Innovation and Total Quality

General

Course Contents

  1. Innovation and innovation management, importance of innovation in competitiveness.
  2. Innovation and Management, innovation and Marketing, innovation schools and models.
  3. Innovation management, goals and strategies, Innovation and Total quality.
  4. Principles and methods of production of innovative products, the resistances source of innovative Management, causes of oppositions to innovations.
  5. Innovation development technologies, creativity and innovation, man and knowledge sources of innovation development.
  6. Types of innovation, mining of innovative ideas, design of innovative products.
  7. Life cycle of innovations, targeted innovation, business and innovation, indicators of business innovation in Greece and the EU.
  8. Definitions of quality, quality and quality management, quality as a competitiveness criterion, Myths about quality, dimensions of quality.
  9. Strategic quality management, Total Quality Management (TQM), TQM objectives and strategies.
  10. TQM principles, PDCA cycle, TQM systems, IOP, quality certification, the ISO system.
  11. The views of the total quality Gurus (Deming, Juran, Crosby, etc.), IOP systems design, forms and types of brainstorming.
  12. Quality circles, strategies, purpose and objectives of QA, Quality Models, EQMA, Malcom Baldrige.
  13. International GMP, EMS, EMAS, OHSAS, HACCP, CE, Ecolabelling.

Educational Goals

Innovative businesses in Greece are very limited compared to international standards. Also, the adherence of companies to quality product production processes (through methods of ensuring it) is not a first priority. The result is the low competitiveness of goods and services even in sectors where Greece should have a competitive advantage in quality (services, agri-food sector, manufacturing, etc.). The course “Innovation and Total Quality” came to fill this need and this gap. The students will come into first contact with this important chapter of modern Management which is a development belt of modern economies. Through the systematic approach of developments in the field and the views of Josef Schumpeter to today’s major developments in the field of technology and IT, an effort is made to strengthen the interest and creative imagination of students. It is also sought, through the use of advanced technology and the application of innovative processes, that companies succeed in producing quality and competitive products and conquer international markets. Particular importance is given to approaching the basic principles of Total Quality Management and how through them our students will acquire a different way of reading business and production functions. An effort is made to understand the need to diversify or change the production model and business paradigm and the shift to competitive production characteristics and products that are difficult to copy and durable, such as quality, knowledge, R&D, etc.

Upon successful completion of the  the course, the student should be able to:

  • Know what Innovation and Total Quality are and what their importance is for the company, in order for them to obtain lasting comparative competitive advantages.
  • Understand why businesses need to change their production model and paradigm, especially today when competition has intensified and products have a short lifespan.
  • Apply Total Quality Management methods and Innovation principles and the corresponding models (Deming, Juran, Crosby, etc.).
  • Acquire skills of analysis and planning of innovative actions at the level of management and production process.
  • Synthesize the acquired knowledge in the formulation of tactics and strategies for obtaining competitive advantages through quality by making use of Quality Assurance Systems (ISO, HACCP, EMS, EMAS, OHSAS, etc.).
  • Know and evaluate the mechanisms, the process and the bodies of Certification of Quality Assurance Systems.

General Skills

  • Independent work.
  • Team work.
  • Decision making.
  • Working in an competitive environment.
  • Production of free, creative and inductive thinking.

Teaching Methods

  • In the classroom, face to face.

Use of ICT means

  • Basic software (windows, word, power point, the web, etc.).
  • Support of learning process through the electronic platform / e-class.

Teaching Organization

ActivitySemester workload
Lectures26
Practice works13
Assignment (Essay writing)20
Independent Study66
Total125

Students Evaluation

Written final exams (60%) that may include:

  • Judgemental questions.
  • Short answer questions.
  • Composite theoratical questions.

In each question, corresponding evaluation points are specified. A total of five question are given, four are selected.
Optional assignment (Essay writing and presentation) corresponds to 40% of the final grade.

 

Recommended Bibliography

  1. Μαντζάρης Γιάννης, Καινοτομία και Ολική Ποιότητα, Εκδόσεις Λογισμός, Θεσσαλονίκη 2017.
  2. Αυλωνίτης Σ., Στοιχεία ελέγχου και διασφάλισης ποιότητας, Εκδ. ΕΛΛΗΝ, 2003.
  3. Bessant J. -Tidd J., Κουλουριώτης Δημήτρης (επιμ.), Καινοτομία και Επιχειρηματικότητα, Εκδόσεις ΤΖΙΟΛΑ, 2016.

Related Research Journals

  1. Industry and Innovation.
  2. Creativity and Innovation Management.
  3. European Journal of Innovation Management.
  4. International Journal of Technology Management and Sustainable Development.