Quality Articles Informative Articles from ASQ National! Article:  Sustaining Membership-Make a Statement ASQ Sustaining membership provides tools for your entire organization to keep pace with the velocity of change. Sustaining membership extends benefits to all employees at your site and helps your entire organization understand the crucial role each person plays in ensuring the quality and integrity of your organization. The most commonly asked question about sustaining membership is, “should my company become a Sustaining Member if we have employees who are individual members of ASQ?” The answer is YES. The two membership types do share some benefits, but there are benefits exclusive to each- and they complement each other. Individual membership educates one employee, while Sustaining membership enriches an entire organization. A distinct benefit of Sustaining membership is the opportunity to bring ASQ courses to your office and train your entire organization with in-house training on strategic thinking and team building. A great opportunity to train your employees without them ever leaving the building! While individual membership recognizes individuals as being affiliated with quality, Sustaining membership affiliates your organization with ASQ and aligns you with the finest and most respected organizations in business today. It makes a powerful statement to your employees, stockholders, suppliers, customers and competitors that quality is your cornerstone. Some benefits of sustaining membership include: - Recognition opportunities- from a listing in Quality Progress twice a year to an engraved plaque - Free membership in any or all Division and Interest Groups- ASQ’s topic or industry-specific groups - Access to special rates for ASQ Education resources and in-house training opportunities - Member discounts on all Quality Press publications for every employee of your organization and many more. To learn more about ASQ Sustaining Membership, or to join, log onto www.asq.org/sustain or call 800-248-1946 and request item B0150. Article: SUPPORT OUR UNEMPLOYED MEMBERS ASQ would like to ask all volunteers to reach out to all unpaid (not renewed) members in their Sections and Divisions and remind them that ASQ has benefits to assist them during this difficult time of economic downturn: Discount on membership renewals The Society supplements basic member dues for members who are unemployed through the dues relief program. They can receive a 50% discount on their renewal payment if they are unemployed and have one to four consecutive years of membership, or a 100% discount if they have five or more consecutive years of membership. Members may join the program for up to two years; however, they must reapply for the second year of participation How to request dues relief - Members can apply for dues relief and renew their membership at the same time at www.asq.org/renew. - Members can contact ASQ Customer Service to request item B0690, dues relief application. You can download a copy of the dues relief application directly from the Leadership channel in ASQNet. Please include information on dues relief and/or print a copy of the application in an upcoming issue of your Section or Division newsletter. Need help finding a job? With a new focus on Internet recruiting tools, ASQ Career Services provides members with updated tools to assist them in developing and advancing their careers. Members can view and apply to jobs online, upload several resumes, and participate in an annual career fair. Refer members to the Careers channel of ASQNet at www.asqnet.org where new jobs are added daily depending upon availability. Members can maximize their job search with ResumeMatch®, an exclusive web-based resume database. Potential employers search the database for candidates based on relevant professional criteria options, including ASQ certifications and divisions. The ASQ Career Fair is held each May in conjunction with our Annual Quality Congress (AQC). Members can meet hiring personnel face to face at the event or participate virtually by submitting their resume. Either way, members should pre-register online beginning in January each year in order to make their resume available to participating companies in advance. All registered resumes are provided to companies prior to and after the fair. Benefit for retired members ASQ also offers a discount on member dues for retired members. Members should contact ASQ to request an application for the dues reduction program, item B0488, or renew online at www.asq.org/renew. Article: Role of Section Examining and Auditing Committee The Section Relations department has recently noticed that not every Section has a complete examining and/or auditing committee. This would be a perfect opportunity to describe the function of both the auditing and examining committee and explain why they are so important to each Section. The benefits of the examining committee will be detailed followed by the auditing committee. The Section examining committee serves a critical role in helping Section members advance to Senior membership. Potential applicants must have completed one full year as a regular member. Policy G-2 explains the overall responsibilities of the examining committee. Section 3.3.1 states, “Applications shall be submitted at any time in writing, using the Senior Upgrade Form, to the Member Unit Examining Committee and shall include sufficient data to support the qualifications of the candidate.” The following Section 3.3.2 further states, “The Member Unit Examining Committee shall consider applications for Senior Member according to the requirements of this policy. If the application or forms lack sufficient data to substantiate the qualifications of the candidate, the Committee shall make every effort to obtain the necessary additional information. The Committee shall fairly, ethically, and in a timely manner evaluate each nomination for advancement to Senior grade. Applications of Members that meet the established requirements shall be submitted to the Membership Services department at headquarters for processing. The Committee shall provide nominees the status of their application and for those who do not qualify for advancement, supply appropriate feedback to identify the areas where the application has failed to meet the requirements, resulting in a disapproval for advancement.” Section 3.3.4 of Policy G-2 explains the requirements that the applicants will need to demonstrate. To read the complete Policy G-2 use the following link: http://www.asqnet.org/members/leadership/pnp/g2.pdf The responsibilities of the auditing committee are explained in Society Policy S-4, found at http://www.asqnet.org/members/leadership/pnp/s4.pdf. The auditing committee should consist of between three and five members. The Section Treasurer provides the auditing committee all pertinent year-end financial documents including chart of accounts, checkbook records, and all invoices and statements. The auditing committee then completes the reconciliation process detailed in policy S-4. Following the successful reconciliation of the Treasurer’s records and verification of the financial statements, the Section Auditing Committee will publish and attach to the financial statements a certification of its audit. The complete reports and audit are then sent to the ASQ Headquarters Section Accountant. Your support in developing a complete examining and auditing committee is greatly appreciated. Article: Volunteer e-Training Launched The Volunteer e-Training area was successfully launched on August 3, 2001. Located at http://www.asqnet.org/members/leadership/etrain/index.html , the e-Training area of ASQNet offers volunteers training in a variety of topics including Recruitment/Retention, Chair/Chair-Elect responsibilities, Strategic Planning, and the Section Management Process. The e-Training area allows volunteers who may not have the resources to attend live leadership training, to still learn the tools to effectively accomplish their volunteer goals. The e-Training area features narrated Powerpoint presentations and links to related documents referenced in the slides. More presentations will be added in the near future, so stay tuned! Article: Use Quality Alignment to Tackle State Standards By Sally J. Duncan, ASQ Koalaty Kid Master Trainer PQ Systems, Inc. With the attention that state and national standards are receiving, schools often find themselves with multiple “to-do” lists. Districts must conform to state standards, develop curriculum guides, and monitor student performance on proficiency tests—also mandated in most states. Using a quality approach, however, the three major tasks cannot only be coordinated, but can actually support each other. Aligning curriculum guides to state standards, for example, can be addressed with a few simple tools and the application of the quality alignment process. By studying the expectations listed in state standards documents alongside descriptions of a district’s curriculum plan and teachers’ lesson plans, it is possible to see where gaps occur. This is a simple, though tedious, exercise that may reveal, for example, that certain required concepts should have been presented to students in Algebra I, but were actually omitted entirely. Where the challenge lies is in the discovery that concepts may be falling between the cracks because of teacher assumptions (someone else is doing this) or a lack of knowledge about what students will be held accountable for. When this information is elicited by the alignment process, quality tools can be used to address the issue. Brainstorming possibilities for how and where to include a concept, drawing flowcharts related to the concept and its connection to other curricular areas, and making check sheets to collect data about how well the process is working, all have roles to play in this process. Schools must always be alert to ways in which they can multitask. The process of alignment reduces workload for curriculum evaluators at the same time that it assures better curriculum coordination. And because it utilizes a variety of problem-solving and data collection tools, it reinforces an approach that can be used in a variety of tasks throughout the district. Article: Important Changes in the Recertification Program Due to customer feedback we are proud to announce two newly revised areas to the recertification program! If you hold two or more ASQ certifications and wish to synchronize, it has become more simplified and customer focused. The old ‘videotapes’ category of the recertification journal has now been revised to a new category called ‘electronic media’. To find out further detailed information to these two new great updates to the recertification program please visit the following web link to recertification web site. http://www.asq.org/cert/faq/recert.html *See recertification FAQ #7 and #11 If you are in need of a recertification journal, you may either download one from the recertification web site using the following link http://www.asq.org/cert/recert/rucredits/application.html or call ASQ customer service and request Item B0525 at 800-248-1946, 414-272-8575, or e-mail cs@asq.org Please feel free to contact the Recertification Coordinator at ASQ for further assistance bcarr@asq.org or contact your local section Recertification Chair. (Please refer to your section newsletter for contact information or ASQ for contact information) Article: Resume Writing Tips to Market Volunteer Experience While many job seekers gain excellent work experience as volunteers - stating Volunteer or the name of the agencies where experience was gained - is often not impressive. In most instances, job seekers can market this experience at a much higher level by labeling the skills they've developed. Let's look at an example background as someone serving as a Volunteer for her university's marketing association and as a coordinator for a non-profit center serving hot meals to the homeless. Take a look at the way the individual had originally described this experience below. Then read the after example. Which one does a better job of effectively promoting the individual for a Management Trainee position for a marketing organization? Before: Volunteer Experience -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Member - University of Wisconsin Marketing Association 1997 - Present Volunteer - Hot Meals for the Homeless 1997 - Present After: Related Marketing / Program Management Experience -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Program Management / Marketing Events Coordination, University of Wisconsin 1997 - Present Project Management, Non-Profit Agency Experience 1997 - Present The other big mistake people make when describing their volunteer background is to use general descriptions that lack numbers or specifics. Compare the before and after examples below. Which is most impressive? Worked with students and academic staff to coordinate and manage annual association and marketing events. ....or Managed marketing events with up to 2,000 in attendance which required coordinating registration, topics and speakers with 12 committee members including the Marketing Association President and Dean of Business Administration program. Article: Quality Press Welcomes ASQ Members to Apply to its Review Boards Consider sharing your expertise to improve publications. Perhaps the most important element in the success of Quality Press products is the peer review process. Members of our Standing Review and Mixed Media Review Boards are vital to the success of each title that Quality Press publishes. Without the guidance of our reviewers, whose collective expertise covers the entire spectrum of industries and quality topics, we would risk the credibility and utility that Quality Press books represent. Whether reviewing books as a member of the Standing Review Board or software or videos as a member of the Mixed Media Review Board, reviewers stay up-to-date on the latest in quality-related products and know that they are contributing to the success of Quality Press. Nearly all of our reviewers have no difficulty working within our typical review cycle of 4–6 weeks, and by working within that time frame, they help us to maintain an efficient speed to market. Members of the review board also accrue 1.5 recertification units (RUs) per year, per board/committee. Share your expertise and help improve the existing body of quality literature and products that ASQ has to offer. Apply to Quality Press review boards today! For more information on becoming a reviewer for ASQ, or to apply online, visit our web site at www.qualitypress.asq.org or contact: Craig Powell Project Editor ASQ Quality Press (800) 248-1946, ext. 7418 cpowell@asq.org Article: ASQ Six Sigma Forum—ASQ’s Newest Member Type The ASQ Six Sigma Forum is a new member type from ASQ. This online membership was created by a design team of practicing Six Sigma professionals in order to provide members with a well-rounded Six Sigma experience. Membership in the Six Sigma Forum is separate from ASQ membership and is free for the first membership year. The ASQ Six Sigma Forum was launched in May of 2001 and there are currently over 8,500 members at all levels of experience. This indicates increased interest and importance of Six Sigma in the workplace. What is Six Sigma? Six Sigma is a high-performance, data-driven approach to analyzing the root causes of business problems and solving them. It is measured as only 3.4 defects per million operations. An operation does not need to be limited to just a manufacturing output but can include process-driven services as well. Six Sigma experts use a systematic methodology to define and measure problems, analyze causes, develop improvements, and sustain results. Each Six Sigma experience level has a precise role to play in applying the methodology successfully. Achieving Six Sigma at the output of a business process decreases the number of defects to fewer than four per million. Why is Six Sigma attracting so much attention? The truth is in these examples: - Motorola achieved $15 billion in savings over eleven years of Six Sigma implementation. - American Express improved their process for issuing renewal cards to members, reducing their defect rate by 44.5%. - Commonwealth Health Corporation in Kentucky used Six Sigma to reduce patient wait times, reduce processing times for billing and reports and improve teamwork. Benefits of being a member of the ASQ Six Sigma Forum include international news feeds, opportunities for networking and relevant articles which communicate, differentiate and motivate. Members also receive access to world-class training, The Six Sigma Forum Magazine, the Six Sigma Roundtable and Conference, Six Sigma related books and the Six Sigma Black Belt Certification. Learn more about Six Sigma and what ASQ has to offer by logging on to www.sixsigmaforum.com and joining the Forum. Membership is free for the first membership year.