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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.Abstract The total quality index (TQI) proposed in this study is an information technology-supported benchmarking tool that helps managers assess a total quality management program by enabling the cost-effective measurement of key organizational processes. TQI utilizes the analytic hierarchy process and the Delphi technique to measure ideal and actual quality management along eight critical factors synthesized by Saraph et al. and supported by subsequent research. A study utilizing TQI was conducted to evaluate the progress of quality management in clinical and non-clinical settings. Eight clinical and six non-clinical departments were selected from four different hospitals to participate in this study. The results show that, contrary to the common beliefs, there is little difference in the actual and ideal scores on the eight critical factors between the clinical and non-clinical settings.

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This is an applied study of how to develop a standardized set of useful verbal probability phrases for communication purposes within an expert community. The analysis extends the previous research in two ways. First, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to assess the relative weights associated with the verbal phrases employed by a group of thirty financial strategy experts at a major Wall Street firm. Second, a quadratic least‐squares technique is used to map these relative weights onto a subjective probability scale. The result was a consistent scaling of probabilistic phrases that the analysts prefer and actually use. This methodology can be used to minimize the problems associated with the use of probabilistic phrases by a group of experts who interact daily and who share assumptions, working knowledge and values. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper presents N-Site, a distributed consensus building and negotiation support system, which is used to provide geographically dispersed teams with agile access to a Web-based group decision support system. Four teams located in France, Mexico, the Ukraine, and the United States (1995) 119-143.) was used by each team to choose a strategy that best fit the team's perspective. SAM and WWW enabled the teams to evaluate strategic alternatives and build consensus based on a series of intuitive and analytical methods including environmental scanning, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and subjective probabilities. The WWW was used to achieve interaction among the international teams as they attempted to negotiate a decision framework and select a diplomatic response. The project was assessed with a Web-distributed survey instrument. This use of the WWW has implications for international diplomacy as well as global business.