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...

Purpose – The full meaning of quality and quality management concepts can be only understood within the framework of systems thinking. The need for a new paradigm, based on systems theory, is even more evident when the attempt is made to extend quality management concepts from the material...

Purpose – This paper aims to identify changes in quality management practices that occurred in Australian manufacturing firms between 1994 and 2001. Design/methodology/approach – This study used two sets of data drawn from two separate surveys. The first survey was conducted in 1994 by the...