Week 3 – Assignment

Recommendations for Improvement

[WLOs: 1, 2, 3, 4] [CLOs: 3, 4, 5]

Prior to beginning work on this assignment, please review the related grading rubric.

For this assignment, you will complete the Chapter 8 Case: Control of “thresholds for evaluation” (TFE’s) at Hallenvale Hospital and Chapter 9 Discussion Question 7, parts b, c, and g.

Control of TFE’s at Hallenvale Hospital Case

This case requires you to assess the infection rate at the hospital and do the following:

• Calculate the average percent of infections.
• Create an appropriate control chart with upper and lower control limits, plot the data in a Control Chart (using Excel), and determine if the process is in control.
• Determine what actions management should take.
• Determine an appropriate TFE for management to use to monitor future data.

Question 7

These questions require that you evaluate different approaches to improving process performance and develop a recommendation on how to proceed. The question and its parts are listed below. Identify and discuss what would be the most appropriate tool (e.g., 7 QC Tools used for kaizen or others) to use to attack each of these problems:

B. The publication team for an engineering department wants to improve the accuracy of its user documentation but is unsure of why documents are not error free.

C. A rental car agency is getting numerous complaints about the length of time that customers have to wait to obtain a car. They need to get a better handle on the factors that relate to the wait time.

G. A travel agency is interested in gaining a better understanding of how call volume varies by time of year in order to adjust staffing schedules.

In your recommendations for each scenario, examine techniques (e.g., a Six Sigma technique, “lean” strategies, etc.) to improve input and supplier quality, and incorporate a customer-focused approach to Quality Management concepts.

Each conclusion should incorporate at least one scholarly reference supporting the recommendations made. Across the three recommendations, use at least three scholarly sources in addition to the text.

The Recommendations for Improvement paper

• Must be two to four double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.)
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted

For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).

• Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
• Must use at least three scholarly sources in addition to the course text.
  • The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
• Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.)
• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

Required Resource

Text

Evans, J. R., & Lindsay, W. M. (2017). Managing for quality and performance excellence (10th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage.

• Chapter 5: Process Focus (except Process Control, Process Improvement, or Managing Supply Chain Processes)
• Chapter 6: Statistical Methods in Quality Management
• Chapter 8: Measuring and Controlling Quality
• Chapter 9: Process Improvement and Six Sigma

Recommended Resources

Articles

Cheng, K-M. (2010). Application of the Six Sigma process to service quality improvement in fitness clubs: A managerial perspective. International Journal of Management, 27(3), 528-540. Retrieved from http://www.theijm.com/

• The full-text, full-length version of this article is available through the ABI/INFORM database in the Ashford University Library. This article provides information about Six Sigma and may assist you in your discussions and/or assignment this week.

Pearl, R. (2014, March 27). Offshoring American health care: Higher quality at lower costs? (Links to an external site.) Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertpearl/2014/03/27/offshoring-american-health-care-higher-quality-at-lower-costs/

• The full-text article is available through http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertpearl/2014/03/27/offshoring-american-health-care-higher-quality-at-lower-costs/. (Links to an external site.) This article provides information about quality in a service organization and will assist you in your assignment this week.
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Multimedia

O’Loughlin, E. [Eugene O’Loughlin]. (2012, September 25). How to… draw a basic control chart in Excel 2010 (Links to an external site.) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvp8qmH3Eos

• This video provides information about creating control charts and may assist you in your assignment this week.
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