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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
is the application of computers and telecommunications equipment to store,
retrieve, transmit and manipulate data, often in the context of a business or
other enterprise. The term is commonly used as a synonym for computers
and computer networks, but it also encompasses other information
distribution technologies such as television and telephones. Several
industries are associated with information technology, such as computer
software electronics , hardware e-commerce and computer services. In the
business context, the Information Technology Association of America has
defined information technology (IT) as "the study, design, development,
application implementation support or management of computer-based
information systems" The business value of information technology is to
automate business processes, provide information for decision making,
connect business with their customers, and provide productivity tools to
increase efficiency. In an academic context, the Association for Computing
Machinery defines it as"undergraduate degree programs that prepare
students to meet the computer technology needs of business,
government, healthcare, schools, and other kinds of organizations ....IT
specialists assume responsibility for selecting hardware and software
products appropriate for and organization, integrating those products with
organizational needs and infrastructure, and
installing, customizing, and maintaining those applications for the
organizations computer users.
Examples of these responsibilities include the installation of networks;
network administration and security; the design of web pages; the
development of multimedia resources; the installation of communication
components; the oversight of email systems; and the planning and
management

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of the technology life cycle by which an organizations technology is


maintained,
upgraded, and replaced."
HISTORY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
The back-story of information technology precedes the invention of the
computer. The abacus,used by Asians, Egyptians, Romans, and the Greek
can be termed a source of information technology. Calculators, the first
mechanical one built by German polymath Wilhelm Schickard,or the slide
rule, developed in 1622 by William Oughtred, also comes under the heading
of information technology. Another example would be punch card machines,
expanded upon by IBM in the early to mid 1900's, qualifies the term
information technology .The basic concept of Information Technology can be
traced to the World War II alliance of the military and industry in the
development of electronics, computers, and information theory. After the
1940s, the military remained the major source of research and development
funding for the expansion of automation to replace manpower with machine
power.

Computers And quality Function


The field of information technology (IT) covers the design, administration and
support of computer and telecommunications systems. Some of the positions
in this field include database and network administrators, computer support
specialists, computer scientists, software programmers and system analysts.
The majority of career tracks in IT entail design and operational tasks related
to computer hardware components, networks and software applications.
Professionals in the IT field work with businesses and organizations to set up
and support viable computer networks that will keep systems efficient and
reliable. IT encompasses all hardware and software used in the storing,

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creation and accessing of information. Examples of technologies that


professionals work with are firewalls, databases, media storage devices,
networks and the Internet.

Internet and electronic communication


Bandolier wants to highlight studies that demonstrate benefits or harm of the
Internet, electronic communication with patients, or electronic
communication of data for patients and healthcare professionals. There is no
agenda, nor any sponsorship. Readers aware of good studies might wish to
tell us about them, or suggest ways to expand this area.
Information Quality Issues
The No 1 Showstopper!
The largest challenge of them all is no doubt the quality of data. Many
organisations simply do not know the size of the problem until very late in
the project. And by then it may be too late to turn back and fix the
problems.
Information Quality
The highest level is that of Information Quality, which deals with the problem
as a business issue on the business level. Nobody has described this better
than Larry English in his new (2009) book Information Quality Applied - see
the details in the sidebar to the right.
What's wrong with data?
There are many things to consider. Here are the most important dimensions
of data quality:
As a consequence of low quality, many projects get seriously descoped - or
effectively discontinued - because of this.

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Accuracy (how well is the real world described?)


Completeness (how much is missing?)
Consistency ( eg. across different systems / redundancies etc.)
Correctness (conformance with business rules etc.)
Integrity ( eg. compliance with master data, eg. Product Master, and
other relationships)
Timelines (are data too old?)
Uniqueness (for keys, identifiers etc.)
There are more aspects than these, but the above is sufficient for
most. (The international standard ISO/IEC 25012 defines - in detail these qualities: Accuracy, Completeness, Consistency, Credibility,
Currentness, Accessibility, Compliance, Confidentiality, Efficiency,
Precision, Traceability, Understandability, Availability, Portability,
Recoverability.
The amount af "bad" data is most often larger than people think. As a rule of
thumb maybe 5 % of all transactions are problematic in one or more aspects,
but it can be much worse than that.
Why are data wrong?
There are a number of factors contributing to these types of problems - and
they reinforce each other. Some of them are:
Lack of data validation in ERP-systems
Older technologies do not support eg. drop down lists
The precise business rules are not known to many
People are busy
Psychology: Correct data are not important to the user, who registers
them, eg. the car sales person
Data may be loaded / corrected in one-off batch runs

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The rules have changed, but users are not aware of it


And much more...
Basically it is a business problem. If data was treated as any other asset, this
would not happen to the extent that it actually does. This is part of what I
call Information-driven Business Analysis, and you can learn more from
these eLearning offerings.
What can we do about it?
Many organisations do not invest in these disciplines. Maybe because they
do not understand what they really are. They are: Asset management.
Simple as that. Information is one of your most important assets and should
be on our balance sheet. Think about the impact of losing all or even half of
your data overnight...
So Data Governance really puts in place some Information Owners and some
"Information Controllers". Master Data Management does to your shared
data (such as customers, products and so forth) what standard schedule of
accounts, standard costcenter structures and standard bookkeeping
dimensions do for you financial assets. Why is it that many companies do not
treat information as an asset?
Do not build on sand!
Fortunately software tools are now available to help business detect and
monitor data quality problems. Even to the the extent of implementing
repeatable business processes to manage the area. If you use tools such as
these, you can scope and size projects much more precisely than ever
before. And you can measure the data quality, also over time. See the Data
Profiling page for more details.

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Controlling the Information Asset


Quite a few people, including myself, are suggesting that you treat this area
as core business processes and manage it using balanced scorecards and
key performance indicators. See the Data Quality Scorecard page for details.

Technologies of future
In labs around the world, researchers are busy creating technologies that will
change the way we conduct business and live our lives. These are not the
latest crop of gadgets and gizmos: they are completely new technologies
that could soon transform computing, medicine, manufacturing,
transportation, and our energy infrastructure. Nurturing the people and the
culture needed to make the birth of such technological ideas possible is a
messy endeavor, as MIT Media Lab cofounder Nicholas Negroponte explains
in Creating a Culture of Ideas But in this special section, Technology
Review's editors have identified 10 emerging technologies that we predict
will have a tremendous influence in the near future. For each, we've chosen
a researcher or research team whose work and vision is driving the field. The
profiles, on the following pages, offer a sneak preview of the technology
world in the years and decades to come.
Conclusion
The evolution of information technology reached a turning point with the
development of the Internet. Once a government project, the Internet was
created for military purposes. Through the course of its development,
researchers began finding other uses for the network, and use of the
technology spread worldwide. Access to the Internet today by individuals,
businesses, and institutions alike has created a global market for Internet
service and has spurned an increase in productivity in the technological
communication field.

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Our research compares Internet development, access, and use in the United
States and Russia. Our surveys proves our prediction that access to the
Internet in Russia is limited compared to the access exercised by American
users.

condition

resulting

from

world

relations

during

the

early

development of the Internet, access in Russia is increasing with 5.4 million


people currently able to access the service. However, in the midst of the
global rush to embrace the Internet, some concerns have been raised
regarding personal, business, and government access, and the nature of
information being transmitted across the information superhighway.
Unfortunately, in addition to the educational, commercial, personal, and
governmental uses of the Internet, global use of the Internet also includes
Internet fraud, transmitting of illegal items, and certain forms of harassment.
As we venture farther into the Information Age, the nature of life is evidence
that future global development will undoubtedly depend on technological
advances, particularly in communications. Understanding the underlying
reasons certain types of technologies are in use today plays an important
part in the overall use of technology. In addition, although the importance of
these advances might be obvious, true comprehension of a particular kind of
technology lies in the full experience of the machine in question. Advances
made in the technology of the Internet have continued to dazzle its
spectators, obstructing comprehension of its origin and initial uses. These
phenomena might be due to the rapid change of technology, and the pace at
which individuals and businesses are becoming dependent on them. At any
rate, the technological movement will continue to evolve, and since it is
evident that a complete understanding of technology is unnecessary for its
utilization, only those who lack access will be left behind.

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INTRODUCTION
Bench marking was one of the most popular and widely adopted
management techniques of the 1980s and 1990s and it gained a lot
of credit or helping organization to improve their competitive
advantages.
Benchmarking DEFINITION
Is the process of identifying "
best practice
" in relation to both products (including) and the processes by which those
products are created and delivered. The search for "best practice" can taker
place both inside a particular industry, and also in other industries (for
example - are there lessons to be learned from other industries?).The
objective of benchmarking is to
understand and evaluate the current position
of a business or organisation in relation to "best practice" and to identify
areas and means of performance improvement.

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Standard, or a set of standards, used as a point of references for evaluating


performance or level of quality. Benchmarks may be drawn from a firm's own
experience, from the experience of other firms in the industry, or from legal
requirements such as environmental regulation.

Reasons to benchmarking
Small businesses worldwide increasingly use benchmarking as a tool to
maximize success. By analyzing and comparing the supply chain processes
of successful organizations in different industries and of varying sizes,
entrepreneurs use the steps as a "benchmark" and adapt the processes to
their own businesses to operate more efficiently in the short term and to
assist in their long-term planning.

According to Price Water house Coopers, benchmarking is a practical tool


for continuous improvement. It disturbs companies into action, uncovers new
ways of improving business processes and activities, and provides external
examples for success. It helps ensure that a company strives for excellence.
Being members of an association gives members the opportunity to
collaborate on best industry practices and to benchmark against fellow
members on human resource information, marketing trends, IT solutions and
practice management.
Just like fingerprints, accounting firms arent all the same, however
CPAmerica firms share certain characteristics.
They are:
1.Growth oriented firms
2.Leaders in their local markets
3.Experts in their respective niches
4.Willing to share and be active participants

Here are four reasons to participate and utilize benchmarking


surveys.

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1.Make better decisions to benefit your entire organization: this is

the perfect opportunity to see what other member firms are doing with
regards to budget, software or tactics. Maybe its time to look at your tax
software, change what audit program you currently use, or see what
others are doing in relation to virtualizing servers to shared desktop
infrastructure.
2. Dont reinvent the wheel: Most likely, one of our member firms
has made a decision thats worked or hasnt worked. The valuable
information included in the survey results prevents you from having to
start at step one. Because we are a member-driven association, you can
benefit from the support of fellow members.
3. Find out what other firms are doing to make their employees
happy: Benchmark with firms similar in size or see what larger firms are
doing. What benefit programs are other members offering? What
percentage of firms are offering leadership development or formal mentor
programs. The CPAmerica Human Resource Benchmarking survey will
give this high detailed information.
4. See where you stand against other firms: The most valuable
aspect of benchmarking is to be able to measure against other firms that
are of similar size, that are larger and smaller than you. By checking this
barometer year after year, you can make sure that your firm keeps
improving. The best part? You can contact the firms that are doing better
and ask them how they got there.

Process
The process of benchmarking your business to evaluate your current success
can be quite involved, requiring the collection, analysis and comparison of
mounds of data on everything from your recent sales growth to production
capacity. However, you may want to start the process by simply sitting down,
looking around and asking yourself if your business seems to be where it
should be right now. Your gut-level intuition of how the business is doing may
be more valuable than even the most detailed analysis.

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Then take a look at your sales. You probably won't have to consult any
financial statements or even think for more than a second or two to recall
your business' sales for the most recent month and year. Sales revenue is
the most common measure of a business' size and level of success.
However, don't stop after you look at your total sales figure. Break that figure
down as much as you can. Looking at your sales by lines of business, product
lines, individual products, varieties of individual products and price points of
individual product varieties can be far more useful than just knowing that
sales are up.
Next, you might want to take a look at exactly how profitable you are. And
it's not enough to just know whether you are or are not making money
overall. You should also look at your current profitability in light of several
ratios, including gross margin (sales minus cost of goods), return on equity
(profit divided by net worth), and return on investment (after-tax net profits
divided by total assets).
And profits aren't the only way to measure a company's success. You should
also be aware of how much your company is worth. One way to do this is to
check out an updated balance sheet. That figure at the bottom for net worth,
representing assets minus liabilities, is a good indicator of whether you've
built value in your business--and if you have, how much.
Don't stop your valuation checkup with your balance sheet, either. There are
a few other ways to measure value. One of the most important valuation
techniques is based on expected future cash flow, or how much cash the
company should be able to throw off for you in the next several years.
Businesses are typically valued as a multiple of their future cash flows, but
different industries and types and sizes of businesses use a variety of

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indicators. To find out what rule applies to your industry, check with your
trade association.
Next, take a look at your market share. Try to break down your markets and
products as finely as is practical to get a realistic view of your market share.
The results can be an accurate indicator of the most likely direction you
should head in to achieve growth.
You should also consider your employees. Having a work force of skillful,
motivated employees is essential to a small company's ability to deal with
globalization, shorter product cycles, evolving information technology, and
the other challenges of modern business. At the same time, the pressures of
competition mean that no company can afford to have more employees on
its payroll than it needs.
When it comes to employees, the basic question you're trying to answer is
this: Do my employees have the capability to carry out the work that is and
will be required of them? You'll have to look at a variety of factors. Some key
factors used in measuring work force quality include: number of years of
education of a typical worker, average length of time a worker has been with
your company, and average length of time a worker has worked in your
industry. You may also look at defect rates, turnover rates and absenteeism
records to determine the quality and motivation of your work force. Work
force quality can't be expressed as a single number, but it's a key variable in
plotting your company's future growth.
Location is your next element to evaluate. Entrepreneurs in fast-food and
similar industries know that these businesses aren't just about providing
good products, good service and good prices. They're also about real estate

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because the companies with the best locations tend to have better sales
than their competitors, all other things being equal. Location is also
important for companies in industries from transportation to health care.
Here are five factors to use in evaluating your current location:
Quality of life. Does your current location provide a pleasant work

environment?
Labor. Can you find the workers you need to prosper and grow?
Market. Will the local market provide adequate additional opportunity to

grow?
Distribution. Can you get enough raw materials--and ship out enough

finished goods--at your current location?


Business costs. Are the costs of doing business low enough to support

growth where you are?


Before you can decide where your company's going, you need to know what
your current capacity is. Here are some questions to ask to help you figure it
out:
Labor. What's your average productivity per employee?
Equipment. What's the maximum throughput you can achieve with your

existing plant and machinery?


Supply. Can you obtain more raw materials and supplies than you're

getting now?
Different businesses will have different answers to these questions. They'll
probably have different questions as well. For instance, a travel agency may

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have very little limitation on supply when it comes to the airline tickets it can
sell to its customers. However, there may be significant limitations on
average productivity per employee for that agency. So take a look at your
capacity and try to measure it in the way that makes sense to you. The
measurements you make will come in handy when you're studying how to
grow in the future.
Finally, you have to remember that a business is not a static entity. It's
always growing, shrinking or just about to change direction and do
something different from what it has been doing. One of the most important
measures of how you're doing is determining exactly whether and how
you've been growing. This affects your future prospects for growth. If you've
been growing at double- or even triple-digit percentage rates every year,
then it may be time to take a breather rather than go in search of faster
growth. On the other hand, if your business has seen declining sales,
shrinking markets and overcapacity, then growth may be something you
won't be able to accomplish without radically repositioning your company.
Don't stop after looking at the top-line sales growth you've experienced. Also
examine whether and how fast you've been adding employees, expanding to
more locations and taking on new customers. Find out which products and
services have been growing at the fastest rates. Determine whether new
staff positions have tended to be in administrative functions or in production
or sales. Evaluate all the new locations you've added. Are they in high-traffic
spots with strong demographics that are increasing the average quality of
your outlets? Or have you been growing without careful planning? Answering
these questions will do a lot to guide your plans for future growth.
Deciding what to benchmark

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In todays uncertain business climate, managing a medical practice involves


much more than simply caring for patients. Although that will always be
important, to be successful orthopaedic surgeons and their practice
managers must also make informed business decisions. That requires a
method to gauge pertinent statistics: benchmarking.
Rising costs, reduced reimbursements, and increased competition push
orthopaedic practice managers to improve performance criteria that
contribute to profitability. Such factors may include productivity, capacity,
staffing, accounts receivable, and collections. As an alternative to educated
guesses about how well a practice is doing in each of these areas,
benchmarking makes this analysis much easier.
Internal measures
A practice can begin to measure its performance by looking internally, using
its own numbers: this months figures to last months figures, this years
results to last years results. By seeing what has changed, a practice can
focus on those areas with the potential to reap the most value first.
A good example is overtime costs within the human resources budget.
Although overtime is sometimes needed, it can also be a major driver in
labor costs for practices if left unmanaged. Scheduling issues often are the
main reason given for the need for overtime. If that is the case in your
practice, using shared personnel to relieve the overtime of full-time
equivalents (FTEs) might help.
If overtime has become the norm, consideration should be given to hiring
additional staff. Rather than pushing labor costs up, the addition of one more
employee can reduce variable expenses such as overtime and enable
physicians to see more patients. Additionally, the time-and-a-half payments
for overtime can help offset the regular salary of a new employee.
Outside comparisons
The next step is to look outside the practice, at practices of similar size
and/or from the same region. The American Association of Orthopaedic
Executives (AAOE) provides comparative measures based on the results of its
annual survey. These results enable orthopaedic practices to benchmark
operational and financial statistics to other practices across the country.
Among the statistics that can be useful are the following:
productivity numbers
staffing by FTE physicians
expenses in relation to FTE physicians
expenses as a percentage of receipts
A practice that finds its cost-to-volume ratio is appreciably different from the
national average should look more deeply into its operations.

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Understand your performance


Having a thorough understanding of your own performance can only get you
so far. For instance, if youre working to improve year-over-year new product
introduction defect rates it might benefit you to understand the current
industry average. Where one or two percentage points can have a dramatic
impact, that intelligence may warrant an investment or reallocation of
resources.

Learn from benchmarking data

This hypothetical example shows you how you can use benchmarking
information to:
measure your performance against industry standards
provide new ideas and innovation
motivate you to introduce change into your business.

Using the findings


Effective benchmarking
Effective benchmarking is not just about measuring; it should also involve
active goal-setting. To set realistic goals, however, a practice must evaluate
how efficient it is currently, how much improvement over time has occurred
based on past data, and how far the practice still has to go to match its
competitors.
Medical practices have no shortage of data to analyze, and benchmarking
provides structure to the analysis. It is the foundation on which a practice

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can build internal research and help to outline future controls. Benchmarking
enables practices to use data in new ways that can help focus time and
energy to improve the profitability of the practice. The outcomes should only
be limited by the willingness of the practices leaders and staff to use the
information as feedback in an ongoing improvement process.
Although benchmarking can facilitate accountability, it should not be used to
assign blame. Its strength is in finding answers to underperformance.
Benchmarks are not absolute. Instead, they can help identify both problems
and solutions.
Each orthopaedic practice has its own culture, which includes geography,
service mix, patient demographics, and the physicians style. These factors
may require a practice to modify industry or national benchmarks. However,
differences should not be used to rationalize variances from benchmarks
inappropriately.
Given the complexity and interdependence of key indicators, it is unlikely
that one benchmark source will measure everything. It is more likely that
multiple benchmark sources will be required to reflect the interwoven
practice processes. Positive variances enable the practice to celebrate
successes. Negative variances help the practice focus on performance
improvement.
Benchmarking adds considerable value to practices as they evaluate current
performance and work toward major improvement. It creates context, which
helps to identify issues, set targets, and take action to improve performance.
Each year, the AAOE surveys members to establish benchmarks that can be
used by practices. One of the benefits of AAOS membership is that
orthopaedic practices that participate in the AAOE annual survey have free
access to the results. The 2012 survey recently concluded, and results will
soon be available. Each year, participation in this event increases,
generating a broader collection of information that can provide key
benchmarking data from across the entire spectrum of orthopaedic practice
management.
Pitfalls and criticisms of Benchmarking
Every once in awhile each and every one of us is trying to measure
performance of certain parts of the code. It can be either a fully functional
application measured against specific number of user transactions per
minute or a microbenchmark. Which you have written to prove that your
fellow developer is wrong. Especially in the latter case it is beneficial to be
aware of the pitfalls skewing your benchmark results. Looking into the
benchmarks I have created ~seven years ago, I have to admit I have been

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proving my point on several cases I was actually incorrect. My apologies,


dear friends. But I have learned something along the way and think it is
worth sharing. So that you would not end up in the same stupid situation.

Benchmarking offers the following benefits to companies and organizations:


Highlights areas of practice and performance requiring attention and
improvement
Identifies strengths and weaknesses to other respondents
Establishes companys true position versus the rest, making thus easier for
the company to raise the organizational energy for change and develop
plans for action
Helps measure current company performance
Prevents reinventing the wheel (Why invest the time and costs when
someone else may have done it already -and often better, cheaper, and
faster?)
Accelerates change and restructuring by: o using tested and proven
practices, o convincing sceptics who can see that it works, and o overcoming
inertia and complacency and creating a sense of urgency when gaps are
revealed
Leads to "outside the box" ideas by looking for ways to improve outside of
the industry Forces organizations to examine present processes, which
often leads to improvement in and of itself
Makes implementation more likely because of involvement of process
owners BENCHMARKING INNOREGIO project Dr V. Kelessidis 5

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PWU-CDCEC CALAMBA
ALVA CENTER ROSAL ST. BRGY. UNO, CROSSING CALAMBA CITY, LAGUNA

Contact No.: 0922-821-6938/0939-904-3185/0917-527-5465 Tel.


No: (049) 508-1963/ (02)420-8209

Enables the identification of other companies and/or organizations with


processes resulting in superior performance, with a view to their adoption. A
1995 research study conducted by the American Productivity & Quality
Center's (APQC) International Benchmarking Clearinghouse demonstrated
benchmarking's tremendous leverage. More than 30 organizations reported
an average $76 million firstyear payback from their most successful
benchmarking project, with 40% ranging between 1 million and 9.9 million
US$. Among the most experienced benchmarkers, the average payback
soared to $189 million. Areas of greatest improvement, as revealed by the
same study and as a result of benchmarking projects were:
reduced costs, increased productivity and reduced cycled time of
operations. Benchmarking's positive influence extends beyond improving a
particular business process. It also promotes the emergence and evolution of
a "learning culture" throughout the enterprise - a key to continuous
improvement, total quality, and competitiveness over the long term. By
benchmarking their own business units and those of other organizations,
companies get the information they need to optimally adjust their
performance goals and find ways to achieve them.

Total Quality Management, or TQM for short, consists of three main points
(3). First, collaboration with suppliers to ensure that the supplies utilized in
work processes are well designed and fit for use. Second, taking continuous
employee analysis of work processes to improve their functioning and reduce
process variation. Third, maintaining close communication with customers to
identify and understand what they want and how they define quality.
TQM exemplary organization
TQM works by either one of two processes, consultant-oriented TQM or
project-oriented TQM. Consultant-oriented TQM typically involves the
creation of separate quality control bodies that oversee the implementation
of improvement and the control of quality improvement procedures. This
process is generally problematic in the public-sector because the TQM bodies
exist outside the chain of command, confusing accountability. These bodies
often fail to become a part of the hierarchical structure of government

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9

PWU-CDCEC CALAMBA
ALVA CENTER ROSAL ST. BRGY. UNO, CROSSING CALAMBA CITY, LAGUNA

Contact No.: 0922-821-6938/0939-904-3185/0917-527-5465 Tel.


No: (049) 508-1963/ (02)420-8209

organizations. In project-oriented TQM, some of the shortcomings of


consultant-oriented TQM are addressed. This entails including all employees
in the process and including their needs as well as the customer's, as well as
using established procedures as a foundation instead of implementing new
ones.
In general, TQM uses internal methods and the ideas of people within an
organization to improve itself from the inside out. This does not include
comparing one's organization to that of another, which is critical in
benchmarking. However, due to the potential unwillingness of employees to
accept ideas without understanding their logic, both TQM and benchmarking
require the input of everyone in an organization and a general resistance to
change must be overcome.

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