Bengt Klefsjö
Division of Quality and Environmental Management, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden
Bjarne Bergquist
Division of Quality and Environmental Management, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden
Rickard Garvare
Division of Quality and Environmental Management, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden
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Published in: 10th QMOD Conference. Quality Management and Organiqatinal Development. Our Dreams of Excellence; 18-20 June; 2007 in Helsingborg; Sweden
Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 26:92, p.
Published: 2008-02-15
ISBN:
ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)
For some decades Total Quality Management (TQM) has been used in large parts of the world to improve competitiveness; efficiency and profitability. Originally; TQM was used in the private business sector; but later it has also been applied in the public sector (Bergquist et al.; 2005; Svensson & Klefsjö; 2006); and even on a societal level (Bergvall-K&arint;reborn et al.; 2007).
However; the stated promises of success have far from always been obtained; although; e.g.; quality award recipients on the average tend to show better financial results than other comparable companies (Hendicks & Singhal; 1997; Hansson& Eriksson; 2002; Boulter et al.; 2006) For different reasons; problems have also been identified when the TQM concept has been transferred to the public sector (Zbaracki; 1998). These and other things have initiated a healthy discussion of the TQM concept and whether TQM is a fit; fashion or fad (van der Wiele et al.; 2000).
We can see a number of tendencies within the area of Quality Management as well as some reasons for this development. New concepts “competing” with TQM about the managers’ interest are offered; the focus on customers are widened to include stakeholders; Quality Management seems to be widened towards Business Management; and Business Excellence is a concept frequently used today. Let us pick up some of these issues and discuss in what direction Quality Management and TQM seem to be going and whether the development is of benefit or not?
