Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to use competence theory to explore the fit between actual competencies of quality management (QM) practitioner and the perception of QM competence needs in organisations. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on a cross-case quantitative study...

Purpose: Over one million organisations have a quality management system (QMS) certified to the ISO 9001 standard; however, the system requires a lot of resources and its value has been questioned. This critique also leads to a questioning of the strategic relevance of quality management. The...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the value of a developmental learning view on implementation of quality management (QM) concepts. QM concepts are common in various organizations; some implement them smoothly, others struggle and sometimes even abandon the initiatives. What is...

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to identify possible correlations between the stated “enablers” and “results” in excellence models, and to explain how different variables contribute to the “enablers” and “results”. A cross-case study of two different excellence models,...

Purpose – This paper aims to present and discuss the current state of quality‐improvement activities in Swedish companies. The paper focuses on the drivers for quality improvement; types of approaches, tools and techniques, and organizational aspects influenced by quality improvement; and...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of how patients experience their health problems and how they can generate innovative ideas about health care services. The research questions that guide the present study are: how can solicited diaries be used for capturing...