it has gained strategic importance in business. An introduction to the historical types of qualitysystemsandadiscussionofhow weidentifyanddesignprocesstomeet the needs and expectations of internal andexternalcustomersfollow.
SixSigmaStudentProjectTeams
Studentsalsoneedtounderstandthe importance of project management. Among the project management top-ics the class covers are (a) five-stage
project quality process model (project initiation, planning, assurance, quality control, and closure), (b) project-team charter, (c) projects metrics, and (d) project standards for Six Sigma clo-sure (Kloppenborg & Petrick, 2002). Most student teams start as uncoor-dinated groups, mature into potential teamsundersoundleadership,andmay eventuallybecomeempoweredtofunc-tionasrealteamscomposedofasmall number of people with complementary skills who are equally committed to common purposes, goals, and work-ing approaches for which they hold themselvesmutuallyaccountable.Class time constraints and the exacting proj-ect expectations force the Six Sigma studentprojectteamstoacceleratethat developmentalprocess(Evans&Lind-say,2004).
SixSigmaClassProject
CompletingSixSigmaprojectsinthe allotted time for a semester or quarter is extremely difficult and requires the instructor to carefully plan the course syllabus. During the first class meet-ing,theinstructordescribestheproject requirements in detail. Students intro-duce themselves to the other members of the class and state their majors and relevant work experience. A break in classtimeprovidesstudentstheoppor-tunitytoformtheirteamsandexamine projectreportscompletedduringprevi-ous terms. The instructor requires that each team submit a proposal for its project by the third class meeting and sets other interim deadlines to prevent students from procrastinating in the developmentoftheirprojects.Although mostMBAstudentsenrolledintheclass are employed full time, it often is dif-ficultforthemtoidentifyprojectsatan early stage of the term. Therefore, the instructor will find it helpful to have a numberofprojectstooffertotheteams. These may originate with alumni or through contacts in professional orga-nizations or consulting projects. The instructor provides students with crite- riafortheirprojectselection.Thecrite-riaarepartofaconscientiouseffortto ensurethateachprojectwillculminate inrecommendationstheclientorganiza-tioncanimplement.Thesecriteriaserve
asguidelinesratherthanasasetofrigid requirements.
1.The project should involve an exist-ingprocess.
2.Thatprocessshouldeitherhavevalid dataavailableorbecapableofgener-ating data within the time limitation ofthequarterorsemester.
3.The project should be achievable withinthecourse’stimeframe. 4.Processchangeshouldbewithinthe
spanofcontroloftheclientorganiza-tion’s representative with whom the studentsareworking.
5.The project should be important to theteamandtotheorganization.
6.Theprojectshouldhaveahighpoten-tialforsuccess.
7.Resultsshouldbemeasurable. 8.The project should never be viewed
solelyasanacademicexercise.
UseofTools
After the team identifies a process foranalysis,itwilluseflowchartingto defineanddocumentthesystemitwill study.Aflowchart isagraphicalrepre-sentationoftheactivitiesinvolvedina process.Itenablesallteammembersto understandtheprocess.Theflowchart’s representation of the system should contain sufficient detail to incorporate all of the activities that affect the pro-cess outcome under investigation. Stu-dentsoftenwillusemultipleflowcharts, arranged hierarchically, to capture the necessaryprocessdetail.
Cause-and-EffectAnalysis
Acause-and-effect diagram (C&E diagram)depictsthevarioussystemele-mentsthatmaycontributetoaproblem. We also refer to the C&E diagram as anIshikawadiagraminreferencetoits developer, Kaoru Ishikawa, president oftheMusashiInstituteofTechnology inTokyo,Japan.Theteamusesthisto identify possible causes of a specific problemoreffect,usuallythroughbrain-storming by team members and those knowledgeableabouttheprocessunder study(TotalQualityTools,1996).
SamplingPlan
Thestudentteammustdesignamea-surement system before it can collect
data.Thisrequiresthattheteamdevel-ops clear, concise, and detailed opera-tionaldefinitionstoensureconsistency in its data collection. Because the reli-ability of the data collected early in a projectiscrucialtotheremainingsteps oftheproject,theteamshoulduseoper-ational definitions whenever defining quality measures (Total Quality Tools, 1996). Each student team develops a sampling plan to ensure the economic collection of data and to provide the best representation of the population, consistent with the objectives of preci-sionandreliability.Becausethemethod the student teams use to select data will significantly influence the sample results,eachteammustaddressseveral questions before establishing a sam-pling plan: Who should collect data? What training and documentation is required?Whenshouldtheteamcollect data? Where in the process should the teamcollectdata?Forhowlongshould theteamcollectdata?Whatsamplesize shouldtheteamuse?
ProjectDirection:RoleofControl Chart
Thecontrolchartisoneofthemore important statistical process control tools used to evaluate the state of a process.AmajordecisionforSixSigma practitioners is what type of control chart to use and what corresponding type of data to measure and track. A control chart provides a graphic com-parison of performance data, such as sample statistics, to compute control limitsdrawnonthechart.Itisusedto detect assignable causes of variation in the process. One describes a pro-cessthatisoperatingwithoutassignable causes of variation as stable, predict-able,orinastateofstatisticalcontrol. Weassumethatvariationfallingoutside the calculated control limits is not due torandomcausesbuttoassignableones. Althoughcontrolchartscanbeeffective tools for evaluating performance and improvementinaSixSigmaproject,the teammustcarefullyevaluatethediffer-ent charts available to ensure the type selected can provide the most useful informationfortheproject.Itsdecision should take into account factors such assamplesize,datacharacteristics,and
whetherthedataisanattributeorvari-able(Weinstein&Vokurka,2006).
Eachteamusesitsdatatocreatean appropriate control chart to determine thestateoftheprocess.Thisisacritical step in the process because the results fromusingthecontrolchartwilldeter-mine the focus of the team’s efforts fortheremainderoftheproject.Ifthe studentteamdiscoversthattheprocess is unstable and exhibits special cause variation, it will focus on identifying sourcesofspecialorassignablecauses ofvariationanddevelopingrecommen-dationsfortheirelimination.Thismay involve more detailed flowcharting of the process and even new data collec-tion.Iftheprocessisstable—thatis,the analysis determines that only common causevariationispresent—thestudent team’s next step will be to perform a capabilityanalysistodeterminewheth-er the process is capable of meeting customer requirements. If the process is not capable, the student team will focus on developing recommendations tomakeitcapableeitherthroughreduc-ing variation in the process, through shifting the process output so that it is more closely centered on the cus-tomer specification target, or both. If the capability analysis determines that theprocessiscapable,thestudentteam willfocusondevelopingrecommenda-tionstoimprovetheprocessbyfurther reducingvariationorbyimprovingpro-ductivityorprofitability.
In some cases, special cause varia-tion may result in a desired improve-mentintheprocess.Ifthespecialcause improves the system performance, the team should identify its source and recommend to incorporate it into the operatingproceduresfortheprocess.If it hinders the system performance, the team should prevent it from recurring (TotalQualityTools,1996).
CapabilityAnalysis
A stable system that exhibits only common cause variation may display too much variation to consistently meet the customer’s requirements. In this case, it is necessary to assess the capability of the system’s performance throughcapabilityanalysis.Twoindex-
sureprocesscapabilityareCpandCpk. Inacapableprocess,bothCpandCpk values are greater than 1.0. Industry standards often require companies to set targets for Cp and Cpk ratios at values of 1.33 or greater.These values provideasmallcushionforunexpected variation in the process. If the capa-bility analysis shows that the process is not capable, the student team’s rec-ommendations will focus on strategies for reducing variation in the process, adjusting the process average in rela-tiontothespecificationtarget,orboth. To reduce the common cause variation present, practitioners need to identify the possible common causes of vari-ability. If the capability analysis dem-onstratesthattheprocessiscapable,the team’s recommendations should focus on improving the process through, for example,reductionsincostsandvaria-tionorimprovementsinproductivity.
ImplementationPlan
The course emphasizes the impor-tance of developing a thorough imple-mentation plan for each recommenda-tion. The student team’s first step in thisdevelopmentistogenerateaforce field analysis for each recommenda-tion. Developed by Lewin (1943), this toolviewssystemschangeasastruggle betweendrivingforcesthathelpchange tooccurandrestrainingforcesthatblock change.Thestudentteamidentifiesthe driving and restraining forces that sur-round each proposed change by brain-storming with the client to rank these forces and plan a sequence of actions thatwillreinforcethedrivingforcesand eliminatetherestrainingforces(Bester-field, Besterfield-Michna, Bestereliminatetherestrainingforces(Bester-field, &Besterfield-Sacre,1999; TotalQual-ity Tools, 1996). The teams also must developacost–benefitanalysisforeach recommendation. This step provides a reality check to ensure that the final proposaltotheclientwillincludeonly cost-effectiverecommendations.
During the last week of the term, eachteampresentsitsfindingsinclass. This enables all of the students in the classtoseeavarietyofapplicationsfor the techniques they learned during the term. Each team submits a final report totheinstructorandtheclient.
ClientFeedback
As a final check of each project’s value, the instructor sends a feedback form to all clients at the conclusion of the term. The organizational represen-tative is asked to evaluate the teams’ effortsusinga5-pointLikertscalethat recordstherepresentative’sreactionsto thefollowingstatements:
1.Theprojectimprovedourunderstand-ingofourprocess.
2.The project provided us with infor-mationorrecommendationsthatwill resultinsignificantcostsavings. 3.The project provided us with
infor-mationorrecommendationsthatwill significantlyimproveproductivity. 4.The project provided us with
infor-mationorrecommendationsthatwill significantlyimprovequality.
5.Overall,wewereverysatisfiedwith projectoutcomes.
6.Students participating in this project wereconscientiousandprofessional. Thefeedbackformasksclientstoesti-mate the savings realized based on the team’srecommendationsandtoconsider if the company would be interested in hosting another team at their facility. In the experience of one of us whose stu- dentshavecompletedmorethan100proj-ects,mostcompaniesthatweresurveyed have expressed positive feedback about the students’ efforts and welcomed the opportunitytoworkwiththemagain.
LessonsLearned
Theprogramthatwedescribeinthis article not only supports the univer-sity mission as a metropolitan campus but also reinforces students’ learning in the classroom. However, since we initiatedtheseprojects,wehaveidenti-fied several problems that faculty who teach similar courses should consider. First and perhaps foremost, complet-ing these projects in the allotted time for a semester or quarter is extremely difficult and requires the instructor to carefully plan the course syllabus.The instructor should set interim deadlines to prevent any team from procrastinat-ingindevelopingitsproject.Ifanyteam cannotcompleteitsprojectintheallot-ted time for the term, team members havetheoptionoftakinganincomplete
for the term. Second, although most MBAstudentsenrolledintheclassare employed full time, often it is difficult forthemtoidentifyprojectsatanearly gives the instructor an opportunity to observe team behaviors and contribute tothestudents’positiveattitudes(Han-sen,2006).Theuseofpeerevaluations at the end of the quarter also helps to ensurestudentaccountabilityandgives
Faculty in higher education must be able to bridge the gap between theo-ry and practice to ensure that future managers understand the importance of how quality tools can be used for organizational improvement. These projects, focusing on the solution of real-world problems, have provided an excellent tool for enhancing learning and for meeting this challenge. These projectsalsohaveprovidedameansfor engaging local quality practitioners in theuniversity’sactivities.Suchinvolve-mentstrengthensthebondsbetweenthe university and the business community while adding significant value to the educational experience of the authors’ MBA students. And perhaps—this is just as important—the students’ efforts have provided tangible benefits to the numerous organizations that have cho-sentoparticipateintheprocess. application of lean thinking and theToyota Pro- ductionSystem,operationalsystemsformanufac-turing,service,andnonprofitorganizations.
Dr. Joseph Petrick’s research interests are management and organizational ethics, interna-tional management, strategic leadership, envi-ronmentalmanagement,sustainabledevelopment, qualityandprojectmanagement,humanresource management,organizationdevelopment,andbusi-nessandpublicpolicy.
Dr. Robert J. Vokurka’s research interests are manufacturing strategy, total quality man-agement, purchasing, cycle time manman-agement, performance measurements, and supply chain management.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr. Larry B. Weinstein, Wright StateUniversity,InformationSystemsandOpera-tionsManagement,RajSoinCollegeofBusiness, Col.GlennHwy.,Dayton,OH45435.
E-mail:larry.weinstein@wright.edu
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