Business Finance - Accounting Homework FM & OE

Why Quality Matters

Option 1

There are a number of resources for both industry professionals and consumers that analyze and publish quality metrics. Examples include:  Hospital Compare  - published through  Medicare.gov,  J.D. Power  - well known for its car reviews, and  Quality Magazine  and  Quality Digest  - two resources used by OM professionals.

· Locate and post a link to a quality review resource that is used in your industry (select one that is different from what has already been posted by your peers).

· What information do these resources provide about how they collect and analyze data, and develop reports and (if applicable) rankings?

· Which metrics are most frequently used in assessing quality failures and the impact these failures have on costs?

· How can this resource be used by OM professionals to support quality improvement initiatives?

OR

Option 2

Quality failures have impacts that go beyond costs. Quality failures can erode an organization's competitive advantage.

Locate and post a news story from the last six months published in  The Wall Street Journal or another reputable source about an internal or external quality failure.

· Briefly summarize the issue including what went wrong and whether it was a performance quality or conformance quality issue.

· What was the impact on costs to the organization and/or its customers?

· How did the organization address the issue? What steps did they take to either correct the problem or provide a resolution to customers? Were these reasonable and fair? Explain.

· What steps could have been taken to reduce or prevent this failure?

Why Quality Matters

Option 1

There are a number of resources for both industry professionals and consumers that analyze and publish quality metrics. Examples include:  Hospital Compare  - published through  Medicare.gov,  J.D. Power  - well known for its car reviews, and  Quality Magazine  and  Quality Digest  - two resources used by OM professionals.

· Locate and post a link to a quality review resource that is used in your industry (select one that is different from what has already been posted by your peers).

· What information do these resources provide about how they collect and analyze data, and develop reports and (if applicable) rankings?

· Which metrics are most frequently used in assessing quality failures and the impact these failures have on costs?

· How can this resource be used by OM professionals to support quality improvement initiatives?

OR

Option 2

Quality failures have impacts that go beyond costs. Quality failures can erode an organization's competitive advantage.

Locate and post a news story from the last six months published in  The Wall Street Journal or another reputable source about an internal or external quality failure.

· Briefly summarize the issue including what went wrong and whether it was a performance quality or conformance quality issue.

· What was the impact on costs to the organization and/or its customers?

· How did the organization address the issue? What steps did they take to either correct the problem or provide a resolution to customers? Were these reasonable and fair? Explain.

· What steps could have been taken to reduce or prevent this failure?