Ques no 2

What is Total Quality Management?

TQM is a management philosophy, a paradigm, a continuous improvement approach to doing business through a new management model. The TQM philosophy evolved from the continuous improvement philosophy with a focus on quality as the main dimension of business. Under TQM, emphasizing the quality of the product or service predominates. TQM expands beyond statistical process control to embrace a wider scope of management activities of how we manage people and organizations by focusing on the entire process, not just simple measurements. TQM is a comprehensive management system which: Focuses on meeting owners/customers needs by providing quality services at a cost that provides value to the owners/customers Is driven by the quest for continuous improvement in all operations Recognizes that everyone in the organization has owners/customers who are either internal or external Views an organization as an internal system with a common aim rather than as individual departments acting to maximize their own performances Focuses on the way tasks are accomplished rather than simply what tasks are accomplished

Concepts: Definition

The Institute of Management Services defines Total Quality Management as: "A strategy for improving business performance through the commitment and involvement of all employees to fully satisfying agreed customer requirements, at the optimum overall costs, through the continuous improvement of the products and services, business processes and people involved." The concept of Total Quality Management can be expressed as Achieving success through delighting our customers. Customers being the internal user, the external customer or enduser, together with the other stakeholders, i.e.

shareholders employees

suppliers

It also requires consideration of the environmental needs of the community.

Key concepts of Total Quality

Total Quality Management is a strategy for business success, based on the following concepts:
Total Quality means:

achieving strategic goals through customer focus and continuous improvement delighting the customer, satisfying needs and expectations anticipating the needs of the market understanding and managing customer expectations understanding the aims and capabilities of the your own organisation all employees taking ownership of the products and services delivered

Total Quality requires:

management leadership and long term commitment managers to act as role models who lead and empower change a management culture of partnership, learning together, guidance and support for employees clearly defined business objectives communicated by managers and supervisors, understood and owned by all employees. Ownership can be viewed as the acceptance of accountability.

Encouraging and empowering all employees to adopt ownership behaviour. Ownership of their outputs, ownership of customers problems, ownership of improvement actions.

A focus on success through people

o o o o o o

solutions by consensus recognition of success a no blame attitude education and training based on defined user needs teamwork effective communication including listening, providing feedback and provision of visual communication

Total Quality Management is an organisation wide process based on:

best use of the resources of the total organisation organisational flexibility and response to change defined internal and external customer/supplier relationships embracing:
o o o o

external customers internal customers external suppliers internal suppliers

bound together in long term business relationships

measurement of performance. The standard is the agreed customer requirementand the required performance is
o o o

absolute conformance to agreed customer requirements customer satisfaction process efficiency

o o o

anticipating customer needs and expectations delivering products and services that delight customers benchmarking - identifying and adopting world-wide best practice measuring and monitoring continuous improvement

The focus for Total Quality

is continuous improvement aimed at achieving total customer delight, perceived value for money at optimum cost to the organisation. This requires everyone within the organisation to:

use a defined process for Quality delivery continuously identify improvement opportunities deliver improvement through structured problem solving identify and use error prevention and corrective feedback mechanisms focus on Process design, reduction in variability and capability assurance develop Cross-Functional Process Management

Deming's Fourteen Points for Management:

1 Create 1 Create constancy of purpose for improvement of product and services 2 Adopt the new philosophy 3 Cease dependence on mass inspection 4 End the practice of awarding business on price tag alone 5 Constantly and forever improve the systems of production

and services 6 Institute modern methods of training on the job 7 Institute modern methods of supervision and leadership 8 Drive out fear 9 Break down barriers between departments 10 Eliminate numerical goals for the work force 11 Eliminate work standards and numerical quotas 12 Remove barriers to pride of workmanship 13 Institute a vigorous programme of education and training for everyone 14 Create a structure in top management that will push every day on the above 13 points.

Demings Fourteen Points for Management :

Create Constancy of Purpose

The customer is the most important part of transport service. Customer demands are always changing. It is mistake to presume that services offered at present can keep an organization solvent and ahead of competition. The transport agency must create a constancy of purpose by putting the customer first. The transportation organizations highest priority must be to provide the best transportation services to its community at the lowest cost possible. The organization is responsible to both its community and its own workforce in maintaining a
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high level of excellence and value. Therefore, the transportation organization must strive to maximize efficiency and effectiveness through constant improvement. To create a constancy of purpose necessitates the development of a mission statement for the transport corporation. The plan-do-check-act (P-D-C-A) cycle allows the statement to evolve as customer demand grows and changes. This flexibility permits innovation, which is achieved by putting resources into research, education, and maintenance of the transport system. Innovation generates new and improved services. For example, use of electric- and gas-based vehicles can reduce pollution in urban areas (Shridharan 2002). The corporate sector should lobby for electric-and gas-based vehicles for urban areas. A real concern is the availability of a wide network of service stations supplying gas or replacing discharged batteries with charged ones. Gas and battery industries can work together with the automakers industry to provide solutions with sustained business opportunities for themselves.

2. Adopt New Philosophy

In todays economic age, businesses cannot survive with commonly accepted levels of mistakes, defects, people on the job who do not understand the job and are afraid to ask questions, and managements failure to understand problems within the corporation. Acceptable defective services and poor work performance are among the most severe roadblocks to better quality. Everyone working in a transport corporation can find ways to promote quality and efficiency, to improve all aspects of the transportation system, and to promote excellence and personal accountability. Employees, with the support of top management, should adopt a new work philosophy by meeting in cross-functional teams or quality circles to set priorities for staff training. The major benefit of the new philosophy is the creation of a continuous learning environment. The common thread in adopting a new philosophy is meeting the needs of those who pay for and use the services provided by the transportation organization.

3. Cease Dependence on Mass Inspection

Lasting quality comes not from inspection, but from improvements in the system. To achieve best economy and productivity, transport agencies should know what quality they are delivering. The organizations managers must be knowledgeable in the statistical control of quality. They must proceed under the new philosophy: the right service quality characteristics must be built in without dependence on
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inspection. The statistical control of the process provides the only way for transport operators to build quality service and the only way to provide managers evidence of uniform, repeatable quality and cost of service. One of the first steps for managers is to learn enough about the statistical control of quality to access the qualification of an operator by talking with them in statistical language.

4. End the Practice of Awarding Business on Price Tag Alone

Todays requirements for transport service suppliers are uniformity and reliability. Price has no meaning without a measure of quality. Without adequate measures of quality, business drifts to the lowest bidder, low quality and high cost being the inevitable results. Instead, the organization should seek the best quality in a long-term relationship with a single supplier for only one item. The results of implementing this strategy are longer lasting items and greater quality service at no additional cost. Transport agencies should select suppliers that can provide statistical evidence of quality. Since transport organizations tend to think of their suppliers as partners in their operations, they must consider joint planning for improvement and joint improvement activities to serve customers better than their competitors.

5. Improve the System of Transport Service

Quality can be built into all transportation activities and services and can be assured by continuous examination to identify potential improvements. This requires close cooperation between those who provide the services and those who consume them.

Improvement is not a one-time effort. Management is obligated to look continually for ways to reduce waste and improve quality. Every worker and every department must commit to constant improvement. Quality circles/cross-functional teams work together to improve transport service delivery. These groups may use basic quality tools to identify issues that need attention. For example, which faults are local and which ones belong to the system? The responsibilities should be given where this fault belongs. The use of statistical quality tools helps to identify trouble spots and their sources. Quality circles/teams continuously work to meet the needs of the people they serve, resulting in lower costs and improved quality of transport operations and services. Thus, improved transport service can result from focusing not only on achieving present performance levels, but more importantly, by breaking through existing performance levels to new, higher levels.
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6. Institute Training
Quality circles help the human resource division to select training programs that increase the job skills of both main and support staff. Training must be totally reconstructed. Statistical methods must be used to learn when training is finished and when further training would be beneficial. On-the-job quality improvement training ensures that every employee has a thorough understanding of customer needs for transport services.

7. Institute Leadership
The leader creates opportunities for all employees (good and bad performers) to interact and identify opportunities for improvement. The job of supervisor is not to tell employees what to do or to punish but to lead them toward better job performance. Leading consists of helping workers do a better job and of using learning by objective methods for those employees in need of individual help. Supervisors should be trained continually. They should receive training in synergetic or cooperative supervision and work in supportive teams to improve instructions and learning. Leadership training will help to introduce new best practices in transportation services to satisfy customer needs.

8. Drive Out Fear

Improved performance cannot occur unless employees in the transport organization feel comfortable to speak truthfully and feel confident that their suggestions will be taken seriously. Most workers are afraid to ask questions or to report trouble. Suggesting new ideas is risky; people fear punitive assignments or other forms of discrimination or harassment. To counter this fear, total quality encourages applying new methods, creating new solutions, and implementing innovative experiments. The economic loss from fear is appalling. To ensure better quality and productivity, employees must feel secure. In a secure environment, workers are not afraid to express ideas not afraid to ask questions, not afraid to ask for further instructions, and not afraid to report vehicles out of order, poor lighting, or other working conditions that impair quality service in transportation.

9. Breakdown Barriers Between Departments

According to Deming, people can work superbly in their respective departments, but if departmental goals conflict, the company could face ruin. Lack of coordination or disintegration between departments can lead to costly rework, unnecessary

duplication of effort, and a heavy loss in resources.

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Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and quality circles improve cross-communication and encourage brainstorming among members of the transport organization. QFD helps to capture the voice of the customer and convert it into service design requirements. This strategy is not only a powerful tool for integrating departments of the transportation organization, but it also strongly promotes the principle of do it right the first time (Srividya and Metri 2000). Sharing a unified purpose and direction helps to improve the transport organizations services.

10. Eliminate Slogans, Exhortations, and Targets for the Workforce

Slogans, like those encouraging zero accidents or zero defects, and posters reinforcing the slogans do not help workers do a better job. Slogans, posters, and other such devices are managements lazy way out. A better approach is to provide the means to the desired ends. For instance, the transportation staff prevents waste and reduces accidents by managing its own quota-free environment. If the transport organizations focus is on improving its work processes, service quality will increase, efficiency and effectiveness will rise, and nonvalue-added activities will diminish.

11. Eliminate Numerical Quotas

Numerical quotas will not help workers do a better job. In fact, numerical quotas cost as much as loss in terms of poor materials and mistakes. In many factories at the end of the day, workers are idle the last hour or two. They have completed their quotas for the day and are waiting for the whistle to blow; they do no more work yet they cannot go to home. Numerical goals can even produce a negative effect because they generate frustration. Therefore, the quota system will not help the organizations competitive position or contribute to continuous improvement. Instead of numerical quotas, hard work, pride, service, and growth should be emphasized. Removing quotas encourages employees to apply new ideas to old tasks. For instance, bus transportation schedules and stop locations are now planned to meet the communitys needs. The goal is to fulfill the needs of the community, not to increase the number of people transported.

12. Remove Barriers to Pride of Workmanship

The transport industry cannot function properly without employees who are proud of their output and who feel respected as individuals and professionals. For example, inspection simply identifies defects but does not explain how to prevent them. Intrinsically, people want to provide service without defects. Leadership and continuous system improvement make this possible. To achieve pride in
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work, superiors must listen to the transport staff/employees and transport staff must listen to the recipients of their service (i.e., the community). Often, staff and community do not have the same knowledge base or purpose of work. Communicating the organizations mission and achieving respect among the staff and the community is one of the greatest challenges facing transport organizations.

13. Encourage Education and Selfimprovement for All Employees

The transport organization needs not only good people, but people who are growing through education and life experiences as well. Both management and employees must continuously acquire knowledge to be of service to the community. They should be educated in new methods, including teamwork and statistical techniques. For instance, transport employees may receive training on ISO 14000 for providing environmental-friendly transport services to the community.

14. Take Action to Accomplish Transformation

The essence of TQT is an organization-wide focus on meeting the needs of those who use and/or pay for transport services. Every activity, every process, and every job in the transport organization can be improved. Everyone within the organization can be given an opportunity to understand the TQT program and their individual role within that effort. Improvement teams that include broad representation throughout the organization can help ensure success of initial efforts and create opportunities for cross-disciplinary dialog and information exchange. Implementation of Demings 14 points requires a special top management team, such as a quality council, with a plan of action to carry out the transport agencys quality mission. Workers or managers cannot accomplish this on their own. A critical mass of people in the organization must understand the 14 points. The critical mass would be formed from top down along the organizational hierarchical lines (Figure 2), and those involved would announce and define the new quality philosophy. Management teams called quality councils should take charge of changes in the system. They would be responsible for identifying and assigning the critical processes to the process quality teams (PQTs). In turn, the PQTs would direct the activities of the quality action teams (QATs). The QATs would focus on the critical issues, yielding some immediate results to show that TQT has worked. This tactic would help to strengthen and continue TQT in the transport organization. At the same time, management would create a quality and cohesive environment and would also address such systematic issues as forging a new relationship with
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suppliers, doing away with the performance appraisal system, and introducing the voice of customer into all operations.

DEFINING QUALITY
The definition of quality depends on the role of the people defining it. Most consumers have a difficult time defining quality, but they know it when they see it. For example, although you probably have an opinion as to which manufacturer of athletic shoes provides the highest quality, it would probably be difficult for you to define your quality standard in precise terms. Also, your friends may have different opinions regarding which athletic shoes are of highest quality. The difficulty in

defining quality exists regardless of product, and this is true for both manufacturing and service organizations. Think about how difficult it may be to define quality for products such as airline services, child day-care facilities, college classes, or even OM textbooks. Further complicating the issue is that the meaning of quality has changed over time. Today, there is no single universal definition of quality. Some people view quality as performance to standards.Others view it as meeting the customers needs or satisfying the customer. Lets look at some of the more common definitions of quality.

Quality Gurus
To fully understand the TQM movement, we need to look at the philosophies of notable individuals who have shaped the evolution of TQM. Their philosophies and teachings have contributed to our knowledge and understanding of quality today.

Walter A. Shewhart Walter A. Shewhart was a statistician at Bell Labs during the
1920s and 1930s. Shewhart studied randomness and recognized that variability existed in all manufacturing processes. He developed quality control charts that are used to identify whether the variability in the process is random or due to an assignable cause, such as poor workers or miscalibrated machinery. He stressed that eliminating variability improves quality. His work created the foundation for todays statistical process control, and he is often referred to as the grandfather of quality control.

W. Edwards Deming W. Edwards Deming is often referred to as the father of quality

control. He was a statistics professor at New York University in the 1940s. After World War II he assisted many Japanese companies in improving quality. The Japanese regarded him so highly that in 1951 they established the Deming Prize, an annual award given to firms that demonstrate outstanding quality. It was almost 30 years

later that American businesses began adopting Demings philosophy. A number of elements of Demings philosophy depart from traditional notions of quality. The first is the role management should play in a companys quality

improvement effort. Historically, poor quality was blamed on workerson their lack of productivity, laziness, or carelessness. However, Deming pointed out that only 15 percent of quality problems are actually due to worker error. The remaining 85 percent are caused by processes and systems, including poor management. Deming said that it is up to management to correct system problems and create an environment that promotes quality and enables workers to achieve their full potential. He believed that managers should drive out any fear employees have of identifying quality problems, and that numerical quotas should be eliminated. Proper methods should be taught, and detecting and eliminating poor quality should be everyones responsibility. Deming outlined his philosophy on quality in his famous 14 Points. These points are principles that help guide companies in achieving quality improvement. The principles are founded on the idea that upper management must develop a commitment to quality and provide a system to support this commitment that involves all employees and suppliers. Deming stressed that quality improvements cannot happen without organizational change that comes from upper management.

Joseph M. Juran After W. Edwards Deming, Dr. Joseph Juran is considered to

have had the greatest impact on quality management. Juran originally worked in the quality program at Western Electric. He became better known in 1951, after the publication of his book Quality Control Handbook. In 1954 he went to Japan to work with manufacturers and teach classes on quality. Though his philosophy is similar to Demings, there are some differences. Whereas Deming stressed the need for an organizational transformation, Juran believes that implementing quality

initiatives should not require such a dramatic change and that quality management should be embedded in the organization. One of Jurans significant contributions is his focus on the definition of quality and the cost of quality. Juran is credited with defining quality as fitness for use rather than simply conformance to specifications. As we have learned in this chapter, defining quality as fitness for use takes into account customer intentions for use of the product, instead of only focusing on technical specifications. Juran is also credited with developing the concept of cost of quality, which allows us to measure quality in dollar terms rather than on the basis of subjective evaluations. Juran is well known for originating the idea of the quality trilogy: quality planning, quality control, and quality improvement. The first part of the trilogy, quality planning, is necessary so that companies identify their customers, product requirements, and overriding business goals. Processes should be set up to ensure that the quality standards can be met. The second part of the trilogy, quality control, stresses the regular use of statistical control methods to ensure that quality standards are met and to identify variations from the standards. The third part of the quality trilogy is quality improvement. According to Juran, quality improvements should be continuous as well as breakthrough. Together with Deming, Juran stressed that to implement continuous improvement workers need to have training in proper methods on a regular basis.

Armand V. Feigenbaum Another quality leader is Armand V. Feigenbaum, who

introduced the concept of total quality control. In his 1961 book Total Quality Control, he outlined his quality principles in 40 steps. Feigenbaum took a total system approach to quality. He promoted the idea of a work environment where quality develTHE EVOLUTION OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM) 145 opments are integrated throughout the entire organization, where management and employees have a total commitment to improve quality, and people learn from each

others successes. This philosophy was adapted by the Japanese and termed company-wide quality control.

Phillip B. Crosby Philip B. Crosby is another recognized guru in the area of TQM.
He worked in the area of quality for many years, first at Martin Marietta and then, in the 1970s, as the vice president for quality at ITT. He developed the phrase Do it right the first time and the notion of zero defects, arguing that no amount of defects should be considered acceptable. He scorned the idea that a small number of defects is a normal part of the operating process because systems and workers are imperfect. Instead, he stressed the idea of prevention. To promote his concepts, Crosby wrote a book titled Quality Is Free, which was published in 1979. He became famous for coining the phrase quality is free and for pointing out the many costs of quality, which include not only the costs of wasted labor, equipment time, scrap, rework, and lost sales, but also organizational costs that are hard to quantify. Crosby stressed that efforts to improve quality more than pay for themselves because these costs are prevented. Therefore, quality is free. Like Deming and Juran, Crosby stressed the role of management in the quality improvement effort and the use of statistical control tools in measuring and monitoring quality.

Kaoru Ishikawa Kaoru Ishikawa is best known for the development of quality tools
called cause-and-effect diagrams, also called fishbone or Ishikawa diagrams. These diagrams are used for quality problem solving, and we will look at them in detail later in the chapter. He was the first quality guru to emphasize the importance of the internal customer, the next person in the production process. He was also one of the first to stress the importance of total company quality control, rather than just focusing on products and services. Dr. Ishikawa believed that everyone in the company needed to be united with a shared vision and a common goal. He stressed that quality initiatives should be pursued

at every level of the organization and that all employees should be involved. Dr. Ishikawa was a proponent of implementation of quality circles, which are small teams of employees that volunteer to solve quality problems.

Genichi Taguchi Dr. Genichi Taguchi is a Japanese quality expert known for his
work in the area of product design. He estimates that as much as 80 percent of all defective items are caused by poor product design. Taguchi stresses that companies should focus their quality efforts on the design stage, as it is much cheaper and easier to make changes during the product design stage than later during the production process. Taguchi is known for applying a concept called design of experiment to product design. This method is an engineering approach that is based on developing robust design, a design that results in products that can perform over a wide range of conditions. Taguchis philosophy is based on the idea that it is easier to design a product that can perform over a wide range of environmental conditions than it is to control the environmental conditions. Taguchi has also had a large impact on todays view of the costs of quality. He pointed out that the traditional view of costs of conformance to specifications is incorrect, and proposed a different way to look at these costs. Lets briefly look at Dr. Taguchis view of quality costs. Recall that conformance to specification specifies a target value for the product with specified tolerances, say 5.00 0.20. According to the traditional view of conformance to specifications, losses in terms of cost occur if the product dimensions fall outside of the specified limits. This is shown in Figure 5-4. However, Dr. Taguchi noted that from the customers view there is little difference whether a product falls just outside or just inside the control limits. He pointed out that there is a much greater difference in the quality of the product between making the target and being near the control limit. He also stated that the smaller the variation around the target,

the better the quality. Based on this he proposed the following: as conformance values move away from the target, loss increases as a quadratic function. This is called the Taguchi loss function and is shown in Figure 5-5. According to the function, smaller differences from the target result in smaller costs: the larger the differences, the larger the cost. The Taguchi loss function has had a significant impact in changing the view of quality cost. What characterizes TQM is the focus on identifying root causes of quality problems and correcting them at the source, as opposed to inspecting the product after it has been made. Not only does TQM encompass the entire organization, but it stresses that quality is customer driven. TQM attempts to embed quality in every aspect of the organization. It is concerned with technical aspects of quality as well as the involvement of people in quality, such as customers, company employees, and suppliers. Here we look at the specific concepts that make up the philosophy of TQM.

Ques 3
. Customer Focus The first, and overriding, feature of TQM is the companys focus on its customers. Quality is defined as meeting or exceeding customer expectations. The goal is to first identify and then meet customer needs. TQM recognizes that a perfectly produced product has little value if it is not what the customer wants. Therefore, we can say that quality is customer driven. However, it is not always easy to determine what the customer wants, because tastes and preferences change. Also, customer expectations often vary from one customer to the next. For example, in the auto industry trends change relatively quickly, from small cars to sports utility vehicles and back to small cars. The same is true in the retail industry, where styles and fashion are short lived. Companies need to continually gather information by means of focus groups, market surveys, and customer interviews in order to stay in tune with what customers want. They must always remember that they would not be in business if it were not for their customers.

Comment Cards
This is an introduction for federal government program managers on how to collect customer feedback via comment cards. Comment cards are paper cards containing one or more survey questions, designed to gather customer feedback after an in-person service interaction. These cards are typically filled out by customers immediately after an interaction, but can also be completed later and mailed back, or visitors can provide additional information via a web survey.

Basics 1. When should you use comment cards? Comment cards are typically used to collect customer feedback immediately after an in-person interaction. They can give you feedback on a specific customer experience, or provide general feedback about your agency. Comment cards are a good way to reach customers for whom you do not have contact information, or who do not interact with your agency through other channels. These cards can also help you collect customer contact information for future interactions (provided you have clearance to collect this information). In addition, comment cards can elicit feedback from customers who do not feel comfortable sharing feedback directly with a representative. Examples of some questions that could be asked in a comment card include: Example 1: How satisfied are you with your overall experience today? [1 = very dissatisfied and 5 = very satisfied] Example 2: How knowledgeable was our representative? [1 = not knowledgeable to 5 = very knowledgeable] Example 3: Do you have any suggestions for things we can do better? [open-ended question] Collecting and responding to feedback shows people your agency is interested in improving customer service.

Consumer Questionnaire
Customer Questionnaires can be a great way to get feedback from your clients, but the problem with most questionnaires is that most if not all of the information that is gathered is analyzed internally, so the public never sees the end results. Why not utilize all of that informative and valuable data that you've collected in your customer questionnaire by actively displaying it on your site for all of your new potential customers to view? At Shopper Approved, we excel at gathering customer reviews, ratings, and valuable feedback. But, unlike traditional questionnaires and surveys, our system gives you the ability actually display each review and rating gathered from previous customers, to new customers that visit your site. When you display existing customer questionnaire data and feedback to new customers, you help to establish instant credibility and trust, which can actually increase sales because the feedback and reviews they read actually influences their decision to buy. Simply put, customers expect more information. This is a huge trend that has evolved over the past couple years thanks to rating and review systems put in place by industry giants like Amazon.com and Ebay. In fact, ratings and reviews have become so important that according to a recent study, 86% of consumers read online business reviews before making

purchasing decisions; 90% of whom say they trust these reviews. (Kudzu.com survey of 600 users, December 2008) What this means is that if you're not actively displaying your customer questionnaire information or survey data, ratings, and reviews on your website, you may be missing out on a huge opportunity to influence potential buyers. There's never been a better time to utilize all the good will and satisfaction that you provide to your customers on a regular basis, and the easiest, most effective way to do this is by adding Shopper Approved customer questionnaire to your website. In just 5 minutes you can start collecting valuable customer satisfaction information, ratings, reviews, feedback and more! Go ahead and sign up for our free trial and see for yourself first-hand what adding customer questions and answers to your website can do for you. Click Here to see our Special Offer.

The Use and Misuse of Focus Groups by Jakob Nielsen, 1997

Focus groups are a somewhat informal technique that can help you assess user needs and feelings both before interface design and long after implementation. In a focus group, you bring together from six to nine users to discuss issues and concerns about the features of a user interface. The group typically lasts about two hours and is run by a moderator who maintains the group's focus. Focus groups often bring out users' spontaneous reactions and ideas and let you observe some group dynamics and organizational issues. You can also ask people to discuss how they performactivities that span many days or weeks: something that is expensive to observe directly. However, they can only assess what customers say they do and not the way customers actually operate the product. Since there are often major differences between what people say and what they do, direct observation of one user at a time always needs to be done to supplement focus groups.
Narrow View

Although focus groups can be a powerful tool in system development, you shouldn't use them as your only source of usability data. People with an advertising or marketing background often rely solely on focus groups to expose products to users. Thus, because advertising and marketing people frequently contribute to

web site development, focus groups are often used to evaluate Web projects. Unfortunately, focus groups are a rather poor method for evaluating interface usability. It is thus dangerous to rely on them as your only method in a Web design project. Traditional market research targets products for which usability is a minor concern. When judging, for example, what proposals a politician should support, how sweet a chocolate bar should be, or whether to show a new Mercedes braking in snow or in rain, you need only expose a group of consumers to different versions of the proposal, candy, or commercial, ask them which they prefer, and listen to their reasons as to why they prefer one or the other. Software products, websites, and other interactive systems also need to be liked by customers, but no amount of subjective preference will make a product viable if users can't use it. To assess whether users can operate an interactive system, the only proper methodology is to sit users down, one at a time, and have them use the system. Because focus groups are groups, individuals rarely get the chance to explore the system on their own; instead, the moderator usually provides a product demo as the basis for discussion. Watching a demo is fundamentally different from actually using the product: There is never a question as to what to do next and you don't have to ponder the meaning of numerous screen options. Consider, for example, the problem of windowing versus scrolling as methods for changing the information visible on the screen. The windowing principle says that to see the information in the beginning of a file, the user moves the window to the top of the file. Scrolling, on the contrary, says that to see the beginning of the file, you scroll down the screen until the desired content becomes visible. In other words, the command to get to the top of the file should be called UP (or shown as an upward-pointing arrow) if windowing is preferred, whereas the same command should be called DOWN if scrolling is preferred. When they actually carry out the task, most users perform better in the windowing model (which is therefore used in most current GUI standards). But if you give a demo of moving text files to people

new to computers, many of them will say that the scrolling model characterizes what they are seeing (since they see the text move down to get to the beginning). If GUIs had been designed by focus groups, we would have ended up with a suboptimal command.
Benefits

In interactive systems development, the proper role of focus groups is not to assess interaction styles or design usability, but to discover what users want from the system. For example, in developing Sun's new online documentation system, we ran a focus group with system administrators to discover

their thoughts and preferences on issues like distributing and replicating huge documentation files across multiple servers, and whether or not they needed faster access to local copies of the documentation on specific client machines.

These questions would never emerge in a usability test (although we did run usability studies to see if administrators could operate the system). We could have investigated the needs of system administrators in other ways including field trips to customer locations but it was more efficient to have a focus group discuss the problems in a single session.
Getting Focused

For participants, the focus-group session should feel free-flowing and relatively unstructured, but in reality, the moderator must follow a preplanned script of specific issues and set goals for the type of information to be gathered. During the group session, the moderator has the difficult job of keeping the discussion on track without inhibiting the flow of ideas and comments. The moderator also must ensure that all group members contribute to the discussion and must avoid letting one participant's opinions dominate. After the session, data analysis can be as simple as having the moderator write a short report summing up the prevailing mood in the group, illustrated with a few colorful quotes. You can also do more detailed analyses, but the unstructured nature of the groups make this difficult and time-consuming.

Focus groups require several representative users. Because you need a flowing discussion and various perspectives, the initial focus group should have at least six users. Typically, you should run more than one focus group, because the outcome of any single session may not be representative and discussions can get sidetracked.
Other Issues

As with any method based on asking users what they want instead of measuring or observing how they actually use things focus groups can produce inaccurate data because users may think they want one thing when they need another. You can minimize this problem by exposing users to the most concrete examples of the technology being discussed as possible. For example, Irene Greif ran focus groups to assess a version management facility for Lotus 1-2-3. The new features were presented to the focus group as a way to let multiple users compare alternative views of a spreadsheet across computer networks Initially, group members were skeptical about these ideas and expressed distrust in networks and nervousness about what other people would do to their spreadsheets. After seeing a prototype and scenarios of version management in use, participants moved from skepticism to enthusiasm. A cheap way to approximate a focus group is to rely on email, Web sites, or Usenet newsgroups. For example, Yia Yang started a project on undo facilities by posting on the British academic network, asking users what undo facilities they used and how they liked them. Posting questions to a newsgroup with an interest in the issues can generate considerable discussion. A disadvantage is that online discussions are difficult (or impossible) to keep confidential unless they take place on an intranet, behind a firewall. Another disadvantage to this approach is bias. Internet users tend to be people with above-average interest in computers, and participants in online discussion groups tend to have above-average involvement in the group's topic. Although online forum discussions are unlikely to reflect the average user's concerns, they can be a good way of getting in touch with

"power users." These users have needs that will sometimes surface later for the average user. Thus, addressing the power users' needs may be a way of getting a head start on future usability work.

Focus Groups
Purpose This tutorial addresses strategies for using focus groups as a method of collecting information for program evaluation. Introduction Focus groups are a method of group interviewing in which the interaction between the moderator and the group, as well as the interaction between group members, serves to elicit information and insights in response to carefully designed questions. The dynamic nature of the questions asked by the moderator and the group process, produces a level of insight that is rarely derived from 'unidirectional' information collection devises such as observation, surveys and less interactional interview techniques. Methods of recording and analyzing information gathered during focus groups, and strategies for collecting unbiased information have helped focus group research to gain credibility as an accurate and useful source of information collection. Focus group methods gained popularity in marketing research. In the 1980s social scientists recognized the value of focus groups for qualitative research and adapted the techniques accordingly. In the 1990s focus group strategies have become widely researched and used in social sciences and human service organizations. When to Use Focus Groups

Focus groups, like any other program evaluation method, are more appropriate for some situations than others. Morgan & Krueger (1993) discuss instances when focus groups are beneficial: When the security provided by the group allows members who are lower in the 'power hierarchy' within an organization to express feelings and experiences that they would not otherwise share. When the target audience is so different from decision makers that different terminology and points of view can be illuminated and understood (this information can be useful when constructing questionnaires for those audiences). When desired information about behaviors and motivations is more complex than a questionnaire is likely to reveal. Through a series of well designed questions, focus groups can often get at more honest and in depth information. When one is interested in finding out the nature of consensus. While several respondents completing a questionnaire may indicate that they 'agree' with an item, focus groups may reveal fundamental differences among group members concerning the conditions of that agreement. When target audiences may not take questionnaires seriously or answer them honestly. Effective focus groups will communicate a desire to obtain meaningful, honest information. Superficial or

patronizing responses as well as critical responses can be challenged and or put into an appropriate context. In situations where there is organizational conflict and or alienation, members of focus groups and their constituencies may feel 'listened to'. This may result in an honest and meaningful exchange of information.

Report card
From Wikipedia, the free enc

report card communicates a student's performance. In most places, the report card is issued by the school to the student or the student's parents twice or four times yearly. A typical report card uses a grading scale to determine the quality of a student's school work. ThroughoutNorth America, the grading scale consists of grades scored in classes taken by the student.

Report cards are now frequently issued in automated form by computers and may be mailed to parents and students. Traditional school report cards contained a section for teachers to record individual comments about the student's work and behaviour. Some automated card systems provide for teachers' including such comments but others limit the report card to grades only.

In Former Yugoslavia, the role of report cards is largely fulfilled by so-called Student Booklets ("Indexes" / "Indeks(i)"), in which all final (annual) grades throughout the entire level of education, as well as any negative or positive critic the student is given, and all of his other school institutionrelated accomplishments, as well as personal information (including a photograph), are kept. FY Student Booklets vary depending upon the level of education. The only exception are the 'report cards' which are issued at the end of the year containing a list of final and semi-final grades, which are given to institutions of Secondary and Third level education while joining it.

Mass communication
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the academic field of study. For the actual means of mass communication, see Mass media.

Mass communication is the term used to describe the academic study of the various means by which individuals and entities relay information through mass media to large segments of the population at the same time. It is usually understood to relate to newspaper and magazine publishing, radio, television and film, as these are used both for disseminating news and for advertising. [edit]Field

of study

Mass communication research includes media institutions and processes such as diffusion of information, and media effects such as persuasion or manipulation of public opinion. In the United States, for instance, several university []] departments were remodeled into schools or colleges of mass communication or "journalism and mass communication".

In addition to studying practical skills of journalism, public relations or advertising, they offer programs on "mass communication" or "mass communication research." The latter is often the title given to doctoral studies in such schools, whether the focus of the student's research is journalism practice, history, law or media effects. Departmental structures within such colleges may separate research and instruction in professional or technical aspects of mass communication.

With the increased role of the Internet in delivering news and information, mass communication studies and media organizations tend to focus on the convergence of publishing, broadcasting and digital communication. The academic mass communication discipline historically differs from media studies and communication studies programs with roots in departments of theatre, film or speech, and with more interest in "qualitative," interpretive theory, critical or cultural approaches to communication study. In contrast, many mass communication programs historically lean toward empirical analysis and quantitative researchfrom statistical content analysis of media messages to survey research, public opinion polling, and experimental research. Interest in "New Media" and "Computer Mediated Communication" is growing much faster than educational institutions can assimilate it. So far, traditional classes and degree programs have not been able to accommodate new shifts of the paradigm in communication technologies.[citation needed] Although national standards for the study of interactive media have been present in the U.K. since the mid-nineties, course work in these areas tends to vary significantly from university to university. Graduates of Mass Communication programs work in a variety of fields in traditional news media and publishing, advertising, public relations and research institutes. Such programs are accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass CommunicationACEJMC.

The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass CommunicationAEJMC.is the major membership organization for academics in the field, offering regional and national conferences and refereed publications. The International Communication AssociationICA.and National Communication Association (formerly the Speech Communication Association) include divisions and publications that overlap with those of AEJMC, but AEJMC historically has stronger ties to the mass communication professions in the United States. [edit]The

terms 'Mass' and 'Communication'

The term 'mass' denotes great volume, range or extent (of people or production) and reception of messages.McQuail: McQuail's Mass Communication Theory, The important point about 'mass' is not that a given number of individuals receives the products, but rather that the products are available in principle to a plurality of recipients.Thompson: The Media and Modernity,

The term 'mass' suggests that the recipients of media products constitute a vast sea of passive, undifferentiated individuals. This is an image associated with some earlier critiques of 'mass culture' and Mass society which generally assumed that the development of mass comm