In pursuit of excellence: total quality approaches in Irish organisations

Quality is the major differentiator in an increasingly competitive and fast growing business environment in Ireland. This paper focuses on the degree to which quality initiatives have been developed in Irish organisations. Based on two major large scale national surveys of manufacturing and service organisations, the paper shows the scale of adoption of total quality concepts and the degree to which total quality management (TQM) is associated with standards, strategic planning, teamworking, employee and customer satisfaction, use of quality tools/techniques, benchmarking and relationships with suppliers. Some comparisons are made between the two surveys which suggest that service organisations have been slower than manufacturing companies to adopt total quality management in Ireland. However, the study points to a heightening of awareness about TQM among service,as well as manufacturing, organisations in Ireland.