Converge Consulting Group Inc. Articles and News

Expert calls out Alberta Health

robertgerst — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 19:36:54 +0000

Alberta may be trumpeting the efficiency of our centralized health-care superboard but a keynote speaker plans to tell a national conference this month that Alberta’s experiment has been disastrous. The bigger-is-better, command-and-control model has failed in Alberta and other provinces shouldn’t replicate it, warns management consultant Robert Gerst. “Alberta is an ideal case study of

Decline of Health Services in Alberta Paper a Keynote Presentation at Healthcare Efficiency Conference

robertgerst — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:30:47 +0000

The Decline of Health Services in Alberta, The Triumph of Professional over Real Management is gaining considerable attention. John Seddon highlighted the paper in Vanguard Consulting Group’s newsletter providing both a link and a recommendation. Downloads from Europe nearly crashed our server. The paper will form the basis of a keynote presentation by Robert Gerst

Converge Newsletter

robertgerst — Fri, 06 May 2011 20:19:48 +0000

The Converge Newsletter is now going out on a regular basis. If you want to sign up, feel free. We don’t spam and we don’t sell lists to anyone. Name: Email: Company:

The Cult of Statistical Significance – Simplified

robertgerst — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 00:19:59 +0000

Converge Consulting Group clients have heard us talk about the misuse of statistical significance testing, specifically, using statistical significance as a test for practical importance or material significance. This is the reason why so much employee, customer and operational research gets the answers so wrong, so often, amounting to little more, and often less, than junk

U. S. Supreme Court Unanimously Rejects ‘Statistical Significance’

robertgerst — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 02:01:31 +0000

Demonstrating both common sense and scientific reasoning, on March 22, the United States Supreme Court unanimously rejected arguments that materiality can be defined using statistical significance. This is a lesson that any organization conducting employee, customer and operational research should learn and one made repeatadly by Converge Consulting Group . . . Statistical significance is not a

The Decline of Health Services in Alberta

robertgerst — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 21:42:07 +0000

The Triumph of Professional over Real Management The past 20 years have seen a steady decline in the provision of health services to Albertans. Waiting times for surgeries, diagnostic services and emergency room visits is increasing, costs are escalating and quality of care has remained constant at best. A day doesn’t go by without the

Inspections and Audits

robertgerst — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 23:20:29 +0000

Developing a cost effective approach Some organizations equate quality with the level of inspection. The greater the number of inspections, checks, audits or evaluations, the greater the level of quality that is assumed to be in the final product or service. Unfortunately for these organizations, just the opposite is true. Quality assurance is only required when processes

Analyzing WCB Injury Rate Data

robertgerst — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 21:20:25 +0000

How to properly analyze and interpret Alberta injury rate data On October 01, 2010, the Alberta Government publically released workplace injury & fatality records. This made the Province the first in Canada to release a comprehensive list. Anyone can now access information about worksite injuries and fatalities involving more than 140,000 employers insured by the Workers

Why the Best Companies to Work For are Likely the Worst

robertgerst — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:04:50 +0000

Being labelled one of the Best Companies to Work For is great public and employee relations. It is also bad management. It is a sign that the company is more concerned with image than with reality. That’s not a good thing for either employees or the company. Among other things, it means the company will

Health Quality Council of Alberta Report is Junk Science

robertgerst — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:27:43 +0000

Originally Published at the Quality Council of Alberta The Health Quality Council of Alberta report: The Urban and Regional Emergency Department Patient Experience Report 2009, represents a significant step backward for the Quality movement in Alberta. This, because the methodology is so flawed, none of the facts or statistics offered can, or should, be taken