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Software Quality Management from a Cross-Cultural Viewpoint

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Abstract

This paper describes our attempts to look at how different cultures influence Software Quality Management (Siakas 1996; Mohamed Walaa-Eldeen and Siakas 1996). Quality of the software product cannot be determined until late in the development cycle. It is widely accepted that reliance has to be placed on process quality as a means of achieving product quality. In recent years software organisations have been making efforts concentrating on improving the process in order to improve software quality. Hofstede (Hofstede 1994) had defined four dimensions of work-related value differences for classifying cultural influences in different countries. These are: power distance, collectivism/individualism, femininity/masculinity and uncertainty avoidance. In this paper software development organisations are being assessed for their awareness and acceptance of Software Quality. These results will be correlated with the work-related values identified by Hofstede. The intention is to identify cultural factors, which may have a bearing on successful adoption and implementation of Software Quality Management.

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Siakas, K.V., Georgiadou, E. & Sadler, C. Software Quality Management from a Cross-Cultural Viewpoint. Software Quality Journal 8, 85–95 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008948709011

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