Experiences of working with in‐company quality awards: a case study

One way to stimulate total quality management (TQM) efforts in an organisation is to work with a quality award. This paper presents a case study, based on both interviews and document studies, of a unit within the Swedish National Road Administration that has worked with an in‐company quality award. The purpose of the case study was to study how a unit experiences and is affected by the work connected with an in‐company quality award. Some positive experiences and effects were recognised, such as a perceived improved customer orientation, a comprehensive view of the business, a degree of participation by everyone, systematic improvement work and an increase in the average score from the examiners. The perceived main disadvantage is the amount of work that the in‐company quality award requires, especially in the phase of description of activities.