... influence to counteract the frequently observed inertia of public administration with regards to quality management initiatives. It traces how changing political priorities have been reflected in a changing portfolio of excellence award categories. Originality/value – The paper describes an unusual...

... categories seemed an appropriate way to resolve this problem. Softer factors such as a corporate quality culture, communication, teamwork and empowerment are more likely to be mentioned in the public sector studies than in the service, manufacturing or mixed sector studies. Process management features...

...Glen Riecken; Ugur Yavas Proposes to determine the relative importance of factors on which people rely in choosing a place to live and their assessments of a local area in the Southeastern USA. Presents recommendations to aid local authorities in improving quality of life in the region. Concludes...

... practice models, that they are too risk‐averse. Concurrently, leadership from public managers is sought in drives to ensure quality in public services. Risk and quality appear strongly inter‐linked, although managerial discussion of their interrelationship seems relatively rare, at least within the public...

...Ian Sanderson Attempts to locate the legitimatory nature of the discourse of quality in the wider context of prevailing ideas about the role of government in the promotion of social welfare and how public service organizations can deliver quality services. Elaborates on the prevailing conventional...

...Michael Asser; Jane Haines Describes Oxfordshire County Council′s QUEST programme (quality;effectiveness; service to all) and its implementation by introducing a devolved cost‐centre management accounting system to achieve accountable management, and decentralization to give managers more...

...K.K. Navaratnam; Bill Harris Presents a “detailed” account of an innovative way of serving the internal and external customer in an Australian Quality Award winning public sector service industry – South East Queensland Electricity Board (SEQEB). Presenting the principles of customer service...

...Robert Isgrove; Anoop Patel The introduction of quality in the public sector has received scant attention, particularly in the area of local authority social services departments. Examines the state of quality progress in social services departments throughout the UK. Findings are reported which...

...Jim Tattersall It is suggested that using total quality management (TQM) in conjunction with action learning can bring exceptional benefits to an organisation, in terms of improved quality and personnel awareness. With the example of Japan and the USA (to a lesser extent) in mind, the methods...