Loduca, D P (2011) Exploratory study of barriers to use of Feigenbaum's quality cost strategy within design engineering firms. PhD thesis, Missouri University of Science and Technology, USA.
Abstract
It has been more than a half century since Armand Feigenbaum first conceived of the strategy for the manufacturing sector, yet quality costing strategies have not found a foothold among engineering firms. This study was aimed at constructing a set of theories that explains possible barriers to acceptance of the Feigenbaum strategy by analyzing attitudes and opinions of players in an actual engineering firm and the culture in which they work. Modeled after the Feigenbaum approach and tailored to the business model of engineering and architectural firms, a system was developed to classify and record costs of quality. A local office of a large engineering firm was recruited to apply the system on a hand-picked design project. Using qualitative study with a phenomenology approach, records were examined and participants were interviewed. The observed concepts and emergent hypotheses begin to tell an interesting story that might be the key to the ultimate success or failure of the Feigenbaum approach to quality costing in engineering firms. Concepts related to the mechanics of a quality cost reporting system were originally thought to be overwhelming when applied to a working engineering firm; instead they have been observed to be relatively simple and have practical and straightforward solutions. However, concepts related to perceptions of quality and quality management appear to be much more daunting barriers to a prevention-based system due to policies and perceptions that have persisted for years.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Raper, S A |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | culture; failure; business model; manufacturing; quality management; phenomenology |
| Index terms: | qualitative study, design engineering, architectural firm, phenomenology, costing, prevention, quality management, business model, exploratory study, strategy, engineering firm |
| Subjects: | financial risk, structural engineering, accounting and finance, research methods, quality assurance, firms, methods and analysis, management, research design and methodology, business |
| Topics: | Quality Management, Engineering Principles, Business Strategy, Cost Management, Research Practice, Roles and Professions |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here