Managing quality in a UK local authority: the Leicester experience

The resources department of the Leicester City Council (LCC) has introduced a wide range of initiatives to achieve quality management with the aim to deliver quality services to customers. Research has shown an improvement in quality management and a commitment to further improvement. Notable improvements include a change to the organizational culture, the application of continuous improvement and the development of a quality assurance programme which can be extended to include ISO 9000. Argues that the commitment to further improvement needs to be considered in terms of a more formal approach to TQM. Suggests that an established integrated approach called the TQMEX model is particularly appropriate for consideration. The output of the research is a TQM strategic plan based on the status quo of LCC, the theoretical background of the TQMEX model and the experience of the author in total quality practices.