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The aim of this work is to show the benefits of the internalization of quality standards. Based on interviews in the tourism industry and a quantitative study, the results show that internalization of quality standards has positive effects on performance. The commitment to implement quality standard requirements may lead tourism organizations to improve management systems because they apply the quality requirement in a more advanced way. This means that companies that believe in quality philosophy and apply it in their daily practices can improve their results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This theoretical essay proposes to present the conceptual and methodological elements that compose a scientific work to clarify the steps to build the research that can present methodological limiting, evidenced by authors that approach about scientific practices. The ideas are confronted and there are discussed methodological vices on academic works. To understand the essence of the elaboration of a scientific research is needed to attempt that the process of building knowledge, on methodological terms or idea analyses, is directly linked to the work of the researcher, each time less arrested to the moorings of patterns previously established. The craft of the researcher is handmade and should be built daily, because just the practice can avoid the methodological vices on the construction of scientific research. Is considered that the epistemological debate on administration sciences should not be closed because one way of develop the scientific thought is to questioning the precepts, basis, and even the excellence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism is one of the activities that has an economic impact in the development of Cuban nation. Travel agencies constitute an essential element in that tourism development. However, there is not any model to measure enterprise excellence with the application of tools related to Management of Technology and Innovation (GTI), which avoids an adequate coordination and search of innovation actions that contribute to a better management for achieving enterprise excellence. This is a scientific problem to be solved. Therefore, the general objective of this research is to develop a model which allows to measure enterprise excellence in travel agencies (EAV). This is pointed as a scientific novelty, because so far, any other previous paper about the topic has been presented. To fulfil the objectives already proposed, methods and tools were used such as the method of Kendall's coefficient, Fuller Triangle, Onate Ramos' methodology for the selection of experts, as well as the owns of the topic that is being developed. As a main result, a system of indicators were obtained to determine the excellence in travel agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In their research the authors studied the lean management's effect has on competitiveness with a corporate level. To do this, a framework has been developing, which combines the organizational abilities establishing routines and practices resulting from their performance and competitiveness. Corporate case studies to show that a) the impact of the introduction of lean production, how to change the organization's capabilities, and b) what factors are improving the competitiveness of the companies behind the slim. Their results point out that the lean management companies primarily in the functionality and variable ability positive effects on business performance is not necessarily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Total quality management (TQM) is a management philosophy that is widespread among many organizations all over the world. Accordingly, the practical implications of TQM on firms' performance are receiving an increasing attention from both practitioners and researchers. This paper presents an empirical study which examines the relationships between the implementation of TQM and both the firms' cultural predisposition to innovate and the actual innovation effort undertaken from an administrative and technical perspective. The innovation effort is measured in terms of the intensity and newness of the innovations adopted; and the innovative culture, together with the quality practices, is also considered as an antecedent of the former. The research resorts to the European Foundation for Quality Management Excellence Model to conceptualise TQM in an attempt to provide empirical evidences referred to the main European standard. The findings indicate that TQM shows a strong predictive power against the innovative culture as well as a determinant role in the stimuli of both administrative and technical innovation. Therefore, the major implication of this study is that TQM is an appropriate resource to enhance organizational performance, particularly innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the understanding of managerial control over work, the labour process literature has been very influential. Recent critical contributions from the sociological tradition have, however, served to so fragment the underlying perspective that its coherence is now threatened. This paper seeks to demonstrate how a dialectical analysis can lay the basis for a viable amended approach. The need for a dialectical framework has often been urged illustrations of such a perspective in operation, however, are rare. Using a series of examples, this paper argues that the dialectic of work control can be revealed by focussing on two phenomena: the 'levels' and `circuits' of control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses some of the process improvement that companies used to reduce costs as well as increase the efficiency while maintaining the quality ad performance standards as expected by consumers in the U.S. First is to identify the areas wherein improvement opportunities were visible by starting with a problem statement. Then, identify the key process input variables of the company. It further stresses that costs, which are related to restricted workers and lost-time cases is the resulting outcome of many input variable. Moreover, it notes that those inputs must be evaluated and prioritized to ensure that precious resources are not being wasted.

The Management Charter Initiative (MCI) has announced that it is to develop vocational standards of best practice for quality managers throughout Great Britain. MCI, an industry-led organization, has been appointed by the government to devise a comprehensive set of standards to measure the performance of quality managers in the workplace, across all type and size of organizations. MCI aims to produce a model of standards for quality managers by October 1992. The standards will not only apply to quality managers but will also emphasize the quality aspect of a general manager's role.

The article offers news briefs related to performance standards in the U.S. International Code Council and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) have combined the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and the ANSI/ AHSRAE/ IESNA Standard. The National Fire Association (NFPA) is planning to revise its standard for flammable gases or vapors.