Outlines, with the aid of diagrams, the core concepts of systems theory as a basis for understanding the applications of systems thinking in organizations. Explains ideas like waste, outcomes and feedback in systems terms, and links systems thinking with quality thinking. Once systems thinking...

The first in a series of articles on “customer oriented policing”. Assesses the value structure necessary for successful implementation of management for quality and productivity improvement. Argues that private sector practices may be applied to the public sector and that customer...

In contemporary management in the 1990s, TQM is a proven approach for success in manufacturing, services and the public sector. Examines what is so special about TQM and develops an excellence model based on some proven approaches adopted by the Japanese. Looks at the current thinking and...

Offers an integrative perspective of quality function deployment (QFD), including its benefits and shortcomings. By developing a model that includes within it the antecedents as well as the components of QFD and the potential gains accruing to an organization from QFD, clarifies this competitive...

Summarizes the quality control methods and techniques developed over the last five decades and categorizes them into three broad approaches, each identified with three broadly‐defined product development stages. Observes that the quality management approaches developed and applied to assess...

Presents the findings of a two‐year programme of questionnaire‐ and case study‐based research conducted during 1993‐1995. Argues that it is not enough for management to initiate problem solving, educate staff or attend quality steering committees in order to introduce quality initiatives...

Presents a case history of the development of the automated assessment tool (AAT) at the US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories (CERL). Describes how CERL, applying quality management principles, uses the AAT to gather information about people’s perceptions of an...

Notes that the seven basic tools of quality management document flow analysis, cause‐and‐effect variables, and linear patterns of process but that in organizational systems composed of human beings, data are not always regular, or logical. Comments that the real world of work does not...

Notes that quality improvement and management practices involve using tools, which are formulated from industrial practices and quality engineering theory. Points out that the seven old Japanese tools are claimed to be able to solve up to 95 per cent of quality‐related problems and that the...

Points out that we have accepted on faith many of our improvement tools without really understanding their impact on the performance of the organization. Challenges some of the basic principles on which total quality management was founded. Presents data from the International Quality Study...