2009
MAS 2009 Proceeding
Problematic research design in quality management- is agent-based simulation a panacea?
Authors: Bizhan Jamshidnezhad, Alan Smith
Abstract
Quality Management (QM) problems are mostly researched by means of inductive reasoning based on statistics. Statistical models, albeit having several limitations, have been applied for a ling time in QM- related researches. Although some people present different definitions for QM and Total Quality Management (TQM), they are assumed to be the same in this research. Quality Management Systems (QMSs) are defined as a different notion later. This paper is an attempt to shed light on the alternative research methods to explore interactions between organizational performance and Quality Management (QM). To reach this objective, the problems of inductive reasoning, as the dominant research method, are categorized in three categories, namely research design, definitions and measurements, and analysis. The problems in each category are scrutinized and then the potentials of Agent-based Simulation (ABS), as new research method, are presented. It is argued that by applying ABS a virtual environment is provided to improve the quality research efforts in QM and deduce more reliable results.
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