In an article in Quality Progress, Blauw and During study how long it takes Dutch companies to complete five stages in the adoption of total quality control (TQC). According to Blauw and
During, the adoption of TQC can be divided into five stages as follows:
1. Knowledge: the organization has heard of TQC.
2. Attitude formation: the organization seeks information and compares advantages and disadvantages.
3. Decision making: the organization decides to implement TQC.
4. Implementation: the organization implements TQC.
5. Confirmation: the organization decides to apply TQC as a normal business activity. Suppose a random sample of five Dutch firms that have adopted TQC is selected. Each firm is asked to report how long it took to complete the implementation stage. The firms report the following durations (in years) for this stage: 2.5, 1.5, 1.25, 3.5, and 1.25. Assuming that the durations are approximately normally distributed, calculate a 95 percent confidence interval for the mean duration of the implementation stage for Dutch Firms. Based on the 95 percent confidence interval, is there conclusive evidence that the mean duration of the implementation stage exceeds one year? Explain. What is one possible reason for the lack of conclusive evidence?