The objective of this work consists of highlighting some benchmarking practices in management by presenting a case study conducted in a company in Brazil. The company was awarded with the Brazilian National Award some years back and it still can be considered as a benchmark of manufacturing...

The purpose of the study reported is to explore the approaches that multinational companies take in order to handle international differences in their management of quality. Qualitative methods for data collection have been used. The empirical data consist of in‐depth and/or focus group...

Purpose – The topic is restricted to the components of total quality management (TQM), in which a set of values, tools and techniques unites the descriptions of TQM. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact on an additional core value of the components of TQM, namely the...

Purpose – During the last decades, different quality management concepts, including total quality management (TQM), six sigma and lean, have been applied by many different organisations. Although much important work has been documented regarding TQM, six sigma and lean, a number of questions...

Valid acts of whistleblowing – employees informing on dubious practices in the workplace – is increasingly being viewed in a favourable light, with statutory protection following. Examples of whistleblowing are presented, including education and disaster situations which, being...

While total quality management (TQM) has been widely applied in the management of change, and is likely to remain a priority into the next century, failure rates at times above 75 per cent give cause for concern. The study on which this paper is based has reviewed TQM as an approach to change...

Presents the key findings of a study into quality practices of a number of organisations in one of the Arab countries, Qatar, which is recognised as one of the leading liquefied natural gas‐exporting regions since its reserves of gas represent about 7.4 per cent of the world total. The...

Customer satisfaction is a key issue for all organizations in both the private and public sectors. To survive, you must understand and provide what the customer wants. It is important to understand the entire chain of customers. The needs of each customer must be examined separately. Not only...

Contains a discussion of how the TQM concept can be further developed so as to give more room for innovations grounded in a profound understanding of the customers and their situation. A typology of different quality configurations, based on the three basic themes of customer understanding,...